Mary Lincoln's presence at Abraham's death-bed

[RJNorton]

In 1922, Robert wrote a letter to a friend, Nicolas Murray Butler, about the Lincoln tomb at Oak Ridge Cemetery:"...it is arranged that my wife and myself shall be entombed there".
Was it really Mary Harlan's sole decision that he was (they were) finally buried in Arlington? If it had been - would Robert have agreed? Or did Robert indicate during lifetime he had changed his mind? And why Arlington?

Good question, Eva. I hope Donna or Gerald will chime in here. After many years of mystery, the reasons why Robert was buried in Arlington rather than the Lincoln Tomb were revealed in an excellent article in the Summer 1998 edition of Lincoln Lore. Using a previously unknown letter held in a private collection as their source, forum members Gerald D. Swick and Donna McCreary revealed that it was Mary Harlan Lincoln's sole decision to have Robert interred at Arlington. In a letter to Katherine Helm, Robert's cousin, Mary revealed that she felt Robert "was a personage, made his own history, independently (underlined 5 times) of his great father, and should have his own place 'in the sun'!" In the words of Donna and Gerald, Mary therefore made the decision "to give her husband the honor she felt he deserved."

Mary Harlan Lincoln's Letter to Katherine Helm

SOURCE OF IMAGE: Summer 1998 edition of Lincoln Lore