Mary Lincoln Extra Credit Questions

[Susan Higginbotham]

Kudos, Susan! Yes, it was Vinnie Ream. After the assassination Mary gave the clothes Lincoln wore to Ford's Theatre to Alphonso Dunn, the White House doorman.

She wrote him on March 18, 1867:

"Mrs. Welles writes to my son Robert in regard to the suit of clothes I gave you and which have been in possession of Mr. Wilson, the artist. She desires them for a Miss Vinnie Ream, an unknown person, who by much forwardness and unladylike persistence, has obtained from Congress permission to execute a statue of my husband, the late President. From her inexperience I judge she will be unable to do this, in a faithful manner. For your devoted attentions to President Lincoln, I gave you those clothes, and after the loan you have made of them without you see proper you need not let them go farther. Retain them always in memory of the best and noblest man that ever lived."

I believe Mary later changed her mind and allowed Dunn to let Vinnie Ream borrow the clothes.

I have a photograph somewhere of a letter Mary wrote to Vinnie Ream. It's so chilly, I'm saving it to re-read in August.