Showing posts with label Robert Todd Lincoln. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Robert Todd Lincoln. Show all posts

Saturday, January 29, 2022

Diary of Gideon Welles: [April 15,] 1865

A door which opened upon a porch or gallery, and also the windows, were kept open for fresh air. The night was dark, cloudy, and damp, and about six it began to rain. I remained in the room until then without sitting or leaving it, when, there being a vacant chair which some one left at the foot of the bed, I occupied it for nearly two hours, listening to the heavy groans, and witnessing the wasting life of the good and great man who was expiring before me.

About 6 A.M. I experienced a feeling of faintness and for the first time after entering the room, a little past eleven, I left it and the house, and took a short walk in the open air. It was a dark and gloomy morning, and rain set in before I returned to the house, some fifteen minutes [later]. Large groups of people were gathered every few rods, all anxious and solicitous. Some one or more from each group stepped forward as I passed, to inquire into the condition of the President, and to ask if there was no hope. Intense grief was on every countenance when I replied that the President could survive but a short time. The colored people especially - and there were at this time more of them, perhaps, than of whites' — were overwhelmed with grief.

Returning to the house, I seated myself in the back parlor, where the Attorney-General and others had been engaged in taking evidence concerning the assassination. Stanton, and Speed, and Usher were there, the latter asleep on the bed. There were three or four others also in the room. While I did not feel inclined to sleep, as many did, I was somewhat indisposed. I had been so for several days. The excitement and bad atmosphere from the crowded rooms oppressed me physically.

A little before seven, I went into the room where the dying President was rapidly drawing near the closing moments. His wife soon after made her last visit to him. The death-struggle had begun. Robert, his son, stood with several others at the head of the bed. He bore himself well, but on two occasions gave way to overpowering grief and sobbed aloud, turning his head and leaning on the shoulder of Senator Sumner. The respiration of the President became suspended at intervals, and at last entirely ceased at twenty-two minutes past seven.

A prayer followed from Dr. Gurley; and the Cabinet, with the exception of Mr. Seward and Mr. McCulloch, immediately thereafter assembled in the back parlor, from which all other persons were excluded, and there signed a letter which was prepared by Attorney-General Speed to the Vice-President, informing him of the event, and that the government devolved upon him.

Mr. Stanton proposed that Mr. Speed, as the law officer, should communicate the letter to Mr. Johnson with some other member of the Cabinet. Mr. Dennison named me. I saw that, though all assented, it disconcerted Stanton, who had expected and intended to be the man and to have Speed associated with him. I was disinclined personally to disturb an obvious arrangement, and therefore named Mr. McCulloch as the first in order after the Secretary of State.

I arranged with Speed, with whom I rode home, for a Cabinet-meeting at twelve meridian at the room of the Secretary of the Treasury, in order that the government should experience no detriment, and that prompt and necessary action might be taken to assist the new Chief Magistrate in preserving and promoting the public tranquillity. We accordingly met at noon. Mr. Speed reported that the President had taken the oath, which was administered by the Chief Justice, and had expressed a desire that the affairs of the government should proceed without interruption. Some discussion took place as to the propriety of an inaugural address, but the general impression was that it would be inexpedient. I was most decidedly of that opinion.

President Johnson, who was invited to be present, deported himself admirably, and on the subject of an inaugural said his acts would best disclose his policy. In all essentials it would, he said, be the same as that of the late President. He desired the members of the Cabinet to go forward with their duties without any change. Mr. Hunter, Chief Clerk of the State Department, was designated to act ad interim as Secretary of State. I suggested Mr. Speed, but I saw it was not acceptable in certain quarters. Stanton especially expressed a hope that Hunter should be assigned to the duty.

A room for the President as an office was proposed until he could occupy the Executive Mansion, and Mr. McCulloch offered the room adjoining his own in the Treasury Building. I named the State Department as appropriate and proper, at least until the Secretary of State recovered, or so long as the President wished, but objections arose at once. The papers of Mr. Seward would, Stanton said, be disturbed; it would be better he should be here, etc., etc. Stanton, I saw, had a purpose; among other things, feared papers would fall under Mr. Johnson's eye which he did not wish to be seen.

On returning to my house this morning, Saturday, I found Mrs. Welles, who had been ill and confined to the house from indisposition for a week, had been twice sent for by Mrs. Lincoln to come to her at Peterson's. The housekeeper, knowing the state of Mrs. W.'s health, had without consultation turned away the messenger, Major French, but Mrs. Welles, on learning the facts when he came the second time, had yielded, and imprudently gone, although the weather was inclement. She remained at the Executive Mansion through the day. For myself, wearied, shocked, exhausted, but not inclined to sleep, the day, when not actually and officially engaged, passed off strangely.

I went after breakfast to the Executive Mansion. There was a cheerless cold rain and everything seemed gloomy. On the Avenue in front of the White House were several hundred colored people, mostly women and children, weeping and wailing their loss. This crowd did not appear to diminish through the whole of that cold, wet day; they seemed not to know what was to be their fate since their great benefactor was dead, and their hopeless grief affected me more than almost anything else, though strong and brave men wept when I met them.

At the White House all was silent and sad. Mrs. W. was with Mrs. L. and came to meet me in the library. Speed came in, and we soon left together. As we were descending the stairs, “Tad," who was looking from the window at the foot, turned and, seeing us, cried aloud in his tears, “Oh, Mr. Welles, who killed my father?” Neither Speed nor myself could restrain our tears, nor give the poor boy any satisfactory answer.

SOURCE: Gideon Welles, Diary of Gideon Welles, Secretary of the Navy Under Lincoln and Johnson, Vol. 2: April 1, 1864 — December 31, 1866, p. 287-90

Saturday, February 18, 2017

Diary of John Hay: October 21, 1863

. . . Bobb came in this morning with a couple of very intelligent East Tennesseeans. They talked in a very friendly way with the President. I never saw him more at ease than he is with those first-rate patriots of the border. He is of them really. They stood up before a map of the mountain country and talked war for a good while. . . .

SOURCES: Clara B. Hay, Letters of John Hay and Extracts from Diary, Volume 1, p. 110; For the whole diary entry see Tyler Dennett, Editor, Lincoln and the Civil War in the Diaries and letters of John Hay, p. 104-5.

Friday, January 27, 2017

John Hay to John G. Nicolay, August 7, 1863

Executive Mansion,
Washington, August 7, 1863.
MY DEAR NICO:

. . . . Bob and his mother have gone to the white mountains. (I don't take any special stock in the matter, and write the locality in small letters.) Bob was so shattered by the wedding of the idol of all of us, the bright particular Teutonne, that he rushed madly off to sympathise with nature in her sternest aspects. They will be gone some time. The newspapers say the Tycoon will join them after a while. If so, he does not know it. He may possibly go for a few days to Cape May, where Hill Lamon is now staying, though that is not certain.

This town is as dismal now as a defaced tombstone. Everybody has gone. I am getting apathetic and write blackguardly articles for the Chronicle from which West extracts the dirt and fun, and publishes the dreary remains. The Tycoon is in fine whack. I have rarely seen him more serene and busy. He is managing this war, the draft, foreign relations, and planning a reconstruction of the Union, all at once. I never knew with what tyrannous authority he rules the Cabinet till now. The most important things he decides, and there is no cavil. I am growing more and more firmly convinced that the good of the country absolutely demands that he should be kept where he is till this thing is over. There is no man in the country so wise, so gentle and so firm. I believe the hand of God placed him where he is.

They are all working against him like braves though, — Hale and that crowd — but don't seem to make anything by it. I believe the people know what they want, and unless politics have gained in power and lost in principle, they will have it

SOURCES: Clara B. Hay, Letters of John Hay and Extracts from Diary, Volume 1, p. 89-91; For the whole letter see Tyler Dennett, Editor, Lincoln and the Civil War in the Diaries and letters of John Hay, p. 75-6 and Michael Burlingame, Editor, Inside Lincoln's White House: The Complete Civil War Diary of John Hay, p. 48-9.

Monday, January 23, 2017

Diary of John Hay: July 15, 1863

. . . . R. T. L. says the Tycoon is grieved silently but deeply about the escape of Lee. He said: — “If I had gone up there I could have whipped them myself.” I know he had that idea.

SOURCES: Clara B. Hay, Letters of John Hay and Extracts from Diary, Volume 1, p. 86; Tyler Dennett, Editor, Lincoln and the Civil War in the Diaries and letters of John Hay, p. 67

Thursday, December 1, 2016

John Hay to John G. Nicolay, August 24, 1861

Washington, Aug. 24 (1861).
DEAR GEORGE:

Yours of the 22d received this morning. I don't wish to hurry you, but write simply to say that Dr. Pope’s prediction has been realized.

I am flat on my back with bilious fever. I had a gay, old delirium yesterday, but am some better to-day. Doctor thinks I will be round in a day or two. Bob Lincoln came this morning bringing positive orders from his mother for me to join her at New York for an extension of her trip. Of course I can't go — as things look. There is no necessity whatever for you to return just now. There is no business in the office, and Stoddard is here all the time. He can do as well as either of us. As soon as I get able I shall leave. The air here is stifling. You had better stay as long as you like, for there is nothing but idleness here. As soon as I get on my pins I shall start. It will be a sort of breach of etiquette, but as Joe Gargery feelingly observes: — “Manners is manners, but your ’elth ’s your ’elth!”

Don't come till you get ready.

SOURCES: Clara B. Hay, Letters of John Hay and Extracts from Diary, Volume 1, p. 39; Michael Burlingtame, Editor, At Lincoln’s Side: John Hay’s Civil War Correspondence and Selected Writings, p.12-3.

Friday, January 3, 2014

Mary Todd Lincoln to Mrs. John C. Sprigg, May 29, 1862

May 29th
Executive Mansion.

My Dear Mrs Sprigg:


Your very welcome letter was received two weeks since, and my sadness & ill health have alone prevented my replying to it. We have met with so overwhelming an affliction in the death of our beloved Willie a being too precious for earth, that I am so completely unnerved, that I can scarcely command myself to write – What would give to see you & talk to you in our crushing bereavement, if any one's presence could afford comfort – it would be yours. You were always a good friend & dearly have I loved you. All that human skill could do was done for our sainted boy, I fully believe the severe illness, he passed through, now, almost two years since, was but a warning to us that one so pure, was not to remain long here and at the same time, he was lent us a little longer – to try us & wean us from our world, whose chains were fastening around us & when the blow came it found us unprepared to meet it. Our home is very beautiful, the grounds around us are enchanting the world still smiles & pays homage, yet the charm is dispelled – everything appears a mockery, the idolized one is not with us, he has fulfilled his mission and we are left desolate. When I think over his short but happy childhood, how much comfort he always was to me, and how fearfully I always found my hopes concentrating on so good a boy as he was – when I can bring myself to realize that he has indeed passed away my question to myself is 'can life be endured?' Dear little Taddie who was so devoted to his darling Brother, although is deeply afflicted as ourselves, bears up and teaches us a lesson, in enduring the stroke, to which we must submit. Robert will be home from Cambridge in about six weeks and will spend his vacation with us. He has grown & improved more than any one you ever saw. Well we ever meet & talk together as we have done. Time how many sad changes it brings. The 1st of July we go out to the 'Soldier's Home', a very charming place 2 ½ miles from the city, several hundred feet above our present situation, to pass the summer. I dread that it will be a greater resort than here if possible, when we are in sorrow quiet is very necessary to us. Mr. Dubois, I suppose has reached home, ere this. I see by the papers that Mr. Burch is married - We have some pieces of furniture still remaining at his house, may I ask a favor of you. It is this. If Mr. Black can have room for them, can they be moved to any place above his store, where he may have room for them. The sofa, at Mr. Burch's, was new. A few months before we left. May I also ask you to speak to Mr. Black, and see if the 8 boxes we left with him are all there. I fear we have been troublesome friends. I send you a list of the articles sent me by Mr. B. If you feel the least delicacy about this - I will not wish you to do it. Whenever you have leisure, I hope you will write me. With love to you all, I remain ever your attached friend


Mary Lincoln.

SOURCES: Published in The New York Times, January 16, 1882, p. 2; The letter was offered for sale at Heritage Auctions, accessed January 3, 2014; Library of Congress, Voices of the Civil War: Our Crushing Berievement, accessed January 3, 2014; Library of Congress Blog: A Grief Like No Other, accessed January 3, 2014;

Monday, June 3, 2013

Review: Giant In The Shadows

By Jason Emerson

He is known to history as Robert Todd Lincoln, the oldest of Abraham and Mary Todd Lincoln’s four sons, and the only one to survive to adulthood.  Never preferring to use his full name during his lifetime he was known as Robert T. Lincoln.  To those who knew and loved him, he was simply Bob.

From his birth to his death, and since, Robert T. Lincoln has remained hidden in the shadows of his martyred father and controversial mother.  With  “Giant in the Shadows: The Life of Robert T. Lincoln,” journalist and an independent historian, Jason Emerson has delivered Robert T. Lincoln from the shadows of his famous parents and given him his own well deserved place in history.

Comprehensive in its scope, “Giant In the Shadows,” details the life of Robert T. Lincoln from his birth on August 1st, 1843 in a rented from of Springfield, Illinois’ Globe Tavern to his death on July 28, 1926 at Hildene, his private estate in Manchester, Vermont.  During his nearly 83 year lifespan, Robert would be present at Robert E. Lee’s surrender of the Army of Northern Virginia at Appomattox Court House; he would be the only person in American History to be closely associated with three presidential assassinations (those of his father, James Garfield and William McKinley); he would become the 35th Secretary of War, serving under Presidents James Garfield and Chester Arthur; United States Minister to the United Kingdom during the administration of President Benjamin Harrison; President of the Pullman Palace Car Company; but most notably Robert was the keeper of the historical legacy of Abraham Lincoln.

Much of “Giant in the Shadows” explores the dynamics of the Lincoln family and their personal relationships with one another.  Mr. Emerson demonstrates that Abraham Lincoln’s relationship with his son, Bob, was a warm and intimate one, rather than cold and distant as it has often been portrayed.  Robert’s often tumultuous relationship with his mother, Mary Todd Lincoln is thoroughly examined.  During his childhood Robert shared a close relationship with his mother, but the cumulative effect of Abraham Lincoln’s assassination in combination with the deaths of three of her four children took its psychological on Mary Lincoln.  As his mother’s mental health deteriorated Robert and Mary Todd Lincoln’s roles were reversed; the son became his mother’s protector.  With few options and a fear for his mother’s safety, Robert had his Mother declared insane and placed her in an institution, causing a deep family rift that never fully healed.

Biographers often fall in love with their subjects, and Mr. Emerson is not immune.  In the book’s only major shortcoming Robert Lincoln’s role in the Pullman strike of 1894 is not fully examined and murky at best.

With all of the tragedy in his life, it is easy to feel sympathetic toward Robert T. Lincoln, and that is completely understandable.  Emerson demonstrates time and again, that Robert Lincoln is not a man to be pitied.  It is true, his name opened many doors for him, but time and again Robert shut those doors, opened other doors of opportunity of his own choosing, and never once used his father’s memory and legacy to his own advantage while rising to his own prominence.  Much like his father Robert T. Lincoln was in many ways a self made man.

ISBN 978-0809330553, Southern Illinois University Press, © 2012, Hardcover, 640 pages, Photographs & Illustrations, End Notes, Bibliography & Index. $39.95.  To purchase click HERE.

Wednesday, September 21, 2011

The Family of Abraham Lincoln

ABRAHAM LINCOLN, son of Thomas Lincoln and Nancy Hanks, was born on February 12, 1809 on Sinking Spring Farm, near Hodgenville, Hardin (now Larue) County, Kentucky. He died at 7:22 a.m. on April 15, 1865 in the William Peterson House,10th St., Washington, D.C. He married MARY ANN TODD on November 4, 1842 in Springfield, Sangamon County, Illinois.  She was the daughter of Robert Smith Todd and Eliza Parker and was born on December 13, 1818 in Lexington, Fayette County, Kentucky. She died on July 16, 1882 in Springfield, Sangamon County, Illinois.

Abraham Lincoln and Mary Ann Todd had the following children:

2. ROBERT TODD LINCOLN was born on August 1, 1843 in Globe Tavern, Springfield, Sangamon County, Illinois.
3. EDWARD BAKER LINCOLN was born on March 10, 1846 in the Lincoln home, 8th & Jackson, Springfield, Sangamon County, Illinois. He died in the morning of February 1, 1850 in the Lincoln home at 8th & Jackson, Springfield, Sangamon County, Illinois.
4. WILLIAM WALLACE LINCOLN was born on December 21, 1850 in the Lincoln home at 8th Jackson, Springfield, Sangamon County, Illinois. He died at 5 p.m., Thursday, February 20, 1862 in The White House, Washington, D.C.
5. THOMAS "TAD" LINCOLN was born on April 4, 1853 in the Lincoln home at 8th Jackson, Springfield, Sangamon County, Illinois. He died at 7:30 a.m., Saturday morning, July 15, 1871 in Clifton House, Chicago, Illinois.


2. ROBERT TODD LINCOLN, son of Abraham Lincoln and Mary Ann Todd, was born on August 1, 1843 in Globe Tavern, Springfield, Sangamon County, Illinois. He died at about 3 a.m. on July 26, 1926 in the downstairs bedroom of his Hildene Estate, Manchester, Bennington County, Vermont. He married MARY EUNICE HARLAN, "shortly after eight" p.m. on September 24, 1868 in the home of Senator James Harlan, 304 H St., Washington, D.C.  She was the daughter of United States Senator from Iowa, James Harlan and Ann Eliza Peck and was born on September 25, 1846 in Springfield, Sangamon County, Illinois. She died on March 31, 1937.

Robert Todd Lincoln and Mary Eunice Harlan had the following children:

6. MARY LINCOLN was born on October 15, 1869 in Springfield, Sangamon County, Illinois.
7. ABRAHAM LINCOLN JR. was born on August 14, 1873. He died on March 5, 1890 in of blood poisoning in London, England.
8. JESSIE LINCOLN was born on November 6, 1875.


6. MARY LINCOLN, daughter of Robert Todd Lincoln and Mary Eunice Harlan, was born on October 15, 1869 in Springfield, Sangamon County, Illinois. She died on November 21, 1938. She married CHARLES ISHAM on September 2, 1891, son of William Bradley Isham and Julia Burhans. He was born on July 20, 1853. He died on June 8 1919.

Charles Isham and Mary Lincoln had the following child:

9. LINCOLN ISHAM was born on June 8, 1892. He died in Sep 1971. He married TELHOMA CORREA on August 20, 1919.


8. JESSIE LINCOLN, daughter of Robert Todd Lincoln and Mary Eunice Harlan, was born on November 6, 1875. She died on January 4, 1948 in Rutland, Vermont. She married first to WARREN BECKWITH on November 10, 1897, secondly to FRANK EDWARD JOHNSON on June 22 1915, and lastly to ROBERT J. RANDOLF on December 30, 1926.

Warren Beckwith and Jessie Lincoln had the following children:

10. MARY LINCOLN BECKWITH was born on August 22 1898 in Mount Pleasant, Henry County, Iowa and died July 10, 1975 in Rutland Hospital, Rutland, Vermont.]
11. ROBERT TODD LINCOLN BECKWITH was born on July 19, 1904 and died on December 24, 1985. He married first to MRS. HAZEL HOLLAND WILSON, secondly to ANNAMARIE HOFFMAN and lastly to MARGARET FRISTOE.