Abe’s Hearse Draws Crowd at American Combat Veterans of War’s Oceanside Site — Honest
By Rick Rogers
Special to Homeland Magazine
Any credible list of America’s finest presidents would feature Abraham Lincoln, George Washington and Franklin D. Roosevelt at the top — and for good reasons.
Two led the country through near extinction events and the third commanded the very army that created the United States.
Among these giants, Lincoln might standalone in his affinity towards war veterans. One himself, it’s often forgotten his masterful Gettysburg Address was inspired by a Civil War cemetery dedication at the Pennsylvania battlefield that marked the beginning of the end for Confederate dreams of a separate nation.
Also little known is that lines from Lincoln’s second inaugural address on March 4, 1865 – days after Appomattox and six weeks before the 56-year-old’s assassination — are still echoed daily by the Department of Veterans Affairs to describe its core mission.
In that speech, an introspective Lincoln touches upon moral and religious implications of the bloodiest civil conflict in U.S. history before recognizing the un-payable debt the country owes those who sacrificed life, limb and comfort to preserve the Union.
He also further spelled out this national obligation — and what would later become the role of the VA — when he said the United States owed to those who served: “To care for him who shall have borne the battle and for his widow, and his orphan.”
Those words would again take life in 1959 when plaques embossed with those very impactful lines were placed at the entrance of the VA’s headquarters in Washington, D.C.
In the weeks following Lincoln’s death, his funeral train fish-hooked its way through 180 cities and seven states in the East and Midwest before delivering the “Great Emancipator” to his final resting place in his adopted hometown of Springfield, Ill.
In city after city along the way, Lincoln’s remains were borne through thronged thoroughfares aboard elaborate horse-pulled hearses and trailed by blue clad troops paying last respects to their wartime commander-in-chief.
The public outpouring was immense. An estimated 8 million Americans out of a population of perhaps 35 million paid homage to the mournful procession.
The closest the procession ever got to California was central Illinois – until mid February.
Fast forward about a century and a half.
April 15 marks the 150th anniversary of Lincoln’s death and Springfield is going all out to celebrate its most famous transplant.
Among the tributes and commemorations celebrating Lincoln is a unique one involving modern era combat veterans, California and the recreation of Lincoln’s last ride.
A little background first.
In mid-2013, The 2015 Lincoln Funeral Coalition asked Staab Funeral Homes in Springfield about ideas concerning a hearse that could be used for the sesquicentennial occasion.
Instead of finding one, P.J. Staab II decided to build one.
Immediately, he and Lincoln scholars began researching the last hearse that transported president’s remains to the Lincoln Tomb at Springfield’s Oak Ridge Cemetery on May 4, 1865. The exhausting work made necessary because the original hearse burned in an 1887 fire leaving no clue to how it was built let alone its dimensions.
To do this Staab assembled a team of historians and craftsmen to re-create the hearse from scratch. Little by little history relinquished its secrets about arguably the most famous hearse of the most famous president.
Something else became apparent as well. Staab quickly discovered veterans were eager to help rebuild the 13-foot high hearse complete with gold plate, black Ostrich plumes and black onyx finials. In fact, they considered working on the project an honor.
One of them was Eric Hollenbeck, a Vietnam vet who served in the 101st Airborne, and owns Blue Ox Millworks in Eureka, California.
Hollenbeck’s only request before signing on was that other vets be allowed to work on the project. Staab quickly agreed.
“This project was just the thing I needed to engage a group of returning veterans who served on the front lines in Afghanistan and Iraq,” Hollenbeck said. “I know what these veterans are going through and they need to do something positive. This timely endeavor is just the project that these veterans need to rally behind. Having a part I making a positive, historical impact within the great nation they fought for is priceless.”
The Blue Ox School for Veterans now has nearly a dozen veterans working on the
hearse project.
Other veterans were drawn to the project as well.
“We didn’t plan to do this with veterans,” Staab is fond of saying. “But that’s where God led us. Somehow it’s about the veterans gaining respect. They deserve 100 percent of the credit on this.”
Many other individuals and specialty companies from across the nation pitched in, too. A wagon builder from Kentucky; a metrology and 3D scanning outfit from St. Louis; architect’s from Springfield; a hearse maker from Tombstone, Az.; a New Jersey flag maker.
Nearly 18 months after the project began, the Lincoln hearse rolled up to the Oceanside office of the American Combat Veterans of War, a non-profit organization respected for its work with former service members deployed to war.
There, Staab addressed a group that gathered for the occasion.
“This is an unfinished work of art by combat veterans,” Staab said.
Carried on flatbed, the wooden body was in transit from Eureka to Tombstone for a final kitting out before heading to Springfield for its May debut.
Earlier in the day, Marines from Camp Pendleton got a chance to take a look.
“The Marines were really impressed to know that their fellow brothers in arms were the ones who created this,” Hollenbeck said.
After the Springfield re-enactment, the Lincoln hearse will go to the Staab family. But it won’t be the last time the public sees this relic of the past created in the present to be preserved for the future.
The Abraham Lincoln Presidential Museum, in Springfield, will display the hearse for four months a year.
Rick Rogers is a San Diego-based journalist who has covered military and veterans’ issues for decades. He can be reached at [email protected].
