The Life, Crime, and Capture of John Wilkes BoothTownsend, George Alfred
History
The Life, Crime, and Capture of John Wilkes Booth
Townsend, George Alfred
Assassins -- United States -- Biography; Booth, John Wilkes, 1838-1865; Lincoln, Abraham, 1809-1865 -- Assassination
The procession surpassed in sentiment, populousness, and sincere good
feeling, anything of the kind we have had in America. It was several
miles long, and in all its elements was full and tasteful. The scene on
the avenue will be alway remembered as the only occasion on which that
great thoroughfare was a real adornment to the seat of government. In
the tree tops, on the house tops, at all the windows, the silent and
affected crowds clustered beneath half-mast banners and waving crape, to
reverentially uncover as the dark vehicle, bearing its rich
silver-mounted coffin, swept along; mottoes of respect and homage were
on many edifices, and singularly some of them were taken from the play
of Richard III., which was the murderer's favorite part The entire width
of the avenue was swept, from curb to curb, by the deep lines.
The chief excellence of this procession was its representative nature.
All classes, localities and trades were out. As the troops in broad,
straight columns, with reversed muskets, moved to solemn marches, all
the guns on the fortifications on the surrounding hills discharged
hoarse salutes--guns which the arbiter of war whom they were to honor
could hear no longer. Every business place was closed. Sabermen swept
the street of footmen and horsemen. The carriages drove two abreast.
Not less than five thousand officers, of every rank, marched abreast
with the cortege. They were noble looking men with intelligent faces,
and represented the sinews of the land, and the music was not the least
excellent feature of the mournful display. About thirty bands were in
the line, and these played all varieties of solemn marches, so that
there were continual and mingling strains of funeral music for more than
three hours. Artillery, consisting of heavy brass pieces, followed
behind. In fact, all the citizen virtues and all the military enterprise
of the country were evidenced. Never again, until Washington becomes in
fact what it is in name, the chief city of America, shall we have a
scene like this repeated--the grandest procession ever seen on this
continent, spontaneously evoked to celebrate the foulest crime on
record. If any feeling of gratulation could arise in so calamitous a
time, it would be, that so soon after this appalling calamity the nation
calmly and collectedly rallied about its succeeding rulers, and showed
in the same moment its regret for the past and its resolution for the
future. To me, the scene in the White House, the street, and the capitol
to-day, was the strongest evidence the war afforded of the stability of
our institutions, and the worthiness and magnanimous power of our
people.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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