Robert Todd Lincoln was the son of President Lincoln and the only one his four children to survive into adulthood. Robert was still a child when his father entered the White House, and reached military age just as teh Civil War was ending. His mother Mary Todd Lincoln, attempted to keep Robert out the army, but this caused the President great embarassment and so eventually Robert joined the army and was assigned to a general staff where he would be less likely to be in harm's way. There are many earie coincidences surrounding the death of his father, but equally strange though not as well known are the coincidences surrounding the life of Robert Todd Lincoln, and in particular his uncanny ability to be close to or somehow involved with political assassinations.

Robert Todd Lincoln as a Young Man

As a young man on leave from the army it is said that Robert saved the brother of John Wilkes Booth from falling under a train. Booth went on to kill his father. The night that President Lincoln was assassinated, Robert had been invited by his parents to join them at the theatre but he had declined. Throughout his life Robert wondered and felt guilty that perhaps he could have saved his father if he had been at the theater that night.

In 1881, Robert was the Secretary of War in the cabinet of President Garfield. He was to join the President on a train trip but arrived late at the train station, just as President Garfield had been assassinated.

In 1901, President McKinley invited him to join him at the Pan American Exposition in Buffalo, New Yoirk. The President was shot just as Robert arrived.

This is a gallery of photographs depicting Robert Todd Lincoln at various stages of his life.

The Lincoln Family - With Robert Todd Lincoln Shown in Uniform. The young boy is Robert's brother Tad.

Robert Lincoln as a Middle Aged Man

Robert Todd Lincoln, 1843-1926 in old age. Here is attending dedication ceremonies at the Lincoln Memorial, May 30, 1922.

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