April 19, 1865: Gideon Welles at Lincoln's Funeral

APRIL 19TH, 1865:  Secretary Welles recorded President Lincoln's funeral in his diary:  "The funeral on Wednesday, the 19th, was imposing, sad, and sorrowful.  All felt the solemnity, and sorrowed  as if they had  lost one of their own household.

"By voluntary action business was everywhere suspended, and the people crowded the streets....  The attendance was immense.  The front of the procession reached the Capitol, it was said, before we started, and there as many, or more who followed us.

"A brief prayer was made by Mr. [P.D.] Gurley in the rotunda, where we left the remains of the good and great man we loved so well."

--Old B-Runner