Robert Todd Lincoln

Robert Todd Lincoln was the only one of Abraham and Mary Lincoln’s four sons to survive into adulthood. He served briefly on Ulysses S. Grant’s staff, later became secretary of war and minister to Britain, and built a prominent legal and business career.

In Barbara Hambly’s The Emancipator’s Wife, Robert’s difficult relationship with his mother culminates in his role in the legal proceedings that confined Mary Todd Lincoln to an asylum, making him central to the novel’s treatment of family duty, grief and public judgement.