![[LINCOLN, Abraham]. Document signed ("A.Lincoln") as President, a testimonial for Dr. Zacharie, his chiropodist, countersigned by Secretary of State William H. Seward, the heading "Executive Mansion Washington D.C.," and date "Sep. 23 1862" in Lincoln's hand. 1 page, 4to (192 x 145 mm.), blank margins of the sheet finger-soiled, neatly mounted at front of an album containing other testimonials to Zacharie's accomplishments, 1846-1872 (see partial contents below), bound in black roan leather, joints repaired, in original slipcase. [With:] Cabinet photograph of Dr. Zacharie, by "Turner & Killick, Art Photographers," of Islington, [England], n.d. [1875 or later?]. A fine image of the physician, seated, in suit and tie. See Charles M. Segel, "Isachar Zacharie: Lincoln's Chiropodist," Publications of the American Jewish Historical Society, vol. 43, no.2 (New York, 1953), pp.72-126; Bertram W. Korn, American Jewry and the Civil War, 1951, 194-202.](https://www.christies.com.cn/img/LotImages/2000/NYR/2000_NYR_09364_0092_000(011318).jpg?w=1)
细节
[LINCOLN, Abraham]. Document signed ("A.Lincoln") as President, a testimonial for Dr. Zacharie, his chiropodist, countersigned by Secretary of State William H. Seward, the heading "Executive Mansion Washington D.C.," and date "Sep. 23 1862" in Lincoln's hand. 1 page, 4to (192 x 145 mm.), blank margins of the sheet finger-soiled, neatly mounted at front of an album containing other testimonials to Zacharie's accomplishments, 1846-1872 (see partial contents below), bound in black roan leather, joints repaired, in original slipcase. [With:] Cabinet photograph of Dr. Zacharie, by "Turner & Killick, Art Photographers," of Islington, [England], n.d. [1875 or later?]. A fine image of the physician, seated, in suit and tie. See Charles M. Segel, "Isachar Zacharie: Lincoln's Chiropodist," Publications of the American Jewish Historical Society, vol. 43, no.2 (New York, 1953), pp.72-126; Bertram W. Korn, American Jewry and the Civil War, 1951, 194-202.
ISACHAR ZACHARIE: LINCOLN'S JEWISH CHIROPODIST AND UNION SECRET AGENT
A very remarkable album--newly discovered in England--which yields vital documentary evidence concerning the peripatetic career, travels and mysterious Civil War activities of a fascinating but elusive, historical figure. Dr. Isachar Zacharie (1825?-1900), an English-born chiropodist, emigrated to America in 1846, where he traveled widely in search of patients (even visiting California) before establishing a very successful practice in New York City. During the Civil War, he treated Abraham Lincoln, many members of Lincoln's cabinet, and numerous high-ranking officers of the Union Army. Zacharie, one of a small number of Jews with whom Lincoln became acquainted with, evidently gained Lincoln's friendship and confidence; on the President's behalf he is known to have undertaken at least two private, undercover missions into the heart of the Confederacy. Lincoln's testimonial reads: "From numerous testimonials of the highest Character and from personal Experience we approve the very great success of Dr. I. Zacharie in Operating upon corns bunions & other troubles of the feet, by which instant relief is afforded, & we desire that the Soldiers of our brave Army may have the benefit of the Doctor's surprising skill."
Zacharie is believed to have been born in Chatham, England about 1825; he was apparently a pupil of the eminent surgeon Sir Astley Cooper, although he is not known to have taken a degree from any academic institution. After his emigration to the U.S., his remarkable travels may be traced through the testimonials he carefully collected in the present album, whose earliest entries were made in Baltimore in 1846. In January 1848, the great statesman Henry Clay praised Zacharie's treatment: "I derived great and immediate benefit from the exercise of his skill"; a second visit and another testimonial is dated "Ashland, 22 May 1849." John C. Calhoun found similar relief in June 1848: "Dr. Zacharie extracted my corns without the slightest pain and to my entire satisfaction." Other patients whose testimonials appear here include Lewis Cass (12 February 1848), Thomas Hart Benton, T.J. Todd of Lexington, Kentucky, J.A. Bayard, and others. In 1858, the well-known New York physician Valentine Mott added a full-page testimonial. Evidently, in the fall of 1862 Dr. Zacharie was in Washington, where he treated, besides President Lincoln, General George B. McClellan, "Maj. Genl. Comdg. Army Potomac," who writes that the Doctor "has been kind enough to relieve me from all trouble with my foot in the most skilful manner." Zacharie also ministered to Secretary of State William A. Seward (his letter, dated 7 October 1862 is pasted in), and Secretary of War Edwin M. Stanton (his letter, dated 24 September 1862, is also present) and to Generals N.P. Banks and Ambrose E. Burnside. Then, Zacharie followed the footsore Union armies into Virginia: according to the testimony of one Brigadier General, at Headquarters in Norfolk, "the troops of this command have received the benefit" of his surgical skills; at Fort Monroe, Maj. Gen. John A. Dix testified that he "has operated on over 5000 men in this Department and to the entire satisfaction of all."
More intriguing though, than the good Doctor's practice, is the evidence (descibed in Segal and Korn) that Zacharie on several occasions served as a Union agent, deep in the Confederacy. With Lincoln's blessing, he was sent twice to New Orleans, which had a large and influential Jewish community, in search of information. General Banks, who had assumed command of the Union-occupied city, gave formal instructions to Dr. Zacharie, asking him to "mingle freely with its people of all classes. Especially with your own countrymen: to ascertain and report as far as possible the nature of its public opinion, as well as the opinion of individuals, ascertain the location and number of troops. As far as you can the plans of the Enemy, the character of his troops" (quoted in Segal). In September 1863, Zacharie conferred privately with Lincoln in the White House and, on a special pass, traveled across the lines into Confederate-held Virginia. In October 1863, writing to Banks, Zacharie stated that, in Richmond, he held discussions with Confederate Secretary of State Judah P. Benjamin, Secretary of the Navy Stephen Mallory, Secretary of War James Seddon, and Brigadier-General Henry Winder, Provost Marshall and Commander of Union prisoners in Richmond. The nature of their discussions, which Zacharie reported to Lincoln personally upon his return, is tantalizingly not recorded. But reports of his secret contacts to the Confederate capital leaked to the New York Herald, which ridiculed his role and led to the termination of the secret missions. Zacharie returned to chiropody. In May 1864 he received an award from the New York Jewish community for his aid to Jews in New Orleans and in the fall of 1864 he aided in Lincoln's campaign for re-election.
Little is known of Dr. Zacharie's life between 1865 and 1872. In the present album, after a long interval, the entries resume with a full-page autograph note of President Ulysses S. Grant, dated "Washington D.C., 15 January 1874: "Dr. I Zacharie M.D. has extracted from my feet corns of long standing with[out] producing the slightest pain" (ironically, it was Grant who, in December 1862, had issued the notoriously anti-Semitic Order No.11 which expelled Jews from the territory controlled by the Army of the Tennessee, and which, after direct appeal by the Jewish community to Lincoln, was revoked.) The last entries in Dr. Zacharie's book, from London in 1875, record his return to England: they include one from October of that year penned by the novelist Wilkie Collins (author of the Moonstone and The Woman in White).
Lincoln is known to have written at least three other recommendations for Zacharie: a six-line autograph note dated 20 September 1862 was sold at auction in 1991 ($71,000); a briefer note, 22 September 1862, was formerly in the Barrett and Sang Collections (Basler V,436); a longer testimonial is dated 19 September 1864, thanking the Doctor for "the deep interest you have shown in the Union cause," (Basler VIII, 12). The present endorsement is not in Basler or Supplements and is presumably unpublished.
ISACHAR ZACHARIE: LINCOLN'S JEWISH CHIROPODIST AND UNION SECRET AGENT
A very remarkable album--newly discovered in England--which yields vital documentary evidence concerning the peripatetic career, travels and mysterious Civil War activities of a fascinating but elusive, historical figure. Dr. Isachar Zacharie (1825?-1900), an English-born chiropodist, emigrated to America in 1846, where he traveled widely in search of patients (even visiting California) before establishing a very successful practice in New York City. During the Civil War, he treated Abraham Lincoln, many members of Lincoln's cabinet, and numerous high-ranking officers of the Union Army. Zacharie, one of a small number of Jews with whom Lincoln became acquainted with, evidently gained Lincoln's friendship and confidence; on the President's behalf he is known to have undertaken at least two private, undercover missions into the heart of the Confederacy. Lincoln's testimonial reads: "From numerous testimonials of the highest Character and from personal Experience we approve the very great success of Dr. I. Zacharie in Operating upon corns bunions & other troubles of the feet, by which instant relief is afforded, & we desire that the Soldiers of our brave Army may have the benefit of the Doctor's surprising skill."
Zacharie is believed to have been born in Chatham, England about 1825; he was apparently a pupil of the eminent surgeon Sir Astley Cooper, although he is not known to have taken a degree from any academic institution. After his emigration to the U.S., his remarkable travels may be traced through the testimonials he carefully collected in the present album, whose earliest entries were made in Baltimore in 1846. In January 1848, the great statesman Henry Clay praised Zacharie's treatment: "I derived great and immediate benefit from the exercise of his skill"; a second visit and another testimonial is dated "Ashland, 22 May 1849." John C. Calhoun found similar relief in June 1848: "Dr. Zacharie extracted my corns without the slightest pain and to my entire satisfaction." Other patients whose testimonials appear here include Lewis Cass (12 February 1848), Thomas Hart Benton, T.J. Todd of Lexington, Kentucky, J.A. Bayard, and others. In 1858, the well-known New York physician Valentine Mott added a full-page testimonial. Evidently, in the fall of 1862 Dr. Zacharie was in Washington, where he treated, besides President Lincoln, General George B. McClellan, "Maj. Genl. Comdg. Army Potomac," who writes that the Doctor "has been kind enough to relieve me from all trouble with my foot in the most skilful manner." Zacharie also ministered to Secretary of State William A. Seward (his letter, dated 7 October 1862 is pasted in), and Secretary of War Edwin M. Stanton (his letter, dated 24 September 1862, is also present) and to Generals N.P. Banks and Ambrose E. Burnside. Then, Zacharie followed the footsore Union armies into Virginia: according to the testimony of one Brigadier General, at Headquarters in Norfolk, "the troops of this command have received the benefit" of his surgical skills; at Fort Monroe, Maj. Gen. John A. Dix testified that he "has operated on over 5000 men in this Department and to the entire satisfaction of all."
More intriguing though, than the good Doctor's practice, is the evidence (descibed in Segal and Korn) that Zacharie on several occasions served as a Union agent, deep in the Confederacy. With Lincoln's blessing, he was sent twice to New Orleans, which had a large and influential Jewish community, in search of information. General Banks, who had assumed command of the Union-occupied city, gave formal instructions to Dr. Zacharie, asking him to "mingle freely with its people of all classes. Especially with your own countrymen: to ascertain and report as far as possible the nature of its public opinion, as well as the opinion of individuals, ascertain the location and number of troops. As far as you can the plans of the Enemy, the character of his troops" (quoted in Segal). In September 1863, Zacharie conferred privately with Lincoln in the White House and, on a special pass, traveled across the lines into Confederate-held Virginia. In October 1863, writing to Banks, Zacharie stated that, in Richmond, he held discussions with Confederate Secretary of State Judah P. Benjamin, Secretary of the Navy Stephen Mallory, Secretary of War James Seddon, and Brigadier-General Henry Winder, Provost Marshall and Commander of Union prisoners in Richmond. The nature of their discussions, which Zacharie reported to Lincoln personally upon his return, is tantalizingly not recorded. But reports of his secret contacts to the Confederate capital leaked to the New York Herald, which ridiculed his role and led to the termination of the secret missions. Zacharie returned to chiropody. In May 1864 he received an award from the New York Jewish community for his aid to Jews in New Orleans and in the fall of 1864 he aided in Lincoln's campaign for re-election.
Little is known of Dr. Zacharie's life between 1865 and 1872. In the present album, after a long interval, the entries resume with a full-page autograph note of President Ulysses S. Grant, dated "Washington D.C., 15 January 1874: "Dr. I Zacharie M.D. has extracted from my feet corns of long standing with[out] producing the slightest pain" (ironically, it was Grant who, in December 1862, had issued the notoriously anti-Semitic Order No.11 which expelled Jews from the territory controlled by the Army of the Tennessee, and which, after direct appeal by the Jewish community to Lincoln, was revoked.) The last entries in Dr. Zacharie's book, from London in 1875, record his return to England: they include one from October of that year penned by the novelist Wilkie Collins (author of the Moonstone and The Woman in White).
Lincoln is known to have written at least three other recommendations for Zacharie: a six-line autograph note dated 20 September 1862 was sold at auction in 1991 ($71,000); a briefer note, 22 September 1862, was formerly in the Barrett and Sang Collections (Basler V,436); a longer testimonial is dated 19 September 1864, thanking the Doctor for "the deep interest you have shown in the Union cause," (Basler VIII, 12). The present endorsement is not in Basler or Supplements and is presumably unpublished.