Did William Coggeshall Save Lincoln's Life?

[Eva Elisabeth]

Re.: "Freda Koch records that in the trove of writings that she was heir to were '...the Colonel's observations of cabinet members and Civil War generals, made in his diary while attending Lincoln cabinet meetings...vivid descriptions of the religious, the humorous, the human sides of Lincoln's character...' Shall we assume that she too is lying? Or that the writings are all fabrications of Coggeshall himself?"

Why should Coggeshall NOT have fabricated the granade incident while being reliable about others? He wouldn't be the only in the tale partly telling the truth and partly spinning seafarers' yarn.

Was the granade incident in the Colonel's writings - or in whose writings?

Freda Koch was certainly not lying, yet it doesn't mean what she read was the truth. Same goes for Mary - not unusual to believe one's husband's words (as well not unusual to later proudly embellish his adventures).