LINCOLN, Mary Todd (1818-1882). Autograph letter signed ("Mary Lincoln") to Sally Orne. Chicago, 5 October 1865.

4 pp. on bifolium; 8 1/2 x 5 1/4 in. (216 x 133 mm), on mourning stationery.

Reads in part: "Your very kind & deeply sympathizing letter, was received some days since & believe me only the severe indisposition of my little Taddie & myself, has prevented me an earlier reply. I cannot find words to thank you, for the tenderness of feeling, you manifest for us, in our most afflicted state--but from my knowledge of your gentle & loving nature, I could never have expected, any thing else."

"I AM SO ANXIOUS ONCE MORE, TO BE QUIET, IN A HOME OF MY OWN..."

Mary Lincoln remained in the White House for several weeks following Lincoln's death, managing her husband's burial from behind closed doors. Both her son, Robert Todd Lincoln, as well as Justice David Davis pressed her to return to Springfield, but with her husband and her beloved son Willie now gone, she dared not even entertain the idea of returning to the last city in which her family was happy and together. On 23 May, dressed all in black, Mary Lincoln walked out of the White House for the last time. When the workers contracted to prepare the Executive Mansion for Andrew Johnson went upstairs, they found Tad Lincoln's toy soldiers, a favorite gift from his beloved father, now left behind. Like his mother, Tad wanted no reminder of the past. The family arrived in Chicago two days later, but the shadow of the tragedy at Ford's Theatre never dissipated completely. For the rest of her life, she was never seen in public wearing anything but her widow's black.

She kept in touch with only a few friends from her days in Washington, among them Sally Orne, whose husband James was a Philadelphia-based carpet merchant who presumably supplied some of the new carpets to the White House during Mary Lincoln's 1861 redecoration. Though little information survives about Sally, the friendship she enjoyed with Mrs. Lincoln was one of great affection, as numerous letters exchanged between the two survive. Not in Turner.

Provenance:

Louise Taper, Beverly Hills, California

Property from the Abraham Lincoln Presidential Foundation