The teenager who discovered the photo eventually became a college professor. He was a history teacher who taught at Cal St Fullerton. He shared the story of his discovery many times with his students. Great instructor
Check out the video @MrDrosteHistory did on this photo a year ago. He has a lot of information about Rietveld in his video. They professor even commented on the video.
My dad was a funeral director and said that when he was studying mortuary science they used the embalming process of President Lincoln as a model of what is used today. Incredible!
A bit of trivia for you. The image at 9:19 is a famous one. If you look at the building in the upper left hand, there is a window with 2 boys in it, watching the procession. One of those boys is a six year old future president, Theodore Roosevelt. Like the video, thanks
Ronald Rietveld was not a college student. He was at the time 14 years old. He wasn’t doing a research paper, but rather as a young Lincoln enthusiast, he was given the opportunity to visit Springfield by Harry Pratt, State Historian of Illinois at the time. Ronald had met Pratt in Iowa City during the dedication of the Bollinger Collection (a collection of Lincoln papers) gifted to the University of Iowa. Ronald Rietveld was from my home town, Des Moines, Iowa.
@@historyfeels3123You definitely do have the perfect voice. I'm old and recall enjoying Rod Sterling narrating to where he pulled the listener in as you do. Great work! 👍🏻
My great great grandfather was a pallbearer for Abraham Lincoln. He wore a white sash and white gloves. That’s all I know about it. This story was so interesting. I’ve always wanted to know more about Lincoln’s funeral.
The book TWENTY DAYS covers the period between Lincoln's assassination and his burial. Rather than a dry overview of old newspaper accounts, it's a vivid study of the amazing facts of the whole affair. The boardinghouse where Lincoln died was used by the actors of Ford's Theatre across the street, and John Wilkes Booth, the assassin of Lincoln, had often sprawled on the same bed where his victim later breathed his last breath. In another section, a two-page spread shows Lincoln's cortege moving up the street in Manhattan as from a mansion's open window two young boys watch--one of them being 7-year-old Theodore Roosevelt. It's a fascinating read, even the footnotes.
Great Job 👍I'm 75 yrs old and like millions of others have read and watched as much as I can on the life and Death of Abraham Lincoln .I have seen this picture many times .The curious thing is WHY Stanton did some of the things he did.There are more pics of Lincoln archives about his assassination and death that like Kennedy were quashed and never to be seen along with the missing pages torn our from Booths diary that imo implicated more ppl than the ones hanged for their roles in it ! Like Kennedy's still as fascinating today as ever with unanswered questions ! Two GREAT men Taken for no reason !
I believe the reason is fairly simple. They both had to be removed so that certain others could preserve their wealth and power Was Lincoln an inside job too?
Stanton and Lincoln were enemies. It went as far back as at least 1850s when Lincoln and Stanton, plus others, were hired on a major court case, in Ohio I believe. Lincoln thought he was going to be in charge but Stanton got the job. Lincoln got another one of his depressions and missed much of the work.
Lincoln was NOT a great man. Do a little digging, and see how he imprisoned over 30,000 people for merely criticizing his unconstitutional acts during the War. And those, I assure you, are the least of his evils.
For those who might not be aware, there are several videos on youtube from a 1956 episode from a television game show called I've Got A Secret. This is worth watching: Mr. Samuel J. Seymour, the last living eyewitness to the assassination of President Abraham Lincoln at Ford's Theater in Washington, D.C. was a mystery guest on the February 8, 1956 episode of the I've Got a Secret game show. Mr. Seymour (March 28, 1860 - April 12, 1956) was actually 95 years of age at the time of his appearance instead of 96.
If you do some research into what Lincoln believed you will find that Lincoln had said that as far as slavery was concerned, he was happy with the “status quo” on slavery.
That’s a cop out and not giving credit to the skill and practice of the storyteller themself. I’m a great at designing things… because I learned and practiced, nobody did that for me.
There were casts made of Lincoln’s face at the beginning and near the end of his presidency. It is amazing to see the difference in just 4 years. Only a few copies were made of the second casting, and the Missouri Civil War Museum in St. Louis has one of them. Amazing to see.
At 9:18 Lincoln’s body is being taken past a house in New York City… on the second floor of the house, on the upper left corner of the picture can be seen two young boys leaning out to see the President being taken past their house. The little boy on the right is Theodore Roosevelt.
First time visitor here wishing to thank you for a very well done video. The still shot of just his face brings to mind a very common saying when viewing dead people, "He looks like he's just sleeping.".
There is another picture taken of Lincoln many years after this when his tomb was raided in Springfield, but the grave robbers were unsuccessful. His coffin was opened by officials before it was re-entombed deeper in the memorial, and concrete was poured over the vault to prevent grave robbers from ever taking it again. There is video out here on RU-vid with the description, saying that the few who saw it said his face appeared covered in a waxy substance. I assume that this was wax from the decay and embalming performed, but he was still very recognizable as Lincoln.
No photos were ever taken of Lincoln after his return to Springfield's Oak Ridge Cemetery... The descriptions you give are from eye witness accounts of those who viewed his body in 1901 before lowering him into a 13' hole, with an 8' x 8' cage and covering it completely in cement, per instructions of his son Robert.
The picture shows the Lincoln funeral procession through New York City happened to show a six year-old Theodore Roosevelt and his younger brother looking down on the passing procession from the upstairs window of his grandfather's house.
Thank you. I looked it up and found it was written by Walt Whitman as a tribute to Lincoln. Here are a couple of things I learned: the lilacs represent the poet's perennial love for Lincoln; the fallen star (Venus) is Lincoln; and the hermit thrush represents death, or its chant.
@@blondesmommy like so many leaders he wad both hated and loved. He was a humble human being who found himself at a critical moment and stayed the course. He once saw slaves on the auction block and said to his friend that if he ever had the chance he'd break slavery's back.
There's more fascinating stories about Ronald Rietveld, the boy who discovered the photo. He wrote about them in at least one article in the 80's or 90's. He talks about how he, the boy who discovered the photo, also met the last person alive to have known Lincoln, and the last person alive to have seen Lincoln's face (no, NOT the same person), both about 100 years after Lincoln's death.
You cannot force a perfect union by wrecking the lives of a million souls and destroying half the states with scorched earth war crimes and also abandoning the freed slave in the ruins of the vanquished but still very much existing foe without a means of strong support. Look at Lincoln's worry lines on his face. He must have known deep down what his presidency ambition had resulted in.
I’ve always wondered if Stanton had so much on his plate that he just gave a general order to General Stoneman to continue your hostility’s against N.C. until President Jefferson Davis was captured although the war was officially over.
Great Video! In a little-known fact, JW Boothe slept in the same bed Lincoln died in - just hours apart. They too Lincoln to the same Room JWB had rented in the days he got into DC before pulling off the deed.
Booth visited a friend at the Petersen House on occasion, but not on that fateful day. He hadn't rented a room there, since he had taken room 228 at the National Hotel six days before the shooting. His movements on April 14 have all been accounted for by renown Lincoln historians.
In 1990 when visiting Washington DC I had a scheduled tour of the capital with a representative from my congressman’s office. It wasn’t part of the regular tour and probably not allowed - my guide took me down a flight of stairs in the capital and showed me where the catafalque was kept that Lincoln and Kennedy had laid in state on. It was a platform that appeared to be draped in black velvet. It was covered with a clear glass case. The catafalque was in an arched alcove I believe off of a hallway. The alcove had iron bars across it - like a prison cell. It was a highlight of my trip. With the security that has been in place in recent years - I find myself very lucky to have had this experience. I’m sure it doesn’t happen anymore (taking tourists off the beaten path at the capital). I wonder if it is still kept in the same place.
I thought the narrator stated only one of the two photos was preserved. But the photo at 11:29 is not just cropped from the 0:32 photo. Maybe both were saved?
Great video, was really surprised you didn't tie another couple very interesting tidbits about the subject. For anyone even halfway interested I encourage them to go read the account of Fleetwood Lindley and then do a quick search for the photo of a young Teddy Roosevelt captured as he is watching the funeral train in NY out an upper story window. And secondly, go search the last people to actually lay eyes on Lincoln's body ...Fleetwood Lindley and Charles Beaver. Date was no 1865 but 1901 ... Crazy story.
I was just telling somebody that lincoln's funeral train went past where I film trains today In Dunkirk, New York. You can see the Location on the map along Lake Erie South of Buffalo.
I remember seeing a Life or Look magazine many years ago. In it was a story of how Lincoln’s remains neeed to be transferred from from the original burial site after a few years. While in transit, Lincoln’s casket was opened exposing His body after it had been sealed in for years. In the photograph his body was shrunken and his skin chalk white. Does anyone else have any knowledge of this event and subsequent magazine article and picture?
I remember that Life Magazine article from February 15, 1963. The man being interviewed was Fleetwood Lindley from Springfield, Illinois who, at 13, was the last person to view Lincoln's face, before the coffin was lowered 13 feet and permanently buried in cement in Springfield's Oak Ridge Cemetery, per directions of Robert Lincoln. (The late President was not photographed.) The article described Lindley's account of what he saw and how it haunted him for six months. Lindley passed away at 75 on January 31, two weeks after the interview and it was duly noted, posthumously, in the article. He, too, is buried in Oak Ridge Cemetery, about 700 feet SW of the Lincoln Tomb.
I also remember that story in Life Magazine. As I recall there were pictures of people including the young boy, standing around the open coffin. The story was that his father sent him to witness this historical event, the opening of the late President's coffin to confirm grave robbers had not taken it. They said that but for a few post death changes it was easily identifiable as the body of Abraham Lincoln.
@@lindasteinfl It was Life magazine in February of 1965. The crate-like box was never opened nor were its contents ever photographed. A small section was cut away for identification purposes, against Robert Lincoln’s orders. The witnesses reported a “pungent” odor emanating from the box. The pillow had long broken down causing Lincoln’s chin to be thrust upward, but he was positively identified. Upon further inspection, white mildew on his hands and red, white and blue material bits on his chest were later determined to have been white gloves and an American flag, respectively. This final inspection of Lincoln was in September of 1901. He was then buried under 8 feet of concrete at Oak Ridge Cemetery in The Lincoln Memorial in Springfield, Illinois
What an amazing testimony of God's grace! Your story is proof that no situation is too dire for His transformative power. It's wonderful to hear about the love, stability, and purpose you've found in Him. May your life continue to be a shining example of redemption and hope. Hallelujah for your beautiful journey!
The man on the left of the picture is Rear Admiral Davis...at least according to what I have learned. Admiral Davis is a cousin of mine, as was his son...yes, also a Rear Admiral. The first Admiral Davis fought in the west during the Civil War. Under Foote, I believe....on the Mississippi River.
People always looked so rough back in those days. Their skin was blotchy and wrinkled with lots of moles and warts. Their hair and beards were scraggly and unkept.
Actually there is technically another picture of Lincoln in the casket. In the late 1950s his casket was moved back to a safer location in Washington and because there was a window in the casket LIFE magazine took a picture into the casket. What was amazing was he looked exactly the same they said the makeup powder used by the mortician was still evident. ive seen the picture i used to have that issue of the magazine.
Fake story, not true. Lincoln was never buried in Washington and his body was not moved during the 1950s and there is no photo of his face in his casket.. There are death photographs of Lincoln's autopsy that use to be at the Martin Luther King memorial library in Washington, DC (close up photos of his face, the bullet hole in his head, the blood stain pillow, bed etc). This was in the mid 1970s. The photos have since been removed and sent to the Library of Congress..
Actually, this post is inaccurate. Lincoln's casket was moved a number of times due to grave robbers and other concerns, finally in 1901 his casket was opened one last time, including the lead lining, so that the two workers who had opened it previously in the 1880s and a few other selected people could see the condition the body was in and to ensure it was indeed Abraham Lincoln (it was Lincoln per everyone who witnessed this, with reports that his face had turned white from chalky mold, his clothes and a flag had deteriorated, his eyebrows and some of his hair was deteriorated, but it was clearly Lincoln's face/body). No photos were taken by anyone, the lead lining was replaced, casket was lowered 10 ft down into the floor of the newly renovated tomb, cement/concrete poured in to totally encase forever Lincoln's body/casket. Life Magazine did a story in the 1950s about the discovered photo of Lincoln's casket in NYC 1865, and on the magazine, cover was a photo from some distance of some people standing over what looks like a casket (I can't find anything in writing that says it's a photo from when it was moved from storage (during the renovation of the Lincoln Tomb) but it may be.. There is no photo of Lincoln's body through a window in a casket taken by or for Life Magazine in the 1950s.
An interesting video...a much more interesting video would be about what happened to Lincoln's body as his crypt was being built. All the effort to hide his body from the curious and from possible kidnapping. AND that there was an actual kidnapping plot for ransom...fascinating stuff.
LINCOLN DEPRESSED HAD A DREAM WHICH HE SAW SOLDIERS GUARDING A COFFIN. HE ASKED WHO WAS IN THE COFFIN❓ THE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES❗️WAS THE RESPONSE. THEREAFTER, LINCOLN WAS HAPPY🌹
Lincoln's Secretary of War Edwin Stanton had ordered that no photos be taken of Lincoln in the open coffin out of respect for the Lincoln family. He had the plates of the photos destroyed, but this one was saved by Stanton, and preserved by his son...
Sometimes funerals can have trains which I’m a railfan. Still sad that Lincoln died of a gunshot wound that instantly smashed his brain in the back of his head.
Iirc Stanton ordered the general in charge, seen in the photo to place himself under arrest but to continue with the transporting of the body to Springfield.
I have always read that the train with President Lincoln’s body went through my hometown of York, PA - but the map doesn’t seem to show it. Is it possible that the trap coming up from, Baltimore to Harrisburg did go through York?
Well we all know that NO ONE is eating pet cats and dogs in Springfield Ohio. I wonder if they are eating pet cats and dogs in Springfield Illinois?? Probably not...LOL
I googled Black Easter and none of this came up first. It wasn't in the first page so... who knows how far down I have to go.. goo... gooo....gooooo.....goooooo..... .o . o .
