Edward Baker Lincoln

Edward Baker Lincoln was born on March 10, 1846, at the Lincoln Home in Springfield, Illinois. He was the second son of Abraham Lincoln, the 16th President of the United States, and Mary Todd Lincoln. The name "Edward Baker" was given in honor of Lincoln's close friend, Edward Dickinson Baker. The spelling of his given name varies: Abraham and Mary Lincoln used "Eddy", while "Eddie" is a nickname used by the National Park Service and appears on his crypt at the Lincoln tomb.

Little detailed information about Edward Baker Lincoln's early life has been documented. A known anecdote recounts a visit to his grandfather Robert Todd's residence in Lexington, Kentucky, during which Edward, then called Eddie, showed tenderness towards a kitten. Mary Lincoln described how Eddie, upon spotting the kitten, insisted on feeding it with bread and water with his own hands. In a separate incident, Mary wrote about her stepmother's decision to remove the kitten despite Eddie’s protests. Additionally, Abraham Lincoln mentioned Eddie in a letter dated 1848, during which Eddie was approximately two years old. In the letter, Lincoln humorously references Eddie's pronunciation of his departure to the Capitol and his efforts to find plaid stockings suitable for Eddie's feet, expressing a father's concern and affection.

Edward Baker Lincoln's lifespan was brief; he died just shy of his fifth birthday, on February 1, 1850, at the age of three years and eleven months. The cause of death is listed as "chronic consumption," a term historically used for tuberculosis. Some alternative theories suggest he may have died from medullary thyroid cancer, associated with the familial MEN2B genetic syndrome; however, this hypothesis faces scientific challenges, given that his father, Abraham Lincoln, died at age 56 and such untreated cancers typically manifest earlier, around 21 years of age. The prevalent consensus among researchers is that tuberculosis was the cause of Eddie’s death.

Following his death, Abraham and Mary Lincoln expressed deep sorrow. Lincoln, in a letter to his stepbrother John D. Johnston, noted that Eddie had been "sick fifty-two days" and that they "miss him very much." Eddie’s funeral was conducted at the Lincoln family home, overseen by a pastor of the First Presbyterian Church, and his remains were buried at Hutchinson Cemetery in Springfield, Illinois. An unsigned poem titled "Little Eddie" was published a week after his death in the Illinois Daily Journal; for many years, its authorship was uncertain. In 2012, the Abraham Lincoln Association concluded that neither Abraham nor Mary Lincoln authored the poem, instead attributing it to an early draft by a young poet from St. Louis. The poem’s final line is inscribed on Eddie’s original gravestone, now housed in the Abraham Lincoln Presidential Museum in Springfield.

After Abraham Lincoln’s assassination in 1865, Eddie's remains were transferred from Hutchinson Cemetery to the Lincoln Tomb at Oak Ridge Cemetery in Springfield, Illinois. His death was a significant event for the Lincoln family, and he was the older sibling of Willie Lincoln, who was born ten months after Eddie’s death.