If my name ever goes into history, it will be for this act, and my whole soul is in it.
— A. Lincoln, 1863The Summer Moves
In this section...
Lincoln reading with son, Tad
Abraham Lincoln, his wife, Mary Todd Lincoln, and their youngest son, Tad (born in 1853), lived in the cottage at the Soldiers' Home during the warm weather seasons of 1862, 1863, and 1864, and the family probably would have returned in 1865 if President Lincoln had not been assassinated in April of that year. The President and his family moved from the White House to the cottage between mid-June and early July each year, and stayed until the cooler weather of early November. They brought a substantial number of personal items from the White House to the cottage each summer. By one account, White House servants transported some 19 wagonloads of the family's belongings, including toys, furniture, and clothing.1
Glimpses of the seasonal moves are found in several of President Lincoln's telegraph dispatches to his wife:
President Lincoln to
Mary Todd Lincoln
Boston, Mass.Washington
Nov. 9, 1862Mrs. Cuthbert [a seamstress] & Aunt Mary [a nurse] want to move to the White House, because it has grown so cold at Soldiers Home. Shall they?
— A. Lincoln2
President Lincoln to
Mary Todd Lincoln
New-YorkWashington
June 29, 1864All well. Tom [a White House servant] is moving things out.
— A. Lincoln3
1Baker, Jean H. Mary Todd Lincoln: A Biography. New York:W.W. Norton & Co., 1987. p227.
2Basler, Roy P. ed. The Collected Works of Abraham Lincoln. Vol. V. New Brunswick: Rutgers University Press, 1955. p492.
3"Tom" refers to one of the three White House servants: Thomas H. Cross, furnace man; Thomas Cross, doorkeeper; or Thomas Stackpole, watchman.
Basler, Roy P. ed. The Collected Works of Abraham Lincoln. Vol. VII. New Brunswick: Rutgers University Press, 1955. p417.