Photo of the Day

It is December 4, 1863.

First Lady Mary Lincoln has received a brief telegram from her husband while staying at New York’s Metropolitan Hotel.

“All going well,” he had said.

The four-story Metropolitan Hotel (1852 - 1895) occupied the corner of Broadway and Prince Street in the Soho neighborhood of New York City.

Mrs. Lincoln was concerned about his health and had telegrammed him earlier in the day:

“Reached here last evening. Very tired and severe headache.

Hope to hear you are doing well. Expect a telegraph to-day.”

The presidential party arrives in Gettysburg, November 18, 1863.

Lincoln’s health troubles had begun on his November 18th train trip to Gettysburg to dedicate the new soldiers’ cemetery.

Lincoln spent the night of November 18, 1863, at the home of David Wills, a prominent Gettysburg lawyer and civic leader.

The man in the stovepipe hat, center, is believed to be Lincoln at Gettysburg.

During the train ride to Gettysburg, Lincoln had told his secretary, John Hay, that he felt dizzy and weak.

Lincoln delivers his Gettysburg Address.

Lincoln’s symptoms grew worse the next day, after the speech, on the train ride back to Washington.

The crowd at Gettysburg, November 19, 1863.

By the time they reached the White House, Lincoln had developed a high fever, severe pain in his head and back, and extreme fatigue.

The White House, c. 1861.

He took to his bed.

In a few more days, a rash of red blisters developed on his body which persisted for three weeks.

Lincoln in his White House office, which is now the Lincoln Bedroom, April 1864.

‘You have a mild form of smallpox called varioloid fever, his doctor told him.

And, ever the wit, Lincoln had replied, “Now I have something I can give to everybody.”

But modern researchers who have studied the information available on Lincoln’s symptoms believe this diagnosis was inaccurate.

They think it was likely made intentionally to assure Lincoln and the public that his life was not in danger.

Smallpox blisters. CDC photo.

Lincoln’s symptoms, the researchers say, point to Variola major, the serious form of the smallpox virus which, in Lincoln’s day, killed thirty percent of its victims.

While Lincoln will recover, smallpox will claim the life of his valet, thirty-year-old William Johnson, a few weeks later.

Depiction of Lincoln's 1861 arrival in Washington. Johnson is claimed to be the Black man on the far left.

Johnson served as Lincoln’s ‘body man.’

He had accompanied Lincoln on the Gettysburg trip and had cared for him when they returned to the White House.

It is said Johnson spent hours holding a cold towel against Lincoln’s feverish head.

Washington Post photo.

After Johnson died, Lincoln paid off his debts, sent his family money, and arranged for him to be buried in Arlington Cemetery.

Johnson rests there in a section reserved for the 1,500 US Colored Troops who died fighting for the Union cause.

He, too, had done his part.

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I’ll see you tomorrow.

— Brenda