By Chris Allen—
INDIANAPOLIS – Today, April 15th, marks the 159th anniversary of Abraham Lincoln’s assassination. To commemorate Lincoln’s life and his impact on American history, Westfield-based The Lincoln Special will visit Muncie this Saturday to observe Lincoln’s 1865 funeral train that visited Indiana in 1865.
Partnering with the Lincoln Boyhood National Memorial, a total of 30 Indiana cities are included in these roadshows where Executive Director Chris Allen will be staging a free, hour- long symposium that highlights Lincoln’s life and legacy after his assassination at Ford’s Theater. “It’s imperative to remind people that his story didn’t just end at Ford’s Theater,” said Allen. “Even in death, Lincoln’s story continued on, only with us as authors.” He added. “Every city and town in Indiana that Lincoln’s funeral train stopped at shares an indelible connection to our nation’s story.”
Roadshows kicked off last October and continue this Saturday, April 20, 2024 at Muncie’s Kennedy Public Library located at 1700 W. McGalliard Rd. beginning at 2:00 p.m. “Muncie is particularly interesting as George Ball (of the Ball Brothers) was instrumental in preserving Lincoln’s boyhood home,” Said Allen.
“Lincoln’s Funeral Train brought hundreds of thousands of people together at this nation’s most fractured point,” Allen noted. “His funeral train proved that even in death, this man [Lincoln] could unite people like nothing before or since.”
Lincoln’s remains arrived in his boyhood home state on April 29, 1865, just 21 days after his assassination at Ford’s Theater in Washington. “It wasn’t just Lincoln’s remains that came through here,” said Allen. “It was everything Lincoln stood for, the Emancipation Proclamation, the 13thAmendment, and the Gettysburg Address that came right through Indiana.”
Roadshows will focus on Lincoln’s life and The Lincoln Special’s plans for a major motion picture about the Funeral Train in Indiana. All Roadshows are free and open to the general public.
“History has an echo… our task is to make it heard,” is The Lincoln Special’s mission, and is an IRS approved 501(c)3 nonprofit based in Westfield, Indiana. For more information, please visit www.tearsandiron.com or call (317) 967.6190.
