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George Washington’s closest friend, to whom he was much closer than he was to his brothers, was George William Fairfax, who like Franklin’s son was a devout Tory. He moved to England during the war but he and George remained friends until Fairfax’s death. (Some gossipy historians believe Washington may have had an adulterous relationship with his friend’s wife, Sally Fairfax- from his correspondence it is clear he was smitten with her, but no evidence exists it went beyond writing.)
Mary Todd Lincoln’s brothers and half-brothers were all Confederates. When one of her half-brothers was killed in battle, she expressed pleasure at the notion. Her son Robert Todd wanted to join the Union Army but his parents would not hear of it- they sent him to Harvard instead, which caused a lot of bad press for Lincoln (who was one of the least popular presidents until his assassination). Robert Todd later served as an assistant to U.S. Grant in the last days of the war, but Lincoln saw to it that his position was very cushy. (The Lincolns were devastated over the loss of their son Willie- Mary Todd held seances in the White House throughout the war to communicate with him, and Lincoln once considered having the boy’s body exhumed so he could look once more at his face.)
Assorted Lincoln trivia:
Lincoln was extremely embarrassed by the fact his mother was illegitimate. (My father believed Lincoln’s maternal grandfather was Jefferson Davis’s father, but I digress.)
Lincoln died in a bed that had probably been slept in by John Wilkes Booth. Petersen’s boarding house was a popular lodging for actors at Ford’s Theater and Booth is known to have used it several times when playing D.C…
Lincoln was named for his grandfather, Abraham Lincoln, who was murdered by Indians in 1784. The murder was witnessed by his son Tom (Lincoln’s father).
Lincoln has no descendants (the line ended with his great-grandchildren and none of his siblings had children), but one of his closest living relatives is Camille Hanks Cosby, wife of Bill Cosby (red dress). Her father was biracial and a descendant of Lincoln’s uncle. Tom Hanks is also a relative, though a bit more distant.
Lincoln’s dreams of his assassination are famously recorded, but he also had a recurring nightmare that he was adrift in a rowboat without oars.
Lincoln suffered from what would today be diagnosed in an instant as clinical depression. At least three times in his life (all before he was president) he was unable to work or leave his house due to his depression, and may have been suicidal (biographers differ as to the reliability of the accounts that he was). During one of these periods he broke his engagement to Mary Todd very soon before the wedding day (accounts that he left her at the altar on their wedding day are embellished), and the couple did not speak for two years, after which they began courting again and had a very quiet, small, and almost impromptu wedding unlike the major event that had been planned during their first engagement.
Lincoln loved cats and had at least four while he was president.
Lincoln’s two live-in male secretaries, John Hay and John G. Nicolay, had to share a single bed in a former coat closet due to a lack of space at the White House (the Oval Office/West Wing did not exist until Teddy Roosevelt). Lest any Brokeback Typing Pool rumors begin, Nicolay and Hay were both notorious womanizers.
At the time of Lincoln’s presidency, civilians wanting to see the president were allowed to come into the White House and wait outside of his office. If he had time he would see them, no appointment necessary, and he saw hundreds if not thousands of petitioners this way while president. Security was so lax that while John Wilkes Booth was entering Lincoln’s box, Lincoln’s bodyguard was getting drunk at a bar next door to the theater; the guard was never reprimanded for this infraction.
Lincoln was a Shakespeare enthusiast and was said to have committed most of Richard III and MacBeth to memory.
Officers tried to keep the White House from receiving any appeals for clemency from soldiers condemned to die for desertion or cowardice, because Lincoln pardoned every one that he received, saying that if somebody is shooting at you then to turn and run away is a quite natural reaction. (Ironically Confederate officers had a similar problem- Davis, an arrogant bastard in most regards, was a total soft touch when it came to pardoning deserters [so long as they agreed to be re-inducted].)
On the day he died, Lincoln had announced his plans to visit Jerusalem when he was no longer president.
There is speculation that had Lincoln not been shot he would have died soon from Marfan Syndrome.
My favorite quote about Lincoln is by Sarah Vowell from her [excellent] book Assassination Vacation: “Like Lincoln, I would like to believe the ballot is stronger than the bullet. Then again, he said that before he got shot.”
) led to the abolishment of slavery in America, he himself was a slaveowner as late as 1859 (