[RP TownTalk] 150 years ago this week . . .

[johnferg27 at aol.com]

As the 150th anniversary of the Lincoln tragedy arrives, I am reminded of a connection with the Town.


When President Lincoln's body was placed in a funeral train to take him to Springfield, Illinois for final ceremonies and burial, it traveled on the B & O line to Baltimore and Philadelphia and then west. That was the only route available from Washington, D.C. for train travel west at that time.


While we have no written document about the event, I would feel confident that the Calvert residents at Riversdale (Charles Benedict had died before this date, but some family members remained at the house) and the former slaves (Emancipation had been signed by then) most certainly with Adam Francis Plummer in the forefront, would have gathered along the railway line.  While there was no radio or telephone or any other "instant" news sources at that time, the telegraph had been developed (remember that C.B. Calvert was a supporter of Samuel Morse and an early experimental message came out to Riversdale, in fact, along the rail line), so the day-to-day reports of the events surrounding the death of Mr. Lincoln would have reached the Riversdale plantation (probably through newspapers) outlining the steps of this sad journey.  


Spend a few moments (sometime after April 18) as you cross the rail line, imagining the passing of this funeral train as it carried this revered President on his final journey.




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