Skip To Content
JEWISH. INDEPENDENT. NONPROFIT.
Culture

All of Abraham Lincoln’s Chosen Friends

Abraham Jonas, the attorney, and Issachar Zacharie, the foot doctor, weren’t Lincoln’s only Jewish friends. Jonathan D. Sarna and Benjamin Shapell also illuminate the nature of the president’s close relationship with three other Jewish men.

Julius Hammerslough, another clothing merchant, was probably Lincoln’s first Jewish friend. He attended the president’s 1861 inauguration and was a frequent visitor to the White House. Later, he became the president of Springfield’s first synagogue. Lincoln’s funeral cortege was ornamented by black plumes Hammerslough provided, and he was among those who met the body when it arrived in Springfield.

Sigismund Kaufmann was a prominent German-American who had established a gymnastic society in New York City, and was involved in Jewish charitable works. Kaufmann’s focus was the German immigrant community, and “as a political radical and staunch opponent of slavery, he strongly advocated the importance of German Americans voting [Republican].” That advocacy likely led to his status as one of the 180 electors, and the only known Jewish one, who voted for Lincoln in the Electoral College in the 1860 election.

Henry Rice is described as a “leading figure” in the dry goods business and in Jewish philanthropy. Rice started a clothing business near Springfield and recommended Lincoln to some Cincinnati firms seeking legal representation. The businessman later visited Lincoln in the White House, where he was invited to dinner. The president also recommended Rice to serve as a sutler, or military storekeeper, for the army.

Republish This Story

Please read before republishing

We’re happy to make this story available to republish for free, unless it originated with JTA, Haaretz or another publication (as indicated on the article) and as long as you follow our guidelines. You must credit the Forward, retain our pixel and preserve our canonical link in Google search.  See our full guidelines for more information, and this guide for detail about canonical URLs.

To republish, copy the HTML by clicking on the yellow button to the right; it includes our tracking pixel, all paragraph styles and hyperlinks, the author byline and credit to the Forward. It does not include images; to avoid copyright violations, you must add them manually, following our guidelines. Please email us at [email protected], subject line “republish,” with any questions or to let us know what stories you’re picking up.

We don't support Internet Explorer

Please use Chrome, Safari, Firefox, or Edge to view this site.