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 Robert, the oldest son of Abraham and Mary Todd Lincoln, planned to be buried with his parents in the Oakridge Cemetery in Springville, Illinois. Of all of Abraham and Mary’s four children, he was the only child to reach adulthood.
Robert Lincoln’s life paralleled his father’s in many ways. Robert worked his way up in the military to the rank Captain. While President Abraham Lincoln was a member of the Illinois Militia during the time of the Black Hawk War, Robert was a member of General Grant’s staff towards the end of the Civil War. President Lincoln wrote to General Ulysses S. Grant on January 19, 1865 requesting Robert’s inclusion Robert without detriment to any current members or the public’s welfare: “My son, now in his twenty-second year, having graduated at Harvard, wishes to see something of the war before it ends. I do not wish to put him in the ranks, not yet to give him a commission, to which those who have already served long, are better entitled, and better qualified to hold. Could he, without embarrassment to you, or detriment to the service, go into your Military family with some nominal rank, I, and not the public, furnishing his necessary means?” Lincoln’s request was granted and Robert traveled with General Grant to Appomattox and was introduced to General Lee there. Robert later worked his way up in the military and served as Secretary of War for President Garfield.
Before his death, Robert had taken his son, Abraham Lincoln II, nicknamed Jack, who died in 1890, to the Lincoln Tomb.
Robert’s wife, Mary Harlan Lincoln, had other ideas pertaining to his burial, and after his death, she chose a gravesite in Arlington National Cemetery where Robert was buried upon his death in 1928. Mary had Jack’s body relocated to the same site in 1930.
Robert Lincoln lived to nearly age 83; his death is attributed to a cerebral hemorrhage and he passed away in his Vermont Estate on July 26, 1926. Mary Harlan Lincoln had his body interred in a temporary vault at a nearby cemetery until his burial was arranged “in Arlington’s Section 31 on March 14, 1928.” Thereafter, their son’s body was relocated from the Lincoln Tomb in Springfield, where it was reburied on May 27, 1930. Mary herself died on March 31, 1937, and she was interred along with her husband and son.
For more information about Robert Lincoln, please visit http://showcase.netins.net/web/creative/lincoln/sites/robert.htm. For additional information on Abraham Lincoln, please visit http://www.AbrahamLincolnOnline.org.
Robert could have solved the issue regarding his burial by having a Will along with a named executor, who would have received instructions regarding his burial. Robert lies across the Potomac River from the Lincoln Memorial.
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