Abraham Lincoln And His Son Willie

by Cora Wandel

Title

Abraham Lincoln And His Son Willie

Artist

Cora Wandel

Medium

Photograph

Description

Abraham Lincoln's son, Willie, died in the White House of typhoid fever on February 20, 1862. The President and his wife, Mary, were understandably grief-stricken over the sudden death of their eleven year-old boy. With three years remaining of Lincoln's presidency, and the possibility of another term after that, Lincoln made arrangements with a friend, William Carroll, to have his son temporarily entombed in the Carroll family mausoleum in Oak Hill Cemetery in Washington, D.C. The plan was to have Willie's body moved to Illinois when the President and his wife returned to their home state after their years in the White House. Lincoln was given a key to the mausoleum's door, and would often go to Oak Hill Cemetery to visit his son. A rocking chair was placed near Willie's casket in the mausoleum, and Lincoln would sit in it during his visits. Some of these visits were late at night when Lincoln, who suffered from insomnia, could not sleep. Three years after Willie's death, on the evening of April 14, 1865, Lincoln was shot by John Wilkes Booth, and died around daybreak the following morning. There was an elaborate funeral for President Lincoln in Washington, and then his body was placed on a train to take him home to Illinois for burial. His son, Willie, was on the train with him, and they are buried together in Oak Ridge Cemetery in Springfield, Illinois.

This is the door of the Carroll Mausoleum in Oak Hill Cemetery, where Willie rested in peace as his father watched over him until they were both able to make the journey home together.

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May 12th, 2014

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