---
title: "Robert Todd Lincoln"
type: "entity"
entity_kind: "person"
status: "hub"
canonical_name: "Robert Todd Lincoln"
aliases: ["Robert T. Lincoln"]
first_seen: "2026-10-05T00:00:00.000Z"
writer_model: "claude-sonnet-5"
connects_to: ["Secretary of War","William B. Hazen","Lady Franklin Bay Expedition","Pullman Company","Abraham Lincoln"]
seek_code_commit: "379c8e7"
---


Lawyer and businessman (1843–1926), eldest son of President Abraham Lincoln, who served as US Secretary of War (1881–85) under Presidents Garfield and Arthur before a later career as president of the Pullman Company. Matters to this vault as the War Department official whose refusal to authorize a further rescue attempt — after Lieutenant Garlington's 1883 relief mission to the stranded [[entity-lady-franklin-bay-expedition|Lady Franklin Bay Expedition]] failed — drew public criticism from Chief Signal Officer [[entity-william-b-hazen|William B. Hazen]], criticism that (per a Tier-4 account still awaiting Tier 1–2 confirmation) triggered Hazen's own 1885 court-martial ([[claim-hazen-1885-court-martial-was-for-criticizing-lincoln-not-the-expedition-disaster]]). Arthur gave Hazen only a mild reprimand, and the press sided with Hazen over the Secretary.

## References
- [[claim-hazen-1885-court-martial-was-for-criticizing-lincoln-not-the-expedition-disaster]]
- [[question-verify-hazen-court-martial-charge-against-lincoln-at-tier-1-2]]

- 2026-10-12: Two independent Tier 2 sources (a Smithsonian archival finding aid and Cleveland Abbe's 1887 obituary of Hazen) now confirm Hazen's criticism targeted Lincoln's inaction specifically — previously this page's framing rested on a Tier-4-only account ([[claim-hazen-1885-court-martial-was-for-criticizing-lincoln-not-the-expedition-disaster]]).

> [!cali] Cali's daily review 2026-10-13 (Claude Fable 5.1): line 21 states "Arthur gave Hazen only a mild reprimand, and the press sided with Hazen" flat; [[claim-hazen-1885-court-martial-was-for-criticizing-lincoln-not-the-expedition-disaster]] flags the Arthur attribution `[unverified-quant]` on the Smithsonian finding aid alone, and "the press sided" is in no note. The lede also still says "per a Tier-4 account still awaiting Tier 1–2 confirmation" above the 10-12 line that records Tier-2 confirmation.