04/19/2026
On this day in 1865, a black hearse carried President Abraham Lincoln's body from the White House to the United States Capitol. Over 30,000 mourners and soldiers marched with the hearse down Pennsylvania Avenue. Photographers documented the scene from nearby rooftops.
At the Capitol, the pallbearers placed Lincoln's coffin atop a black velvet platform in the Capitol Rotunda. Crowds of mourners waited in line to file past Lincoln's open coffin. One newspaper estimated that the mourners walked by the coffin "at the rate of 3,500 per hour." Between 25,000 and 40,000 people paid their respects to the fallen president that day.
Photo of Lincoln's funeral procession from the Library of Congress
