Presidential Assassinations & Robert Lincoln

  

PRESIDENTIAL ASSASSINATIONS & ROBERT LINCOLN

What better way to celebrate the United States than by talking about murder!?

I like little-known trivia about history, so here's the story of how Robert Lincoln, son of Abraham, was connected to three presidential assassinations.

But first, a side note: In a strange coincidence, Edwin Booth, brother of John Wilkes, once saved Robert Lincoln’s life before boarding a train. A crowd had pushed Robert between the train and the platform, so Edwin, without knowing who it was, grabbed Robert’s collar and pulled him to safety. Robert immediately recognized (and profusely thanked) Edwin, as he was a very famous actor.

Over a year later, their chance encounter would become eerie, and John Wilkes Booth would become more famous than his brother ever was.

Robert Todd Lincoln had connections to not one, not two, but three presidential assassinations.

We’ll start with the obvious one- his father, Abraham Lincoln.

Having lived through two of his brothers’ deaths, Robert had the rank of Captain on Ulysses S. Grant’s staff. He was invited to Ford’s Theater to see the play Our American Cousin with his parents, but declined. However, upon hearing of his father being shot, Robert went to the house where the unconscious-but-living president spent his final hours, to be with him and comfort his mother.

Side note: The supposed last words Abraham Lincoln heard before being shot were an insult in the play- “You sockdologizing old man-trap”. This was apparently a *humorous* line, and Booth, who knew it was coming because of his acting experience, thought the laughter that ensued would cover his gunshot. (It didn’t.) The phrase was said by the main character to a scheming older woman. ‘Sockdologer’ was slang in the day, meaning ‘conniving’.

Sixteen years later, President James Garfield invited Robert (who was Secretary of War) on a trip to New England.

Robert arrived at the train station to inform Garfield he’d be leaving a day later, but not before Charles Giteau could shoot the president twice in the back. Robert ran to Garfield, then sent for a doctor and ordered soldiers to secure the station. Garfield lived for 80 days after the incident, but eventually died because of the wounds, though it’s more likely that poor medical care was to blame than the gunshots.

Garfield’s successor, Chester A. Arthur, fired all but one member of his predecessor’s cabinet- Secretary of War Robert Lincoln.

20 years after that, Robert was travelling with his family and they decided to stop in Buffalo, New York, to see the Pan-American Exposition. Upon arrival, he was given a telegram saying President William McKinley, who was also in Buffalo, had been shot by an anarchist.

Instead of going directly to the Expo, Robert went to see McKinley, and left thinking the president would be OK. A week later, McKinley died from an infection.

There’s no direct proof, but it’s thought that Robert Lincoln saw himself as “cursed” and refused to attend any future presidential event until his father’s Memorial was dedicated in Washington, D.C in 1922.

And there’s a slice of American history for ya.