Robert Todd Lincoln

Robert Todd Lincoln (August 1, 1843 – July 26, 1926) was an American lawyer and businessman. He was the eldest son of President Abraham Lincoln and Mary Todd Lincoln. Lincoln was the only one of their four children to survive past the age of 18 and the only one to outlive both parents.

Born in Springfield, Illinois, Lincoln pursued higher education at Harvard College, where he graduated in 1864. Prior to attending Harvard, he enrolled at Phillips Exeter Academy and graduated in 1860. He initially entered Harvard Law School in September 1864 but left after four months to join the Union Army. During the final weeks of the American Civil War, he served on General Ulysses S. Grant's staff as an assistant adjutant with the rank of captain. His military service concluded in June 1865.

Lincoln was present at the surrender of Robert E. Lee at Appomattox. A notable incident in his early life involved being saved from potential injury or death by Edwin Booth, the brother of John Wilkes Booth, who assassinated President Lincoln. This event occurred on a train platform in Jersey City, New Jersey, in late 1863 or early 1864, before John Wilkes Booth's assassination of the president. Lincoln later recalled the event in a letter written in 1909.

Following the Civil War, Lincoln moved to Chicago, where he studied law at the Old University of Chicago, graduating with an LL.B. in 1866. He was licensed to practice law in February 1867 and built a successful legal career representing corporate clients, accumulating wealth in the process.

In 1868, Lincoln married Mary Eunice Harlan, daughter of Senator James Harlan and Ann Eliza Peck. The couple had three children: Mary "Mamie" Lincoln, Abraham "Jack" Lincoln II, and Jessie Harlan Lincoln. The family often spent summers in Mount Pleasant, Iowa, at the Harlan home, later donated to Iowa Wesleyan College and serving as a museum.

Lincoln's public service career included serving as the United States Secretary of War from 1881 to 1885 under President James A. Garfield and continuing in that role under President Chester A. Arthur. He also served as the U.S. Ambassador to Great Britain from 1889 to 1893 during President Benjamin Harrison's administration. Additionally, he served as general counsel, and later president, of the Pullman Company after George Pullman's death in 1897. He was appointed president of the company and served in that capacity until 1911, remaining chairman of the board until 1924.

In his later years, Lincoln resided in Washington, D.C., and Manchester, Vermont, where his property Hildene was recognized by the National Register of Historic Places in 1977. He participated in the dedication ceremonies of the Lincoln Memorial in 1922. Lincoln died at Hildene in July 1926 at the age of 82 and was buried at Arlington National Cemetery.