Presidents' Children: Robert Todd Lincoln
Abraham and Mary Todd Lincoln had four children, all sons. Only one son would live to adulthood, their oldest son Robert Todd Lincoln. He would have an accomplished life as a lawyer, businessman and cabinet secretary.
Robert Todd Lincoln was born on August 1, 1843 in Springfield, Illinois. He had three younger brothers: Edward Baker Lincoln (Eddie) who was born in 1846 and died in 1850; William Wallace Lincoln (Willie) who was born in 1850 and died in 1862; and Thomas Lincoln (Tad) who was born in 1853 and died in 1871. When Robert Lincoln was born, his father was a well-known member of the Whig political party who had previously served as a member of the state legislature. Robert Lincoln was named after his maternal grandfather (Robert Todd).
Robert Lincoln took the Harvard University entrance examination in 1859. He failed fifteen out of the sixteen subjects he was enrolled in. He then enrolled at Phillips Exeter Academy, graduating in 1860. He was finally admitted to Harvard and he graduated in 1864. He then enrolled in Harvard Law School. His father had no university training as a lawyer. When Robert told him that he wanted to go to law school, his father compared it to his own informal legal training. He told Robert "You should learn more than I ever did, but you will never have so good a time."
Robert Lincoln's law school education at Harvard Law School began in September of 1864, but he left in January, 1865 to join the Union Army. He had attempted to join the army earlier, but was prevented from doing so by his mother, Mary Todd Lincoln, who told her husband "We have lost one son, and his loss is as much as I can bear, without being called upon to make another sacrifice". Abraham Lincoln felt that Robert should join the army. He told the first lady, "our son is not more dear to us than the sons of other people are to their mothers." A compromise was reached when Lincoln asked General Ulysses S. Grant if Robert could be placed on his staff. Grant agreed and on February 11, 1865 he was commissioned as an assistant adjutant with the rank of captain. He was with Grant during the final weeks of the war when the Lincolns visited Grant at City Point. As part of General Grant's staff, there was very little likelihood that he would be involved in actual combat. Robert Lincoln was present at Appomattox when Confederate General Robert E. Lee surrendered the Army of Northern Virginia.
Robert Lincoln did not have a close relationship with his father. During his early years, Abraham Lincoln spent months on the judicial circuit. Of their relationship, Robert Lincoln later said, "During my childhood and early youth he was almost constantly away from home, attending court or making political speeches." In spite of their lack of quality time together, Abraham Lincoln told friends that he was proud of Robert. Lincoln told one acquaintance that, "he guessed Bob would not do better than he had."
The night of his father's assassination, Robert turned down an invitation to accompany his parents to Ford's Theatre, citing fatigue after his recent time at the battlefront. When Robert learned of his father's shooting, he attended to the house where his father was and wept openly at his deathbed.
After Lincoln's assassination, his family remained in the White House because of Mary Lincoln's deep grief. On April 25, 1865, Robert Lincoln wrote President Andrew Johnson a letter requesting that he and his family be allowed to stay for two and a half weeks more because his mother had told him that "she can not possibly be ready to leave here". He wrote that he was aware of the "great inconvenience" that this caused Johnson. When the family finally left the White House, Robert moved with his mother and his brother Tad to Chicago. He resigned his commission on June 12, 1865 and returned to the study of law at the Old University of Chicago law school (which later became part of the Northwestern University School of Law). He graduated and was admitted to the Illinois State bar on February 25, 1867.
On January 1, 1866, Robert Lincoln moved out of the Chicago apartment that he shared with his mother and brother. He rented his own rooms in downtown Chicago. On September 24, 1868, Robert Lincoln married the former Mary Eunice Harlan, the daughter of Senator James Harlan of Iowa. The couple had two daughters and one son: Mary "Mamie" Lincoln (born October 15, 1869), Abraham Lincoln II (nicknamed "Jack", born August 14, 1873) and Jessie Harlan Lincoln (born November 6, 1875).
During the 1880s the family would spend their summers at the Harlan home (later known as The Harlan-Lincoln home) in Mount Pleasant, Iowa. The home was later donated by Mary Harlan Lincoln to Iowa Wesleyan College in 1907 and today it is a museum with many artifacts from the Lincoln family and from Lincoln's presidency.
In 1871, Lincoln's only surviving brother, Tad died at the age of 18. This tragedy left Mary Lincoln devastated with grief. By this time Robert Lincoln had other concerns about his mother's mental state, including her spend-thrift ways and her eccentric behavior. He arranged to have her committed to a psychiatric hospital in Batavia, Illinois in 1875, making the case that she was a danger to herself. With his mother in the hospital, he was left in control of her finances. On May 20, 1875, Mary Lincoln was Bellevue Place, a private upscale sanitarium. But three months after being installed in Bellevue Place, Mary Lincoln arranged to be released. She smuggled letters to her lawyer, James B. Bradwell, and his wife, Myra Bradwell, who was also a lawyer, a spiritualist and a friend of Mary Lincoln's. Mary also wrote to the editor of the Chicago Times. Robert received unfavorable publicity as his character and motives were called into question. The director of Bellevue, fearing potentially damaging publicity, declared her well enough to go to Springfield to live with her sister, despite expressing a contrary opinion at her committal hearing. The whole incident led to an estrangement between Robert Lincoln and his mother. They were never fully reconciled.
From 1876 to 1877 Lincoln served as Town Supervisor of South Chicago. In 1877 he turned down President Rutherford B. Hayes' offer to appoint him Assistant Secretary of State. However four years later he accepted an appointment as President James Garfield's Secretary of War. He served in the position for the full term from 1881 to 1885 under Presidents Garfield and Chester A. Arthur. During his term in office, the Cincinnati Riots of 1884 broke out over a case in which a jury gave a verdict of manslaughter rather than murder in a case that many suspected was rigged. Forty-five people died during three days of rioting before U.S. troops were dispatched by Secretary Lincoln, to reestablish order.
When his term as Secretary of War ended, Lincoln helped Oscar Dudley to establish the Illinois Industrial Training School for Boys in Norwood Park in 1887. Dudley was concerned about the growing number of homeless, neglected and abused boys in the cities. The school relocated to Glenwood, Illinois in 1890 and most recently changed its name to Glenwood Academy.
Lincoln served as the U.S. Minister (Anbassador) to the United Kingdom from 1889 to 1893 under President Benjamin Harrison. In March of 1890, whole he was in London, Lincoln's young son, Abraham II, called "Jack", died of blood poisoning at age 16. After serving as minister, Lincoln returned to private business as a lawyer.
Robert Lincoln served as general counsel of the Pullman Palace Car Company under George Pullman. He was named president of the company after Pullman's death in 1897. While lawyer for the company, Lincoln arranged to have George Pullman excused from the subpoena issued for Pullman to testify in the 1895 trials of the leaders of the American Railway Union for conspiracy during the 1894 Pullman strike. In 1911, Lincoln became chairman of the board, a position he held until 1922.
Robert Lincoln was a serious amateur astronomer. He built an observatory at his home in Manchester, Vermont, and equipped it with a refracting telescope with a six-inch objective lens. Lincoln's telescope and observatory still exist and are used by a local astronomy club. He was also a dedicated golfer, and served as President of the Ekwanok Country Club in Manchester
Robert Lincoln made his last public appearance at the dedication ceremony in Washington, D.C. for his the Lincoln Memorial on May 30, 1922. President Warren Harding and Chief Justice William Howard Taft were also present at the ceremony.
Robert Lincoln was coincidentally either present or nearby when three presidential assassinations occurred. He was not present at his father's assassination, but was at the White House, and rushed to be with his parents at the Petersen House after the shooting, where Robert attended his father's deathbed. At President James A. Garfield's invitation, Lincoln was present at the Sixth Street Train Station in Washington, D.C., where the President was shot by Charles J. Guiteau on July 2, 1881, and was an eyewitness to the event. Lincoln was serving as Garfield's Secretary of War at the time. At President William McKinley's invitation, Lincoln was at the Pan-American Exposition in Buffalo, New York, where the President was shot by Leon Czolgosz on September 6, 1901, though he was not an eyewitness to the event. When he was invited to the dedication ceremony of the Lincoln Monument, he facetiously told President Warren G. Harding, "There is a certain fatality about presidential functions when I am present." The humorist and historian Sarah Vowell called gave Robert Lincoln the nickname "Jinxey McDeath" in her book Assassination Vacation.
Robert Lincoln was once saved from injury or death by Edwin Booth, brother of his father's assassin John Wilkes Booth. The incident took place on a train platform in Jersey City, New Jersey sometime in late 1863 or early 1864, before John Wilkes Booth fired the fatal shot. Robert Lincoln wrote of the incident, in a 1909 letter to Richard Watson Gilder, editor of The Century Magazine. He said:
"The incident occurred while a group of passengers were late at night purchasing their sleeping car places from the conductor who stood on the station platform at the entrance of the car. The platform was about the height of the car floor, and there was of course a narrow space between the platform and the car body. There was some crowding, and I happened to be pressed by it against the car body while waiting my turn. In this situation the train began to move, and by the motion I was twisted off my feet, and had dropped somewhat, with feet downward, into the open space, and was personally helpless, when my coat collar was vigorously seized and I was quickly pulled up and out to a secure footing on the platform. Upon turning to thank my rescuer I saw it was Edwin Booth, whose face was of course well known to me, and I expressed my gratitude to him, and in doing so, called him by name."
While serving as an officer on the staff of General Grant, Robert Lincoln recalled the incident to his fellow officer, Colonel Adam Badeau, who happened to be a friend of Edwin Booth. Badeau sent a letter to Booth, complimenting the actor for his heroism. Booth had been unaware that the man whose life he had saved on the train platform had been the President's son. The incident was said to have been of some comfort to Edwin Booth following his brother's infamous act.
From 1884 to 1912, Lincoln's name was mentioned as a candidate for the Republican presidential or vice-presidential nomination. He always adamantly denied any interest in running and stated he would not accept either position if nominated.
Robert Todd Lincoln died in his sleep at Hildene, his Vermont home, on July 26, 1926, at the age of 82. The cause of death was given as a "cerebral hemorrhage induced by arteriosclerosis". He was later interred in Arlington National Cemetery. He is buried with his wife Mary and their son Jack. He was believed to be the last surviving witness to the surrender at Appomattox.
The last person known to be of direct lineage from Abraham Lincoln was Robert's grandson "Bud" Beckwith, who died in 1985.
Robert Todd Lincoln was born on August 1, 1843 in Springfield, Illinois. He had three younger brothers: Edward Baker Lincoln (Eddie) who was born in 1846 and died in 1850; William Wallace Lincoln (Willie) who was born in 1850 and died in 1862; and Thomas Lincoln (Tad) who was born in 1853 and died in 1871. When Robert Lincoln was born, his father was a well-known member of the Whig political party who had previously served as a member of the state legislature. Robert Lincoln was named after his maternal grandfather (Robert Todd).
Robert Lincoln took the Harvard University entrance examination in 1859. He failed fifteen out of the sixteen subjects he was enrolled in. He then enrolled at Phillips Exeter Academy, graduating in 1860. He was finally admitted to Harvard and he graduated in 1864. He then enrolled in Harvard Law School. His father had no university training as a lawyer. When Robert told him that he wanted to go to law school, his father compared it to his own informal legal training. He told Robert "You should learn more than I ever did, but you will never have so good a time."
Robert Lincoln's law school education at Harvard Law School began in September of 1864, but he left in January, 1865 to join the Union Army. He had attempted to join the army earlier, but was prevented from doing so by his mother, Mary Todd Lincoln, who told her husband "We have lost one son, and his loss is as much as I can bear, without being called upon to make another sacrifice". Abraham Lincoln felt that Robert should join the army. He told the first lady, "our son is not more dear to us than the sons of other people are to their mothers." A compromise was reached when Lincoln asked General Ulysses S. Grant if Robert could be placed on his staff. Grant agreed and on February 11, 1865 he was commissioned as an assistant adjutant with the rank of captain. He was with Grant during the final weeks of the war when the Lincolns visited Grant at City Point. As part of General Grant's staff, there was very little likelihood that he would be involved in actual combat. Robert Lincoln was present at Appomattox when Confederate General Robert E. Lee surrendered the Army of Northern Virginia.
Robert Lincoln did not have a close relationship with his father. During his early years, Abraham Lincoln spent months on the judicial circuit. Of their relationship, Robert Lincoln later said, "During my childhood and early youth he was almost constantly away from home, attending court or making political speeches." In spite of their lack of quality time together, Abraham Lincoln told friends that he was proud of Robert. Lincoln told one acquaintance that, "he guessed Bob would not do better than he had."
The night of his father's assassination, Robert turned down an invitation to accompany his parents to Ford's Theatre, citing fatigue after his recent time at the battlefront. When Robert learned of his father's shooting, he attended to the house where his father was and wept openly at his deathbed.
After Lincoln's assassination, his family remained in the White House because of Mary Lincoln's deep grief. On April 25, 1865, Robert Lincoln wrote President Andrew Johnson a letter requesting that he and his family be allowed to stay for two and a half weeks more because his mother had told him that "she can not possibly be ready to leave here". He wrote that he was aware of the "great inconvenience" that this caused Johnson. When the family finally left the White House, Robert moved with his mother and his brother Tad to Chicago. He resigned his commission on June 12, 1865 and returned to the study of law at the Old University of Chicago law school (which later became part of the Northwestern University School of Law). He graduated and was admitted to the Illinois State bar on February 25, 1867.
On January 1, 1866, Robert Lincoln moved out of the Chicago apartment that he shared with his mother and brother. He rented his own rooms in downtown Chicago. On September 24, 1868, Robert Lincoln married the former Mary Eunice Harlan, the daughter of Senator James Harlan of Iowa. The couple had two daughters and one son: Mary "Mamie" Lincoln (born October 15, 1869), Abraham Lincoln II (nicknamed "Jack", born August 14, 1873) and Jessie Harlan Lincoln (born November 6, 1875).
During the 1880s the family would spend their summers at the Harlan home (later known as The Harlan-Lincoln home) in Mount Pleasant, Iowa. The home was later donated by Mary Harlan Lincoln to Iowa Wesleyan College in 1907 and today it is a museum with many artifacts from the Lincoln family and from Lincoln's presidency.
In 1871, Lincoln's only surviving brother, Tad died at the age of 18. This tragedy left Mary Lincoln devastated with grief. By this time Robert Lincoln had other concerns about his mother's mental state, including her spend-thrift ways and her eccentric behavior. He arranged to have her committed to a psychiatric hospital in Batavia, Illinois in 1875, making the case that she was a danger to herself. With his mother in the hospital, he was left in control of her finances. On May 20, 1875, Mary Lincoln was Bellevue Place, a private upscale sanitarium. But three months after being installed in Bellevue Place, Mary Lincoln arranged to be released. She smuggled letters to her lawyer, James B. Bradwell, and his wife, Myra Bradwell, who was also a lawyer, a spiritualist and a friend of Mary Lincoln's. Mary also wrote to the editor of the Chicago Times. Robert received unfavorable publicity as his character and motives were called into question. The director of Bellevue, fearing potentially damaging publicity, declared her well enough to go to Springfield to live with her sister, despite expressing a contrary opinion at her committal hearing. The whole incident led to an estrangement between Robert Lincoln and his mother. They were never fully reconciled.
From 1876 to 1877 Lincoln served as Town Supervisor of South Chicago. In 1877 he turned down President Rutherford B. Hayes' offer to appoint him Assistant Secretary of State. However four years later he accepted an appointment as President James Garfield's Secretary of War. He served in the position for the full term from 1881 to 1885 under Presidents Garfield and Chester A. Arthur. During his term in office, the Cincinnati Riots of 1884 broke out over a case in which a jury gave a verdict of manslaughter rather than murder in a case that many suspected was rigged. Forty-five people died during three days of rioting before U.S. troops were dispatched by Secretary Lincoln, to reestablish order.
When his term as Secretary of War ended, Lincoln helped Oscar Dudley to establish the Illinois Industrial Training School for Boys in Norwood Park in 1887. Dudley was concerned about the growing number of homeless, neglected and abused boys in the cities. The school relocated to Glenwood, Illinois in 1890 and most recently changed its name to Glenwood Academy.
Lincoln served as the U.S. Minister (Anbassador) to the United Kingdom from 1889 to 1893 under President Benjamin Harrison. In March of 1890, whole he was in London, Lincoln's young son, Abraham II, called "Jack", died of blood poisoning at age 16. After serving as minister, Lincoln returned to private business as a lawyer.
Robert Lincoln served as general counsel of the Pullman Palace Car Company under George Pullman. He was named president of the company after Pullman's death in 1897. While lawyer for the company, Lincoln arranged to have George Pullman excused from the subpoena issued for Pullman to testify in the 1895 trials of the leaders of the American Railway Union for conspiracy during the 1894 Pullman strike. In 1911, Lincoln became chairman of the board, a position he held until 1922.
Robert Lincoln was a serious amateur astronomer. He built an observatory at his home in Manchester, Vermont, and equipped it with a refracting telescope with a six-inch objective lens. Lincoln's telescope and observatory still exist and are used by a local astronomy club. He was also a dedicated golfer, and served as President of the Ekwanok Country Club in Manchester
Robert Lincoln made his last public appearance at the dedication ceremony in Washington, D.C. for his the Lincoln Memorial on May 30, 1922. President Warren Harding and Chief Justice William Howard Taft were also present at the ceremony.
Robert Lincoln was coincidentally either present or nearby when three presidential assassinations occurred. He was not present at his father's assassination, but was at the White House, and rushed to be with his parents at the Petersen House after the shooting, where Robert attended his father's deathbed. At President James A. Garfield's invitation, Lincoln was present at the Sixth Street Train Station in Washington, D.C., where the President was shot by Charles J. Guiteau on July 2, 1881, and was an eyewitness to the event. Lincoln was serving as Garfield's Secretary of War at the time. At President William McKinley's invitation, Lincoln was at the Pan-American Exposition in Buffalo, New York, where the President was shot by Leon Czolgosz on September 6, 1901, though he was not an eyewitness to the event. When he was invited to the dedication ceremony of the Lincoln Monument, he facetiously told President Warren G. Harding, "There is a certain fatality about presidential functions when I am present." The humorist and historian Sarah Vowell called gave Robert Lincoln the nickname "Jinxey McDeath" in her book Assassination Vacation.
Robert Lincoln was once saved from injury or death by Edwin Booth, brother of his father's assassin John Wilkes Booth. The incident took place on a train platform in Jersey City, New Jersey sometime in late 1863 or early 1864, before John Wilkes Booth fired the fatal shot. Robert Lincoln wrote of the incident, in a 1909 letter to Richard Watson Gilder, editor of The Century Magazine. He said:
"The incident occurred while a group of passengers were late at night purchasing their sleeping car places from the conductor who stood on the station platform at the entrance of the car. The platform was about the height of the car floor, and there was of course a narrow space between the platform and the car body. There was some crowding, and I happened to be pressed by it against the car body while waiting my turn. In this situation the train began to move, and by the motion I was twisted off my feet, and had dropped somewhat, with feet downward, into the open space, and was personally helpless, when my coat collar was vigorously seized and I was quickly pulled up and out to a secure footing on the platform. Upon turning to thank my rescuer I saw it was Edwin Booth, whose face was of course well known to me, and I expressed my gratitude to him, and in doing so, called him by name."
While serving as an officer on the staff of General Grant, Robert Lincoln recalled the incident to his fellow officer, Colonel Adam Badeau, who happened to be a friend of Edwin Booth. Badeau sent a letter to Booth, complimenting the actor for his heroism. Booth had been unaware that the man whose life he had saved on the train platform had been the President's son. The incident was said to have been of some comfort to Edwin Booth following his brother's infamous act.
From 1884 to 1912, Lincoln's name was mentioned as a candidate for the Republican presidential or vice-presidential nomination. He always adamantly denied any interest in running and stated he would not accept either position if nominated.
Robert Todd Lincoln died in his sleep at Hildene, his Vermont home, on July 26, 1926, at the age of 82. The cause of death was given as a "cerebral hemorrhage induced by arteriosclerosis". He was later interred in Arlington National Cemetery. He is buried with his wife Mary and their son Jack. He was believed to be the last surviving witness to the surrender at Appomattox.
The last person known to be of direct lineage from Abraham Lincoln was Robert's grandson "Bud" Beckwith, who died in 1985.