![]() In the days following Eddy’s death, she was unable to compose herself long enough to draft such reflective verses. “Little Eddie” as it appeared in the Illinois Daily Journal, February 7, 1850. Confidently declaring the poem a “mother’s production,” Baker argued that Abraham Lincoln could not have produced such a sentimental piece instead, she praised Mary for making an effort to “move beyond the devastating first stages of mourning to resignation and acceptance.” No doubt inspired by Baker’s assurances, both Jennifer Fleischner and Catherine Clinton subsequently declared that Mary Lincoln composed “Little Eddie.” Thirty-two years later, Mary Lincoln biographer Jean Baker offered a seemingly definitive answer when she declared that Mary, not her husband, was indeed the poet behind the verses. This connection, along with Pratt’s assessment that the poem was similar to William Knox’s “Mortality”-Lincoln’s favorite poem-led him to conclude that it was not “unreasonable to believe that Lincoln composed the poem.” A year later, Ruth Painter Randall reached a similar conclusion but added that Mary Lincoln also might have had a hand in drafting the piece. Onlookers, including historian Harry Pratt, noted the epitaph at the bottom of Eddy’s tombstone, “Of such is the Kingdom of Heaven.” Though the Biblical phrase often appeared on children’s tombstones throughout the nineteenth century, Pratt recognized that it also matched the final line of the poem that appeared in the Illinois Daily Journal shortly after Eddy’s death. Speculation began in 1954 when Eddy Lincoln’s long-forgotten tombstone was rediscovered lying face down in Oak Ridge Cemetery in Springfield. Though the poem does not appear in the Collected Works of Abraham Lincoln, scholars have nonetheless suggested that the Lincolns had a hand in the poem’s production. Indeed, none of their contemporaries ever spoke of the poem in the thousands of letters and interviews they left behind. Neither Abraham nor Mary Lincoln ever mentioned the poem in their letters. The identity of the poet who penned “Little Eddie” has long been a mystery. ![]() įive days after the funeral, an unsigned poem appeared in the Illinois Daily Journal:įor “of such is the kingdom of Heaven.” ![]() Smith conducted Eddy’s funeral in the Lincoln home. He no doubt encouraged the Lincolns to surrender to God’s will, perhaps explaining that their son’s death was somehow part of God’s divine plan. ![]() James Smith, the new pastor of the First Presbyterian Church in Springfield. Her sisters tried to comfort her, as did Rev. Mary Lincoln’s cries echoed throughout the dark house. Īfter lingering for fifty-two days, Eddy died on a cold and rainy February morning. Commonly called consumption, it killed more Americans in 1850 than any other disease: half its victims were under the age of five. Though doctors thought he was suffering from diphtheria, Eddy was probably in the final stages of pulmonary tuberculosis. Unable to eat or rest, nothing seemed to ease his suffering. He developed a dangerously high fever and endured furious coughing fits, followed by periods of intense exhaustion. The three year old’s last days began the day before his mother’s thirty-first birthday. He had been ill throughout much of his father’s term in Congress, and though he periodically showed signs of improvement, he was probably suffering from a chronic illness. Edward Baker Lincoln (1846–1850), Abraham and Mary Lincoln’s second son, was never a healthy child.
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