Mary Todd Lincoln

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 ., 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.