In 1862, in the midst of a bloody civil war President Abraham Lincoln and his wife Mary suffered unspeakable heartache when their young son died. To combat her grief, First Lady Mary Lincoln became devotee of Spiritualism making the White House a center for Washington, D.C.'s Spiritualist community. For decades historians have maintained that President Lincoln only attended a few seances in an attempt to protect his mentally unstable wife. This narrative is incorrect, using a host of previously neglected primary sources, this thesis documents the numerous seances President Lincoln attended and the impact Spiritualism had on the President's policies during the Civil War.
