Pullman Co. signed by Robert Todd Lincoln dated 1906- Autographed Stock and Bonds

Fraction Scrip signed by Robert Todd Lincoln as president. Printed by American Bank Note Company, New York. 

Robert Todd Lincoln (August 1, 1843 – July 26, 1926) was an American lawyer and Secretary of War, and the first son of President Abraham Lincoln and Mary Todd Lincoln. Born in Springfield, Illinois, he was the only one of Lincoln's 4 sons to live to adulthood, and the only member of the family to survive into the 1900s.

Lincoln was born in Springfield, Illinois on August 1, 1843, to Abraham Lincoln  and Mary Todd Lincoln. He had three younger brothers, Edward Baker Lincoln, William Wallace Lincoln  and Tad Lincoln. By the time Lincoln was born, his father had become a well-known member of the Whig political party and had previously served as a member of the state legislature for four terms. Lincoln was named after his maternal grandfather.

By the time his father became President of the United States, Lincoln was the only one of the President's three children to be largely on his own. Lincoln graduated from Phillips Exeter Academy in 1860, then studied at Harvard University from 1861 to 1865, where he was a member of the Hasty Pudding Club and the Delta Kappa Epsilon (Alpha chapter). He enrolled at Harvard Law School but did not graduate. When Lincoln initially expressed interest in attending Harvard Law School to his father, the latter made reference to his pleasant informal legal training by stating "If you do, you should learn more than I ever did, but you will never have so good a time." Robert failed fifteen out of the sixteen subjects in the Harvard entrance examination, but managed to get in. 

Much to the embarrassment of the President, Mary Todd Lincoln prevented Robert Lincoln from joining the Union Army until shortly before the war's conclusion. "We have lost one son, and his loss is as much as I can bear, without being called upon to make another sacrifice," Mary Todd Lincoln insisted to President Lincoln. President Lincoln argued "our son is not more dear to us than the sons of other people are to their mothers." However, Mary Todd Lincoln persisted by stating that she could not "bear to have Robert exposed to danger." In January 1865, the First Lady yielded and President Lincoln wrote Ulysses S. Grant, asking if Robert could be placed on his staff. On February 11, 1865 he was commissioned as an assistant adjutant with the rank of captain and served in the last weeks of the American Civil War as part of General Ulysses S. Grant's immediate staff, a position which sharply minimized the likelihood that he would be involved in actual combat. He was present at Appomattox when Lee surrendered. He resigned his commission on June 12, 1865 and returned to civilian life.

Lincoln had a distant relationship with his father, in part because during his formative years, Abraham Lincoln spent months on the judicial circuit. Their relationship was similar to the one Abraham Lincoln had with his own father. Lincoln stated, "During my childhood and early youth he was almost constantly away from home, attending court or making political speeches." Robert would later say his most vivid image of his father was of his packing his saddlebags to prepare for his travels through Illinois. Abraham Lincoln was proud of Robert and thought him bright, but also saw him as something of a competitor. An acquaintance purportedly said, "he guessed Bob would not do better than he had." The two lacked the strong bond Lincoln had with his sons Willie and Tad, but Robert deeply admired his father and wept openly at his deathbed.

On September 24, 1868, Lincoln married the former Mary Eunice Harlan the daughter of Senator James Harlan and Ann Eliza Peck of Mount Pleasant, Iowa. They had two daughters and one son.

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