Springfield, Illinois, cold and rainy
through the morning hours, was anxiously watching and waiting for the appearance
of the presidential party in the streets. A large crowd had gathered
at the railway station to meet the train that would convey Abraham Lincoln
to Washington D.C., and his inauguration on March 4 as the 16th President
of the United States (Tomorrow, February 12, Lincoln would celebrate his
52nd birthday).
At last the tall figure of the President-elect appeared.
Holding his familiar stove-pipe hat in place on his head, he lifted his eyes
skyward to the first break in the storm he had read as a sign of trouble
ahead. There had been threats against his life, states had seceded
from the Union, and now his team of security men wanted him to board the
train so it could leave quickly.
But Lincoln needed a moment more to say goodbye to Springfield.
Clutching
his cloak tighter around his neck, he stepped out on the rear car of the
train before the cheering crowd.
"My friends," he began solemnly. "No one who has never been placed in a like
position can understand my feeling at this hour or the oppressive sadness
I feel at this parting. For more than a quarter of a century I have received
nothing but kindness at your hands. Here I have lived from my youth until
now I am an old man. Here the most sacred ties of earth were assumed. Here
all my children were born and here one of them lies buried. To you, my dear
friends, I owe all that I have, all that I am.
"All the strange, checkered past seems to crowd now upon my mind. Today,
I leave you. I go to assume a task more difficult than that which devolved
upon Washington. Unless the God who assisted him shall be with and aid me,
I must fail; but if the same omniscient mind and almighty arm that directed
and protected him shall guide and support me, I shall not fail, I shall succeed.
Let us pray that the God of our fathers may not forsake me now. To Him, I
commend you all. Permit me to ask that with equal sincerity and faith
you will invite His wisdom and guidance for me.
"With these words, I must leave you, for how long I know not. Friends, one
and all, I bid you an affectionate farewell." If Lincoln later felt
that he had left something out in his speech, friends he left behind knew
he had not. They sensed in his emotion, saw in his sad expression, what he
had to but couldn't tell them: Goodbye forever.