Mary Ann Todd Lincoln (December 13, 1818 – July 16, 1882) was the First Lady of the United States when her husband, Abraham Lincoln, served as the sixteenth President, from 1861 until 1865.

Born in Lexington, Kentucky, she was the daughter of Robert Smith Todd and Eliza Parker, Mrs. Todd, prominent residents of the city. They were slaveholders, as were their other relatives. At the age of twenty, Mary Todd moved to Illinois where her sister Elizabeth was living. Elizabeth introduced Mary to the young lawyer who would later become her husband; she was also courted by Stephen A. Douglas.

The Lincolns' marriage was troubled at times. Of their four sons, only Robert and Tad survived into adulthood, and only Robert outlived his mother.

Mary Lincoln was well-educated and interested in public affairs, and shared her husband's fierce ambition. However, she was high-strung and touchy, and sometimes acted irrationally. She was almost instantly unpopular upon her arrival in the capital.

Newspapers at the time criticized her for using taxpayers' money to refurnish the White House (which had become quite worn and shabby) as well as to fund her personal shopping sprees. During the Civil War, there were persistent rumors that she was a Confederate sympathizer, and even a Confederate spy (several relatives served in the Confederate forces--three of her brothers died fighting for the South). Popular legend states that President Lincoln, upon hearing the rumors, personally vouched for her loyalty to the United States in a surprise appearance before the Committee on the Conduct of the War. Her visits with Union soldiers in the numerous hospitals in and around Washington went largely unnoticed by her contemporaries.

After their 11-year-old son Willie died suddenly of typhoid fever at the White House, Mrs. Lincoln sought out mediums and spiritualists to contact the dead boy, only to lose another small fortune the Lincolns could not afford.

After the President's assassination in April 1865, her reputation was further besmirched as former Lincoln aides and Cabinet members openly attacked her for being a spendthrift, difficult and arrogant (Lincoln's wartimes aides John Nicolay and John Hay privately referred to her as "the hell-cat").

In 1868, a former seamstress and confidante, Elizabeth Keckly, published Behind the Scenes, (or, Thirty years a slave, and four years in the White House). When the book proved controversial, Robert Todd Lincoln had it suppressed.

The deaths of her husband and her three sons, Edward, William (Willie), and Thomas (Tad), in time led to an overpowering sense of grief and the gradual onset of depression.

Mrs. Lincoln's "spend-thrift" ways and eccentric behavior concerned her son Robert. To gain control of his mother's finances, Robert had her committed to an insane asylum in Batavia, Illinois in 1875, but she was free to move about the grounds and was released three months later. She never forgave her eldest son for what she regarded as his betrayal.

Mrs. Lincoln spent the next four years abroad taking up residence in Pau, France. She spent much of this time traveling in Europe.

Mrs. Lincoln's late years were marked by declining health. In 1879, she suffered spinal cord injuries in a fall from a step ladder. On her return to the US aboard an ocean liner in 1880, actress Sarah Bernhardt allegedly prevented her from falling down a staircase and sustaining further injury. She also suffered from cataracts that severely affected her eyesight. This may have contributed to her falls.

Mrs. Lincoln died at the Springfield, Illinois home of her sister Elizabeth on July 16, 1882, aged 63. She was interred within the Lincoln Tomb in Oak Ridge Cemetery in Springfield.

However, he was unaware that two troops of the 5th Cavalry were camped at War Bonnet Creek, in their path.

Carrington demonstrates his howitzers prompting the Cheyenne to agree to a “lasting peace with the whites and all travelers on the road,” meaning the Bozeman Trail.

Order began to be restored on Thursday as more federal troops returned to New York, including the 152nd New York Volunteers, the 26th Michigan Volunteers, the 27th Indiana Volunteers and 7th Regiment New York State Militia from Frederick, Maryland, after a forced march. In addition, the governor sent in the 74th and 65th regiments of the New York state militia, which had not been in federal service, and a section of the 20th Independent Battery, New York Volunteer Artillery from Fort Schuyler in Throgs Neck. By July 16, there were several thousand Federal troops in the city. A final confrontation occurred on Thursday evening near Gramercy Park, resulting in the death of many rioters.

The exact death toll during the New York Draft Riots is unknown, but according to Cook, at least 100 civilians were killed and at least 300 more injured; property damage was about $1.5 million. The city treasury later indemnified one-quarter of the amount. 50 buildings burned to the ground, including two Protestant churches. On August 19, the draft was resumed. It was completed within 10 days without further incident, although far fewer men were actually drafted than had been feared: of the 750,000 selected for conscription nationwide, only 6% actually went into service.

While the rioting mainly involved the working class, the middle and upper-class New Yorkers had split sentiments on the draft and use of federal power or martial law to enforce the draft. Many wealthy Democratic businessmen sought to have the draft declared unconstitutional. Tammany Democrats did not seek to have the draft declared unconstitutional, but would help pay commutation fees on behalf of poor who were drafted.

Sherman had been on the move for a week by this time. He had been forced to spend time rebuilding bridges, but on July 6, he set out in pursuit of Joe Johnston. Johnston, on learning that his attempt to relieve Vicksburg had become pointless with the city's surrender, had retreated back to Jackson and set about improving its defenses. The countryside was dry and dusty and he hoped thirst would force Sherman into a rash attack that would be driven off with great loss.

Johnston greatly underestimated the stamina of Sherman's men, who drank from the few ponds where water remained, even though the Confederates had thrown the carcasses of livestock in them to pollute them. Then torrential rains fell. It turned the roads into quagmires, but the Federals now had plenty of drinking water and they weren't going to be stopped by some mud.

Sherman's men converged on Jackson on July 10. While Johnston was not a Lee who knew how to risk all on the offensive, there was no one keener on the defense, and Sherman knew better than to attack head-on. Instead, he worked around Jackson in an attempt to invest it and sent out parties to destroy the city's connections with the rest of the Confederacy. On July 12, however, one of his divisions accidentally stumbled into a crossfire, and the lead brigade was cut to pieces, losing 465 men; the division commander was sacked. Sherman's assessment of Johnston was confirmed. Sherman wrote Grant a few days later: "If he moves across the Pearl River and makes good speed, I will let him go."

In fact, Johnston realized he was close to being surrounded and decided to withdraw on July 16. That night he and his men pulled out of Jackson quietly and efficiently, taking with them everything they could carry of military value. During the fighting for Jackson, they had managed to inflict 1,122 casualties on the Federals at a loss of 604 to themselves. Sherman was as good as his word and let Johnston go. The Federals then moved into the town and completely demolished it. When they left the place, they nicknamed it "Chimneyville".

Sherman was an unusually complicated man, part amusing and part frightening, often sensible but sometimes a bit mad. Although he found satisfaction in the misery his troops had inflicted on the rebellious population, he was careful to provide the locals with food and other supplies to allow them to survive over the short term. Even in this, he still found some satisfaction, gloating: "The inhabitants are subjugated. They cry aloud for mercy."