Description

This postcard features the route of the funeral train carrying President Abraham Lincoln's body from Washington, D. C., to Springfield, Illinois, for burial there. A map of the states of Illinois eastward to Pennsylvania and New York is printed on an orange background. A heavy black line beginning in Washington, D. C., tracks through each of the states westward to Illinois. Lighter parallel lines beginning at the star marking Hodgenville, Kentucky, where Lincoln was born continuing through southern Indiana and ending at Springfield, Illinois, show the geographical path from birth to where Lincoln settled as an adult. The remaining lighter parallel lines which connect in several places to the heavy funeral route line show the path taken by the train on his inaugural trip from Springfield to Washington, D. C., in February of 1861. Narrative text is printed in the top left corner as well as in the margin below the map. The postcard reverse is divided. Part of the Lincoln Financial Foundation Collection, courtesy of the Indiana State Museum