Mary Todd Lincoln

{{Short description|First Lady of the United States from 1861 to 1865}} {{For|her granddaughter|Mamie Lincoln Isham}} {{Use American English|date=November 2025}} {{Use mdy dates|date=July 2025}} {{Infobox officeholder | image = Mary Todd Lincoln2crop.jpg | caption = Lincoln in 1861 | office = First Lady of the United States | president = Abraham Lincoln | term_start = March 4, 1861 | term_end = April 15, 1865 | term_label = In role | predecessor = Harriet Lane (acting) | successor = Eliza McCardle Johnson | birth_name = Mary Ann Todd | birth_date = {{birth date|1818|12|13}} | birth_place = Lexington, Kentucky, U.S. | death_date = {{death date and age|1882|7|16|1818|12|13}} | death_place = Springfield, Illinois, U.S. | resting_place = Lincoln Tomb | spouse = {{marriage|Abraham Lincoln|November 4, 1842|April 15, 1865|end=died}} | children = {{hlist|Robert|Edward|Willie|Tad}} | signature = Mary Lincoln Signature.svg | parents = Robert Smith Todd<br>Elizabeth Ann Parker Todd }} '''Mary Ann Todd Lincoln''' (December 13, 1818 – July 16, 1882) was First Lady of the United States from 1861 until the assassination of her husband, President Abraham Lincoln, in 1865.

Mary Todd was born into a large and wealthy slave-owning family in Kentucky, although Mary never owned slaves and in her adulthood came to oppose slavery. Well educated, after finishing-school in her late teens, she moved to Springfield, the capital of Illinois. She lived there with her married sister Elizabeth Todd Edwards, the wife of an Illinois congressman. Before she married Abraham Lincoln, Mary was courted by his long-time political opponent Stephen A. Douglas.

Mary Lincoln staunchly supported her husband's career and political ambitions, and throughout his presidency, she was active in keeping national morale high during the American Civil War. She acted as the White House social coordinator, throwing lavish balls and redecorating the White House at great expense; her spending was the source of much consternation. She was seated next to Abraham when he was assassinated in the President's Box at Ford's Theatre in Washington, D.C., on April 14, 1865.

The Lincolns had four sons, of whom only the eldest, Robert, survived both parents. The deaths of her husband and three of their sons weighed heavily on her. Young Thomas (Tad), who died suddenly in 1871, had just spent an extended time traveling with her after Robert married. Mary Lincoln suffered from physical and mental health issues. She had frequent headaches, which were exacerbated by a head injury in 1863.

She likely suffered from depression or possibly bipolar disorder. She was briefly institutionalized for psychiatric illness in 1875, and then spent several years traveling in Europe. She later retired to her sister's home in Springfield, where she died in 1882 at age 63. She is buried with her husband and three younger sons in the Lincoln Tomb, a National Historic Landmark.

==Early life and education== {{multiple image | align = right | image1 = Mary Todd Lincoln House, Lexington Kentucky 3.jpg | width1 = 160 | alt1 = | caption1 = The Todd family home, now preserved as the Mary Todd Lincoln House at 578 West Main Street in Lexington, Kentucky | image2 = Todd House Lexington kentucky marker.jpg | width2 = 140 | alt2 = | caption2 = State historical marker at the Todd house, noting Mary's residence years (1832–1839) | footer = }} Todd was born on December 13, 1818, in Lexington, Kentucky, as the fourth of seven children of Robert Smith Todd, a banker, and Elizabeth "Eliza" (Parker) Todd.<ref name="first ladies"/><ref name="EmersonJason"/> In 1825, when she was six, her mother died in childbirth. Her father then married Elizabeth "Betsy" Humphreys in 1826<ref name="Famiy">{{cite web |title=The Todd Family - Todd Family History |url=https://www.mtlhouse.org/the-todd-family |website=Mary Todd Lincoln House |access-date=November 23, 2025 |quote=There is conflicting evidence about relationships within the Todd family. Some sources suggest that Mary and her stepmother did not get along. Others note that as Mary got older, she became closer to Betsy}}</ref> and they had nine children together.<ref name="EmersonJason"/><ref>Historians have suggested that Robert Smith Todd and Elizabeth Parker were double first cousins: his paternal aunt was married to her father, and her paternal aunt was married to his father.[http://www.firstladies.org/biographies/firstladies.aspx?biography=17 Mary Todd Biography] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120509090243/http://www.firstladies.org/biographies/firstladies.aspx?biography=17 |date=May 9, 2012 }}</ref>

There is conflicting evidence about Todd's relationship with her stepmother.<ref name="Famiy" /> From 1832, Mary and her family lived in what is now known as the Mary Todd Lincoln House, an elegant 14-room residence at 578 West Main Street in Lexington.<ref>[https://archive.today/20120629155703/http://www.nps.gov/nr/travel/lexington/mtl.htm Mary Todd Lincoln House], National Park Service, (June 9, 1977). Retrieved on September 14, 2011.</ref>

Mary's paternal great-grandfather, David Levi Todd, was born in County Longford, Ireland, and immigrated through Pennsylvania to Kentucky. Another great-grandfather, Andrew Porter, was the son of an Irish immigrant to New Hampshire and later Pennsylvania. Her maternal great-great-grandfather Samuel McDowell was born in Scotland, and emigrated to Pennsylvania. Other Todd ancestors came from England.<ref name="first ladies">[http://www.firstladies.org/biographies/firstladies.aspx?biography=17 Mary Lincoln] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120509090243/http://www.firstladies.org/biographies/firstladies.aspx?biography=17 |date=May 9, 2012 }}. Firstladies.org. Retrieved on September 14, 2011.</ref>

At an early age, Mary was sent to Madame Mentelle's finishing school,<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.historynet.com/mary-todd-lincoln |title=Mary Todd Lincoln |website=HistoryNet |access-date=May 9, 2019 }} Sources are split in their use of the spelling "Mentelle" and "Mantelle".</ref> where the curriculum concentrated on French and literature. She learned to speak French fluently and studied dance, drama, music, and social graces. By age 20, she was regarded as witty and gregarious with a grasp of politics. Like her family, she was a Whig.<ref name="Donald">{{cite book|last=Donald | first=David Herbert | title=Lincoln |url=https://archive.org/details/lincoln00davi |url-access=registration | location=New York | publisher=Touchstone | year=1995 | page=[https://archive.org/details/lincoln00davi/page/85 85]}}</ref>

Mary began living with her sister Elizabeth Porter Edwards in Springfield, Illinois, in October 1839. Elizabeth was married to Ninian W. Edwards, son of a former governor. He served as Mary's guardian.<ref>{{cite web |title=Springfield |url=http://www.abrahamlincoln200.org/lincolns-life/bio/lincoln-in-illinois/springfield.aspx |work=Lincoln's Life |publisher=Abraham Lincoln Bicentennial Commission |access-date=September 3, 2009}}</ref> Mary was popular among the gentry of Springfield, and though she was courted by the rising young lawyer and Democratic Party politician Stephen A. Douglas and others, she chose Abraham Lincoln, a fellow Whig.<ref name="Donald"/>

==Marriage and family== {{multiple image | align = right | image1 = Mary Todd Lincoln 1846-1847 restored.png | width1 = 153 | alt1 = | caption1 = Mary Todd Lincoln, {{Circa|1846–1847}} | image2 = Abelincoln1846.jpeg | width2 = 172 | alt2 = | caption2 = Abraham Lincoln in 1846 | footer = }}

Todd met Lincoln, then a struggling lawyer, at the house of her older sister Elizabeth Edwards. The two formed a connection due to their mutual interest in politics and were soon engaged.<ref name=":1" /> However, Elizabeth and her husband, Ninian Edwards, disapproved of the relationship due to Lincoln's lower-class status, along with his indefinite future. Their engagement was broken off on New Year's Day of 1841, which the future president referred to as "that fatal first of January".<ref name=":2">{{Cite web |last1=Springfield |first1=Mailing Address: 413 S. 8th Street |last2=Us |first2=IL 62701 Phone: 217 492-4241 Contact |title=Courtship and Marriage - Lincoln Home National Historic Site (U.S. National Park Service) |url=https://www.nps.gov/liho/learn/historyculture/courtship.htm |access-date=April 22, 2025 |website=www.nps.gov |language=en}}</ref>

Lincoln fell in love with Matilda Edwards in the autumn of 1840, and this caused him to break his engagement to Mary.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://papersofabrahamlincoln.org/persons/ST47494#:~:text=Alternate%20name:%20Edwards-,Matilda%20E.,William%20was%20away%20in%20Congress |title=Strong, Matilda E. |website=papersofabrahamlincoln.org |access-date=2025-02-15}}</ref> In the following weeks after their breakup, Lincoln went into a depression, and was described by his then business partner as "reduced and emaciated in his appearance".<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Quitt |first=Martin H. |date=Winter 2018 |title=New Year's Day 1841: A Puzzling Triptych |url=https://quod.lib.umich.edu/j/jala/2629860.0039.103/--new-years-day-1841-a-puzzling-triptych?rgn=main;view=fulltext |journal=Journal of the Abraham Lincoln Association |volume=39 |issue=1 |pages=1–25 |doi=10.5406/19457987.39.1.03 |issn=1945-7987}}</ref>

After a year and a half, the couple secretly rekindled their relationship and married on November 4, 1842. Todd was 23 and Lincoln was 33. Lincoln allegedly met Ninian on the street the day of their wedding and confessed his plan to marry the latter's sister-in-law, to which Ninian, feeling responsible for Todd, demanded they wed at his own house.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Helm |first=Katherine |title=The True Story of Mary, Wife of Lincoln |publisher=Harper & Brothers |year=1928 |pages=95}}</ref> Likewise, the bride did not tell her sister about her marriage until the day of, to which Elizabeth acquiesced.<ref name=":2" />

After their wedding, the couple moved into a one-room apartment in a tavern, where Todd gave birth to their first son, Robert Todd Lincoln. Around a year later, they moved to a more spacious, one-and-a-half-story cottage.<ref name=":2" />

Their four sons, all born in Springfield, Illinois, were: * Robert Todd Lincoln (1843–1926), lawyer, diplomat (U.S. Secretary of War), businessman * Edward Baker Lincoln, known as "Eddie" (1846–1850), died of tuberculosis<ref name="EmersonJason"/> * William Wallace Lincoln, known as "Willie" (1850–1862), died of typhoid fever while Lincoln was President<ref name="EmersonJason"/> * Thomas Lincoln, known as "Tad" (1853–1871), died at age 18 (either from pleurisy,<ref name="EmersonJason"/> pneumonia,<ref name="Classroom">{{cite web|title=Abraham Lincoln and Chicago (Abraham Lincoln's Classroom)|url=http://www.abrahamlincolnsclassroom.org/Library/newsletter.asp?ID=60&CRLI=140|publisher=The Lincoln Institute|access-date=March 5, 2025|archive-date=December 31, 2010|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20101231090242/http://abrahamlincolnsclassroom.org/Library/newsletter.asp?ID=60&CRLI=140|url-status=dead}}</ref> congestive heart failure,<ref>{{cite web|title=The Lincoln Boys |url=http://myloc.gov/Exhibitions/civil-war-in-america/april-1862-november-1862/ExhibitObjects/Lincoln-Boys.aspx |publisher=Library of Congress |access-date=December 2, 2012 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131023062257/http://myloc.gov/Exhibitions/civil-war-in-america/april-1862-november-1862/ExhibitObjects/Lincoln-Boys.aspx |archive-date=October 23, 2013 }}</ref> or tuberculosis)<ref>{{cite book|last=Davenport|first=Don|title=In Lincoln's Footsteps: A Historical Guide to the Lincoln Sites in Illinois|year=2001|publisher=Big Earth Publishing|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Rz3VkkikvngC&pg=PA210|page=210|isbn=9781931599054}}</ref>

Robert and Tad (Thomas) survived to adulthood and the death of their father, and only Robert outlived his mother. <gallery> File:Robert Todd Lincoln, three-quarter length portrait, seated.jpg|Robert Todd Lincoln, born 1843 File:Eddielincoln (cropped).jpg|Edward Baker Lincoln, born 1846 File:WILLIE.JPG|William Wallace Lincoln, born 1850 File:Tad Lincoln in uniform.jpg|Thomas Lincoln, born 1853 </gallery>

==Lincoln's career and home life== [[File:Lincoln Home 1.jpg|thumb|The Lincoln Home at Eighth and Jackson Streets in Springfield, Illinois, where Abraham and Mary Todd Lincoln resided from 1844 until they left for the White House in 1861]] While Lincoln pursued his increasingly successful career as a Springfield lawyer, Mary supervised their growing household. Their house, where they resided from 1844 until 1861, still stands in Springfield and has been designated the Lincoln Home National Historic Site.

During Lincoln's years as an Illinois circuit lawyer, Mary was often left alone for months at a time to raise their children and run the household.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.fords.org/blog/post/understanding-mary-lincoln/|title=Understanding Mary Lincoln|last=Pearson|first=Patrick|website=Ford's Theatre|access-date=October 3, 2018}}</ref> Mary supported her husband socially and politically, not least when Lincoln was elected president in 1860.<ref name=":1">{{cite web |title=The Biography of Mary Todd Lincoln |url=https://www.mtlhouse.org/biography#:~:text=A%20mutual%20interest%20in%20politics,controversy%20in%20the%20nation's%20press. |website=Mary Todd Lincoln House |access-date=February 11, 2025}}</ref>

Mary cooked for Lincoln often during his presidency. Raised by a wealthy family, her cooking was simple, but satisfied Lincoln's tastes, which included imported oysters.<ref>{{cite web|title=The Food Timeline—Presidents food favorites |url=http://www.foodtimeline.org/presidents.html#lincoln |access-date=February 12, 2016 |work=The Food Timeline |first=Lynne |last=Olver |author-link=Lynne Olver |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160204202442/http://www.foodtimeline.org/presidents.html |archive-date=February 4, 2016 |url-status=live }}</ref>

==First Lady of the United States== thumb|Mary Lincoln, {{Circa|1860–65}} [[File:The Lincoln Family, Currier & Ives.jpg|thumb|An 1867 lithograph by Currier and Ives shows Abraham Lincoln with Mary Lincoln and their sons, Robert and Thomas ("Tad")]] thumb|Official White House portrait by Katherine Helm During her White House years, Mary Lincoln faced many personal difficulties generated by political divisions within the nation. Her family was from a border state where slavery was permitted.<ref>MacLean, Maggie (October 22, 2007). {{usurped|1=[https://web.archive.org/web/20090329092844/http://www.buzzle.com/articles/abolishing-slavery-in-america.html "Abolishing slavery in America."]}} Accessed December 13, 2010</ref> Several of her half-brothers served in the Confederate Army and were killed in action, and one brother served the Confederacy as a surgeon.<ref>{{cite journal|author=Neely, Mark E. Jr. |title=The secret treason of Abraham Lincoln's brother-in-law|jstor=20148933|journal= Journal of the Abraham Lincoln Association|volume=17|issue=1|year=1996|pages=39–43|doi=10.5406/19457987.17.1.05 |hdl=2027/spo.2629860.0017.105 |hdl-access=free}}</ref>

Mary staunchly supported her husband in his quest to save the Union and was strictly loyal to his policies. Considered a "westerner" although she had grown up in the more refined Upper South city of Lexington, Mary worked hard to serve as her husband's First Lady in Washington, D.C., a political center dominated by eastern culture. Lincoln was regarded as the first "western" president, and critics described Mary's manners as coarse and pretentious.<ref>Phillips, Ellen Blue (2007). ''Sterling Biographies: Abraham Lincoln: From Pioneer to President.'' New York: Sterling.</ref><ref name=r1>The Lincoln Institute, The Lehrman Institute, and the Gilder Lehrman Institute of American History. [http://www.mrlincolnswhitehouse.org/inside.asp?ID=15&subjectID=2 "Mr. Lincoln's White House: Mary Todd Lincoln (1818–1882)."] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160223232036/http://www.mrlincolnswhitehouse.org/inside.asp?ID=15&subjectID=2 |date=February 23, 2016 }} No date. Accessed December 13, 2010</ref>

She had difficulty negotiating White House social responsibilities and rivalries,<ref>Flood, Charles Bracelen (2010). ''1864: Lincoln at the Gates of History'' New York: Simon & Schuster.</ref> spoils-seeking solicitors,<ref>Norton, Mary Beth (2011). ''A People and a Nation: a History of the United States. Since 1865, Volume 2.'' Florence, KY: Wadsworth Publishing.</ref> and baiting newspapers<ref name="r1" /> in a climate of high national intrigue in Civil War Washington. She refurbished the White House, which included extensive redecorating of all the public and private rooms as well as the purchase of new china, which led to extensive overspending.

The president was very angry over the cost, even though Congress eventually passed two additional appropriations to cover these expenses.{{sfn|Baker|1987|pages=188–190}}{{sfn|Packard|2013|pages=88–90}} Mary also was a frequent purchaser of fine jewelry and on many occasions bought jewelry on credit from the local Galt & Bro. jewelers. Upon President Lincoln's death, she had a large amount of debt with the jeweler, which was subsequently waived, and much of the jewelry was returned.<ref>{{cite news |url=https://www.courant.com/news/connecticut/hc-xpm-2001-07-27-0107270473-story.html |title=A Glittering History |first=Liz |last=Halloran |date=July 27, 2001 |newspaper=The Hartford Courant |access-date=March 27, 2019 }}</ref>

Mary suffered from severe headaches, described as migraines, throughout her adult life, as well as protracted depression.<ref>{{cite journal|author=Holden, Charles J. |title=Abraham and Mary Lincoln: A house divided|journal=Film & History: An Interdisciplinary Journal of Film and Television Studies|volume=34|issue=1|year=2004|pages=76–77|doi=10.1353/flm.2004.0019|doi-access=free}}</ref> Her headaches seemed to become more frequent after she suffered a head injury in a carriage accident during her White House years.<ref name="Emerson">{{cite journal|author=Emerson, Jason|title=The Madness of Mary Lincoln|journal=American Heritage Magazine|volume=57|issue=3|year=2006|url=http://www.americanheritage.com/content/madness-mary-lincoln-0}}</ref>

A history of mood swings, fierce temper, public outbursts throughout Lincoln's presidency, as well as excessive spending, has led some historians and psychologists to argue that Mary suffered from bipolar disorder.<ref name="bipolar">{{cite web|url=http://www.slate.com/id/2244675/|title=Was Mary Todd Lincoln bipolar?|last=Graham|first=Ruth|publisher=Slate|date=February 14, 2010|access-date=October 26, 2010}}</ref><ref>{{cite journal|author=Bach, Jennifer|title=Was Mary Todd Lincoln Bipolar?|volume=8|issue=4|journal=Journal of Illinois History|year=2005}}</ref>

Another theory holds that Mary's manic and depressive episodes, as well as many of her physical symptoms, could be explained as manifestations of pernicious anemia.<ref name="anemiaSecondarySrc">{{cite news |title=Mary Todd Lincoln: Doctor says first lady misdiagnosed |url=http://www.cbsnews.com/news/mary-todd-lincoln-doctor-says-first-lady-misdiagnosed/ |date=July 16, 2016 |access-date=July 22, 2016 |first=Jonathan |last=LaPook |newspaper=CBS News }}</ref><ref>Sotos, John G. (2016) ''The Mary Lincoln Mind-Body Sourcebook: Including a Unifying Diagnosis to Explain Her Public Decay, Manifest Insanity, and Slow Death''. Mt. Vernon, VA: Mt. Vernon Book Systems. {{ISBN|978-0-9818193-8-9}}</ref><ref>{{cite journal|pmid=27397049|year=2015|last1=Sotos|first1=J. G.|s2cid=28038786|title="What an Affliction": Mary Todd Lincoln's Fatal Pernicious Anemia|journal=Perspectives in Biology and Medicine|volume=58|issue=4|pages=419–43|doi=10.1353/pbm.2015.0034}}</ref>

Mary Lincoln's grief over Willie's death was so devastating that she took to her bed for three weeks, so desolated that she could not attend his funeral or look after Tad.<ref name="Donald 1995 337">{{cite book|last=Donald | first=David Herbert | title=Lincoln |url=https://archive.org/details/lincoln00davi |url-access=registration | location=New York | publisher=Touchstone | year=1995 | page=[https://archive.org/details/lincoln00davi/page/337 337]}}</ref> Mary was so distraught for many months that Lincoln had to employ a nurse to look after her.<ref name="Donald 1995 337" />

During her White House years, she often visited hospitals around Washington to give flowers and fruit to wounded soldiers. She took the time to write letters for them to send to their loved ones.<ref name="EmersonJason">{{cite news |last1=Emerson |first1=Jason |title=Mary Todd Lincoln |url=http://topics.nytimes.com/top/reference/timestopics/people/l/mary_todd_lincoln/ |access-date=April 29, 2026 |publisher=The New York Times |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131023062752/http://topics.nytimes.com/top/reference/timestopics/people/l/mary_todd_lincoln/ |archive-date=October 23, 2013 |url-status=dead}}</ref><ref>The Lincoln Institute, The Lehrman Institute, and the Gilder Lehrman Institute of American History. [http://www.mrlincolnswhitehouse.org/inside.asp?ID=126&subjectID=4 "Mr. Lincoln's White House: Campbells General Hospital."] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20101218153120/http://mrlincolnswhitehouse.org/inside.asp?ID=126&subjectID=4 |date=December 18, 2010 }} Accessed December 13, 2010</ref> From time to time, she accompanied Lincoln on military visits to the field. Responsible for hosting many social functions, she has often been blamed by historians for spending too much money on the White House.<ref name="EmersonJason" />

==Assassination of Abraham Lincoln== {{Main|Assassination of Abraham Lincoln}} [[File:Lincoln assassination slide c1900 - Restoration.jpg|thumb|alt=Image of Lincoln being shot by Booth while sitting in a theater booth|An illustration of the assassination of Abraham Lincoln on April 14, 1865, in the presidential booth at Ford's Theatre. Left to right: assassin John Wilkes Booth, Abraham Lincoln, Mary Todd Lincoln, Clara Harris, and Henry Rathbone]] As the American Civil War ended, Mrs. Lincoln expected to continue as the First Lady of a nation at peace. President Lincoln awoke the morning of April 14, 1865, in a pleasant mood. Robert E. Lee had surrendered several days before to Ulysses Grant, and now the President was awaiting word from North Carolina on the surrender of Joseph E. Johnston. The morning papers carried the announcement that the President and his wife would be attending the theater that evening.

At one point, Mary developed a headache and was inclined to stay home, but Lincoln told her they must attend because newspapers had announced that he would.<ref>{{cite book|last=Donald | first=David Herbert | title=Lincoln |url=https://archive.org/details/lincoln00davi |url-access=registration | location=New York | publisher=Touchstone | year=1995 | page=[https://archive.org/details/lincoln00davi/page/593 593]}}</ref>

Mrs. Lincoln sat with her husband watching the comic play ''Our American Cousin'' at Ford's Theatre, along with their guests Henry Rathbone and Clara Harris. During the third act, Mr. Lincoln and Mrs. Lincoln drew closer together, holding hands while enjoying the play. In the last conversation the Lincolns would ever have, Mary whispered to her husband, who was holding her hand, "What will Miss Harris think of my hanging on to you so?" The president smiled and replied, "She won't think anything about it".<ref>Swanson, James (2006). ''Manhunt: The 12-Day Chase for Lincoln's Killer''. Harper Collins. p. 39. {{ISBN|978-0-06-051849-3}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|last=Guelzo|first=Allen C.|author-link=Allen C. Guelzo|year=1999|title=Abraham Lincoln: Redeemer President|publisher=Wm.B. Eerdmans Publishing Company|location=Grand Rapids, Michigan|url={{google books|plainurl=y|id=FmB3AAAAMAAJ}}|isbn=9780802838728|page=434}}</ref>

At about 10:15 pm, President Lincoln was shot in the back of the head by John Wilkes Booth. Mary was holding Abraham's hand when the shooting occurred. Lincoln, who had immediately lost consciousness, was held up in his rocking chair by a hysterical Mary.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://news.yahoo.com/report-first-doctor-reach-shot-lincoln-found-175353998.html|title=Report of first doctor to reach shot Lincoln found}}</ref> As Lincoln was carried out of the box by doctors, Mary composed herself briefly and gave Major Edwin Eliaphron Bedee the president's private papers from his pockets.<ref>{{cite book|last1=Canavan|first1=Kathryn|title=Lincoln's Final Hours: Conspiracy, Terror, and the Assassination of America's Greatest President|date=2015|publisher=University of Kentucky Press|page=145|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Cat3CgAAQBAJ&pg=PT145|isbn=9780813166094}}</ref>

Mrs. Lincoln accompanied her husband across the street to the Petersen House, where he was taken to a back bedroom and laid crosswise on the bed there, where Lincoln's Cabinet was summoned, except William Seward, who had been seriously attacked by Lewis Powell, just as Booth was about to carry out his assassination at Ford's Theater, several minutes earlier. Their oldest son, Robert, sat with Lincoln throughout the night and to the following morning, Saturday, April 15, 1865. Harris stated, "Poor Mrs. Lincoln, all through that dreadful night would look at me with horror & scream, "Oh! my husband's blood, my dear husband's blood{{nbsp}}... It was Henry's blood, not the president's, but explanations were pointless."<ref name="kauffman">Kauffman (2007) p.37</ref> At one point, Edwin M. Stanton, Lincoln's Secretary of War, ordered Mary from the room as she was so unhinged with grief.<ref name="Emerson" />

President Lincoln remained in a coma for approximately nine hours before he died at 7:22&nbsp;a.m. at the age of 56. Shortly before 7{{nbsp}}a.m. Mary was allowed to return to Lincoln's side,<ref>{{cite web|title=The Death of President Lincoln, 1865|url=http://www.eyewitnesstohistory.com/lincoln.htm|website=EyeWitness to History|publisher=Ibis Communications, Inc.|access-date=August 26, 2017}}</ref> and, as Dixon reported, "she again seated herself by the President, kissing him and calling him every endearing name."<ref>{{cite book|last=Donald | first=David Herbert | title=Lincoln |url=https://archive.org/details/lincoln00davi |url-access=registration | location=New York | publisher=Touchstone | year=1995 | page=[https://archive.org/details/lincoln00davi/page/599 599]}}</ref> As he died, his breathing grew quieter, his face more calm.<ref>{{cite book |author=Tarbell, Ida Minerva |title=The Life of Abraham Lincoln |volume=4 |pages=40 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=2TDhpaY4aHYC&pg=RA1-PA34|publisher= Digital Scanning Inc|year=1920 |isbn=9781582181257 }}</ref> According to some accounts, at his last drawn breath, on the morning after the assassination, he smiled broadly and then expired.{{efn|Attributed to multiple sources:<ref>{{cite book|last1=Fox|first1=Richard|title=Lincoln's Body: A Cultural History|date=2015|publisher=W. W. Norton & Company|isbn=978-0393247244}}</ref><ref name="auto">{{cite web|url=https://www.the-tls.co.uk/articles/private/with-a-smile-on-his-face/|title=With a smile on his face|first=Adam|last=Smith|date=July 8, 2015|publisher=The Times Literary Supplement}}</ref><ref name="backstoryradio.org">{{cite web|title=Now He Belongs to the Ages – BackStory with the American History Guys|url=https://www.backstoryradio.org/shows/now-he-belongs-to-the-ages/|quote=Abraham Lincoln died, according to press reports, with a smile on his face. "I had never seen upon the president's face an expression more genial and pleasings," wrote a New York Times reporter.}}</ref><ref name="Abel4">{{cite book|last1=Abel|first1=E. Lawrence|title=A Finger in Lincoln's Brain: What Modern Science Reveals about Lincoln, His Assassination, and Its Aftermath|isbn=978-1440831188|date=2015|publisher=ABC-CLIO|at= Chapter 14}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|title=President Lincoln's Thoughts on April 14, 1865|url=https://www.c-span.org/video/?324113-2/discussion-president-lincolns-thoughts-april-14-1865|quote=When he finally gave up the struggle for life at 7:22 A.M., his face was fixed in a smile, according to one bedside witness, treasury official, a smile that seemed almost an effort of life. Lincoln has passed on smoothly and contentedly, his facial expression suggesting that inner peace that prevailed as his final state of mind.}}</ref>}}

Historians, most notably author Lee Davis have emphasized Lincoln's peaceful appearance when and after he died: "It was the first time in four years, probably, that a peaceful expression crossed his face."<ref name="ReferenceA">''Assassinations That Changed The World'', History Channel. A & E Home Video (2000)</ref> Assistant Secretary of the Treasury in the Lincoln Administration, Maunsell Bradhurst Field wrote, "I had never seen upon the President's face an expression more genial and pleasing."<ref name="backstoryradio.org" /><ref>{{Cite news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1865/04/17/news/our-great-loss-assassination-president-lincolndetails-fearful-crimeclosing.html|title=OUR GREAT LOSS; The Assassination of President Lincoln.DETAILS OF THE FEARFUL CRIME.Closing Moments and Death of the President.Probable Recovery of Secretary Seward. Rumors of the Arrest of the Assassins. The Funeral of President Lincoln to Take Place Next Wednesday.Expressions of Deep Sorrow Through-out the Land. OFFICIAL DISPATCHES. THE ASSASSINATION. Further Details of the Murder Narrow Recape of Secretary Stanton Measures Taken is Prevent the Escape of the Assassin of the President. LAST MOMENTS OF THE PRESIDENT. Interesting Letter from Maunsell B. Field Esq. THE GREAT CALAMITY.|date=April 17, 1865|newspaper=The New York Times|issn=0362-4331|access-date=April 12, 2016}}</ref> The President's secretary, John Hay, said, "A look of unspeakable peace came upon his worn features".<ref>{{cite book|last=Hay|first=John|title=The Life and Letters of John Hay Volume 1 (quote's original source is Hay's diary which is quoted in "Abraham Lincoln: A History", Volume 10, Page 292 by John G. Nicolay and John Hay)|date=1915|publisher=Houghton Mifflin Company|url=https://archive.org/stream/lifeandlettersof007751mbp/lifeandlettersof007751mbp_djvu.txt}}</ref>

==Later life== [[File:Mumler (Lincoln).jpg|thumb|Mary Todd Lincoln with the "ghost" of her husband, in an image taken by spirit photographer William H. Mumler, though Mumler's photos are now known to be hoaxes]] After her husband's death, she received messages of condolence from all over the world, many of which she attempted to answer personally. Responding to Queen Victoria she wrote:<ref>Monaghan, Jay. ''[https://books.google.com/books?id=ctFf9zQesJgC&pg=PA430 Abraham Lincoln Deals with Foreign Affairs: A Diplomat in Carpet Slippers]'', p. 430 (U. Nebraska Press, 1997).</ref>

<blockquote>I have received the letter which Your Majesty has had the kindness to write. I am deeply grateful for its expressions of tender sympathy, coming as they do, from a heart which from its own sorrow, can appreciate the ''intense grief'' I now endure.</blockquote>

Victoria had suffered the loss of her husband, Prince Albert, four years earlier.<ref>Turner, Justin G. and Turner, Linda Levitt (1987) ''Mary Todd Lincoln: Her Life and Letters'', Fromm International Pub. Corp. p. 230. {{ISBN|0-88064-073-1}}</ref>

As a widow, Mrs. Lincoln returned to Illinois and lived in Chicago with her sons. Her husband had left an estate of $80,000 ({{Inflation|US|80,000|1865|fmt=eq}}), which should have been enough to keep her in comfort, if not in style.<ref name=":0">{{Cite book |last=Birmingham |first=Steven |title=Our Crowd: The great Jewish families of New York |publisher=Open Road Integrated Media, Inc. New York |year=1967 |isbn=978-1-5040-2628-4 |pages=103–104 |language=English}}</ref>

In 1868, Mrs Lincoln, who had a lavish, unstable relationship with money, advertised in the ''New York'' ''World'' for aid and attempted to sell her personal effects at auction, which shocked the public.<ref name=":0" /> She and her young son Tad moved to Europe and settled in Frankfurt for several years. During this time, the Seligman family helped look after her, paying the cost of the voyage, sending her money, and advocating on her behalf.<ref name=":0" />

In 1868, her former modiste (dressmaker) and confidante, Elizabeth Keckley (1818–1907), published ''Behind the Scenes, or, Thirty Years a Slave, and Four Years in the White House''.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Keckley |first=Elizabeth |url=http://archive.org/details/behindscenesorth00keck |title=Behind the scenes, or, Thirty years a slave and four years in the White House |date=1868 |publisher=New York: G. W. Carleton & Co. |others=University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill University Library}}</ref> She had been born into slavery, purchased her freedom and that of her son, and become a successful businesswoman in Washington, D.C. Although this book provides valuable insight into the character and life of Mary Todd Lincoln, at the time, the former First Lady (and much of the public and press) regarded it as a breach of friendship and confidentiality. Keckley was widely criticized for her book, especially as her editor had published letters from Mary Lincoln to her.

The work is now generally accepted by many historians and biographers, used to flesh out the President and First Lady's personalities behind the scenes in the Executive Mansion, and used as the basis for several motion pictures and TV mini-series during the late 20th and early 21st centuries.<ref>{{cite book |first=Yolanda Williams |last=Page |title=Encyclopedia of African American Women Writers |url=https://archive.org/details/encyclopediaafri00page |url-access=limited |year=2007 |publisher=Greenwood Publishing Group |isbn=9780313334290 |pages=[https://archive.org/details/encyclopediaafri00page/page/n350 331]–333 |oclc=433369250 |quote=''Behind the Scenes'' and Keckley were mocked and renounced by the press.}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.whitehousehistory.org/whha_timelines/timelines_workers-02.html |title=1860s: An uneasy reaction to a White House memoir |work=White House History Timelines: White House Workers |publisher=White House Historical Association |quote=Others believe that Keckley's unscrupulous editor tricked her into lending him Mrs. Lincoln's letters, which he then included in the book. |access-date=July 3, 2012 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121006025444/http://whitehousehistory.org/whha_timelines/timelines_workers-02.html |archive-date=October 6, 2012 |url-status=dead }}</ref>

In an act approved by a low margin on July 14, 1870, the United States Congress granted Mrs. Lincoln a life pension of $3,000 a year (${{formatnum:{{inflation|US|3000|1870}}}} in {{inflation/year|US}} dollars).<ref>{{cite book |url=http://memory.loc.gov/cgi-bin/ampage?collId=llsl&fileName=016/llsl016.db&recNum=688 |title=The United States Statutes at Large, Public Acts of the Forty-First Congress of the United States, 2nd Session |page=653 |chapter=277&nbsp;– An Act granting a Pension to Mary Lincoln |via=Memory.loc.gov |access-date=September 25, 2023}}</ref> Mary had lobbied hard for such a pension, writing numerous letters to Congress and urging patrons such as Simon Cameron and Joseph Seligman<ref name=":0" /> to petition on her behalf. She insisted that she deserved a pension just as much as the widows of soldiers, as she portrayed her husband as a fallen commander.<ref>{{cite journal|author=Bach, Jennifer |title=Acts of Remembrance: Mary Todd Lincoln and Her Husband's Legacy|volume =25|issue =2|year=2004|pages= 25–49|journal=Journal of the Abraham Lincoln Association|doi=10.5406/19457987.25.2.04 |hdl=2027/spo.2629860.0025.204|hdl-access=free}}</ref> At the time, a pension was unusual for widows of presidents, and Mary Lincoln had alienated many congressmen, making it difficult for her to gain Congress's approval.<ref name="EmersonJason" />

Soon after returning to the United States, Tad died at the age of 18<ref name="Classroom"/> at the Clifton House hotel in Chicago.<ref>Davenport, Page 153</ref>{{efn|The cause of death has been variously referred to as tuberculosis,<ref>{{cite book|last=Davenport|first=Don|title=In Lincoln's Footsteps: A Historical Guide to the Lincoln Sites in Illinois|year=2001|publisher=Big Earth Publishing|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Rz3VkkikvngC&pg=PA210|page=210|isbn=978-1-931599-05-4}}</ref> a pleuristic attack,<ref>Emerson, Jason. Giant in the Shadows: The Life of Robert T. Lincoln. Carbondale: Southern Illinois University Press, 2012, P. 478.</ref> pneumonia,<ref name="Classroom"/> or congestive heart failure.<ref>{{cite web|title=The Lincoln Boys|url=https://www.loc.gov/item/sm1874.15788/|publisher=Library of Congress|access-date=December 2, 2012}}</ref>}}{{efn|{{cite book|last=Emerson|first=Jason|title=Giant in the Shadows:The Life of Robert T. Lincoln|year=2012|publisher=SIU (Southern Illinois University) Press|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=tPqgC3RS-7sC&pg=PA478|page=478|isbn=978-0-8093-9071-7|quote=With serious effusion compressing the lungs and crowding the nearby heart, there was not enough oxygen to maintain the life centers of the brain}} (quoting Milton Shutes, "Mortality of the Five Lincoln Boys", ''Lincoln Herald'', vol. 57 (Spring 1955), p. 7.)}} Tad's death in July 1871, following the deaths of two of her other sons and her husband, brought on an overpowering grief and depression.<ref name="Emerson"/> Her surviving son, Robert Lincoln, a rising young Chicago lawyer, was alarmed at his mother's increasingly erratic behavior. In March 1875, during a visit to Jacksonville, Florida, Mary became unshakably convinced that Robert was deathly ill; hurrying to Chicago, she found him healthy. During her visit with him, she told him that someone had tried to poison her on the train and that a "wandering Jew" had taken her pocketbook but returned it.<ref name="Emerson"/>

She also spent large amounts of money there on items she never used, such as draperies and elaborate dresses (she wore only black after her husband's assassination). She walked around the city with $56,000 in government bonds sewn into her petticoats. Despite this large amount of money and the $3,000-a-year stipend from Congress, Mrs. Lincoln still feared poverty.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Hull |first1=Mary E. |title=Mary Todd Lincoln: Civil War's First Lady |date=2014 |publisher=Enslow Publishing |page=72 |isbn=978-0-7660-6480-5 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=FtBjDwAAQBAJ&pg=PA72 |access-date=September 26, 2023 |quote=Mary Todd Lincoln had to live on a modest income ... Living on the small sum allotted to her by Judge Davis from her husband's estate, she had to pay back ten thousand dollars in outstanding debts on purchases she made while she was still First Lady ... Mary Todd began to fear poverty.}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |last1=Jones |first1=Terry L. |title=Historical Dictionary of the Civil War, Volume 1 |date=2011 |publisher=Scarecrow Press |page=855 |isbn=978-0-8108-7811-2 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=VXEMyi7gS5IC&pg=PA855 |access-date=September 26, 2023 |quote=At a time when there were no presidential pensions, she lived in constant fear of poverty.}}</ref>

In 1872, she went to spiritualist photographer William H. Mumler, who produced a photograph of her that appears to faintly show Lincoln's ghost behind her, now housed at the Allen County Public Library in Fort Wayne, Indiana.<ref>Mysteries at the Museum, season 2 (2011), "The French Connection" episode.</ref> The College of Psychic Studies, referencing notes belonging to William Stainton Moses, claims that the photo was taken in the early 1870s, that Lincoln had assumed the name of 'Mrs. Lindall', and that Lincoln had to be encouraged by Mumler's wife to identify her husband in the photo.<ref name="psychic">{{cite web |url= https://www.collegeofpsychicstudies.co.uk/about/page/id/7/our-archives|title= William Stainton Moses collection|access-date=April 29, 2014 |publisher= College of Psychic Studies}} </ref> P.T. Barnum, testifying against Mumler in his eventual fraud trial, presented a photo featuring himself with the 'ghost' of Abraham Lincoln, demonstrating for the court how easy it was to make one of Mumler's images.

The image is recognized now as a hoax created via double exposure by inserting a previously prepared positive glass plate featuring the image of the deceased into the camera in front of an unused sensitive glass plate.<ref>{{cite web |url= https://www.bbc.com/future/article/20150629-the-intriguing-history-of-ghost-photography|title=The intriguing history of ghost photography |access-date=July 4, 2021 |last=Timberlake|first=Howard|date=June 30, 2015 |publisher=BBC.com}}</ref>

===Institutionalization=== Due to her erratic behavior, Robert initiated proceedings to have her institutionalized.<ref name="Emerson"/> On May 20, 1875, following a trial, a jury committed her to a private asylum in Batavia, Illinois.<ref>[http://showcase.netins.net/web/creative/lincoln/sites/bellevue.htm Mary Todd Lincoln's Stay at Bellevue Place] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120803134220/http://showcase.netins.net/web/creative/lincoln/sites/bellevue.htm |date=August 3, 2012 }}, Showcase.netins.net. Retrieved on November 13, 2010.</ref> After the court proceedings, she was so despondent that she attempted suicide. She went to several pharmacies and ordered enough laudanum to kill herself, but an alert pharmacist frustrated her attempts and finally gave her a placebo.{{sfn|Emerson|2007|pp=67-68}}

Three months after being committed to Bellevue Place, she devised her escape: She smuggled letters to her lawyer, James B. Bradwell, and his wife, Myra Bradwell, who was not only her friend but also a feminist lawyer. She also wrote to the editor of the ''Chicago Times''.

Soon, the public embarrassments that Robert had hoped to avoid were looming, and his character and motives were in question as he controlled his mother's finances. The director of Bellevue at Mary's trial had assured the jury she would benefit from treatment at his facility. In the face of potentially damaging publicity, he declared her well enough to go to Springfield to live with her sister Elizabeth as she desired.<ref>[http://www.wcwonline.org/content/view/1719/38/ The Madness of Mary Todd Lincoln | Women's Review of Books-May/June 2008] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080923153646/http://www.wcwonline.org/content/view/1719/38/ |date=September 23, 2008 }}. Wellesley Centers for Women (June 24, 2010). Retrieved on November 13, 2010.</ref>

Mary Lincoln was released into the custody of her sister in Springfield. In 1876, she was declared competent to manage her own affairs. The earlier committal proceedings had resulted in Mary being profoundly estranged from her son Robert, and they did not see each other again until shortly before her death.<ref name="EmersonJason"/>

Mrs. Lincoln spent the next four years traveling throughout Europe and took up residence in Pau, France. Her final years were marked by declining health. She suffered from severe cataracts that reduced her eyesight; this condition may have contributed to her increasing susceptibility to falls. In 1879, she suffered spinal cord injuries in a fall from a stepladder.<ref name="EmersonJason"/>

She traveled to New York in 1881 and lobbied for an increased pension after the assassination of President Garfield raised the issue of provisions for his family. She faced a difficult battle due to negative press over her spending habits and rumors about her handling of her personal finances, including $56,000 in government bonds left to her by her husband.<ref>{{cite web|last1=Ellard|first1=Kerry|title=Nevertheless, She Persisted.|url=https://lincolnabraham.com/wiki/mary-todd-pension-her-fight-against-the-government-introduction/|website=Lincoln Abraham|publisher=LincolnAbraham.com|date=July 5, 2017|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170805222501/https://lincolnabraham.com/wiki/mary-todd-pension-her-fight-against-the-government-introduction/|archive-date=August 5, 2017}}</ref> Congress eventually granted the increase, along with an additional monetary gift.

During the early 1880s, Mary Lincoln was confined to the Springfield, Illinois, residence of her sister Elizabeth Edwards.

===Death=== [[File:Mary Todd Lincoln's crypt.JPG|thumb|300px|Mary Todd Lincoln's crypt at Oak Ridge Cemetery in Springfield, Illinois, next to her sons]] On July 15, 1882, exactly eleven years after her youngest son died, Mary collapsed at her sister's home, lapsed into a coma, and died the next morning of a stroke at age 63.<ref>{{Cite book|last1=Wead|first1=Doug|page=81|title=All the Presidents' Children: Triumph and Tragedy in the Lives of America's First Families|date=January 6, 2004|publisher=Simon and Schuster |isbn=9780743446334|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=AzPd0aVnOl0C}}</ref> Her funeral service was held at First Presbyterian Church in Springfield.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.abrahamlincolnonline.org/lincoln/sites/pew.htm|title=The Lincoln Family Church|website=Abraham Lincoln Online|access-date=February 16, 2020}}</ref>

==In popular culture== {{external media| float = left| video1 = [https://www.c-span.org/video/?117031-1/author-mary-todd-lincoln-biography Presentation by Jean H. Baker on ''Mary Todd Lincoln: A Biography'', November 17, 1998], C-SPAN}} Biographies have been written about Mary Lincoln as well as her husband. Barbara Hambly's ''The Emancipator's Wife'' (2005) is considered a well-researched historical novel that provides context for her use of over-the-counter drugs containing alcohol and opium, which were frequently given to women of her era. Janis Cooke Newman's historical novel ''Mary: Mrs. A. Lincoln'' (2007), in which Mary tells her own story after incarceration in the asylum in an effort to maintain and prove her sanity, is considered by Mary's recent biographer, Jean H. Baker, to be 'close to life' in its depiction of Mary Lincoln's life.<ref>{{cite book|isbn=978-1905802104|title=Mrs. Lincoln |publisher=Myrmidon Books Ltd |year= 2008|author=Newman, Janis Cooke }}</ref>

The grief experienced through her widowhood is a theme of Andrew Holleran's 2006 novel, ''Grief''. Another historical novel in which Mary Todd Lincoln is depicted is ''Courting Mr. Lincoln''<ref>{{Cite news |title=Review {{!}} Was Abraham Lincoln gay? |language=en-US |newspaper=Washington Post |url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/entertainment/books/was-abraham-lincoln-gay/2019/04/23/37bbe08a-65e2-11e9-8985-4cf30147bdca_story.html |access-date=May 3, 2023 |issn=0190-8286}}</ref> (2019) by Louis Bayard, centering on Lincoln's relationships with Mary Todd and Joshua Fry Speed, Abraham Lincoln's good friend, in Springfield from 1839 to 1842.

Mary Lincoln has been portrayed by several actresses in film, including Kay Hammond in ''Abraham Lincoln'' (1930) directed by D.W. Griffith; Marjorie Weaver in ''Young Mr. Lincoln'' (1939) directed by John Ford; Ruth Gordon in ''Abe Lincoln in Illinois'' (1940); Julie Harris in ''The Last of Mrs. Lincoln'', a 1976 television adaptation of the stage play; Mary Tyler Moore in the 1988 television mini-series ''Lincoln''; Donna Murphy in the 1998 movie ''The Day Lincoln Was Shot''; Sally Field in Steven Spielberg's 2012 film ''Lincoln'';<ref name=slate.com>{{cite web|last=Bloomer|first=Jeffrey|title=Was Mary Todd Lincoln Really "Insane"?|url=http://www.slate.com/blogs/browbeat/2012/11/09/mary_todd_lincoln_crazy_bipolar_while_historians_argue_new_spielberg_movie.html|work=slate.com|date=November 9, 2012 |publisher=TheSlate Group|access-date=November 9, 2012}}</ref> Penelope Ann Miller in ''Saving Lincoln'' (2012); and Mary Elizabeth Winstead in ''Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter'' (2012), set during the American Civil War. Mezzo-soprano Elaine Bonazzi portrayed Mary in Thomas Pasatieri's Emmy Award winning opera ''The Trial of Mary Lincoln'' in 1972.<ref>{{cite news|url=http://timesmachine.nytimes.com/timesmachine/1972/02/14/79421267.html?pageNumber=59|title=Original Opera Tonight About Mary Lincoln|author=John J. O'Connor|author-link=John J. O'Connor (journalist)|work=The New York Times|date=February 14, 1972|page=59}}</ref>

In 1955, Vivi Janiss played the historical Mary Todd Lincoln in "How Chance Made Lincoln President" in the anthology television series, ''TV Reader's Digest''. Richard Gaines was cast as Abraham Lincoln, and Ken Hardison played their son, Robert Todd Lincoln.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Reinhart |first1=Mark S. |title=Abraham Lincoln on Screen: Fictional and Documentary Portrayals on Film and Television |date=2009 |publisher=McFarland |page=110 |isbn=9780786452613 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Zio49y0tiE0C&pg=PA110}}</ref>

In 2005, Sufjan Stevens referenced Mary Todd Lincoln in the instrumental track "A Short Reprise for Mary Todd, Who Went Insane, but for Very Good Reasons" from his album ''Illinois'', which is themed around the state where she resided the majority of her life.<ref>{{cite web|title=Sufjan Stevens – Sufjan Stevens Invites You To: Come On Feel The Illinoise|url=https://www.discogs.com/master/14863|website=Discogs|access-date=July 7, 2017}}</ref>

The comedic stage play ''Oh, Mary!'' opened on Broadway in July 2024, having transferred from its critically acclaimed off-Broadway run. The satirical plot by American comedian Cole Escola parodies the Lincolns in the weeks prior to the president's assassination, portraying Mary Todd as an unhappy alcoholic desperate to be a cabaret performer.<ref>{{cite web|title='Oh, Mary' star Cole Escola had no idea how toxic Abe Lincoln's marriage was — even after writing script|url=https://nypost.com/2024/03/14/entertainment/oh-mary-star-cole-escola-no-idea-how-toxic-abe-lincoln-marriage-was-even-after-writing-script/|website=New York Post|date=March 14, 2024 |access-date=April 11, 2024}}</ref> Escola won Best Actor in a Play at the 78th Tony Awards for spoofing Mary Todd.

The play ''Mrs. President'' by John Ransom Phillips centers on Mary Todd's interaction with the photographer Matthew Brady.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Mrs President at Charing Cross Theatre |url=https://charingcrosstheatre.co.uk/theatre/mrs-president |access-date=February 17, 2025 |website=Charing Cross Theatre}}</ref>

Mary Todd Lincoln was portrayed by Lili Taylor in the 2024 Apple TV+ miniseries series ''Manhunt''.

==Family== Her sister Elizabeth Todd married Ninian Edwards Jr., the son of the Illinois Governor Ninian Edwards. Their daughter Julia Edwards married Edward L. Baker Jr., editor of the ''Illinois State Journal'' and son of Edward L. Baker Sr. Their daughter, Mary Todd Lincoln's grandniece Mary Edwards Brown, served as custodian of the Lincoln Homestead, as did her own daughter.<ref>{{cite web|title=Eisenhower Thanks Mary Lincoln's Niece for the Gift of a 'Truly Historic Memento', 1952|url=http://www.shapell.org/manuscript.aspx?eisenhower-lincoln-connection|archive-url=https://archive.today/20130722082443/http://www.shapell.org/manuscript.aspx?eisenhower-lincoln-connection|url-status=dead|archive-date=July 22, 2013|work=Shapell Manuscript Collection|publisher=Shapell Manuscript Foundation}}</ref> Mary's half-sister Emilie Todd married Benjamin Hardin Helm, CSA general and son of the Kentucky Governor John L. Helm.

Another of her half-sisters, Elodie Todd, married CSA Brig. General Nathaniel H. R. Dawson, later the third U.S. Commissioner of Education.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.ruralswalabama.org/attraction/elodie-todd-dawson-monument-selma-live-oak-cemetery/ |title=Elodie Todd Dawson Monument in Selma's Old Live Oak Cemetery |website=RuralSWAlabama.org |publisher=RuralSWAlabama |access-date=August 20, 2017 }}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.al.com/living/index.ssf/2015/07/13_of_alabamas_most_photograph.html |title=13 of Alabama's most photographed cemetery monuments |date=July 16, 2015 |access-date=August 20, 2017 |website=al.com |publisher=Alabama Media Group |first=Kelly |last=Kazek }}</ref> One of Mary Todd's cousins was Dakota Territory Congressman/US General John Blair Smith Todd.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Clift |first1=Garrett Glenn |title=Remember the Raisin! Kentucky and Kentuckians in the Battles and Massacre at Frenchtown, Michigan Territory, in the War of 1812 |date=2009 |publisher=Genealogical Publishing Com |page=130 |isbn=9780806345208 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=1A3k7Wqaq0wC&pg=PA130|quote="Dr. John Todd ... His brother, Robert S. Todd, was the father of Mary Todd, wife of Abraham Lincoln. ... Dr. John and Elizabeth Smith Todd had six children: John Blair Smith Todd ..."}}</ref>

==Regard by historians== Historians have regarded Lincoln poorly as a first lady, seeing her as meddling and disruptive.<ref>{{cite web |title=Eleanor Roosevelt, Hillary Clinton Top First Lady Poll |url=https://scri.siena.edu/wp-content/uploads/2018/08/Press-Release-1.10.94.pdf |website=scri.siena.edu |publisher=Sienna College |access-date=October 23, 2022 |date=January 10, 1994}}</ref> Lincoln's poor regard is due to the perception of Lincoln as having had psychological conditions that made the life of President Lincoln more difficult.<ref name="2008Siena"/> Lincoln is seen as having suffered not just from likely mental illness during her husband's presidency, but also from the personal toll that having two of her children die, including one during her husband's presidency, took on her.<ref>{{cite web |title=Eleanor Roosevelt, Hillary Clinton Top First Lady Poll |url=https://scri.siena.edu/wp-content/uploads/2018/08/Press-Release-1.10.94.pdf |website=scri.siena.edu |publisher=Sienna College |access-date=October 23, 2022 |date=January 10, 1994}}</ref>

Since 1982, Siena College Research Institute has periodically conducted surveys asking historians to assess American first ladies according to a cumulative score on the independent criteria of their background, value to the country, intelligence, courage, accomplishments, integrity, leadership, being their own women, public image, and value to the president. In the first four surveys, Lincoln was ranked in the lowest quartile.<ref name="Siena2014">{{cite web |title=Eleanor Roosevelt Retains Top Spot as America's Best First Lady Michelle Obama Enters Study as 5th, Hillary Clinton Drops to 6th Clinton Seen First Lady Most as Presidential Material; Laura Bush, Pat Nixon, Mamie Eisenhower, Bess Truman Could Have Done More in Office Eleanor & FDR Top Power Couple; Mary Drags Lincolns Down in the Ratings |url=https://scri.siena.edu/wp-content/uploads/2018/08/FirstLadies2014Release_Final.pdf |website=scri.siena.edu |publisher=Siena Research Institute |access-date=May 16, 2022 |date=February 15, 2014}}</ref> However, in the fifth survey (conducted in 2020), Lincoln's regard had risen enough to place her in the third quartile. Lincoln's rise in regard from being ranked as the worst first lady in the first survey to the third quartile in 2020 is perhaps due to an increase in writing on her.<ref name="Siena2020"/>

In terms of cumulative assessment, Lincoln has been ranked: *42nd-best of 42 in 1982<ref name="Siena2014"/> *37th-best of 37 in 1993<ref name="2008Siena"/> *36th-best of 38 in 2003<ref name="Siena2014"/> *35th-best of 38 in 2008<ref name="Siena2014"/> *31st-best of 39 in 2014<ref>{{cite web |title=Siena College Research Institute/C-SPAN Study of the First Ladies of the United States 2014 |url=https://scri.siena.edu/wp-content/uploads/2018/08/Appendix_A_Overall_Survey_Results.pdf |website=scri.siena.edu |publisher=Siena College Research Institute |access-date=October 10, 2022 |date=2014}}</ref> *29th-best of 40 in 2020<ref name="Siena2020">{{cite web |title=Eleanor Roosevelt America's Top First Lady for 6th Consecutive Time Abigail Adams Finishes a Close Second; Michelle Obama Moves to Third First Lady Initiatives – Lady Bird Johnson (Environmental Protection) Did Most to Raise Awareness and Address the Issue; Obama (Childhood Obesity), Betty Ford (Women's Rights), and Barbara Bush (Literacy) Made Major Contributions Jackie Kennedy - 4th but First on Being a White House Steward & Public Image |url=https://scri.siena.edu/wp-content/uploads/2023/11/FirstLadies2020Release.pdf |website=scri.siena.edu |publisher=Siena Research Institute |access-date=March 6, 2024 |date=December 9, 2020}}</ref>

In the 2008 Siena Research Institute survey, Lincoln was ranked the lowest in four of the ten criteria: value to the country, accomplishments, leadership, and public image.<ref name="2008Siena">{{cite web |title=Ranking America's First Ladies Eleanor Roosevelt Still #1 Abigail Adams Regains 2nd Place Hillary moves from 5th to 4th; Jackie Kennedy from 4th to 3rd Mary Todd Lincoln Remains in 36th |url=https://scri.siena.edu/wp-content/uploads/2018/08/FL_2008Release.pdf |publisher=Siena Research Institute |access-date=May 16, 2022 |date=December 18, 2008}}</ref> In the 2014 survey, Lincoln and her husband were ranked the 7th-highest out of 39 first couples in terms of being a "power couple".<ref>{{cite web |title=2014 Power Couple Score |url=https://scri.siena.edu/wp-content/uploads/2018/08/Appendix_C_Power_Couples.pdf |website=scri.siena.edu/ |publisher=Siena Research Institute/C-SPAN Study of the First Ladies of the United States |access-date=October 9, 2022}}</ref>

==See also== *Lincoln family tree {{clear}}

==Notes== {{Notelist}}

==References== {{Reflist}}

==Bibliography== *{{cite book|last=Baker|first=Jean H.|author-link=Jean H. Baker|title=Mary Todd Lincoln: A Biography|location=New York|publisher=W. W. Norton & Company|date=1987|isbn=0393024369|url=https://archive.org/details/marytoddlincolnb1987bake|url-access=registration}} *{{cite book|last=Emerson|first=Jason|title=The Madness of Mary Lincoln|location=Carbondale|publisher=Southern Illinois University Press|date=2007|isbn=978-0-8093-2771-3|url=https://archive.org/details/madnessofmarylin0000emer|url-access=registration}} *{{cite book|last=Packard|first=Jerrold M.|title=The Lincolns in the White House: Four Years That Shattered a Family|location=New York|publisher=St. Martin's Press|date=2013|isbn=978-0312313029|url=https://archive.org/details/lincolnsinwhiteh0000pack|url-access=registration}}

==Further reading== * Michael Burlingame, ''The Inner World of Abraham Lincoln'' (Urbana and Chicago: University of Illinois Press, 1994) * Michael Burlingame, ''An American Marriage: The Untold Story of Abraham Lincoln and Mary Todd'' (Pegasus Books, 2021) * Catherine Clinton, ''Mrs. Lincoln: A Life'' (New York: Harper Perennial, 2010) * Emerson, Jason (2019).&nbsp;''Mary Lincoln for the Ages''. Carbondale, Illinois: Southern Illinois University Press. {{ISBN|978-08093-3675-3}}. * Daniel Mark Epstein, ''The Lincolns: Portrait of a Marriage'' (Ballantine Books, 2008) * King, C. J. ''Four Marys and a Jessie: The Story of the Lincoln Women'' (Hildene, first ed. 2005, second ed. 2014) *{{cite book |title=Mary Lincoln: Southern Girl, Northern Woman |lccn=2014030118 |first=Stacy Pratt |last=McDermott |location=New York |publisher= Routledge |year= 2015}} * Neely Jr., Mark E. and R. Gerald McMurtry. ''The Insanity File: The Case of Mary Todd Lincoln'' (1993) [https://www.amazon.com/The-Insanity-File-Case-Lincoln/dp/0809318954/ excerpt and text search] * Pritchard, Myra Helmer; edited by Jason Emerson (2023). ''The Dark Days of Abraham Lincoln's Widow, as Revealed by Her Own Letters''. Carbondale, Illinois: Southern Illinois University Press. * Ruth Painter Randall, ''Mary Lincoln: Biography of a Marriage'' (Little, Brown & Co., 1953) * Romano, Lois (May 19, 2026). ''An Inconvenient Widow: The Torment, Trial, and Triumph of Mary Todd Lincoln''. Simon & Schuster. {{ISBN|978-1982140724}} * Williams, Frank J. and Burkhimer, Michael, eds. ''The Mary Lincoln Enigma: Historians on America's Most Controversial First Lady'' (Southern Illinois University Press, 2012) 392 pages; scholarly essays on her childhood in Kentucky, the early years of her marriage, her political relationship with her husband, and her relationship with her son Robert. [https://www.fedbar.org/wp-content/uploads/2013/01/bookrev-janfeb13-pdf-1.pdf Book review] * {{cite journal |last=Warren |first=Louis A. |title=The Woman in Lincoln's Life |journal=Filson Club History Quarterly |volume=20 |issue=3 |date=July 1946 |url=http://connect1.ajaxdocumentviewer.com/viewerajax.php?N11tFRy1Ehk9zVLEdVs6bwvxghexMqGAKVOhpr%2FtAH5Tx7ri0VzhMGFEiX4so%2B2a%2Fl0O6qksBmMtQxdPSN3w4uGw81jAdLB86%2F6CYo4FNqZwSf%2BhveqxVzyQMgdJ6YNQa9g1Y3d9aAJtAK149mWGEnt5lj2L%2B4fTdfbnMQnFhHz9CE4sOdgtxIYa3P3f0HuQon7uBMFfMXTYiZbLTJDrLZNtaPS7sFxwnKdbbS3ptn4YO0rO121Or32GJ5QjaR7JqYYw0sFLPQdg%2BaLyaEW8t8P2yD15GpMk8L1SvhPPlBIV714T1J8sSLRLcex2N2fQXAuVi9akiDpDF6KZa25ZhNG2kSzCfFbv2BVvRs8SqiaoxtLj%2Bia%2FwKaEcILSxe4J%2FMza1cnz47%2F9ffaR8ATlKJkGzXvlNeKpHpDtudGQydE |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131023061526/http://connect1.ajaxdocumentviewer.com/viewerajax.php?N11tFRy1Ehk9zVLEdVs6bwvxghexMqGAKVOhpr%2FtAH5Tx7ri0VzhMGFEiX4so%2B2a%2Fl0O6qksBmMtQxdPSN3w4uGw81jAdLB86%2F6CYo4FNqZwSf%2BhveqxVzyQMgdJ6YNQa9g1Y3d9aAJtAK149mWGEnt5lj2L%2B4fTdfbnMQnFhHz9CE4sOdgtxIYa3P3f0HuQon7uBMFfMXTYiZbLTJDrLZNtaPS7sFxwnKdbbS3ptn4YO0rO121Or32GJ5QjaR7JqYYw0sFLPQdg%2BaLyaEW8t8P2yD15GpMk8L1SvhPPlBIV714T1J8sSLRLcex2N2fQXAuVi9akiDpDF6KZa25ZhNG2kSzCfFbv2BVvRs8SqiaoxtLj%2Bia%2FwKaEcILSxe4J%2FMza1cnz47%2F9ffaR8ATlKJkGzXvlNeKpHpDtudGQydE |url-status=dead |archive-date=October 23, 2013 }}

==External links== {{Wikiquote}} {{Commons category}} * [https://bidenwhitehouse.archives.gov/about-the-white-house/first-families/mary-todd-lincoln/ White House profile] * [https://books.google.com/books?id=i2vNS5n1UHgC Mrs. Abraham Lincoln: A Study of Her Personality and Her Influence on Lincoln By W. A. Evans] * [https://www.histclo.com/pres/ind19/lincoln/lin-child.html Lincoln children] * [http://rogerjnorton.com/Lincoln90.html Mary Todd Lincoln Quotes] * [http://www.shapell.org/search/?search=mary+todd+lincoln Original Manuscript Letters: Mary Todd Lincoln] Shapell Manuscript Foundation * [http://firstladies.c-span.org/FirstLady/18/Mary-Lincoln.aspx Mary Lincoln] at C-SPAN's ''First Ladies: Influence & Image'' * [http://hdl.loc.gov/loc.rbc/lprbscsm.scsm1298 ''Mary Todd Lincoln's Seed-pearl Necklace and Matching Bracelets''.] (A gift from Abraham Lincoln to Mary Todd Lincoln and worn at his second Inaugural Ball. See featured picture at the top of the page.) From the Collections at the Library of Congress

{{s-start}} {{s-hon}} {{s-bef|before=Harriet Lane<br /><small>Acting</small>}} {{s-ttl|title=First Lady of the United States|years=1861–1865}} {{s-aft|after=Eliza Johnson}} {{s-end}}

{{US First Ladies}} {{Abraham Lincoln}} {{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Lincoln, Mary Todd}} Category:1818 births Category:1882 deaths Category:19th-century American women Category:19th-century Presbyterians Category:American people of Irish descent Category:American Presbyterians Category:Burials at Oak Ridge Cemetery Category:First ladies of the United States Mary Todd Category:People associated with the assassination of Abraham Lincoln Category:People from Lexington, Kentucky Category:People from Springfield, Illinois Category:People with bipolar disorder Category:Spouses of Illinois politicians Category:American people of English descent