In His Father's Shadow: Robert Todd Lincoln

The History Guy remembers a famous man's son, Robert Todd Lincoln. Because of his father, Abraham Lincoln, Robert Todd's life has been largely forgotten.

The History Guy uses images that are in the Public Domain. As photographs of actual events are often not available, I will sometimes use photographs of similar events or objects for illustration.

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deserves to be remembered as more than just his father's son." Thanks to you good sir, he will.

[renmuffett]

I love History too. Abraham Lincoln's youngest son 'Thomas "Tad" Lincoln, lived to age 18. William, 'Willie' died at sge 11. It hurts my heart at what Mary Todd Lincoln, the mom went through. Losing three of her children as well as her husband. It's tragic. Robert Lincoln certainly lived up to his father's good name. Thanks for sharing.

[racerx]

His father would have been so proud of him. It's a shame he's not better known for all his own accomplishments. Thank you for sharing this extraordinary man's life story.

[AnnCorsaro]

Great job on educating people on the extraordinary accomplishments of Robert Todd Lincoln. President Lincoln would have been very proud of him.👍🏻

[BT]

I once visited Robert Lincolns Home up in Manchester, Vermont and even bought some peonies from his estate which I brought back home and planted in my garden and now enjoy each year.

[katies]

I’m so glad you touched on the story where he was saved by Booth’s older brother who was the most famous actor at the time. I heard it somewhere else but can’t remember where. It was such an interesting story that I started telling people and then got nervous that maybe I remembered wrong or something since I couldn’t remember where I heard it, but now I know that I got the facts correct. Still an incredible story

[moniquebexplorer]

What a wonderful report of a man who didn't waste his life, not living in his father's shadow, but doing what he wanted. I'm a Canadian and I found this very interesting and inspirational. Thank you.

[gregb]

I'm sure that, had President Lincoln lived into old age, he would have been proud of what his son Robert accomplished in his life.

[stevennunamaker]

He deserves a place in history along side his father

[southerndigest]

I’m so glad to hear a more balanced summary of Robert Lincoln’s life! Rarely do I see him written about as if he was anything more than a disappointment compared to his father, even while his accomplishments were duly acknowledged. All things considered, he was a man of considerable merit who led a remarkable life!

[LB-tyks]

This is history worth knowing and remembering.

[robertlittlejohn]

History has forgotten many children of former Presidents. These children need to be remembered in the annals of history. Thank you for your history of Robert Todd Lincoln.

[janineharrison]

Robert was an amazing man. His father would have been proud of him.

[WildWestGal]

How in the world did the highly accomplished son of one of our most famous Presidents manage to fly so far under the radar of history?! An amazing history lesson! And on top of that, how did it take me this long to come across this channel?! New sub.

[sharonwhiteley]

An excellent overview of someone who always lived in the shadow of his father. Yet should be known, respected and remembered for his own shadow.

[JOECANDELA]

The summer home of Robert T. Lincoln still stands in Manchester, Vermont and is open to the general public to visit. I had the pleasure of visiting it and it remains, right down to the furniture, in the same condition it was during Lincoln's time. Obviously, there are many reproductions in the home. The name of his estate is "Hildene" and if your a history buff you will enjoy visit.

[Hellertonian]

Extremely interesting vignette! I had no idea how accomplished Robert Todd Lincoln became in his lifetime. One of the only things I'd known about him was the fact that his life had once been saved by Edwin Booth. Thank you for this!

[carolbradley]

My daughter and I visited his home in Vermont this past summer. It was beautiful and they had lots of pictures of the Lincoln family. We even got to see President Lincoln’s stove top hat under glass display. Beautiful gardens too.

[robertgalbreath]

Fascinating! I am not a history buff, but you make history come alive! Your degree is well-deserved...

[robertdubs]

Robert had a pretty tragic life. He was always somewhat estranged from the rest of his family, but he still loved them and cared about them (and he was the only son of the Lincolns to survive to adulthood). The brother that would've been his playmate, Edward, died in infancy. During Lincoln's White House years, Robert was somewhat estranged from his father, because Lincoln had always been on the run with work during Robert's childhood, and Robert was away at Harvard while Lincoln was in office. Just as Robert and his father were starting to rise above it, and bond, Lincoln was assassinated, leaving Robert at age 22, the primary caretaker for his mother and his surviving younger brother, Tad. In the following years, Robert essentially took care of, but remained estranged from Tad, as the two brothers had a 10-year age gap, and were bipolar opposites in personality. Just as the age gap was starting to close, and Tad started to mature, Robert was prepared to rise to the occasion of being the loving supportive older brother, but then, Tad got sick and died. Robert became estranged to the breaking point with his mother when her mental instability pushed him to commit her to a private sanitarium. Although she was released soon after, they never fully reconciled. Robert later had to bury his own son at a young age, and found himself unwittingly around for the assassinations of both James Garfield and William McKinley, and his whole life, he always felt he was living in the shadow of his father. (Oh, and did I mention, about a year before Lincoln's assassinated, Robert was nearly killed, but was saved by, of all people, famous actor Edwin Thomas Booth, older brother of John Wilkes Booth. And Edwin's life story was just as tragic as Robert's)