Today in American history…Mary Todd Lincoln passed away on July 16, 1882 in Springfield, Illinois. She passed away in her sister’s home – the same home in which she married the love of her life, Abraham Lincoln, on November 4, 1842.

She was most likely the most maligned and misunderstood First Lady in U.S. history.

She was the First Lady during the Civil War and was continually falsely accused of being a traitor being that she was originally from the Southern state of Kentucky and had family that were fighting for the Confederacy. Her allegiance to the United States was always in question for those who disliked her.

She also suffered from mental illness which only increased after the horrible death of her husband. She suffered the loss of her three children at early ages and her only surviving child, Robert, had her institutionalized in her later years.