Last updated: September 1, 2021
Article
Country mourns as president is laid to rest
C.M. Bell, Library of Congress
James Abram Garfield died Sept. 19, 1881, 200 days after he was inaugurated as the 20th president of the United States.
On Sept. 20, the president’s body was returned to Washington, D.C. , from Elberon, N.J., where he was taken after an assassination attempt on July 2.
All along the route, mourners stood at track side, heads bowed. As the train went by, church bells tolled. Bridges and buildings were draped in black.
In Washington, the president’s coffin was borne to the Capitol to the beat of muffled drums. The rotunda, too, was draped in black and piled high with flowers. Over 70,000 people waited in line for up to three-and-a-half hours to walk past the open coffin.
At 11 a.m. on Sept. 23, the rotunda was emptied, and Lucretia Garfield spent a lonely hour with the body of her husband. When her vigil ended, the coffin was closed.
At 3 p.m., the memorial service began. Members of the House of Representatives were followed into the hall by senators, cabinet members, and diplomats from around the world. Bible verses were read, prayers were offered, a choir sang. The main address was given by the Rev. F. D. Power of the Vermont Avenue Christian Church — the church President Garfield and his family attended in Washington, D.C., Mrs. Garfield and her children did not stay for the ceremony at the Capitol.
James A. Garfield.
White House archives
The remains of the president were then carried to the depot where he had been shot. The funeral train consisted of seven cars, each festooned with flowers and palm fronds.
Most of the trip home to Ohio was at night, but every depot was draped with mourning, and townspeople watched the procession roll by. Bonfires, cannon and tolling bells marked the train’s passage.
A respectful 20 minutes behind the funeral train was a second train for legislators and other dignitaries. A third train was crammed with reporters.
As the procession approached Cleveland, the crowds along the tracks got bigger. If she had looked out the train window, Mrs. Garfield would have seen people standing shoulder to shoulder in a solid line along the last two miles of its journey into the city. The funeral train arrived in Cleveland at 1:21 p.m. on Sept. 24. The coffin was moved to a catafalque at Monumental Park, now called Public Square.
On Sunday, Sept. 25, the catafalque was opened to the public. The line of viewers sometimes stretched more than a mile. The Marine Corps Band played the Garfield Funeral March, Safe in the Arms of Jesus, and Nearer My God to Thee. Mourners came all day, 140 people per minute, through the night and into the morning of Sept. 26.
An estimated 250,000 people came into Public Square to see the pavilion and pay their respects. Cleveland’s population in 1881 was just 150,000.
The funeral began at 10 a.m. The eulogy was delivered by Isaac Errett, a Disciples of Christ minister who had been Garfield’s friend for many years. At the conclusion of the service, the coffin was carried by soldiers to a funeral car for the procession to The Lake View Cemetery, five miles away.
The route was lined with mourners, reportedly 10 to 20 people deep.
The ceremony at the cemetery was brief. A short oration was delivered by J. H. Jones, chaplain of the 42nd Ohio Volunteer Infantry, the unit Garfield had recruited for Civil War service and commanded for a time. The final benediction was offered by his lifelong friend Burke Hinsdale.
The coffin was placed in a flower-laden temporary crypt. In 1890, his body was moved to permanent monument in Lake View Cemetery.
(Thanks to the late Dr. Allan Peskin, whose article “The Funeral of the Century,” Lake County Historical Quarterly, September 1981, formed the basis for this post.)
Most of the trip home to Ohio was at night, but every depot was draped with mourning, and townspeople watched the procession roll by. Bonfires, cannon and tolling bells marked the train’s passage.
A respectful 20 minutes behind the funeral train was a second train for legislators and other dignitaries. A third train was crammed with reporters.
As the procession approached Cleveland, the crowds along the tracks got bigger. If she had looked out the train window, Mrs. Garfield would have seen people standing shoulder to shoulder in a solid line along the last two miles of its journey into the city. The funeral train arrived in Cleveland at 1:21 p.m. on Sept. 24. The coffin was moved to a catafalque at Monumental Park, now called Public Square.
On Sunday, Sept. 25, the catafalque was opened to the public. The line of viewers sometimes stretched more than a mile. The Marine Corps Band played the Garfield Funeral March, Safe in the Arms of Jesus, and Nearer My God to Thee. Mourners came all day, 140 people per minute, through the night and into the morning of Sept. 26.
An estimated 250,000 people came into Public Square to see the pavilion and pay their respects. Cleveland’s population in 1881 was just 150,000.
The funeral began at 10 a.m. The eulogy was delivered by Isaac Errett, a Disciples of Christ minister who had been Garfield’s friend for many years. At the conclusion of the service, the coffin was carried by soldiers to a funeral car for the procession to The Lake View Cemetery, five miles away.
The route was lined with mourners, reportedly 10 to 20 people deep.
The ceremony at the cemetery was brief. A short oration was delivered by J. H. Jones, chaplain of the 42nd Ohio Volunteer Infantry, the unit Garfield had recruited for Civil War service and commanded for a time. The final benediction was offered by his lifelong friend Burke Hinsdale.
The coffin was placed in a flower-laden temporary crypt. In 1890, his body was moved to permanent monument in Lake View Cemetery.
(Thanks to the late Dr. Allan Peskin, whose article “The Funeral of the Century,” Lake County Historical Quarterly, September 1981, formed the basis for this post.)