The Insanity File: The Case of Mary Todd Lincoln

Notes

NOTES 1. THE TRIAL 1. Justin G. and Linda Levitt Turner, Mary Todd Lincoln: Her Life and Letters (New York: Knopf, 1972), 534, 536; Appendix, 171-172. 2. J. G. Randall, Lincoln the President: Midstream (New York: Dodd, Mead, 1953), 36. 3. Nancy F. Cott, The Bonds ofWomanhood: "Woman's Sphere" in New England, 1780-1835 (New Haven, Conn.: Yale Univ. Press, 1977), 64; Turner and Turner, Mary Todd Lincoln, 189. On the Victorian ideal ofthe family, see Walter E. Houghton, The Victorian Frame ofMind, 1830-1870 (New Haven, Conn.: Yale Univ. Press, 1957),343-44. 4. Benjamin P. Thomas, Abraham Lincoln: A Biography (New York: Knopf, 1952), 464; Turner and Turner, Mary Todd Lincoln, 178. 5. Elizabeth Keckley, Behind the Scenes (New York: G. W. Carleton, 1868), 104-5; Turner and Turner, Mary Todd Lincoln, 285. 6. Charles B. Strozier, Lincoln's Quest for Union: Public and Private Meanings (New York: Basic Books, 1982),95-97, accurately describes the devastating impact of the presidency on the Lincolns' marriage. 7. Barbara Welter, "The Cult of True Womanhood," in Dimity Convictions : The American Woman in the Nineteenth Century (Athens: Ohio Univ. Press, 1976), 40; Harold Holzer, Abraham Lincoln, Mary Todd Lincoln (Richmond, Va.: United States Historical Society, n.d.), 5. 8. Willard King, Lincoln's Manager: David Davis (Cambridge: Harvard Univ. Press, 1960), 235-36. Strozier notes an earlier sign of financial trouble (Lincoln's Quest for Union, 87). 9. Katherine Helm, The True Story ofMary, Wife ofLincoln (New York: 185 186] NOT EST 0 P AGE S 6 - 1 0 Harper & Brothers, 1923), 267; Ishbel Ross, The President's Wife: Mary Todd Lincoln, a Biography (New York: G. P. Putnam's Sons, 1973), 259-65, 283-84, 292-300. 10. Philadelphia Record, March 29, 1931, clipping, and unidentified clipping quoting the Waukesha Daily Freeman, August 15, 1872, both in Louis A. Warren Lincoln Library and Museum, Fort Wayne, Ind.; Turner and Turner, Mary Todd Lincoln, 601. 11. Tallahassee Weekly Floridian, November 17,1874; Eddie Foy and Alvin E. Harlow, "Clowning through Life," Collier's, December 25, 1926, 30. The nurse was the mother of entertainer Eddie Foy, and her article is riddled with factual errors but likely has some basis in truth, as other sources indicate that Mrs. Lincoln's traveling companion was a nurse (Tallahassee Weekly Floridian, November 24, 1874; Savannah Morning News, November 24, 1874; Jacksonville Florida Union, November 26, 1874). Newspaper references courtesy of August E. Johansen and Gary R. Planck. 12. John Coyne to Robert Todd Lincoln, March 12, 1875 (telegram); Mary Todd Lincoln to Edward Swift Isham, March 12, 1875 (two telegrams ofsame date), Insanity File, Louis A. Warren Lincoln Library and Museum, Fort Wayne, Ind. All previous studies have stated that Mrs. Lincoln addressed her telegram to Ralph Isham rather than Edward Isham. The factual error is insignificant except as a symptom of the primitive state of research on Mrs. Lincoln's case, for the information about the addressee was available to researchers before the discovery of the Insanity File. 13. J. J. S. Wilson to [John Coyne] n.d. (pencil draft of telegram); John Coyne to J. J. S. Wilson (telegram), March 12, 1875, Insanity File. 14. Mary Todd Lincoln to Robert Todd Lincoln (telegram), March 13, 1875; John Coyne to J. J. S. Wilson, March 13, 1875 (two telegrams ofsame date), Insanity File. 15. Carl Sandburg and Paul M. Angle, Mary Lincoln: Wife and Widow (New York: Harcourt, Brace, 1932),309. 16. Miscellaneous account book pages, 9, Insanity File. 17. Leonard Swett to David Davis, May 24, 1875, David Davis Family Papers, Illinois State Historical Library, Springfield. 18. Turner and Turner, Mary Todd Lincoln, 590; Biographical Sketches ofthe Leading Men ofChicago (Chicago: Wilson & St. Clair, 1868), 229-34. 19. Sandburg and Angle, Mary Lincoln: Wife and Widow, 306-7. 20. Charles D. Mosher, CentennialHistorical Albums ofBiographies ... ; Biographical Sketches of the Leading Men of Chicago, 81-89. 21. Albert Deutsch, The Mentally III in A merica: A History ofTheir Cure and Treatment from Colonial Times, 2d ed., rev. (New York: Columbia Univ. Press, 1949), 152 n. 22. Andrew McFarland, "Insanity as a Defense: The Late Leonard Swett One of Its Most Successful Advocates," Chicago Tribune, June 20, 1889, clipping in scrapbook, Leonard Swett Papers, Illinois State Historical Library , Springfield. McFarland, who frequently testified in court cases in- NOT EST 0 P AGE S 1 0 1 8 [187 volving insanity, had doubtless...