 Garfield 's funeral train left Long Branch on the same special track that brought him there , traveling over tracks blanketed with flowers and past houses adorned with flags . His body was transported to the Capitol and then continued on to Cleveland for burial . More than 70 @,@ 000 citizens , some waiting over three hours , passed by Garfield 's coffin as his body lay in state in Washington ; later , on September 25 , 1881 , in Cleveland , more than 150 @,@ 000 — a number equal to the entire population of that city — likewise paid their respects . His body was temporarily interred in a vault in Cleveland 's Lake View Cemetery until his permanent memorial was built . 
