Interesting "little" Lincoln stories

[David Lockmiller]

(09-26-2014 03:35 PM)RJNorton Wrote:  

(09-26-2014 02:56 PM)David Lockmiller Wrote:  Mr. Lincoln saw me glance at his foot. It was much swollen. Both of his feet, in fact, were in bad condition. I said nothing, but he commenced talking about them.

Abraham Lincoln knew a chiropodist named Isachar Zacharie.

On September 22, 1862, Lincoln wrote of Dr. Zacharie:

"Dr. ← Zacharie → has operated on my feet with great success, and considerable addition to my comfort."

However, I have never read exactly what the nature of the operation was - does anyone know the nature of Dr. Zacherie's operation on Lincoln's feet?

According to the book, “We Called Him Rabbi Abraham: Lincoln and American Jewry, a Documentary History,” by Gary Zola:

“By the summer of 1862, Zacharie was trimming the toenails of the nation’s first citizen – Abraham Lincoln.” (p. 45)

According to this book, Dr. “Zacharie’s diplomatic duties for the Lincoln administration may very well have had their genesis in a series of political deliberations that culminated in the issuance of the so-called preliminary Emancipation Proclamation by Lincoln on September 22, 1862.” (p. 46)

The author, Gary Zola, also wrote:

“During the weeks leading up to the issuance of the preliminary Emancipation Proclamation, Zacharie frequently treated the president’s feet. Was Lincoln thinking about this important matter while he was receiving pedal therapy? The answer to this question is unknowable, but on the very same day that he signed the preliminary Emancipation Proclamation, Lincoln issued another much less historic missive, this one validating Zacharie’s podiatric skills: ‘Dr. Zacharie has operated on my feet with great success, and considerable addition to my comfort.’” (p. 46)

Was this foot doctor more responsible for the words in the Emancipation Proclamation than was President Abraham Lincoln? Did Mary Todd Lincoln actually try to convince her husband not to sign the Emancipation Proclamation at the last minute? Was it uncertain for other reasons, until the very last minute on January 1, 1863, that President Lincoln would sign the Emancipation Proclamation as he committed to do so on September 22, 1862 (100 days prior)?

Who knows for certain the answers to any of these questions?