Lincoln’s
Melancholy
Abraham Lincoln holds a unique place in American History.
During his lifetime, and certainly during his Presidency, he was reviled by his
political opponents, both in the North as well as in the South. Following his
assassination he was revered as the savior of the nation’s unity in the North
and greatly respected and even loved in the South for his mild (compared to
what actually happened) Reconstruction policies. Times and opinions change,
however, and Southerners now regard him more as did their war time ancestors,
not as did their 20th century forbearers.
Historians have written about the shifting of the fortunes Lincoln’s reputation and have attempted several explanations to account for this change. Some have reasoned that Lincoln was motivated by racial or economic factors. Others have commented on his supposed periods of depression, which in the 19th century was referred to as ‘melancholy’, and tried to portray him as being in the grips of mental illness, that he was something of a manic depressive, which the psychiatrists now call the bi-polar state. In other words, his reputation is erratic because his behavior was erratic.
It is always a difficult task to diagnose mental
conditions, and doubly so when the patient has not been personally examined by
the diagnostician. Moreover, the word ‘depression’ has many different meanings,
and has to be carefully defined by the user. A review of some of the incidents
of Lincoln’s life should give any armchair psychiatrist pause before trying to
attach a label of any mental illness to the man.
Lincoln’s early life was scarred by a harsh father, and
only somewhat eased by a kind stepmother.
His first love of his life, Ann Rutledge, died at an early age, and his
subsequent courting of Mary Todd was tumultuous, to say the least.
The marriage
was also marked by recurrent wifely tantrums, as reported by contemporaries,
but nonetheless the relationship managed to endure.
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| Abraham and Mary Todd Lincoln |
A son, Edward, died before
the election and this loss was understandably difficult for both parents to
bear.
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| Edward Baker Lincoln |
When the Lincolns took office on
March 4, 1861, Mary’s achievement of her lifelong ambition to be First Lady
should have given her the happiness she always craved. Instead the War torn the nation apart, and
several of Mary’s relatives, who disliked Lincoln to begin with, openly served
the Confederacy and exposed her to charges of disloyalty. These divisions of
her family, coupled with her extravagant spending habits were sources of
criticism both for Mary and also for the President, who was dealing with the
Fort Sumter crisis, and could afford little time to be so distracted.
The War had barely begun when Col Elmer Ellsworth was
shot and killed in Alexandria, Virginia in May 1861.
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| Col. Elmer Ellsworth |
Ellsworth was regarded as
a son by the President, and his death was an intensely painful experience for
Lincoln, one which he was trying to come to terms with when the first Battle of
Manassas/Bull Run was fought.
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| Col. Edward Baker |
In October of that year, Lincoln’s close friend and
political ally Col Edward Baker, for whom his deceased son had been named, was
killed at the Battle of Ball’s Bluff, causing another heavy personal burden for
Lincoln, who was then entangled in the diplomatic issue of the Trent Affair and
trying to avoid war with Great Britain.
In February 1862, 11 year old Willie Lincoln died in the
White House.
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| Lincoln and Son Willie |
Perhaps the favorite child of the family, Lincoln’s grief over
Willie’s death not only severely strained his own emotions, but he was
powerless to deal with his wife’s intense anguish, and the exacerbation of her
already erratic behaviors to the point of, and perhaps beyond, the bounds of
sanity. Two weeks later, he was faced
with the issue of the Confederate ironclad Virginia (Merrimack).
In June and July of 1863, the twin crises of Gettysburg
and Vicksburg competed for Lincoln’s attention. However, Mary had sustained a
life threatening head injury during a buggy ride, and spent several weeks in
uncertain recovery, which was by no means guaranteed. In September of that
year, the Confederates managed to win a great (but essentially meaningless for
them) victory at Chickamauga. Confederate General Ben Helms was killed in the
action.
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| Confederate General Ben Helms |
He was the brother in law of the Lincolns, and was apparently one of
the few Todd relatives who both was liked by and who in turn liked Lincoln.
Mourning at the White House for the fallen general was sincere, but had to be
conducted in secret in order to allay the rumors of disloyalty which were
always just below the surface for anyone to use to criticize the President.
The Overland campaign in 1864 was not only bloody, but
appeared to be at best a stalemate, not a victory. Lincoln faced bitter opposition
for his re-nomination by the Republicans due to the perception that he could
not be re-elected. Only Sherman’s capture of Atlanta and Sheridan’s dramatic
ride to victory at Cedar Creek in September and October enabled Lincoln to win
on a Union, not Republican, Party ticket.
The spring of 1865 should have been a happy time for the
Lincolns. The War was close to being won, and the plans for peace were being
made. Critics of the President then took aim at his son Robert, sometimes
referred to as ‘Prince of Rails’, who had spent the war safely at Harvard.
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| Robert Todd Lincoln |
Lincoln was agreeable for Robert to serve in the military, and was
uncomfortable with the charge that he sent other men’s sons to fight, but kept
his own son in safety. Mary was bitterly
opposed to placing her son in such danger. As a compromise, General Grant secured
Robert a safe from the battlefield staff position. This protected Lincoln from the somewhat
justified critics, but earned the unending hatred of the by now overtly
unbalanced Mary. During a visit in late March by the wives of several dignitaries
and officers, including Mrs. Grant, Mary exhibited such an embarrassing
emotional outburst that Mrs. Grant refused to accompany the Lincolns to their
fateful visit to Ford’s Theater in April.
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| Assassination at Ford Theater |
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| Mary Todd Lincoln in her Mourning Cloth |
The trials that Lincoln faced both before and especially
during his time in the White House make the assumption of mental illness
difficult to sustain. Indeed, his ability to persevere in the face of such
trials speaks volumes for his essential mental stability.
Presented: Brother Gerard Devine MD, Patriotic Instructor
Major General Thomas H. Ruger Camp #1.
Presented: Brother Gerard Devine MD, Patriotic Instructor
Major General Thomas H. Ruger Camp #1.
