- Abraham Lincoln was the first assassinated US President and perhaps the greatest President, certainly only approached by Washington. He was shot in the head by actor and Southern sympathizer John Wilkes Booth on April 14, 1865, while attending a performance of Our American Cousin at Ford’s Theater in Washington, D.C. He was carried to the house of William Petersen across the street, where he died the next morning.

- I think that Abraham Lincoln’s grave is the largest of any president; indeed, to my knowledge it is the largest gravesite monument to any person buried in the United States. Lincoln is buried in Oak Ridge Cemetery in Springfield, Illinois. His monument is so large that the state of Illinois built a house next to it where, to this day, the groundskeeper for the tomb lives.

- Lincoln’s death and burial are the subject of endless intrigue and speculation. It took quite a while for them to get Lincoln’s body situated…his body was kept in at least 5 different locations after his death, moved as many as 17 times during the various restorations and reconstructions of his tomb. Also, his coffin was opened 5 different times after his death to confirm that his remains were actually still there (most recently in 1901, 36 years after his death).

- After his death, Lincoln’s body lay in state in 14 different cities over a two-and-a-half week period. His face had shriveled and blackened by the time he was buried in Springfield.

- In contrast to the grand tomb of Lincoln, the assassination conspirators have been buried in complete obscurity. John Wilkes Booth is buried in an unmarked grave in Green Mount Cemetery in Baltimore, Maryland. Sam Arnold’s grave, in the same cemetery, is nearly as forgotten—a small white stone simply inscribed “Arnold.” David Herold is in an unmarked grave in Congressional Cemetery in Washington, D.C. Mary Surratt (the first and, I believe, only? woman in US history to be executed by the federal government) is buried beneath a small black stone inscribed “Mrs. Surratt” (the stone has been vandalized several times over the years so the one there now is not the original). Other conspirators are similarly forgotten.

- Abraham Lincoln had four sons, only one of which lived to adulthood. His eldest son, Robert Todd Lincoln, lived into his 80’s and had a successful political career himself. In fact, it is likely he would have been elected president had he not absolutely refused the entreaties of his party’s leaders. As the son of the nation’s only assassinated president, he was something of a celebrity. He served in various political posts culminating with his appointment as Secretary of War by President James Garfield. In fact, Robert was with President Garfield at the train station when the president was shot by Charles Guiteau, becoming the second assassinated president. And then, in another amazing coincidence, later in life, Robert was the guest of President William McKinley at the Pan-American Exhibition in Buffalo, New York, when President McKinley was assassinated. From that point forward, Robert believed he was cursed and refused to accept any further presidential invitations until his death.

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