This year marks the 160th anniversary of the American milestone of the Gettysburg Address. To commemorate this momentous speech in American history, Westfield-based The Lincoln Special has initiated a statewide tour (referred to as “roadshows”) of Indiana, tracing Lincoln’s 1865 train route of his funeral train that visited Michigan City in 1865.
 
A total of 13 cities are included in these roadshows where Executive Director Chris Allen will be staging a free, hour-long symposium that highlights Lincoln’s life and legacy after his assassination at Ford’s Theater. “It’s imperative to remind people in Lincoln’s home state that his story didn’t just end at Ford’s Theater,” said Allen. “Even in death, Lincoln’s story continued on, only with us as authors.” He added. “Every city and town in Indiana that Lincoln’s funeral train stopped at shares an indelible connection to our nation’s story.”
 
Roadshows kicked off in October and continues into the New Year on Saturday, January 6, 2024 at the Michigan City Public Library at 100 E. 4th St. at 2:00pm. “Michigan City is particularly exciting given the rich history of the Barker family to President Lincoln,” Allen added. “Michigan City put together one of the more prominent arches along Lincoln’s final journey home.” Said Allen of the historic event. “I can’t wait to visit Michigan City!”
 
“Lincoln’s Funeral Train acted as a zipper that brought hundreds of thousands of people together at this nation’s most fractured point,” Allen noted. “His funeral train proved that even in death, this man [Lincoln] could unite people like nothing before or since.”
 
Lincoln’s remains arrived in his boyhood home state on April 29, 1865, just 21 days after his assassination at Ford’s Theater in Washington. “It wasn’t just Lincoln’s remains that came through here,” explained The Lincoln Special’s Executive Director Chris Allen. “It was everything Lincoln stood for, the Emancipation Proclamation, the 13th Amendment, and the Gettysburg Address that came through here.”
 
Roadshows will focus on Lincoln’s life and The Lincoln Special’s plans for a major
motion picture about the Funeral Train in Indiana. All Roadshows are free and open to the general public.
 
“History has an echo… our task is to make it heard.” is The Lincoln Special’s mission,
and is an IRS approved 501(c)3 nonprofit based in Westfield, Indiana. For more information, please visit www.tearsandiron.com or call (317) 967.6190.