On July 18, 1863, the Cleveland Plain Dealer joked (?) that “The latest bit of scandal is that Halleck sleeps with Father Abraham at the White House.” Mary Lincoln was recovering from a carriage accident at the Soldiers’ Home, but Lincoln was reported to be going home every night to see her.
Which brings me to another point: I think Mary Lincoln had a pretty bad injury in the summer of 1863, possibly a slightly fractured skull and bad concussion. This was followed by an infection. Given what we know about head injuries today, it seems possible this played a role in her later issues, such as the weird sensations she described in her face and head at certain points. Especially because they couldn’t X-ray and remove tiny skull fragments or anything like that. This had just been my speculation, but I actually found something interesting.
On April 30, 1874, the Rockford Weekly Gazette reported that Dr. Dumont C. Dake had “successfully” treated “Mrs. President Lincoln.” Apparently knowing Dake from the time when he practiced in Rockford, the reporter had gone to his office on Wabash Avenue.
Dake now had an extensive practice “among the first families of Chicago,” and enjoyed an “enviable reputation” for treatment of “chronic and pulmonary complaints.” He had rooms, baths, a gymnasium for patient exercise, and was know for accurate diagnoses.
“Several physicians had prescribed for this afflicted lady, without success, having misunderstood her symptoms. But Dr. Dake, with his rare perception, gave an accurate diagnosis at the first interview, telling Mrs. Lincoln that she was suffering from the effects of as severe concussion on the head, and finally drew from the lady the fact that she was, shortly before her husband’s tragic death, violently thrown from her carriage by conspirators, who intended thereby to kill the President, but who escaped unhurt. Under Dr. Dake’s treatment Mrs. Lincoln has improved greatly, and is now, by the Doctor’s advice, about making a trip to New Orleans, for the further improvement of her health.”
During this time, she was contemplating visiting her friend Rhoda E. White in New Orleans. White had ties to the area and was in town dealing with longstanding litigation. However, instead she stayed around Chicago visiting doctors and associating with friends like Myra Bradwell and Jane Swisshelm, and seemed to become convinced she would die in September. This appears to have resulted from what she believed was spiritual communication with her husband and perhaps other spirits. She began transferring all her real estate to her only remaining son, Robert, and making final arrangements, then became reclusive. She was surprised to survive the month of September, and apparently stayed secluded, but suddenly burst to life to help plan the wedding of the daughter of a family friend. Immediately after the wedding, she left for Florida, where she stayed until rushing back in early 1875, concerned about Robert’s health. Within a few months, she had been declared legally insane.
Dake was a homeopathic and also “magnetic” physician, known for his bizarre theories and diagnoses, but also for being able to cure people thought to be incurable. From a family of physicians, he had a very direct, independent and analytical manner. He was also “an uncompromising foe to all shams,” always a good thing to be!
It may be that it was his intuitive perceptions which gave him such success, such that the medical theories he used to explain them were irrelevant. His advertisements made extravagant claims, however, and said he was able to diagnose incurables “without asking a question,” simply “locating” the disease. It seems this was his approach with Mary Lincoln—he told her she had a concussion, and then asked questions to confirm it. Many years later, it was reported that he had treated and “befriended” Mrs. Abraham Lincoln “in the desolation of her later days, and does not share in the uncharitable estimation of her which once prevailed.” Dansville Express, September 26, 1901.