The Backstory: Abraham Lincoln dreams of his own murder

and days before John Wilkes Booth pulled the trigger. That's next on the back story. The backstory is back. Abraham Lincoln was the first US president to be assassinated, So it wasn't if the guy in that office, or the public for that matter, had any sense this this could be a thing, but it was the Civil War, passions ran high, even among family members that disagreed with each other about what was the right path. Lincoln, in fact, was married to Mary Todd, whose family, for the most part,

had Southern sensibilities. Her father, Robert Todd, was a wealthy slave owner in Kentucky. He and Her mother had seven children, of which Mary was the fourth. Her mother died when she was six years old, and her father remarried. He and Mary's stepmother had nine more children. It was a full house, but it definitely was not always a loving

one for Mary. At twenty, she left home to live with her sister in Springfield, Illinois, and from there on out, right through Mary's marriage to Abe Lincoln in eighteen forty two and right till his assassination in eighteen sixty five, there was a cultural and political division in the Todd family. At least five of Mary's sisters and half sisters and three of her brothers were sympathetic to the Confederate cause. Two of her sisters were married to Confederate generals and

others to Confederate soldiers. So that was the state of the nation in the eighteen fifties and early eighteen sixties, and it continued right on through the war. When you have that much passion that conflicts with people you love, it ignites more than just ideological disagreements. Throughout his presidency, Abe and Mary Lincoln were aware that the stance he'd taken against slavery and the power of states' rights and her support of his stance made him a target among

people who were vehemently opposed to abolition. So how do you live with the knowledge that there are people out there who will do anything to stop you? Problem is, there was no secret service to look after Lincoln's safety, and he was very disinterested in being followed by private security people. Interesting sidebar here, the Secret Service wasn't actually officially created until Lincoln signed it into law on April fourteenth, eighteen sixty five, just hours before he was shot at

Ford's Theater by John Wilkes Booth. He had definitely faced threats after he was elected, even before he took office. He literally had to sneak into Washington, d C. Before his inauguration due to the threats, and in eighteen sixty four he narrowly missed taking a bullet while riding his horse out to the summer White House at the Old Soldier's Home. He left d C late in the evening, riding alone that night, and by the time he got home, who was discovered he had a bullet hole in his stove.

Pip hat he didn't want to talk about it much. So as the war had ramped up, emotions had gotten even more intense. Hundreds of thousands of lives were lost on both sides, and the battles just kept raging. Those that believed Lincoln was the only thing standing between their right to own slaves, other human beings, and abolition were infuriated. Lincoln was an incredibly sensitive individual. While he knew what was right, he also knew the level of pain and

anger on both sides. That knowledge, and his willingness all through his presidency to speak in person to as many regular citizens as he could fit into his day, gave him a powerful knowledge of what he could be facing when it came to his own safety. At one point, he told the members of his cabinet that he'd had a recurring dream that he was on an indescribable vessel on the water, headed toward a dark shore, and he felt it was a premonition. So how sure was he

that his life was on the line. Well. The story goes that several days before his assassination, President Lincoln took a moment to say goodbye to his former law partner and bodyguard, Ward Hill Lahman Laman later said, mister Lincoln saying goodbye was very strange to me. He always said good night before we departed, never goodbye, and there was another really disturbing dream. Laman recounted a conversation he witnessed three days before the assassination, as Lincoln spoke to his

wife and several friends. He said, mister Lincoln told us about ten days. I retired very late. I had been up waiting for important dispatches from the front. I could not have been long in bed when I fell into a slumber, for I was weary. I soon began to dream. There seemed to be a deathlike stillness about me. Then I heard subdued sobs, as if a number of people were weeping. I thought. I left my bed and wandered downstairs. There this silence was broken by the same pitiful sobbing,

but the mourners were invisible. I went from room to room. No living person was in sight, but the same mournful sounds of distress met me as I passed along. I saw light in all the rooms. Every object was familiar to me. But where were all the people who were grieving as if their hearts would break? I was puzzled and alarmed. What could be the meaning of all this? Determined to find the cause of a state of things so mysterious and so shocking. I kept on until I

arrived at the East Room, which I entered. There, I met with a sickening surprise. Before me was a catafalque on which rested a corpse wrapped in funeral vestments. Around it were stationed soldiers who were acting as guards, and there was a throng of people gazing mournfully upon the corpse, whose face was covered, others weeping pitifully. Who is dead in the White House, I demanded of one of the soldiers. The President was his answer. He was killed by an assassin.

Then came a loud burst of grief from the crowd, which woke me from my dream. I slept no more that night, and although it was only a dream, I've been strangely annoyed by it ever since. While Mary Todd Lincoln worried about the possibility of assassination during their entire time in Washington during his presidency, she never had any dreams of it, at least that she spoke of. Despite

her connection to spiritualism. Only Abraham Lincoln seemed to understand his desk tony and maybe how his martyrdom to the cause would impact his legacy. Hope you're enjoying the Backstory with Patty Steele. Follow or subscribe for free to get new episodes delivered automatically, and feel free to dm me if you have a story you'd like me to cover. On Facebook, It's Patty Steele and on Instagram Reel Patty Steele. I'm Patty Steele. The Backstories a production of iHeartMedia, Premiere Networks,

the Elvis Durand Group, and Steel Trap Productions. Our producer is Doug Fraser. Our writer Jake Kushner. We have new episodes every Tuesday and Friday. Feel free to reach out to me with comments and even story suggestions on Instagram at Real Patty Steele and on Facebook at Patty Steele. Thanks for listening to the Backstory with Patty Steele, the pieces of history you didn't know you needed to know. No