Lincoln, Robert T.

Born: 1843-08-01 Springfield, Illinois

Died: 1926-07-26 Manchester, Vermont

The eldest son of Abraham and Mary Lincoln. Robert's formal education began in 1849 when he entered Abel Estabrook's Springfield Academy, where he remained for three years. In 1854, he entered the preparatory department of Illinois State University. He advanced to the freshman class of the University two years later. In August 1859, Robert traveled to Cambridge, Massachusetts to seek admission to Harvard College. Failing the entrance examination, he decided on a year of preparatory work at Philips Exeter Academy. His father visited him at Exeter during his tour of New England in the winter of 1860. Robert graduated from Exeter in May 1860, and in August moved to Cambridge to begin study at Harvard. After graduating in 1864, he commenced studying law at Harvard Law School. In February 1865, Robert left school to accept a commission as an assistant adjutant general in the Union Army. Commissioned on February 11 with the rank of captain, he spent the last months of the Civil War serving on Ulysses S. Grant's staff. Robert witnessed Robert E. Lee's surrender at Appomattox Court House. On the night of his father's assassination, Robert turned down an invitation to accompany his parents to Ford's Theatre.

Allan Burton Spetter, "Lincoln, Robert Todd," American National Biography, ed. by John A. Garraty and Mark C. Carnes (New York: Oxford University Press, 1999), 13:681; John S. Goff, Robert Todd Lincoln: A Man in his Own Right, 2nd ed. (Manchester, VT: Friends of Hildene, 1990); Jason Emerson, Giant in the Shadows: The Life of Robert T. Lincoln (Carbondale: Southern Illinois University Press, 2012).