LINCOLN, Abraham, President . Autograph note signed ("A. Lincoln") as President, to Charles Sumner, [Washington, D.C.], 24 February 1862. 1 page, a small oblong, 2 1/16 x 3 11/16 in., on a card with wide black-printed mourning borders. In exceptionally fine condition. ON THE DAY OF WILLIE LINCOLN'S FUNERAL, A WHITE HOUSE AND A FIRST FAMILY IN MOURNING "Hon. Charles Sumner, Mrs. L. needs your help, can you come?" A poignant plea to an old friend, Massachusetts Senator Charles Sumner, from a President concerned for his wife's profound grief over the loss of a son. The unexpected death of eleven-year-old William Wallace ("Willie") Lincoln, on 20 February, probably due to typhoid fever, was especially traumatic for Mary Lincoln. Mary was no stranger to mortality, having lost her mother at an early age and an infant son, Edward, in 1850. But "in Willie's death Mary Lincoln lost her favorite son, the one who called himself (though surely his mother must have whispered it in his ear), Mama's boy" (Jean H. Baker, Mary Todd Lincoln , p.210ff.). Mary's unconsolable anguish caused great concern: "she lay upstairs, in a state of collapse, at times giving way to paroxysms of cries and weeping. ...The blow seemed more than she, with her emotional instability and passionate maternity, could bear. Her husband feared for his wife's sanity" (Ruth P. Randall, Lincoln's Sons , p.100). The White House was heavily draped in black crepe and Willie, in a rosewood and silver casket, lay in state from Friday until Monday (the date of this note) in the Green Room. The funeral services were conducted by the Reverend Phineas T. Gurley of the New York Avenue Presbyterian Church and many cabinet members (including William Seward) and high-ranking officers attended. Afterwards, Lincoln's older son, Robert, and Senators Lyman Trumbull and Orville Browning rode with the President to Oak Hill Cemetary, where the casket was temporarily deposited in a vault belonging to friends of the Lincoln's, William Thomas Carroll, prior to internment in Springfield. Charles Sumner (1811-1874) remained a staunch supporter of Lincoln, though he personally sought the immediate and unconditional emancipation of all slaves. The present is the only Lincoln note on this special mourning card which we have encountered. Not in Collected Works , or Supplements and apparently unpublished.
LINCOLN, Abraham, President . Autograph note signed ("A. Lincoln") as President, to Charles Sumner, [Washington, D.C.], 24 February 1862. 1 page, a small oblong, 2 1/16 x 3 11/16 in., on a card with wide black-printed mourning borders. In exceptionally fine condition. ON THE DAY OF WILLIE LINCOLN'S FUNERAL, A WHITE HOUSE AND A FIRST FAMILY IN MOURNING "Hon. Charles Sumner, Mrs. L. needs your help, can you come?" A poignant plea to an old friend, Massachusetts Senator Charles Sumner, from a President concerned for his wife's profound grief over the loss of a son. The unexpected death of eleven-year-old William Wallace ("Willie") Lincoln, on 20 February, probably due to typhoid fever, was especially traumatic for Mary Lincoln. Mary was no stranger to mortality, having lost her mother at an early age and an infant son, Edward, in 1850. But "in Willie's death Mary Lincoln lost her favorite son, the one who called himself (though surely his mother must have whispered it in his ear), Mama's boy" (Jean H. Baker, Mary Todd Lincoln , p.210ff.). Mary's unconsolable anguish caused great concern: "she lay upstairs, in a state of collapse, at times giving way to paroxysms of cries and weeping. ...The blow seemed more than she, with her emotional instability and passionate maternity, could bear. Her husband feared for his wife's sanity" (Ruth P. Randall, Lincoln's Sons , p.100). The White House was heavily draped in black crepe and Willie, in a rosewood and silver casket, lay in state from Friday until Monday (the date of this note) in the Green Room. The funeral services were conducted by the Reverend Phineas T. Gurley of the New York Avenue Presbyterian Church and many cabinet members (including William Seward) and high-ranking officers attended. Afterwards, Lincoln's older son, Robert, and Senators Lyman Trumbull and Orville Browning rode with the President to Oak Hill Cemetary, where the casket was temporarily deposited in a vault belonging to friends of the Lincoln's, William Thomas Carroll, prior to internment in Springfield. Charles Sumner (1811-1874) remained a staunch supporter of Lincoln, though he personally sought the immediate and unconditional emancipation of all slaves. The present is the only Lincoln note on this special mourning card which we have encountered. Not in Collected Works , or Supplements and apparently unpublished.
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.jpg "Quelle: Christie's")
.jpg "Quelle: Christie's")
