Roberts is a Historical Interpreter at President Lincoln’s Cottage. I’m also awed by Lincoln’s strength of character to continue his duties in spite of on-going and painful trauma. He, unlike Mary, wanted physical reminders of Willie … a picture, a scrapbook … near him.Īs I look out my window today, I’m reminded by the evidence of nature, as the Lincolns most surely were, that life continues, but I can’t help feel how very difficult those weeks following Willie’s death must have been for them. For several Thursdays following Willie’s death, Lincoln went into the Green Room to mourn. Lincoln continued his work as president (in particular, he was struggling with General McClellan’s inaction), but he grieved for his lost son. Tad needed the comfort of his father and the assurance that he was nearby. And as Tad got stronger, LIncoln and Tad became closer. As Tad continued his recovery, Lincoln spent as much time with him as possible what work he could do in Tad’s room, he did there. She blamed herself for Willie’s death and felt God was punishing her for her vanity. Lincoln grew more and more concerned about her. At the conclusion of the service, Lincoln rode with son Robert, Orville Browning and Lyman Trumbull, Illinois friends and senators, to Oak Hill Cemetery in Georgetown. He conveyed a message of comfort and spoke about the mystery of the providence of God to the attendees, which included Vice-president Hannibal Hamlin, cabinet members, senators and congressmen, diplomats, soldiers and friends. On February 24, Phineas Gurley, the pastor at New York Avenue Presbyterian Church, conducted both the private service for the family at noon and the public service in the East Room at 2:00.
Lincoln invited Bud Taft, who had sat with Willie during his illness, to come “see Willie before he was put in the casket” ( Team of Rivals, p. People noted Willie’s death in their journals, and the White House was draped in black. Most illuminations in the city to celebrate Grant’s western victory and George Washington’s birthday were cancelled. She only went to the private gathering in the Green Room before the public service and then returned to her bedroom. As it turned out, she didn’t attend the service itself. She asked that Willie’s young playmates, Bud and Holly Taft, not come to the funeral they reminded her of Willie and she couldn’t bear seeing them. She wouldn’t go into the room in which Willie died. Mary withdrew from anyone or anything that reminded her of Willie.
Several cabinet members’ wives cared for Tad until Lincoln was able to hire a nurse, Rebecca Pomroy, who came highly recommended by Dorothea Dix. Their youngest son, Tad, had come down with the disease in February, too, and Mary had been caring for both boys. However, Willie went downhill rapidly after that and on Thursday, Feb. When he showed improvement, the Lincolns were able to rejoice in Grant’s victory at Fort Donelson in Kentucky on February 16 th. They were worried and throughout that evening both Mary and Lincoln left the party to check on him. The Lincolns had gone ahead with a February 5th reception they’d planned long before Willie came down with typhoid. He had died from what was likely typhoid fever. On Thursday, February 20, 1862, Abraham and Mary Lincoln were reeling from the death of their second-oldest surviving son, Willie.
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