The Insanity File: The Case of Mary Todd Lincoln

4. The Experiment

THE EXPERIMENT On the morning of September 11,1875, Mary Todd Lincoln arrived in Chicago on a 9:00 train. Robert met her at the railway station and then accompanied her that afternoon on the 3:40 train to Springfield . The Lincolns rode in a private car belonging to the president of the railroad. The trip must have been rather awkward, but no one left a recollection of it.1 The Lincolns were accompanied by Anna Kyle, who was to be Mrs. Lincoln's nurse and companion. Robert had chosen her on Dr. McFarland's recommendation. She lacked refinement and culture, the doctor had admitted, but he had commended her "qualities of willingness, good disposition, sagacity and presence of mind ... qualities ... most needed in the present instance." She was to receive sixteen dollars a month, paid by Robert from his mother's estate.2 Anna, like many of Mary's servants, did not last long on the job. Within a week oftheir arrival in Springfield, Anna wanted to leave. She did not fit in well with the servants in the Edwards household and was replaced by a young woman from Bellevue Place named Amanda. She would last a month in the difficult position.3 Mrs. Lincoln's impedimenta caused little problems as well. From the start, Robert had wanted to keep her baggage train to a minimum . He arranged to send three trunks with her and to store the 73 74] THE EXPERIMENT rest, eleven trunks, at Bellevue Place. By September 15 she was writing to exchange a trunk in Springfield for one Robert controlled .4 But these were minor irritants in what was otherwise a successful experiment from the start. Aunt Lizzie, as Mrs. Edwards always signed her letters to Robert, told him things were going well and that friends who called at the Edwards home found Mary "looking ... well, and in every respect acting in the most agreeable manner ." Elizabeth took her sister's willingness to receive company as a hopeful sign. Unlike her difficult husband, who had given Robert's father several headaches and was soon to have the same effect on Robert, Mrs. Edwards was an exceedingly pleasant person who sought always to avoid conflict or confrontation. She usually tried not to dispute Robert's word but only to describe actions ofher sister which refuted the dire predictions of Robert's rather gloomy letters. Seemingly innocent accounts of social callers were, in fact, refutations of Robert's belief that his mother "would [not] receive a call from anyone ofher sisters." He had challenged his aunt to keep his letter containing that prediction and "see if I am not correct, when the time comes." Elizabeth met the challenge without gloating. Just four days after her arrival in Springfield, Mrs. Lincoln accompanied the Edwardses' daughter on a visit to the wife ofJesse K. Dubois, one of Abraham Lincoln's old political cronies. "I will certainly indulge the hope," Mrs. Edwards concluded her letter to Robert about the visit, "that ere long everyone will be thoroughly convinced ofher entire recovery." Again, she seemed to be describing Springfield society but she may in fact have been conveying a message to Robert.5 He apparently did not take the hint, and when Elizabeth wrote him a week later, she asked him to send letters to her and to his mother in separate envelopes, as Mary would otherwise ask to see both letters. And Mrs. Edwards advised Robert to "avoid as far as possible, any allusion" to his "belief in her insanity." No doubt it made Mrs. Lincoln testy. Minor squabbles still arose over Mary's living arrangements. Robert and his aunt had agreed on a figure of$100 a month for Mrs. Lincoln's board, when Mary insisted on paying board. In fact, Mary had suggested $150, but Elizabeth advised Robert, who as his THE EXPERIMENT [ 75 mother's conservator would be sending the payments to the Edwardses, not to tell Mrs. Lincoln that they had agreed on a lower figure. Elizabeth once again sought to avoid needless conflict, and she knew her sister well. Although Mary could be niggardly about some things, she had always been generous toward relatives with whom she was on good terms, and considering herself to rank in society well above "the very middle classes," Mary probably thought a small rent would reflect poorly on her economic and social status. Servants continued to cause...