Grant and Lincoln's invitation

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William S. McFeely writes in “Grant, A Biography” on page 211:

“Robert Lincoln was already at City Point. His father had asked Grant if his son , who had just graduated from Harvard, might not have a chance to see a bit of the war, and Robert was serving on Grant’s staff. He brought the word to the Grant’s cabin at City Point that his parents and brother had arrived on the River Queen, which stood off the point in the James River. The Grants went at once to call on the Lincolns, and as the men went off together, Julia Grant feeling ill at ease, was left alone in small quarters with Mary Lincoln. Mrs. Lincoln had gotten up to greet her, and now Julia, as unobtrusively as possible, sat down on the small sofa on which Mrs. Lincoln had been sitting. Only when she looked up and saw the disapproval on Mrs. Lincoln’s face did she realize, too late, that she should not have seated herself while the president’s wife was standing. She started up with a apology, but was beckoned back with belated graciousness by Mrs. Lincoln, who sat down on the sofa as well. The two women were jammed together in discomfort and silence. After an eternal second or two, Julia rose and “quietly took a chair near her.”

Julia and Mary were indeed no friends.