Evening Republican, Volume 21, Number 305, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 31 December 1917 — June 1 Day of Mourning. [ARTICLE]

June 1 Day of Mourning.

President Johnson, succeeding Lincoln after the latter’s assassination, issued a proclamation appointing the 25th of May, 1865, as a day of national humiliation and prayer because of the death of Lincoln. Someone discovered that the 25th of May would be “Ascension day” in the Christian ecclesiastical calendar and called President Johnson’s attention to the incongruity of converting that Christian festival of rejoicing into a day of humiliation and prayer because of the death of a mortal man. Whereupon a new proclamation was issued substituting June 1 as the day of the mourning.