One of the most tragic and haunting moments in Abraham Lincoln’s life came long before his assassination — the death of his beloved son, Willie. In February 1862, while the nation was tearing itself apart in civil war, the Lincolns’ eleven-year-old boy fell gravely ill with typhoid fever inside the White House. Despite every effort to save him, Willie died on February 20. Lincoln, already burdened by the war’s staggering death toll, was shattered. He wept openly — something few presidents had ev