Mary Lincoln and the Civil War.

     Clouds and darkness surround us, yet Heaven is just, and the day of triumph will surely come, when justice and truth will be vindicated. Mary Todd Lincoln

    After President Lincoln was elected, Mary did her best to influence his cabinet. There were few that she liked, but try as she might, she had little influence with Abraham. She did work her charms on the menfolk, and did develop quite a following. As the war progressed she saw so little of her husband plus having to deal with the public as well as the death of her children, made her more anxious and out of sorts than normal. By her flirtations with men of power, she was able to underwrite the redecorating of the White House and purchase clothing until Abraham finally figured it all out and almost exploded.She also gave men vouchers so that they'd be able to get an audience with the president, which really disgusted him. Abraham was very patient with her.
  However, what is so impressive is that Mary Lincoln was hundred percent behind the Civil War even though she was born and bred a southern gal, she believed in it. The relatives, including siblings, who fought for the South, she mostly ignored because they were against her husband. The reason behind her full-fledged support of the Emancipation stems from her grandmother who helped escaped slaves. Mary lived close to a slave prison and saw hangings. She also knew how unjust it was to have families split apart, the parents or children sold in an instant. The intertwining of the races was very prevalent at that time in Lexington. Mary did have her slaves, but she got by without as much as possible by doing a lot of the work herself.
    In Washington she'd visit the hospitals and sit with the men and write letters home for them. That is one of the ways that she lent her support.
    From all the search that I've done, besides her support of the war, and trying to get certain men into the President's cabinet, I couldn't find one piece of legislation that she influenced. I really can't believe it, but she was a busy lady doing all that redecorating and shopping! She had sixty-four full trunks weighing nearly four tons when she died. All I can think of is, what would she have done if there had been a Mall of America in her day? Yikes!