Abraham Lincoln suffered from variola (smallpox) when he was in the White House.
November, 1863
Almost as an afterthought, President Lincoln had been invited to make “a few appropriate remarks” at an event in Gettysburg, Pennsylvania.
In July, a massive three-day battle had been fought at the tiny town of Gettysburg. Thousands of soldiers, North and South had died. Thousands more had been injured.
The only known photo of Lincoln at Gettysburg.
Pennsylvania Governor Andrew Curtin, a Republican, mounted a vigorous campaign to make part of that battlefield into a national cemetery. The effort was enthusiastically supported, and on November 19, the dedication ceremony for the sobering memorial was scheduled. Former Congressman Edward Everett, considered the country’s premier orator, had accepted Curtin’s invitation to be the keynote speaker. As a courtesy, an invitation for the President to be on the program was issued – nothing more.
Abraham Lincoln: Health in General
Abraham Lincoln considered himself a healthy and normal child-to-man. He was strong, grew rapidly, and if he suffered the usual youthful illnesses, they were mild enough, and he recovered with no visible after effect. It wasn’t until his young manhood that there is any evidence of health-related issues, notably a case of gonorrhea (he erroneously believed was syphilis) contracted on a trip to New Orleans.
His most reported health issues were periodic incidences of “the hypo” or hypochondria, which, according to medical posterity, were more a bout of general depression, coupled with malaise or inertia. It recurred at intervals throughout his life – only as President, Lincoln did not have the luxury of feeling “hypochondriacal.”
During his four years in the White House, he worked incredibly long hours, was under enormous stress and came into contact with literally thousands of people from various places and walks of life. That he didn’t feel well from time to time is a given – and is also fairly well documented. His secretaries, who also worked long hours and met thousands of people were also unwell periodically. But for Lincoln, those “illnesses” appear to have been relatively minor, and did not cause him to lose much time from his work.
The President’s Variola
Mary Lincoln with sons Willie and Tad.
There is some vagueness about when Abraham Lincoln first showed his symptoms. Some sources claim Lincoln had been ill prior to Gettysburg. Shortly before the dedication ceremony, his ten-year-old son Tad was sick and feverish. The doctors were not sure of the exact illness (children have many), but having already lost two sons, both Lincolns were seriously concerned. Nevertheless, Tad was recovering, Lincoln had accepted the invitation, and kept the commitment, believing it was incumbent upon him to be a part of hallowing the ground.
Variola is a mild form of smallpox, just as contagious, but perhaps not as deadly or disfiguring. The symptoms mimic the usual aches, fevers and general malaise of many other ailments, but within days, a rash or blotches that form blisters and scabs is its most distinguishing feature.
By the 1860s, inoculation for the dreaded pox was fairly commonplace. It was so highly contagious that Union soldiers were routinely inoculated upon entering the Army. But Lincoln had never been inoculated, and was exposed to literally thousands of people who thronged in the White House for a few minutes of the President’s time.
Most sources today claim he was incubating the illness at Gettysburg, but it didn’t manifest until AFTER he returned to the White House.
What is consistent, however, was that his illness coincided with the Gettysburg dedication ceremony, and the fact that he was not feeling well when he went. By the time he returned to the White House, he was definitely ill, feverish and complaining of body aches. He took to his bed. His valet, William Johnson, was also ailing and immediately sent to his rooms. The White House physician was summoned. Within a few days, the telltale rash and pustules began to form.
There is also some speculation that Lincoln had smallpox, period. Variola, being a mild form of the disease was only admitted (and publicized) to lessen the effect of the President being seriously ill. (It may also be speculated that a “lesser form” might ease the anxieties of Mary Lincoln.)
John G. Nicolay, Lincoln and John Hay
Both John G. Nicolay and John Hay, the President’s private secretaries, were visibly upset that Lincoln might die. Smallpox was a killer. The mortality rate for those who contracted it, still hovered at 30%. William Johnson was one of those victims.
Asst. secretary William Stoddard worked closely with Mrs. L.
According to William Stoddard, an assistant White House secretary (whose diaries and books are a mainstay of Lincoln White House scholars) all members of the White House household, staff and family (i.e. Mary and Tad) who had never been inoculated, were immediately treated appropriately.
Lincoln’s Recovery
President Lincoln remained in his rooms for several weeks after he returned from Gettysburg. It was a well-known fact that smallpox, light case or not, was highly communicable, and thus strict quarantine procedures were enforced. People who either had a case of smallpox, or who had been inoculated were immune, however. Records show that Lincoln did not return to his office until shortly before Christmas. By that time, the scabs from his rash and blisters had abated, and he did not appear to have any visible facial scarring.
The President, who was constantly besieged by people of all stations who wanted offices or favors or clemency, or merely just to shake his hand, now quipped to his doctor once he felt better, that “now I have something that I can give to everybody.”
According to Lincoln himself, however, there was definitely an outbreak of smallpox in Washington in late 1863 through early 1864. He sent a wire to his son Robert, at Harvard, warning him and his friends not to come to the Capital because of the outbreak. By that time, the President was fine.
But sick or well, he made a dandy speech at Gettysburg.
Sources:
Conroy,James B. – Lincoln’s White House: The People’s House in Wartime – Rowman and Littlefield, 2016
Donald, David Herbert – Lincoln – Simon and Schuster – 1996
http://rogerjnorton.com/Lincoln68.html
http://www.mrlincolnswhitehouse.org/inside.asp
https://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/lincoln-delivers-gettysburg-address
Now he has added to his already impressive resume with a slim but nifty little volume entitled: 
When the Spanish-American War ended in 1898, Theodore Roosevelt was a hero! 
Presidential History Blog 
Enthroned Washington: The Naked George
Commemorating George Washington
The most famous statue of GW is in the Virginia State House
Statues commemorating heroes and saints, sages and scenes of glory have been around since antiquity. It was only natural that when the State of Virginia wanted to honor its favorite son, circa 1785, the master French sculptor Jean-Antoine Houdon was commissioned. He traveled to Mount Vernon to take the General’s measure, literally as well as figuratively. Then he broke all traditional artistic preconceptions, and depicted him fully dressed in his “modern” uniform, with a few discreet allegorical references. It was intended for, and indeed still remains, in the rotunda of the Virginia State House.
By 1832, the centenary of Washington’s birth, Congress was desirous of a statue to grace the rotunda of the Capitol Building, in the City that bears his name. Also, by that time, there was a growing cadre of fine American artists and sculptors. Horatio Greenough (1805-1852), born and raised in Boston and a Harvard graduate, was among them. Despite his academic education, his natural talents led him to art, and, as practically required, living in Italy to study with the masters.
Horatio Greenough, painted by Rembrandt Peale
When Congress commissioned 27-year-old Greenough, they had a few caveats. They wanted Washington to be “larger than life.” They also wanted him to be seated, honoring his statesmanship, as opposed to military accomplishments. And they were prepared to pay the opulent sum of $5000.
The Very Expensive Statue
Greenough was a competent sculptor with a fair body of work during his short life. He died at only 47. But as an accomplished academician, he was also bound to traditional and classical stylistic conceptions. As was popular during that neoclassical period devoted to antiquity, he modeled his creation after the Statue of Zeus, sculpted by Phidias, and considered one of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World.
An “imagined” statue of Zeus, one of the Ancient Wonders. It was destroyed in the 4th Century AD for it’s gold.
Greenough ordered the finest Carrera marble, and produced it entirely in his studio in Florence. It took him eight years. He was so proud of it, that he engraved it on the back, in Latin, “Horatio Greenough made this image as a great example of freedom, which will not survive without freedom itself.”
When he wrote and advised Congress that “Enthroned Washington” (as he titled it) was ready to be shipped, Congress was faced with a problem: getting it from Italy to the USA. In 1840, it was daunting, and Congress dickered and debated for weeks. Finally, they agreed to send an American man-of-war to bring George home. More money.
Another problem: getting the statue from Florence to the port city of Genoa for shipping. It weighed more than twelve tons. It took twenty-two yoke of oxen several days to haul George over the unpaved mountainous Italian roads. Seriously not cheap. One story says that the peasants en route believed the statue to be of some saint, and they knelt and genuflected as it passed by. Maybe.
Yet another problem: When the statue finally arrived in Genoa, they discovered George was much too large for the hatch of the man-of-war sent to bring him home. A merchant vessel with large enough capacity had to be refitted and chartered. More money. A lot more money.
The Trouble With George
Enthroned Washington
Finally, “Enthroned Washington” arrived at the Washington Navy Yard in 1841. A committee of select Congressmen were designated to formally “receive” the statue. They were horrified to find the Great George Washington was indeed seated (as authorized), but naked to the waist, with a robe in his lap and a section of a toga draping his right bicep. His bare feet were also in full view.
Virginia statesman (and later Governor) Henry Wise commented, “The man does not live and never did live, who saw Washington without his shirt.” (He didn’t say anything about his bare feet, although it is likely that only his servants and Martha ever saw him without his boots, either.)
As word got around about this “un-Washingtonian” image, it appeared that most of the country were like-minded of the sentiment, and convinced that George himself would despair.
Meanwhile, there was another problem: getting the huge statue from the Navy Yard to the Capitol. It cost another $5000. Then, as they finally were about to enshrine George in the Rotunda, they discovered that he was too large for the Capitol doors, and the masonry had to be cut to accommodate the massive statue. Once placed in its reserved spot however, the floor began to sink, so a massive and expensive pedestal was built for additional support.
It did not take too long for Congress to decide that the Rotunda was not really suitable, so George was removed and replaced outside the Capitol Building. Over the next thirty five years, it was moved a few times, and by the mid-1880s, had already cost the country upward of $42,000.
It had also become a laughing-stock, albeit a respectful one. One jokester, according to Frank Carpenter, a Washington journalist, commented on the outstretched sword in the statue’s left hand and his right hand pointing heavenward. He was sure George Washington is demanding, “Take my sword if you will, but bring me some clothes!” DC winter winds can be bitter cold! And then, of course, the city is full of pigeons.
It was unintended, but it was a scandal.
George’s Final Resting Place
Moving Enthroned Washington to the Smithsonian. A massive undertaking!
By 1908, with snow, wind, weather and exposure, some cracks were discovered in the back of the statue, and the “authorities” decided George needed to come back indoors. The Washington Evening Star commented diplomatically, that the statue looks “pitiful out in the cold.” The original “castle” of the Smithsonian Institution was deemed the perfect location. The cost to remove, ship and re-install the statue was staggering.
In 1963, it was finally moved at a cost that dwarfed all the others, to the second floor of the Smithsonian’s new Museum of American History, still seated, naked to the waist. You can see it today if you like. We paid a helluva lot of money for it!
Sources;
Carpenter, Frank G. – Carp’s Washington – McGraw-Hill, 1960.
https://www.atlasobscura.com/places/bare-chested-george-washington
https://www.mountvernon.org/library/digitalhistory/digital-encyclopedia/article/horatio-greenough/