During the American Civil War, Polk was officially neutral, but she indicated sentiments in favor of preserving the Union during periodic visits to her home by several Union Army commanders, including Don Carlos Buell, George Henry Thomas, Ulysses S. Grant, and William Tecumseh Sherman. However, as a traditional Southern woman she also gave mention to Confederate sympathies during visits from Confederate generals in Nashville where Sarah would spend over 42 years of her widowhood. Sarah Polk lived at Polk Place for 42 years, the longest retirement and widowhood of any former US first lady, and always wore black as a true Victorian widow. She visited her brother at his Childress-Ray House in Murfreesboro, whose daughter was married to Tennessee Governor John C. Brown. She also frequently visited her close friend Adelicia Acklen at Belmont. Polk died on August 14, 1891, at age 87, less than a month before her 88th birthday. She was buried next to her husband originally at their home in Nashville and was later reinterred with him at the Tennessee State Capitol when Polk Place was demolished in 1901. Polk left the contents of Polk Place to her great-niece, Sarah Polk Fall.