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On Dec. 19, 2023, the late Justice Sandra Day O’Connor will lie in repose on the Supreme Court docket upon the Lincoln catafalque. The easy picket flatform is steeped in custom and solely Congress can confer such an honor on public officers and personal figures.
On the information of President Abraham Lincoln’s demise in April 1865, Benjamin Brown French Sr., the commissioner of public buildings for the federal district, was tasked with overseeing funeral preparations for the late president. He requested his son to design a catafalque for Lincoln, and Assistant Commissioner Job W. Angus, with some assist from others, constructed the platform. French Sr.’s spouse made and trimmed its black fabric cowl. The catafalque was a part of Lincoln’s providers on the Capitol Rotunda; one other catafalque was used when the president’s physique lay in state within the White Home’s East Room.
The Lincoln catafalque was described intimately in up to date newspapers in April 1865. “The bottom is one foot excessive, eight and a half ft lengthy, and 4 ft large, and is roofed with high-quality black fabric. The dais is 2 ft excessive, seven ft lengthy, and two and a half ft large. At every nook of the dais is a sloping union column, representing bundles of fasces tied with silver lute. This dais can also be lined with black fabric and heavy festoons of the identical materials, which is edged with silver fringe held on both facet, being gathered within the middle with a black rosette of satin ribbon, with a silver star, and from this falls a fold of fabric, the tip of which containing three stars.”
French had the catafalque’s fabric returned to Washington from Springfield, Illinois, after Lincoln’s last memorial service, and the material and platform have been saved within the Crypt of the Capitol beneath the Rotunda.
In 1868, Congress accredited using the Lincoln catafalque for a memorial for Rep. Thaddeus Stevens, beginning the custom of utilizing the catafalque for ceremonies for folks of nationwide significance.
Since Lincoln’s funeral in 1865, solely Congress has the flexibility to order the catafalque faraway from storage or show for ceremonial functions. For Justice O’Connor and several other different Supreme Court docket justices, the decision may be very particular and “directs the Architect of the Capitol (AOC) to switch to the custody of the U.S. Supreme Court docket the catafalque (a picket platform) located within the crypt beneath the Capitol rotunda in order that it could be used within the Supreme Court docket Constructing in reference to providers.” After providers, “the custody of the catafalque shall then be returned to the AOC for use in reference to such providers to be carried out in Nationwide Statuary Corridor.” The Home and Senate should approve the decision.
The catafalque has been used for a lot of, however not all, dignitaries in providers carried out at a number of accredited areas within the federal district, together with the Supreme Court docket, Nationwide Statuary Corridor, the Outdated Supreme Court docket Chamber, the doorway to the Home Chamber, and the Capitol’s East Central Entrance Portico. When not in use, the catafalque is on show on the Capitol Customer Heart.
Hyperlink: Full Checklist of Folks Honored with the Lincoln Catafalque
The official state funeral tips from the Division of the Military present basic definitions for the kind of providers noticed. An individual lies “in state” in the event that they have been a present or former authorities official. An individual lies “in honor” in the event that they have been a personal citizen or a former authorities official whose casket is within the Capitol constructing however not within the Rotunda, whereas an individual lies “in repose” in the event that they have been a present or former member of the federal government, and the service will not be on the Capitol.
Within the case of Justice O’Connor, she will probably be honored in repose on the Supreme Court docket constructing and her casket will probably be on the catafalque. That custom dates again to 1873, when Chief Justice Salmon Chase’s casket was in repose on the Lincoln catafalque within the Supreme Court docket room within the Capitol constructing. In line with the Architect of the Capitol, for the following 100 years, the Lincoln catafalque was used completely within the Capitol Rotunda till providers have been held for Chief Justice Earl Warren on the Supreme Court docket constructing in July 1974.
The Lincoln catafalque can also be linked to a legend attributed to President Lincoln. In line with Lincoln’s buddy and bodyguard, Ward Hill Lamon, the president had a disturbing dream that he associated to Lamon and Lincoln’s household earlier than Lincoln’s assassination.
In Recollections of Abraham Lincoln, Lamon recalled President Lincoln telling him that his dream began with the president listening to sobs within the White Home however encountering no folks till he went downstairs from his bed room. Lamon recounted the story in Lincoln’s personal phrases. “Decided to search out the reason for a state of issues so mysterious and so surprising, I stored on till I arrived on the East Room, which I entered. There I met with a sickening shock. Earlier than me was a catafalque, on which rested a corpse wrapped in funeral vestments. Round it have been stationed troopers who have been appearing as guards; and there was a throng of individuals, some gazing totally upon the corpse, whose face was lined, others weeping pitifully.”
The story continued. “Who’s lifeless within the White Home? Lincoln requested one of many troopers. The ‘President,’ was his reply; he was killed by an murderer! Then got here a loud burst of grief from the gang, which awoke me from my dream.” Lamon recalled the dream as “annoying” President Lincoln.
Whereas students have solid doubt on Lamon’s account, the catafalque’s affiliation with Lincoln has been part of a part of American folklore because the Eighteen Eighties, and the catafalque holds the place of a novel relic reserved for “any one that has rendered distinguished service to the nation … if the household so needs and Congress approves.”
Scott Bomboy is the editor in chief of the Nationwide Structure Heart.
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