With such a remarkable list of accomplishments, John Brooks Henderson probably should have had a state funeral full of speeches and pageantry.

But the Missouri U.S. Senator from Louisiana didn’t want it that way. In fact, he asked that services be as humble as the modesty he had tried to show in life.

The author of the 13th Amendment outlawing slavery died at age 86 of kidney disease at a hospital outside Washington, D.C., at 6:30 p.m. Saturday, April 12, 1913. His wife, Mary, and son, John Jr., were at his side. Across the nation and even in places that weren’t yet states, newspaper front pages carried the story.

The Washington Herald called Henderson one of “the most prominent of old-time statesmen” who spent “most of his life in the public eye” and “was for fifteen years the foremost barrister in Missouri.”

The New York Sun said the senator had “a national reputation” and “took great interest in social affairs and philanthropic work.”

“Although the name of John B. Henderson was but little known to the present generation, his record in statesmanship and politics was an illustrious one,” the Louisiana Press-Journal told readers.

“He was an orator and a man that always had the courage of his convictions,” added the Alaska Daily Empire.

The Potosi Journal called Henderson “the last survivor of the war time Missourians who attained national eminence.” And even though his “later long residence in Washington divorced him the life of his state and the present generation of Missourians hardly knew him,” he was “ a big figure in the most stirring time of the history.”

Despite their political party differences, House Speaker and Bowling Green attorney Champ Clark was a close friend of Henderson. He and his wife, Genevieve, even employed Edward Spencer Bennett not long after the famous chef had worked for the Hendersons.

Clark called the senator “one of the greatest lawyers Missouri ever produced. He succeeded at the bar, in finance and in politics. Industry was the explanation of his career. To use a popular phrase, ‘He kept eternally at it.’”

Most papers published a long list of Henderson’s accomplishments. The Press-Journal said that on Jan. 11, 1864, he “performed what he always regarded as his most important act as a senator” by introducing the 13th Amendment.

A month before his death, Henderson had entertained a contingent of Democrats who had just taken office as a part of President Woodrow Wilson’s administration.

They included Agriculture Secretary David Franklin Houston, who had served the previous five years as chancellor of Washington University in St. Louis, and Postmaster General Albert Burleson.

On April 4, the Hendersons opened the doors of their Washington home, the 30-room Boundary Castle, for Secretary of State William Jennings Bryan, Attorney General James Clark McReynolds and Secretary of War Lindley Miller Garrison. Bryan had been largely responsible for costing Clark the Democrat nomination for President in 1912.

The dinner would be Henderson’s last formal function. Three days later, he was taken to the hospital at Takoma Park, Md., with severe pain and congestion of the lungs He was “in a semi-conscious state” but due to “his advanced age and greatly weakened condition, members of his family realize that recovery is extremely doubtful,” the Washington Evening Star reported.

On April 11, Henderson briefly appeared to be doing better, but his condition quickly declined. He “was conscious until within four or five minutes of his death and suffered no pain,” the Press-Journal reported.

Henderson had served as a brigadier general during the Civil War, but his wife graciously declined a military escort.

“Father’s wish, if expressed, would have been to do away with all formality at his funeral,” John Brooks Henderson Jr. explained.

The Rev. U.G.B. Pierce of All Souls Unitarian Church in Washington was contacted to officiate the ceremony in Boundary Castle at 2 p.m. April 15.

“There will be no more formality than absolutely necessary, the undertaker and his assistants conveying the remains from the house instead of the usual pallbearers,” the Press-Journal said. “No honorary pall bearers will be designated.”

The Rev. Simon P. Drew of the African American Cosmopolitan Baptist Church urged blacks “to cease work and bow in humble respect” during the observance.

“The resolution calls to attention the fact that Mr. Henderson as author of the thirteenth amendment to the Constitution ‘set at liberty 4,500,000 persons, the said act breaking the shackles and chains” of slavery, the Evening Star said.

There was talk of burial at Arlington National Cemetery, but Henderson was entombed at Green-Wood Cemetery in the New York City borough of Brooklyn. Mary Foote Henderson was a New York native.

In his will, dated Aug. 29, 1912, Henderson left Boundary Castle and other land to his wife and son. Additional bequests included $5,000 to his sister, Mary J. Wilson of St. Louis, and $2,000 to Ione Henderson of Louisiana, widow of his brother, James.

A memorial service was held May 28 at Cosmopolitan Baptist, which was on N Street between Ninth and 10th – about a mile-and-a-half from Boundary Castle and just under two miles from the White House.

Newspapers said the church was the site of Henderson’s last public speech on Dec. 18, 1911. He contributed $100 – about $2,500 today – to liquidate the church’s mortgage.

People from 30 states attended the tribute, which was put together by the 1,000-member Henderson National Memorial League and led by Drew with a choir of 100 singers. Mrs. Henderson received a standing ovation.

Clark was one of the speakers. He “lauded the late Senator Henderson as one of Lincoln’s safest and wisest counselors,” according to The Washington Times.

Clark reminded the audience that Henderson had once owned slaves through an inheritance but had set them free.

“It is not generally known, but it is true nevertheless that he contributed liberally to help support his ex-slaves,” the Speaker said.

Clark praised Henderson for his work with President Lincoln in helping to keep border states such as Missouri in the Union during the Civil War and concluded by saying the senator was “particularly kind to Missourians sojourning in Washington and out of his large experience he advised them helpfully and sagely.”

Minnesota Sen. Moses Clapp said a key to Henderson’s success was his aversion to party politics.

“One of the evils of this country is our devotion to party name,” Clapp said. “Men should worship at the shrine of principle and not name.”

   A resolution was passed during the service to have Henderson’s birthday, Nov. 16, declared a legal holiday, but it did not come about.

At least one of the Henderson portrayals was humorous. Joseph Keefer from the Association of Oldest Inhabitants of the District of Columbia often told the story of how President George Washington as a young man threw a coin across the width of the Rappahannock River in Virginia.

“Oh, well, a dollar went farther in those days than it does now,” Henderson had joked upon hearing the story.