William Wallace "Willie" Lincoln (December 21, 1850 – February 20, 1862) was the third son of President

Abraham Abraham, ; ar, , , name=, group= (originally Abram) is the common Hebrew patriarch of the Abrahamic religions, including Judaism, Christianity, and Islam. In Judaism, he is the founding father of the special relationship between the Je ...

and

Mary Todd Lincoln Mary Ann Todd Lincoln (December 13, 1818July 16, 1882) served as First Lady of the United States from 1861 until the assassination of her husband, President Abraham Lincoln in 1865. Mary Lincoln was a member of a large and wealthy, slave-owning ...

. He was named after Mary's brother-in-law, Dr. William Smith Wallace. He died of

typhoid fever Typhoid fever, also known as typhoid, is a disease caused by '' Salmonella'' serotype Typhi bacteria. Symptoms vary from mild to severe, and usually begin six to 30 days after exposure. Often there is a gradual onset of a high fever over several ...

at the

White House The White House is the official residence and workplace of the president of the United States. It is located at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue NW in Washington, D.C., and has been the residence of every U.S. president since John Adams in ...

, during Abraham's presidency.

Life

Willie Lincoln was born in Springfield, Illinois on December 21, 1850. He was born just ten months after the death of his older brother

Eddie Eddie or Eddy may refer to: Science and technology *Eddy (fluid dynamics), the swirling of a fluid and the reverse current created when the fluid flows past an obstacle * Eddie (text editor), a text editor originally for BeOS and now ported to Lin ...

, who passed away of tuberculosis earlier that year just shy of his fourth birthday. Along with his younger brother Tad, Willie was one of the most recognizable members of Lincoln's family. William Herndon, Abraham Lincoln's law partner, wrote about the times Lincoln would bring the boys to work with him: "The boys were absolutely unrestrained in their amusement. If they pulled down all the books from the shelves, bent the points of all the pens, overturned inkstands, scattered law papers over the floor or threw the pencils into the spittoon, it never disturbed the serenity of their father’s good nature." Despite his propensity for mischief, Willie also had a philosophical and thoughtful side, and it was said he was very like his father in this way. Like his father, Willie enjoyed writing and working with words. When his father's friend Edward Baker was killed in action at the

Battle of Ball's Bluff The Battle of Ball's Bluff was an early battle of the American Civil War fought in Loudoun County, Virginia, on October 21, 1861, in which Union Army forces under Major General George B. McClellan suffered a humiliating defeat. The operation wa ...

in 1861, ten-year-old Willie wrote a eulogy for him that was published in the ''National Republican.'' Another time, when his father took him to Chicago in 1859 on a business trip, a wide-eyed Willie wrote home to a friend: "This town is a very beautiful place. Me and father went to two theatres the other night. Me and father have a nice little room to ourselves. We have two little pitchers on a washstand. The smallest one for me the largest one for father. We have two little towels on a top of both pitchers. The smallest one for me, the largest one for father." When Lincoln took office as President of the United States, Willie and Tad moved into the White House with the rest of their family. To prevent them from becoming too lonely in their new home, Mary asked the wife of Horatio Nelson Taft, a federal judge, to allow her boys, 14-year-old "Bud" (Horatio Nelson Taft Jr., 1847–1915) and 12-year-old "Holly" (Halsey Cook Taft, 1849–1897), to play with the Lincoln boys at the White House. The boys brought their 16-year-old older sister Julia Taft to supervise their play. In her later memoir, Julia remembered Willie as being “the most lovable boy I ever knew, bright, sensible, sweet-tempered and gentle-mannered.”

Death

Willie and Tad became very ill in early 1862 with what was known at the time as "bilious fever," most likely

caused by contaminated water systems at the White House. After some days, Tad began to grow stronger, but Willie gradually weakened; Abraham and Mary spent much time at his bedside. He died on February 20. The whole family was deeply affected. Abraham said, "My poor boy. He was too good for this earth. God has called him home. I know that he is much better off in heaven, but then we loved him so much. It is hard, hard to have him die!"; after the burial, he shut himself in a room and wept alone. Mary remained in bed for three weeks and was unable to attend Willie's funeral or look after Tad. She never again entered the Green Room, where he was embalmed, or the

Prince of Wales Prince of Wales ( cy, Tywysog Cymru, ; la, Princeps Cambriae/Walliae) is a title traditionally given to the heir apparent to the English and later British throne. Prior to the conquest by Edward I in the 13th century, it was used by the rulers ...

room, where he died. Abraham took solace in caring for and comforting Tad, who was still recovering from his illness and was grieving himself for Willie's death. He also lost the companionship of Bud and Holly, whom Mary refused to allow in the White House anymore, as they reminded her too much of Willie. Willie was interred at Oak Hill Cemetery in Georgetown. After Abraham's assassination in 1865, he was reinterred at

Oak Ridge Cemetery Oak Ridge Cemetery is an American cemetery in Springfield, Illinois. The Lincoln Tomb, where Abraham Lincoln, his wife and all but one of their children lie, is here, as are the graves of other prominent Illinois figures. Thus, it is the seco ...

in Springfield, Illinois, first in a temporary tomb and in 1871 in a state tomb alongside Abraham and his brother,

. Tad and Mary were also later placed in the crypt of the Lincoln Tomb.

In fiction

The 2017 novel ''

Lincoln in the Bardo ''Lincoln in the Bardo'' is a 2017 experimental novel by American writer George Saunders. It is Saunders's first full-length novel and was the ''New York Times'' hardcover fiction bestseller for the week of March 5, 2017. The novel takes place ...

'' by

George Saunders George Saunders (born December 2, 1958) is an American writer of short stories, essays, novellas, children's books, and novels. His writing has appeared in ''The New Yorker'', '' Harper's'', ''McSweeney's'', and '' GQ''. He also contributed a w ...

takes place during and after Willie's death and depicts Abraham's journey through his grief. It won the 2017 Man Booker Prize and was the ''

New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid ...

'' bestseller the week of March 5, 2017. See also "The Murder of Willie Lincoln" by Burt Solomon (Forge, 2017, ). A fictional version of Willie's death is also depicted in the novel and its subsequent movie '' Abraham Lincoln, Vampire Hunter''.

References

External links

Photographs of Willie Lincoln

''Little Willie's Grave''
sheet music written by Wallace & Thomas in 1863 & dedicated to "Mrs. Abraham Lincoln" {{DEFAULTSORT:Lincoln, William Wallace 1850 births 1862 deaths 19th-century American people People from Springfield, Illinois Children of presidents of the United States Lincoln family Deaths from typhoid fever Infectious disease deaths in Illinois Burials at Oak Ridge Cemetery Burials at Oak Hill Cemetery (Washington, D.C.) Child deaths