America’s relic: The story of the Lincoln catafalque

On Dec. 19, 2023, the late Justice Sandra Day O’Connor will lie in repose at the Supreme Court upon the Lincoln catafalque. The simple wooden flatform is steeped in tradition and only Congress can confer such an honor on public officials and private figures.

On the news of President Abraham Lincoln’s death in April 1865, Benjamin Brown French Sr., the commissioner of public buildings for the federal district, was tasked with overseeing funeral arrangements for the late president. He asked his son to design a catafalque for Lincoln, and Assistant Commissioner Job W. Angus, with some help from others, built the platform. French Sr.’s wife made and trimmed its black cloth cover. The catafalque was part of Lincoln’s services at the Capitol Rotunda; another catafalque was used when the president’s body lay in state in the White House’s East Room.

The Lincoln catafalque was described in detail in contemporary newspapers in April 1865. “The base is one foot high, eight and a half feet long, and four feet wide, and is covered with fine black cloth. The dais is two feet high, seven feet long, and two and a half feet wide. At each corner of the dais is a sloping union column, representing bundles of fasces tied with silver lute. This dais is also covered with black cloth and heavy festoons of the same material, which is edged with silver fringe hung on either side, being gathered in the center with a black rosette of satin ribbon, with a silver star, and from this falls a fold of cloth, the end of which containing three stars.”

French had the catafalque’s cloth returned to Washington from Springfield, Illinois, after Lincoln’s final memorial service, and the cloth and platform were stored in the Crypt of the Capitol beneath the Rotunda.

In 1868, Congress approved the use of the Lincoln catafalque for a memorial for Rep. Thaddeus Stevens, starting the tradition of using the catafalque for ceremonies for people of national importance.

Since Lincoln’s funeral in 1865, only Congress has the ability to order the catafalque removed from storage or display for ceremonial purposes. For Justice O’Connor and several other Supreme Court justices, the resolution is very specific and “directs the Architect of the Capitol (AOC) to transfer to the custody of the U.S. Supreme Court the catafalque (a wooden platform) situated in the crypt beneath the Capitol rotunda so that it may be used in the Supreme Court Building in connection with services.” After services, “the custody of the catafalque shall then be returned to the AOC to be used in connection with such services to be conducted in National Statuary Hall.” The House and Senate must approve the resolution.

The catafalque has been used for many, but not all, dignitaries in services conducted at several approved locations in the federal district, including the Supreme Court, National Statuary Hall, the Old Supreme Court Chamber, the entrance to the House Chamber, and the Capitol’s East Central Front Portico. When not in use, the catafalque is on display at the Capitol Visitor Center.

Link: Complete List of People Honored with the Lincoln Catafalque

The official state funeral guidelines from the Department of the Army provide general definitions for the type of services observed. A person lies “in state” if they were a current or former government official. A person lies “in honor” if they were a private citizen or a former government official whose casket is in the Capitol building but not in the Rotunda, while a person lies “in repose” if they were a current or former member of the government, and the service is not at the Capitol.

In the case of Justice O’Connor, she will be honored in repose at the Supreme Court building and her casket will be on the catafalque. That tradition dates back to 1873, when Chief Justice Salmon Chase’s casket was in repose on the Lincoln catafalque in the Supreme Court room in the Capitol building. According to the Architect of the Capitol, for the next 100 years, the Lincoln catafalque was used exclusively in the Capitol Rotunda until services were held for Chief Justice Earl Warren at the Supreme Court building in July 1974.

The Lincoln catafalque is also linked to a legend attributed to President Lincoln. According to Lincoln’s friend and bodyguard, Ward Hill Lamon, the president had a disturbing dream that he related to Lamon and Lincoln’s family before Lincoln’s assassination.

In Recollections of Abraham Lincoln, Lamon recalled President Lincoln telling him that his dream started with the president hearing sobs in the White House but encountering no people until he went downstairs from his bedroom. Lamon recounted the tale in Lincoln’s own words. “Determined to find the cause of a state of things so mysterious and so shocking, I kept on until I arrived at the East Room, which I entered. There I met with a sickening surprise. Before me was a catafalque, on which rested a corpse wrapped in funeral vestments. Around it were stationed soldiers who were acting as guards; and there was a throng of people, some gazing fully upon the corpse, whose face was covered, others weeping pitifully.”

The tale continued. “Who is dead in the White House? Lincoln asked one of the soldiers. The ‘President,’ was his answer; he was killed by an assassin! Then came a loud burst of grief from the crowd, which awoke me from my dream.” Lamon recalled the dream as “annoying” President Lincoln.

While scholars have cast doubt on Lamon’s account, the catafalque’s association with Lincoln has been a part of part of American folklore since the 1880s, and the catafalque holds the position of a unique relic reserved for “any person who has rendered distinguished service to the nation … if the family so wishes and Congress approves.”

Scott Bomboy is the editor in chief of the National Constitution Center.