Biography

Lincoln's life was saved in 1864 by noted stage actor Edwin Booth when Lincoln accidentally slipped off a train platform in 1864 in Jersey City. Lincoln recognized the actor and thanked him. Ironically, Edwin's brother, John Wilkes Booth, assassinated his father one year later. When Lincoln recounted the story publicly in 1909, he said that he sincerely hoped that Edwin's saving his life gave him some comfort in the years following the assassination.

U.S. Secretary of War, 1881-1885. Son of President Abraham Lincoln.

He declined an invitation to join his father, President Abraham Lincoln at Ford Theatre the night of his assassination, although he was at his father's bedside when he died. He accepted invitations to attend the events where both President James A. Garfield and President William McKinley were assassinated in 1881 and 1901 respectively. After McKinley's assassination, he became deeply troubled by the co-incidence that every time a President had invited him to a public function, they had been assassinated whether or not he accepted the invitations. Consequently, he politely let it be known to all of McKinley's successors that they refrain from inviting him to public functions that they would be attending. He made an exception in 1923 when he was invited by President Warren G. Harding to attend the dedication ceremony for the Lincoln Memorial, which was his final public appearance.

He served in the Union Army in 1865 as a Captain in the final months of the civil war. He served on General Ulysses S. Grant's staff and was one of the Union Army officers present the Appotomex Courthouse where Grant accepted the surrender of the Confederate forces by General Robert E. Lee.

Served as both President of the Pullman Company (1901-1911) and Chairman of the Board (1911-1922).