Originally published in the Cecil Whig
On April 22, 1865 the Cecil Whig ran the story: “President Lincoln was assassinated at Ford’s Theatre in Washington on Friday night, the 14th by J. Wilkes Booth.”
The Cecil Democrat, which, during the war, had expressed sympathy for the rebel cause and distain for Mr. Lincoln, took a more personal approach, but left out Booth’s name:
“Never have we seen such profound horror depicted upon the countenance of our citizens as at the announcement made public at an early hour yesterday morning that the President of the United States, while seated in a private box at Ford’s Theatre… had been shot by an unknown assassin….”
We say “ran the story” of Lincoln’s assassination, 150 years ago next week, because neither The Whig nor The Democrat premiered the announcement. The telegraph and word of mouth spread the news much more quickly.
Cecil County Orphan Court Judge James Mc Cauley noted the “profound horror” in his diary on the day of the shooting. Just two days later, on April 16th, Lt. Lucius Gerry of Port Deposit, serving in Cumberland, Maryland wrote to his wife, “Because of the terrible tragedy at Washington, one feels not a little like writing letters. I have been numbed a might, undefinable depression has possessed me, and it has been an effort to do anything.”
The Whig described how Lt. Gerry’s “undefinable depression” was expressed across denominational lines in Elkton’s churches. How respects to the fallen President were also paid by public bodies including the Elkton Town Commissioners who “held a special meeting and passed resolutions of respect to the memory of the late President and recommended the citizens to display some badge of mourning from their houses for thirty days, close their places of business between 11 and 3 o’clock, and that the bells of the town be tolled between those hours on Wednesday….” The Whig reported that the Commissioners’ recommendations were heeded.
But as the people mourned the loss of their president, they also noted the practical impact of the assassination. Judge McCauley writing that “the (railroad) cars have not been running from Baltimore since the murder of the President that no facility be afforded the murderer to escape.”
Then there was the funeral for the late President. The Whig gave this description:
“The funeral in Washington on Wednesday (was) marked by the ceremonies and observances through which the Nation feebly yet earnestly seeks to express a sense of its great loss and detestation of the crime which cruelly and ruthlessly slaughtered its honored head.” The Whig then detailed Mr. Lincoln’s journey home as “a special train, with a funeral car, was prepared for the occasion in which the remains and their escort are conveyed. The remains were to arrive in Baltimore at ten o’clock yesterday morning and lie in state for five hours, in charge of the state and city authorities. From Baltimore they went to Harrisburg, thence to Philadelphia, New York, Albany, Buffalo, Cleveland, Columbus, Indianapolis, and Chicago, reaching Springfield on Wednesday next.”
On May 4th, Judge McCauley describes the event at Springfield’s Oak Ridge Cemetery as a national affair: “Today the remains of President Lincoln are consigned to their resting place… and funeral services are observed throughout the United States. There has never been in this country… such a general display of mourning as the doors of every house almost in town and village are draped in mourning.”
Microfilm copies of both the Whig and Democrat are available for review at the Historical Society of Cecil County as are the Judge McCauley diary and the letters of Lt. Gerry. See our website at www.cecilhistory.org for our hours of operation. There is also an online exhibit about President Lincoln, sponsored by Fords Theatre at http://www.fords.org/remembering-lincoln