The Vermont watchman. [volume] (Montpelier, Vt.) 1883-1911, 1885-08-12
The Funeral OF General Grant.

by Bishop Harris, and Rev Dr. Newman
delivered an impressive sermon on the sub
ject of the dead general from the text,
4" Well done, thou good and faithful serv~
ant! Enter thou into the joy of the Lord"
The service ended with the hymn Nearer,
my God, to thee" and benediction. The
casket was borne to the train at one o'clock
by members of Grant Post, G.. A. r., of
Brooklyn. A military escort, five hundred
strong, from New York, was drawn up in
line, with uncovered heads as the remains
were carried by. The train was composed of
seven cars and took the military and many
invited guests. The ladies of the Grant
family took later train direct to New York
The remains were transferred to a special
funeral car at Saratoga, and the escort and
mourners also took new coaches The
greatest respect was shown the memory Of
General Grant by the residents of all the
villages and cities through which the flu
neral train passed. Mills and shops were
closed bells were tolled, and people gath
cred by thousands to see the train pass, all
maintaining most respectful silence Sar-
atoga was left at two p. M, and Albany was
reached at forty minutes past three. The
casket was transferred to funeral car
drawn by six horses and guarded by men,
bers of the Grand Army. The remains were
escorted to the capitol by militia and Grand
Army posts, numbering forty-three hundred
men, under command of General Hancock.
The casket was deposited upon a great
catafalque in the senate corridor, and, begin
ming at five o'clock, the remains were viewed
by more than seventy thousand people.
From the arrival of the train until sunset
minute guns were fired.
On Wednesday forenoon the streets in
Albany through which the procession was
to pass to the funeral train were crowded
with spectators. Slowly the funeral car,
drawn by six black horses with their
mourning trappings, moved to the State
street side of the capitol. General Hancock,
mounted upon black charger followed by
his staff, approached the capitol, as did
General Farnsworth and staff. Governor
Hill and staff had gathered at the capitol
and were in waiting. The Grand Army
guard took positions, the blare of glistening
trumpets rang out, and the procession
started at measured pace down State
street, the various organizations falling in
to form the procession, amid the dull boom
of cannon and the tolling and Ginning of
bells in the steeples. The sons of General
Grant and their companions of Tuesday
were driven to the depot, where the long,
black funeral train was waiting its burden.
Guns doomed while the body was being
placed in the car, Woodlawn,' and the
bells tolled slowly.
Along the whole route to New York the
funeral train pushed its way through re-
spectful throngs. Arrived at New York, the
body was borne to the City Hall by process
sion over mile long The procession was
commanded by General Hancock, who rode
at the head with his staff followed by Ma
jor-general Shaler of the state troops; the
regulars and brigades of militia then fol-
lowed the funeral car and the other brigades.
The streets We're slippery and the marching
hard but as the clouds cleared away the
sidewalks again filled up. AT the main
door of the City Hall Mayor Grace received
the casket in the name of the city. The can
opy which was used at Mt. McGregor had
previously arrived, and under it, just within
the entrance, the casket was laid on its
handsome black bier. The embalmers i'm
mediately examined the body, found that it
was but little disarranged by the trip, and
in half an hour pronounced it ready for pub
lie view. Early in the evening the city Off
Gals and their friends took the opportunity
to look upon the hero's face as it lay up
turned beneath the bright electric light
which made the rotunda dazzlingly bright.
While they were thus occupied German
male singing club in the building sang a
requiem. The remains were pronounced to
be in an excellent condition The coffin,
with lid removed, was placed in the cata-
falque, the iron gates were swung open and
the public allowed to enter.
On Thursday the remains lay in state
under the corridors of the City Hall, and
more than seventy-ive thousand people
passed through in double line giving look
at the dead face. Very few people of note
appeared in the procession, but it was
made up chiefly of people of the working
classes, and with women nearly equal
in number to the men. n large crowd
of people visited the tomb in Riverside
Park during the day The steel shell to
enclose the casket of General Grant arrived
from Troy. 1t weighs thirty-eght hundred
pounds and is made of half-inch thick rolled
steel, riveted at the edges and corners like
boiler. When the casket is enclosed in it the
whole will weigh over three tons, and it will
then be permanently closed with hot rivets.
On Friday the same great crowd surged
about the City Hall as was seen Thursday,
while the line of those waiting to see the face
of the dead general reached at times two and
one-half miles up Broadway. Yet there was
no disturbance, no break and no loud words
| Toward night the pressure increased, and
at midnight there were still ten thousand
people waiting in line. AT one A. NJ. (Satur-
day the iron gates were closed, leaving at
least thousand disappointed people out
| side. 1t is estimated that two hundred
thousand persons viewed the remains in the
! two days.
| The last funeral rites were performed on
| Saturday. 1t is estimated that nearly one
! million visitors were from outside the city,
and nearly three million people were on the
! streets on the line of parade. The weather
was very warm, and there were some pros
trations from heat. The day was ushered
in by the tolling of countless bells and re-
newed dirges upon Trinity chimes. Upon
Broadway the movement of cars and traffic
teams was suspended at dawn; and that
wide, handsome avenue was kept clear by
| the police for the movement of the funeral
cortege. The regulars of four federal forts
near the city, six hundred strong, were
massed on Broadway, just below the City
| Hall Fifteen thousand state militia, mostly
| from New York or Brooklyn, but including
nearly a dozen regiments and detached
companies from Massachusetts, Connecti-
cut, Pennsylvania, New Jersey, Washing
ton, Virginia, Georgia, Minnesota or other
| places, took position in the two miles of
Broadway next above the City Hall. In
score of cross streets-Canal and those north
| of it, but to the westward of Broadway
| twenty-thousand veterans from all over the
country formed, in larger or smaller bodies.
In another group of cross streets, east of
the main thoroughfare, the civic organiza-
tons approached the line of march and
halted. These included the historic Gin
cinnati, the great commercial exchanges of
| the city, various republican clubs, veteran
firemen, knights of Pythias and such orders.
The removal of the remains to the
catafalque was an impressive ceremony.
Across the front of the marble town-house
battalion of regulars was thrown in double
file, their backs to the building. At its CEN
! ter, before the portico, the line was divided,
and two other lines were extended up the
steps to the iron gates, these two facing
each other This maneuver was executed
with beautiful precision and, at the order,
with the uniformity of clock-work, every
man of the two hundred presented arms,
and stood with statuesque immobility.
The gates swung open. Twelve veterans
| bore upon their shoulders the purple COW
]