STATEHOUSE CALENDAR

Civil War Artifacts and Flag for the Lincoln Funeral Train exhibit
 

Civil War Display
Time
April 21 - May 2

Location
Rotunda
The Ohio Statehouse
1 Capitol Square
Columbus, OH 43215


Description

The Ohio Statehouse commemorates the Repose of President Abraham Lincoln with an exhibit of a historic 36-star flag, artifacts and a replica coffin. 

 

In 1865, the funeral train for Abraham Lincoln traveled more than 1,600 miles in 13 days from Washington, D.C. to Springfield, Illinois.  The train stopped in Columbus, and Lincoln lay in repose in the Ohio Statehouse on April 29, 1865.  An estimated 50,000 people passed through the Rotunda to pay their respects to the fallen President, the “Savior of the Union.”

 

Artifacts and a large flag from that time will be displayed at the Ohio Statehouse. The Rotunda exhibit includes educational descriptions and a replica coffin.  Items from the 1865 funeral train trip will be on loan from the family of General John Curtis Caldwell, including a mourning badge and a lock of Lincoln’s hair.

  

A giant 36-Star flag that flew over Capitol Square during President Lincoln's 1865 repose will be displayed. The flag originally was presented to David Nevin Murray of Portsmouth, Ohio for his contributions to the war effort on behalf of the Union Army during the American Civil War. Murray’s descendants, the Van Tilburg family, donated the historic flag to the Ohio History Connection. 

 

The flag was donated to the Ohio History Connection in 2016 by David N. Murray’s great, great granddaughters, Lt. Colonel Mary K. Van Tilburg and Dr. Emmalou Van Tilburg.

 

The Capitol Square Review and Advisory Board plans to commemorate the repose of President Abraham Lincoln in the Ohio Capitol Friday, April 28, 2023.  Everyone is welcome to experience history with reenactors, displays and cannon firings at the Ohio Statehouse.