Lincoln's Sons

[Eva Elisabeth]

It's a nicely written and done book on the topic, reads like a narrative. I sometimes got lost in the chronological order of incidents as RPR laps back and forth in time at times, also I would have appreciated footnotes. But most "stories" and incidents are told in other (footnoted) works, too. Still there was new for me to learn and discover, and one effort of "Lincoln's Sons" is that it enlarged my rather poor image/impression of RTL. I was impressed how insightfully he cared for his mother and Tad in the first time after the assassination, in all regards, and took over to settle affairs while pursing his own way and live - he certainly was multi-tasking skilled. So far I still I cannot approve of his conduct in the insanity affair, but I haven't yet arrived there in the book, so who knows if Ms. PR will make me think better about this, too.

One word creation and pun by RPR I loved - that Robert and Mary "in not publishing the [Queen's] letter [of condolence] had out-Victoriated Queen Victoria herself". The "pun" background was new to me, and rather disillusioning - gladly Mary didn't know. The Queen had composed this letter first of all for PR reasons and on advice, and it had been intended for publication!

However, Robert and Mary considered personal matters and letters not to be for the public, at least not during the writer's lifetime, thus out-Victoriated the Queen.

I have a question - upon joining the army, Robert was immediately given the rank of a captain. Where did/does a captain rank within the army, and what is required by a "normal" person without presidental connections to receive this appointment?