CARMEL, In. – President Abraham Lincoln's funeral train famously stopped in Cambridge City on April 30th, 1865 on its way to Springfield, Illinois. As the first sitting U.S. President to be assassinated while in office, President Lincoln's funeral train came through Cambridge City just 21 days after the surrender of the Confederacy at Appomattox on April 9th, 1865. A new motion picture about Lincoln's funeral train in Cambridge City will be the focus of this untold chapter in American history.
Filmmaker and Executive Director of the Lincoln Special, Chris Allen, will be unveiling plans for a $6.4 million film that features the stop in Cambridge City as a moment of significant historical consequence. "Think of it like a zipper,” Allen explained, “Lincoln's funeral train pulled people together at a seminal moment in our nation's history. Hundreds of thousands of people came to see this slow-rolling funeral procession, to stand out in the dark under a cold rain to pay their respects for a leader who lost his life just six days after the end of the Civil War."
The motion picture, which will come to be used as a nonprofit educational tool, features the story of a former slave who risks his life to pay his respects to the fallen 16th President. Allen says this film will be taken to underserved communities throughout the United States, to engage conversation about race, grief, and history. "Most folks who can't make it to Springfield or Washington, D.C. won't get to see the Lincoln Memorial, much less understand the reason why it’s as large as it is," Allen went on to say, "Movies are the most powerful medium in the history of civilization for communicating thoughts, ideas, and stories. The final story of Lincoln has never been told this way, and Cambridge City is the place to tell that story of the United States coming together in a moment of unique, national grief."
Allen will be unveiling plans for the motion picture outside at the Cambridge City Christian Church at 7pm on Saturday, July 30th. Free Chick-fil-A sandwiches will be shared as well as cold drinks. The event will include special guest Shannon Brown, a historian on the Lincoln Funeral Train as well as a Board Member of The Lincoln Special. Brown will be speaking on the impact of this event on our nation's history.
"We need Lincoln's wisdom and his empathy, now more than ever," Allen shared, "What a wonderful gift Lincoln's life continues to give us. Please join us next Saturday Night at 7pm!”
The Lincoln Special is an IRS approved 501(c)3 nonprofit based in Westfield, Indiana. For more information, please visit www.tearsandiron.com or call Executive Director Chris Allen at (317) 967.6190. The Lincoln Special’s mission is “History has an echo... our task is to make it heard.”
