Abe's 200th birthday American flag will be given to random recipient

[January 30, 2009]  SPRINGFIELD -- One visitor will leave Lincoln Tomb with a flag on Feb. 12. But it won't be just any U.S. flag -- it will be the flag that flew over the 16th president's final resting place on his 200th birthday.

A touching, colorful flag lowering and retreat ceremony performed by Civil War-era soldiers will be conducted on Feb. 12 at 3 p.m. at the Lincoln Tomb State Historic Site in Springfield's Oak Ridge Cemetery. The United States flag flying over Lincoln Tomb that day will be lowered during the solemn ceremony and presented to a visitor chosen at random.

The ceremony will be performed by members of the 114th Regiment Illinois Volunteer Infantry Reactivated and will include period music and the firing of a Civil War-era mortar.

The half-hour program is free and open to the public.

The original 114th Regiment was mustered into service at Springfield's Camp Butler in 1862 and fought in the Civil War until 1865. The regiment was reactivated in 1969 to foster patriotism and to bring Illinois' historic past alive for the public.

Lincoln Tomb State Historic Site, administered by the Illinois Historic Preservation Agency, is located in Springfield's Oak Ridge Cemetery. It is open for free public tours.

[Text from Illinois Abraham Lincoln Bicentennial Commission file received from the Illinois Office of Communication and Information]