Abraham Lincoln’s oldest son, Robert Todd, was a student at Harvard when hostilities began. Some Illinois leaders grumbled and complained at his sheltered life, but he entered law school instead of the army after his 1864 graduation. Under tremendous public pressure, Abraham Lincoln then arranged for his oldest son to become a member of McClellan’s staff.
Captain Lincoln took care of visiting dignitaries, including his father, but he never “saw the elephant” by engaging in combat. He was U.S. secretary of war and U.S. minister to Great Britain before heading the Pullman Car Company, then one of the nation’s largest corporations.