Summer flag-lowering and retreat ceremonies start Tuesday at Lincoln Tomb

[May 31, 2012]  SPRINGFIELD -- Every Tuesday night this summer, one visitor will leave Lincoln Tomb with a flag -- and many more will leave with memories of a touching, colorful ceremony performed by men dressed as Civil War-era soldiers.

Beginning June 5 and ending Aug. 28, a flag-lowering and retreat ceremony will be performed at the Lincoln Tomb State Historic Site by members of the 114th Regiment Illinois Volunteer Infantry Reactivated. The 7 p.m. ceremony, which will last approximately half an hour, is free and open to the public.

The U.S. flag flying over Lincoln Tomb will be lowered during the colorful, solemn event and presented to a visitor each Tuesday night. The ceremony will include the firing of a Civil War-era mortar.

The Lincoln Tomb will be open to the public until 8 p.m. following the ceremony.

Lincoln Tomb, along with the Illinois World War II, Korean and Vietnam war memorials, is located in Springfield's Oak Ridge Cemetery at 1500 Monument Ave. All are administered by the Illinois Historic Preservation Agency and are open daily for free public tours.

[Text from file received from the Illinois Historic Preservation Agency]