Shortly after 10 a.m. on the morning of Monday April 24, 1865, a ferry set out across the Hudson River from a landing in Jersey City. Bedecked with symbols of patriotism and mourning, it held the corpse of the assassinated Abraham Lincoln, en route from the place of his death in Washington D.C. to his ultimate resting place in Springfield, Illinois. Rather than take the most direct route, the funeral train wound through the five most populous Northern states, making numerous stops to allow mourners to come and pay their respects. When the ferry landed on the east bank of the Hudson, somber crowds filled the roadways to watch as the casket was transferred to an ornate hearse that set out for City Hall in Manhattan. The horses pulled the funerary carriage away from the ferry landing and down the first leg towards the heart of the city: Desbrosses Street, the background subject of a new choral work by Michael Gordon.
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