At the end, did MTL have a sense of vindication

[LincolnToddFan]

It does not surprise me a bit that Prof. Burlingame uses this story. Wasn't Stackpole a WH crook who had lost his job? My memory is foggy. The story might be true. MTL's behavior during City Point and it's aftermath are well-documented enough. It was MTL at her absolute nadir, no doubt.

But only three days later-April 12-is when Lincoln wrote his wife the "playful, affectionate" note inviting her on their last happy carriage ride together.(Levitt-Turner, Letters, pg#257)

I have always suspected-without any real proof-that AL knew very well about the toll the WH the war years had taken on their marriage. He had decided to work on trying to "fix" things with her, and had the repair of his marriage on his To Do list along with post-war Reconstruction.

He ran out of time for both.

In a letter of MTL's written to her friend Charles Sumner after the tragedy, she acknowledged the number of times she had "trespassed" on her late husband's kindness and good nature. Her major regret that he did not regain consciousness before he died was that so she could have expressed her appreciation to him, and begged his forgiveness for any pain she had caused him.(Letters, pg#355-356)

So, MTL did indeed acknowledge her faults and the part she had played in adding to her husband's burdens. She suffered for it. Undoubtedly not as much as Burlingame feels she should have, but suffer she did...maybe for the rest of her life.