Lincoln and Ann Rutledge

[David Lockmiller]

(05-30-2014 05:40 AM)Eva Elisabeth Wrote:  

(05-29-2014 10:50 PM)LincolnToddFan Wrote:  Mary was frantic and wanted to cancel it immediately. The president insisted that it was too late to cancel, and the family doctor assured them both that Willie was in no danger. Both Mary and AL left the party at frequent intervals to sit at the bedside of their child.

Despite that, Willie died 15 after the reception. At that point in time it was as well possible he would recover.

David, as for your post #108, I'm sorry, but if mentioning the Lincoln's discussion about Robert's military service was intended to prove the Lincolns had a bad marriage or A. Lincoln did not love his wife, could you please explain why you think so? I don't.

I can't believe that you don't understand Mary wasn't willing to lose another son, or doubt A. Lincoln, in his role as a father, understood, and as a father most likely shared Mary's respective fears and objections? Of course, Especially since he himself was still grieving about Willie's death? Of course, being the president, he couldn't other but consent. Don't you think he, too, was glad about the solution that Robert got a post where he was not danger of any involvement in fighting? (In case Mary had instantly consented, wouldn't you have considered her a bad, non-protective mother?)

My point was the point that Lincoln made and that was that other mothers througout the nation not only lost one son in the Civil War in the cause of the Union but in some cases two, three, or all of her sons. Abraham Lincoln was President of the United States and she was the First Lady of the United States. How can the President and the First Lady ask the mothers of the nation to risk the lives of their sons in combat while the President's son was attending Harvard, safe and sound? For the life of me, I do not understand why you cannot understand that very simple concept. Perhaps you should read over the narrative which I typed out a couple dozen times.

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But I have a (quite related) question: Roger wrote on another thread: "Regarding Mr. [William] Wood Jean Baker writes, 'At some point Mary Lincoln and William Wood had become friends and possibly more.' I think I have read the 'possibly more' implication in at least one other book."

Hi Eva. I now remember the other book. It was in Michael Burlingame's The Inner World of Abraham Lincoln. If you have access to that book please see p. 292.

Eva, I wanted to know if you are going to provide an analysis of the relationship of William S. Wood and Mary Lincoln, wife of the President of the United States, sometime soon.