Lincoln and several hundred other people depart Springfield by train at approximately 6:30 a.m. to attend the Fourth of July festivities in Jacksonville. Also among the passengers are members of the Pioneer Fire Company, the German Turners gymnastic organization, and some of Springfield's musical bands. The train arrives in Jacksonville at about nine o'clock and the passengers, along with those awaiting the train's arrival, parade to a "pleasant grove" about "a mile and a half west" of the Jacksonville depot. Lincoln is one of the guests of honor on stage as former Congressman Richard Yates delivers a speech commemorating the July 4 holiday. Following Yates's speech, the crowd partakes in an "old fashioned barbecue." In the afternoon, the Turners perform a gymnastic routine for the audience, and "Mr. Brooks, the balloonist," ascends in his hot-air balloon. The day's activities conclude with a fireworks display. At nine o'clock in the evening, the Springfield group makes its way to the depot for the return trip. Daily Illinois State Journal (Springfield), 6 July 1858, 2:2-3; Biographical Directory of the American Congress 1774-1949, (Washington, D.C.: United States Government Printing Office, 1950), 2051.