his name was thomas holmes. and thomas holmes had a very unique set. he knew how to embalm people and he had come down to washington thinking that this rebellion he would need to embalm people, to ship them home, because the only way to really ship people was via the adams express. the adams express would only ship human remains if they were either sealed in an airtight metallic coffin or they were embalmed. now, airtight metallic coffins were being made. but think about it, they're ramping up wartime production in oc. the metal is being used to make ammunition and weaponry, so the two manufacturers of these airtight metallic coffins, they were having trouble getting the materials. so if you could find one of these, they were going to be very expensive. so really the only option at this point, if you want it to be shipped home and you were a soldier was to be embalmed. a skill set. the thomas holmes head. so holmes knew william seward and he got an audience at the house. they rushed over to the white house and they found president lincoln, his office.