After Abraham Lincoln was assassinated on April 14, 1865, a three-week series of events was held to mourn the death and memorialize the life of the 16th president of the United States. Funeral services, a procession, and a lying in state were first held in Washington, D.C., then a funeral train transported Lincoln's remains 1,654 miles (2,662 km) through seven states for burial in Springfield, Illinois. Never exceeding 20 mph, the train made several stops in principal cities and state capitals for processions, orations, and additional lyings in state. Millions of Americans viewed the train along the route and participated in associated ceremonies.

The train left Washington, on April 21 at 12:30 pm. It bore Lincoln's eldest son Robert Todd and the remains of Lincoln's younger son, William Wallace Lincoln (1850–1862), but not Lincoln's wife Mary Todd Lincoln, who was too distraught to make the trip. The train largely retraced the route Lincoln had traveled to Washington as the president-elect on his way to his first inauguration, more than four years earlier. The train arrived at Springfield on May 3. Lincoln was interred on May 4, at Oak Ridge Cemetery in Springfield. Every town the train passed or stopped in there was always a crowd to pay their respects to one of the greatest men in history.

By 1874, several features had been added to the Lincoln Tomb, including a 117-foot (36 m)-tall granite obelisk surrounded with several bronze statues of Lincoln and soldiers and sailors. Mary Todd Lincoln and three of their four sons—Willie, Eddie, and Tad—are also buried there. Today, it is owned and managed as a state historic site.