Mary Todd Lincoln's Cell

[Sally]

I live near Batavia, Illinois, and so am often in the vicinity of Bellevue Place. As most forum members know, it is now an apartment building. It’s flanked by modern townhouses built in a similar style and the courtyard in front is nicely landscaped and has a commemorative plague. (I would post pictures of all this, but I’m too cheap to buy a fancy smart phone that takes nice photos, and I don’t have a camera either.) I’ve never seen any “For Rent” ads for the apartments inside Bellevue Place, so I have no idea what they’re like inside. But the outside is quite pretty, at least in summer.

I have also visited the Depot Museum in Batavia, which displays the bed and dresser allegedly used by Mary Lincoln during her stay. Roger and Dr. Houmes are correct that the picture posted by Susan Higginbotham is part of a larger display inside the museum. The most interesting part of the display (IMO) is the transcript of Mrs. Lincoln’s medical record kept throughout her four month stay. Many days just have brief entries, like “Mrs. L. same as usual today” or “No change”. But other dates have more interesting information. For instance, they report that Robert came to visit his mother far more often than one would think, and a couple of times he brought his eldest daughter, Mamie, along with him. The first two visits apparently went well, with the transcript reporting that Mary was pleased to see him. On his third visit, however, it seems things started going downhill. Robert told the doctor that his mother “was not as cordial as formerly.” But he still continued to visit regularly.

There are quite a few entries stating that Mary was “gracious and pleasant” although not very talkative, and that she “never complained.” She was encouraged to go for walks every day (sometimes she did) and she would often sit out on the front porch.

Now, I’m a big cheerleader for Mary Lincoln, but she must have been a real headache for the staff at Bellevue. Evidently, she would order the carriage nearly every morning to take her riding. But when it arrived, she’d say she would prefer to ride in the evening. Then, when the carriage came for her evening ride, she’d say she was tired and preferred to ride in the morning. She also caused frustration in the kitchen by ordering cornbread every morning, then not eating it. Or she would ask that a certain kind of roll be served at dinner. Then, when it was served, she would say she wanted a different kind of roll. AAAARRRGGGHHHH!!! It was also reported that Mary kept asking to be released so she could go live with her sister, Mrs. Edwards, in Springfield. Yet, she would never respond to any of the letters Elizabeth wrote her while she was at Bellevue. The person who recorded these notes frequently pointed out that all this behavior was characteristic of Mrs. Lincoln’s “insanity”.

I don’t know if we can completely trust the veracity of these notes, (no doubt they were written with an eye toward posterity) but there is no mention of any medication being administered, and they state that when Myra Bradwell came to visit Mary, she told the doctor that Mary certainly showed signs of “insanity”, but that she should be released anyway.

All in all, it was an interesting read. I tried to find the transcripts posted on line somewhere, but didn’t have any luck. Maybe a more intrepid web surfer than I would have more success.