The Lincoln Catafalque

Like everyone else today, I watched as Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg set new precedents even as the nation mourned her passing.  Today, her coffin was moved from the Supreme Court Building to the Capitol to lie in state.  She is the first woman and the first Jewish American to be so honored.

If you watched any of the solemn proceedings, you were sure to hear an announcer say that the coffin was resting on a catafalque built for President Abraham Lincoln.  You had to hear it:  they repeated it every fifteen minutes.

So, what is a catafalque?  The word comes from the Latin word for scaffolding and simply refers to a strong trapezoidal wooden box designed to support the weight of a coffin.  In April, 1865, after the assassination of President Lincoln, Benjamin French, the Commissioner of Public Buildings, had the catafalque constructed from rough pine boards, and then had the frame covered with a black bunting designed and sewn by his wife.  

Over the years, while the catafalque has been altered to support the heavier weight of modern coffins, the pine wood is original, while the bunting has been replaced many times, but still retaining the original draped form used for President Lincoln.  At present, the catafalque is seven feet and one inch long, two feet six inches wide, and two feet tall, with the top platform measuring eleven feet long and six feet wide.

The catafalque has been used frequently over the years for the funerals of distinguished people in government or in the military who have lain “in state” at the capitol or at Arlington Cemetery.  For example, it was used for several, but not all, of the presidents who have died since Lincoln.  It was used for the funeral of the Unknown Soldiers of both World Wars, Korea, and Viet Nam, as well as for the funerals of Admiral Dewey and General Douglas MacArthur.  Either the Senate or the House of Representatives can authorize the use of the Lincoln Catafalque for a member of their chambers, but when the bier is used for members of the military, the request must come from the President.

The Lincoln Catafalque is not used for the funerals of people who ‘lie in honor’ at the capitol, such as for Reverend Billy Graham or for Rosa Parks.

Upon the death of a Supreme Court Justice, the catafalque is usually borrowed and the coffin “lies in repose” within the Supreme Court Building.  Only two Supreme Court Justices have lain “in state” at the capitol:  William Howard Taft (because he was president before he became a Justice) and today, Justice Ginsburg.

By this point, you are probably wondering just where they keep a massive wooden frame when it is not being used for funerals.  It’s large, heavy, and needs a space that is more or less coffin-shaped.  After George French allowed the catafalque to accompany Lincoln’s coffin on the long trip back to Lincoln’s home, he kept it as a memento, announcing that he intended to store the large wooden bier in George Washington’s tomb. 

I can just hear everyone thinking, “George Washington’s tomb?  I thought he was buried at Mount Vernon.”

Our first president is buried on his former plantation, Mount Vernon, but when he died in 1799 and the new capitol was still being constructed, the plans included a tomb for our first president two stories beneath the rotunda.  Martha Washington, his widow, gave her consent to the plan, despite her husband’s having left instructions in his will that he be buried at Mount Vernon.  Washington was placed in a temporary tomb while work continued on the capitol building.

Surprising no one today—Congress could never quite agree on the final design for the tomb, nor exactly how much the new nation should spend.  Congress tried to reach agreements in 1800, 1816, 1824, and 1829—and naturally failed to come to agreement, that being the usual course for Congress unless there is an emergency.

In 1830, there was, indeed, such an emergency, when a gardener on the estate became irate after being fired by John Augustine Washington II, the president’s nephew and heir to the estate.  Returning at night, the former gardener broke into the crypt with the intention of stealing the skull of George Washington.  The crypt was poorly constructed and water had rotted away most of the two dozen assorted caskets holding various members of the Washington family, and the various bodies were literally lying on the ground, spilling out of the remains of the wooden caskets.  In the dark, the gardener absconded with the head of one of the President’s in-laws.  (In case you are wondering, George and Martha were spared this indignity, their bodies having been encased in lead.)

At last, Congress acted, finally agreeing on plans for the Capitol Crypt, and the tomb was hastily completed.  But when it came time to move the president’s remains, John Washington refused to disturb his uncle, and decided that George Washington’s body should “remain at rest” at Mount Vernon.  (A few years later, John built a new and more secure crypt and moved George and Martha into it.  At the same time, John moved his uncle’s body into a new casket, taking the opportunity to interrupt the president’s “rest” by cutting open the lead sheets to view the president’s remains.  According to Harper’s Magazine, the corpse "appeared to have suffered little from the effects of time.")

If you visit the Capitol in the immediate future, you will find the Lincoln Catafalque on display as part of an exhibit in the United States Capitol Visitor Center, a museum located underground, beneath the East side of the Capitol.  When the museum exhibit is changed next time, the catafalque intended for Lincoln will be returned to the crypt intended for Washington.