Mary's Reputation

[Gene C]

From Benjamin Thomas "Abraham Lincoln" (chpt. Profle of a President)

Willie's death was the hardest blow that Lincoln ever suffered....To Mrs Lincoln, however, it came as a stunning shock. The defiant courage with which she had faced the gibes of society and the cruel spotlight of a hostile press wilted at the loss of a second child....All except the most necesssary White House social funtions stopped.

At last Mary Lincoln sought to lose herself in serving others. She made almost daily visits to the hospitals and convalescent camps to dispense motherly sympathy and little gifts of fruit and flowers...But her errands of mercy had to be discontinued in the summer of 1863, when she was thrown from her carriage in a runaway and struck her head on a stone. Lincoln wired Robert: "Don't be uneasy. Your mother only slightly hurt in her fall". But she suffered severely from shock."