Many of Mary Todd Lincoln's Siblings Did Not Disguise Their Confederate

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A HOUSE DIVIDED The Lincolns’ Confederate Relatives

Did you know ... Lincoln’s Confederate in-laws requested favors from him throughout the war?

Many of Mary Todd Lincoln’s siblings did not disguise their Confederate sympathies—two attended Jefferson Davis’ inauguration. Nevertheless, they still appealed to Lincoln for favors. They wrote Lincoln asking permission to travel and to sell cotton; they even requested the parole of Confederate prisoners.

Kitty Todd wrote from Lexington in September 1864 to request the parole of a Confederate general captured the previous summer in Mississippi. General William Beall’s family, she wrote, had “always been old and warm friends of my Father’s. ” Lincoln did not release Beall from custody, but did allow the prisoner to travel to New York state to purchase supplies for Confederate prisoners of war.

Brigadier General William Beall A native of Bardstown, Kentucky, Brigadier General William Beall was captured by Union forces on July 9, 1863. Although Lincoln did not grant Kitty Todd’s plea to free the general, he did allow Beall to open an office in New York to sell blockaded cotton through Southern ports. Beall used the money to purchase clothing and other items for Confederate prisoners held in the North. Mary Todd Lincoln House Collection Mary Todd

Alabama Department of Archives and History, Montgomery, Alabama Montgomery, and History, Alabama Department of Archives Kitty Todd In September 1862, Kitty Todd attempted to return to Kentucky after being stranded at a sister’s home in Alabama since the start Emilie T. Helm letter of the war. She made it as far as Louisville to Abraham Lincoln, 1864 before she was arrested by Union troops In October 1864 Emilie Todd for traveling without a pass. Lincoln came Helm wrote to Lincoln requesting to her aid, however, ordering her freed. permission to ship cotton “We are not making war on women,” he and travel south. A personal telegraphed. appeal in Washington had been unsuccessful. Emilie now attempted to influence Lincoln via letter. “I have been a quiet citizen,” she wrote, “I would also remind you that your minnie bullets have made us what we are ... If Abraham Lincoln Papers at the Library of Congress you think I give way to excess of feeling, I beg you will make some excuse for a woman almost crazed with misfortune.” Lincoln did not respond to her request.