News Release

He Belongs To The Ages

Date: April 10, 2022
Contact: Stacy Humphreys, [phone]

HODGENVILLE – Abraham Lincoln Birthplace National Historical Park will observe the assassination of Abraham Lincoln with an evening event on April 14^th from 6:30 p.m. to 9:00 p.m. and a special presentation on Saturday April 16^th at 1:00 p.m. and 3:00 p.m. The Memorial Building will don 19^th century mourning cloth and be illuminated with white light for the evening program.

On April 14^th at 6:30 p.m., the evening event will feature a guest park ranger from Ford’s Theatre who will recall the assassination story and the stunning impact on the nation.  At 7:00 p.m., Superintendent Catherine Bragaw will give an introduction and the Kentucky Home Guard Band, a period Civil War-Era Brass Band, will perform mournful period music played during the long journey Abraham Lincoln took from Washington DC back to his home in Springfield, Illinois. A second performance will take place just after 8:00 p.m. including a reading of Walt Whitman’s elegy “Oh Captain, My Captain.”

On the night of April 14^th, 1865, while attending a production of the “Our American Cousin,” Abraham Lincoln was cut down by John Wilkes Booth. Lincoln would die the next morning becoming one of the last casualties in a war that had already taken the lives of over 700,000 Americans. The war also freed 3 million African Americans, ending legal enslavement in the United States. The Civil War is considered a turning point and the seminal event in American History. Abraham Lincoln’s loss was a blow that caused the country to enter a deep mourning period. Visitors will receive a period reproduction mourning pin and a mourning card to record their thoughts of the event.

The observance will continue on Saturday, April 16^th, when the park will host Todd Van Beck, renowned Lincoln funeral historian and scholar. Mr. Van Beck will present his program on Lincoln’s funeral train and Victorian mourning customs at the Birthplace Visitors Center that day at 1:00 p.m. and 3:00 p.m. All events are free and open to the public.

For more information about the events, visit the park’s Facebook page at https:www.facebook.com/LincolnBirthplaceNPS or visit the park’s website at www.nps.gov/abli. Any delay or cancellation of the event due to severe weather will be posted on our Facebook page.