Interesting "little" Lincoln stories

[David Lockmiller]

Mrs. E. M. Stanton, wife of the Secretary of War, had given eight bushels of strawberries to the hospital, and Mrs. Cole, the head dietitian, had supervised the baking of a mammoth strawberry shortcake. As the soldiers were lounging around the kitchen, President Lincoln and his Cabinet entered.

There were few chairs and the dining-room was filled. When Mrs. Cole brought the President a large piece of cake, he graciously took it, walked to the corner of the room, and sat down on the floor. The Cabinet members all followed his example. -- Mrs. Helen B. Cole

In 1862, when I was a cipher operator in the War Department, Mr. Lincoln often visited the office and was always affable and courteous, sometimes even familiar, in his intercourse with the attaches of the office. He did not recognize me as the young telegraph operator he had met in the West. On one occasion, when he was telling a story to a member of the Cabinet and some prominent army officers, he tried to recall the name of a certain man in Illinois. It seemed to annoy him very much that he could not remember the name. With some trepidation I ventured to say: "Mr. President, permit me to suggest; was it not Judge Puterbough?" He turned upon me with a look of surprise, and shouted: "Why, yes! Did you know him?" "Yes, sir." "Where did you know him?" "Down in Pekin, Illinois, where I had the honor of explaining to the present President of the United States the working of the telegraph, in the little office in the Tazewell House." He turned to his surprised audience, and exclaimed: "Well, isn't it funny that we should have met here?" and confirmed to them how he had first witnessed the working of the telegraph in the Tazewell House. --Charles A. Tinker

[RJNorton]

This story does not come from the presidential years, but it's one I like. I've seen this story in many sources with some differences in details. I do not recall ever seeing a legitimate source for this story, and it's probably more legend than fact. However, if anyone does know a source, please post! Thanks.

"When Abraham Lincoln was a young man living at home, he was quite the prankster. His stepmother Sarah Bush Lincoln used to tease him about his height, telling him that he’d better keep his head clean or she’d have to scrub the ceiling. The story goes that one day when Sarah was out, Abe noticed two boys playing barefoot outside next to a mud puddle. He asked them to stomp in the mud until their feet were covered. Then he brought them back to the house. One by one, he carried them inside and held them upside down so their muddy feet could touch the ceiling. Then he had them “walk” across the ceiling, creating a trail of brown footprints. Sarah reportedly took the prank with good humor—but she did make Lincoln repaint the ceiling."

http://mentalfloss.com/article/49681/you...ous-people

[LincolnToddFan]

Hi Roger,

I've never heard the "strawberry shortcake story" either, but I also like it. It sounds very Lincolnian.

On the other hand, I've read the story of the footprints on the ceiling many times...love it!

[RJNorton]

Hi Toia. Earlier today I did find a footnote for the "footprints on the ceiling" story in "Lincoln's Boyhood: A Chronicle of His Indiana Years" by Francis Marion Van Natter. The author's source is Dr. J. Edward Murr's "Lincoln in Indiana" (which I do not have). So I do not know what Dr. Murr's source was.

[STS Lincolnite]

(09-24-2014 04:00 PM)RJNorton Wrote:  Hi Toia. Earlier today I did find a footnote for the "footprints on the ceiling" story in "Lincoln's Boyhood: A Chronicle of His Indiana Years" by Francis Marion Van Natter. The author's source is Dr. J. Edward Murr's "Lincoln in Indiana" (which I do not have). So I do not know what Dr. Murr's source was.

Is this the "Lincoln in Indiana" that you are talking about? Looks like was published in Indiana Magazine of History. I found it but no time yet to browse or read. Here is a link:

https://openlibrary.org/search?place_fac...1809-1865)

[RJNorton]

Thank you, Scott. I did find the story in Dr. Murr's writing but don't see a footnote.

"Lincoln's great stature and lumbering gait were a subject of neighborhood comment, and Mrs. Lincoln and his father often joked him concerning them also. The elder Lincoln was in the habit of remarking that "Abe looked like he had been chopped out with an ax and needed the jack plane to smooth him down." Mrs. Lincoln said to him on one occasion when she saw him "bump" his head as he came through the cabin door: "Abe, I don't care much about the mud you carry in on the floor, for that can be scrubbed, but you must be careful with my whitewashed ceiling and not damage it." The next day young Lincoln hunted up a crowd of youngsters, and after causing them to wade through a pond of muddy water, he marched them to the Lincoln cabin, picked them up one by one and made them walk across the ceiling with their muddy feet. When Mrs. Lincoln came home and noted the condition of the ceiling she laughed right heartily. Abraham then walked a long distance after lime, prepared whitewash, and once more made the cabin ceiling immaculate."

[David Lockmiller]

I believe that all of us here on the Lincoln Discussion Symposium have had severe difficulity at times in determining whether a particular Lincoln story was true or false. During the Civil War, General John A. Logan came up with a simple solution to this problem.

I had some doubts for a time about the authenticity of the stories attributed to Lincoln, until an experience of my own with him. I was sent from the West by Grant with some dispatches to the President in person. It was late Saturday night when I got into Washington. The next morning I went to the White House, and there was nobody about. I made a noise at the door until someone came and said that Mr. Lincoln couldn’t be seen on Sunday; it was against the rules.

“Go upstairs,” I said, “and tell the President that Logan is here with some important dispatches from Grant.”

Pretty soon the messenger came back and told me to walk up. When I got into the room, Mr. Lincoln was sitting in a chair with one foot on a table and his head thrown back. A barber was just getting through shaving him. He told me to take a seat and he would be ready to talk to me in a few minutes. The barber finished the shaving and went to work on the hair. 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.

“They remind me,” said he, “of a man in Sangamon County who made a pretty bad horse trade. The animal was in awful condition, but the farmer got him home. About two weeks afterward one of his neighbors met him and asked him how his new horse was coming on. ‘Oh, first rate,’ said the farmer, ‘he’s putting on flesh very fast. He’s fat now up to his knees.’ That’s my fix.”

Since then I have accepted as authentic all Lincoln stories. – General John A. Logan

(“Life and Services of Gen. John A. Logan: As Soldier and Statesman,” by George Francis Dawson, pp. 449-50.) [I got the story from “Lincoln Talks, a Biography in Anecdote, by Emanuel Hertz, p. 648. But Hertz does not reference his source.]

[RJNorton]

(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?

[L Verge]

Walking barefoot through Dixon, IL in 1832, Lincoln complained that his feet were cold. Someone told him: "No wonder, there's so much of you on the ground." (taken from the Dr. Zebra website, which some of you are familiar with)

Maybe Lincoln had his feet shortened? Just kidding, just kidding....

Dr. Zebra also states that Lincoln was flat-footed and suffered from corns and bunions.

[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?

[Eva Elisabeth]

I once found this interesting article on "Dr." Zacharie:
http://strangeside.com/lincolns-chiropod...-zacharie/

[RJNorton]

The grave of "Dr." Zacharie:

http://www.hamhigh.co.uk/news/grave_of_l..._1_1962473

That's interesting that he had never attended college or medical school.

[RJNorton]

(09-24-2014 12:34 AM)David Lockmiller Wrote:  In 1862, when I was a cipher operator in the War Department, Mr. Lincoln often visited the office and was always affable and courteous, sometimes even familiar, in his intercourse with the attaches of the office.

Many thanks to Laurie for sending this. Lincoln students always hear of the War Department Building adjacent to the White House, but they seldom see photos of it at the time of the Civil War. This photo is ca. 1870. Source is John DeFerrari’s collection of Streets of Washington.