Mr. Lincoln’s Dog

By Lois Miner Huey ~ Art by Mark Corcoran

Fido was Lincoln’s constant companion.

Would Fido be happy in Washington?

Jumping up and yipping, Fido chased his tail. He looked like a pinwheel going round and round. The family laughed, but soon Abraham Lincoln’s eyes grew sad. He treasured rolling on the floor with his yellow dog.

But what should he do with Fido now?

Lincoln had been elected President of the United States, and he and his family would be moving east from Springfield, Illinois, to Washington, D.C.

Humming happy tunes, Mrs. Lincoln bustled about packing their belongings in large trunks. Being the President’s wife was a dream come true.

Robert, the Lincolns’ eldest son, was attending school in the East. He was glad his family would be close by.

	Tad Lincoln and Fido were best friends.

And sons Willie and Tad couldn’t wait to live in the White House.

But not without Fido.

“I could take care of him, Pa,” Tad insisted.

But would Fido be happy in the nation’s capital?

The floppy-eared dog usually trotted behind Lincoln as he strolled down the Springfield streets. He sometimes carried a package in his mouth and waited outside the barbershop while Lincoln got a shave and a haircut. Passersby often stopped to smooth the rough, dark patches on Fido’s back while he thumped his feathery tail.

It seemed that everyone in Springfield knew him.

Tad Lincoln and Fido walked through mud after rainstorms, squishing the soft ooze between their toes.

When the two “clay-covered” figures returned home, Mrs. Lincoln would order them to wash at the well by the back door before entering the house.

Fido was afraid of loud sounds.

Such fun wouldn’t be possible in Washington.

Clanging bells and deep cannon booms during town celebrations sent Fido scurrying under a seven-foot-long horsehair sofa made for the tall Mr. Lincoln. If he rode with the family to Washington, surely the loud hiss of the train’s engine and the chugging of giant wheels would frighten him.

Best he stay in Springfield. But who would keep Fido happy until the Lincolns returned?

Lincoln knew the answer—John and Frank Roll, young friends of the Lincoln boys. Fido adored the brothers, licking their hands and running halfway home with them after a visit.

But before the Lincolns gave up their precious pet, they laid down some important rules:

• Fido should not be scolded for muddy paws or be tied up alone in the backyard.


• Fido should be allowed to go out whenever he scratched at the door, and he should sit next to the dining-room table during meals. (Lincoln often slipped him food there!)

	The Lincolns wanted a photo of Fido.

The Rolls agreed. Mr. Roll even moved the black horsehair sofa into his house so that Fido would have his favorite hiding place.

Before leaving, Mr. Lincoln and the boys took Fido to have his picture taken by Fred Ingmire. Fido lay on a flowered rug placed over a washstand while Mr. Ingmire photographed him from the front and twice from the side. The Lincolns probably carried the pictures with them to their new home in Washington.

In 1863, the Springfield barber wrote to the Lincolns, “Tell Taddy that his (and Willys) Dog is a live and Kicking doing well he stays mostly at John E. Rolls with his Boys who are about the size now that Tad & Willy were when they left for Washington.”

It was best that Fido had remained in Springfield.

When Abraham Lincoln died in 1865, hundreds of mourners crowded into Springfield. Mr. Ingmire, the photographer, printed calling cards with Fido’s picture on them—in memory of Mr. Lincoln.

The President would have been happy to know that his precious yellow dog was well taken care of and happy. Fido lived with the Rolls until his own death a year later.

The name Fido comes from the Latin for “faithful,” fidelis. It was the perfect name for the Lincolns’ dog. The Lincolns’ concern for him also proved how faithful they were.

Some believe that Mr. Ingmire took Fido’s picture after President Lincoln’s death. But John Roll, the young boy who adopted Fido, said that Abraham Lincoln had it done before he left Springfield. Either way, Fido was most likely the first dog of a U.S. President to sit for a photograph.