The Face of the Dead

Lincoln was the first President of the United States to be embalmed. His funeral and viewing was done with an open casket. The funeral train stopped in Cleveland, Ohio, on April 28, two weeks after the assassination, where for the first time the casket and catafalque were displayed outdoors. More than 60,000 citizens were reported to have viewed the body during that single day. The next day, the Cleveland Morning Leader newspaper reported on the funeral events, including this short article about the countenance of the face of the President. While there are many photographs of the catafalque on display in Cleveland's Public Square, no photographs of Lincoln's body were allowed, so this direct report provides the little we know of how he looked two weeks after his death.