Mourning Lincoln by Martha Hodes (review)

Rather than repeating the oft-told and sometimes monotonous details of the Lincoln assassination, Martha Hodes’s Mourning Lincoln explores the social reactions to the assassination, using diaries, letters, newspaper articles, sermons, and other primary sources. She offers a regional investigation of the aftermath of Lincoln’s assassination, highlighting three individuals who exemplify the differing factions in place at the conclusion of the Civil War. The abolitionists Albert and Sarah Browne from Massachusetts are the first two, and the third is Rodney Dorman, a staunch secessionist from Jacksonville, Florida. Using these figures as representatives of the whole, Hodes is able to compare and contrast the myriad reactions to Lincoln’s death. While the book does indeed achieve its stated goal and produce insightful thoughts, it is not without deficiencies and flaws.

Using the diaries and personal correspondence of the highlighted individuals, Hodes shows the reader how vastly different and complicated the reactions to the assassination were. Here is where the book’s stated purpose truly succeeds. Hodes meticulously chronicles the opposing divisions and viewpoints that existed as a result of the War Between the States. She is careful to note all sides, including abolitionists, average northerners and southerners, soldiers on both sides, avid secessionists, southern unionists, and Copperheads. The sources paint a picture of a nation that was not singularly mourning. Instead the reader is shown that many were in fact elated about the assassination, while others were deeply upset but for reasons far from love of the president. This compilation of opinions is a revealing look at the societal disharmony that permeated the times.

Although historical details abound, Hodes misses key opportunities to elaborate on the funerary customs of the time and gets lost in a monotonous retelling of certain death-inspired reactions, both internal and external. Admittedly, the discussions of “black drapery” (10) and “mourning fabric” (52) are essential to the exploration of nineteenth-century death rituals, but the examples and even the terms themselves become repetitive. Not only is space wasted on overused quotes and examples, but the author fails to adequately explain funeral customs and the funeral industry as a whole. Undertaking and embalming are explored but only slightly, which may leave many an uninformed reader asking questions. The rudimentary explanations offered by the book are insufficient and lack the meticulous detail employed with other topics. Concededly, the book is officially about public sentiment in reaction to the assassination. Yet there is no discussion about public opinions toward the embalming process and the profound change in attitude toward embalming that occurred as a direct result of Lincoln’s funeral. American funerary history and public opinion on embalming were forever altered by the events described in the book, but they receive little attention.

Aside from mourning rituals, the book is also quite repetitive in the discussion of the purported reasons for the assassination, at least in the way that they relate to God. In retelling the rationalizations of the religious, Hodes centers on two distinct interpretations of the same ideology. Some claimed that the slain president would have been too lenient in carrying out reconstruction and therefore “God had taken him away at just the right moment” (136). Others believed that clemency remained paramount in order to honor the wishes of the deceased president. These two philosophies sparked heated debate with some wishing to continue in Lincoln’s merciful path while the opposition claimed that Lincoln was certainly not the man needed to rebuild the nation. The details of this argument are repeated often enough to become more tedious than insightful. Additionally, very little mention is made of the Catholic faith in regard to religious reactions. Numerous religions are discussed, but one of the largest segments of Christianity is almost completely ignored. Scant mention of Catholics is made but only including them in the group of northerners (often Irish) who opposed Lincoln. Interestingly, the book lacks any Catholic sermon or clerical sentiment.

Aside from the repetition and omission of certain themes...