President Lincoln issues proclamation calling forth "the militia of the several States of the Union to the aggregate number of seventy-five thousand." National Intelligencer, 15 April 1861; Proclamation Calling Militia and Convening Congress, 15 April 1861, CW, 4:331-33.

Cabinet meets at 10 A.M. and remains in session virtually all day. N.Y. Times, 16 April 1861.

Gen. Scott, Gov. Curtin (Pa.), and Alexander K. McClure, prominent Pennsylvania Republican, attend conference at White House relative to defense of Washington. President remarks that if he were Gen. Pierre G. T. Beauregard (CSA), he would take Washington. Margaret Leech, Reveille in Washington 1860-1865 (New York: Harper, 1941), 56.

Interviews John W. Lawrence, Union mayor of Portsmouth, Va., who urges him to defend naval depot and estimates that over half of citizens of city are loyal. Lawrence to Lincoln, 13 December 1862, Abraham Lincoln Papers, Library of Congress, Washington, DC.

Receives Sen. James Dixon (Conn.), who assures him Connecticut people approve President's course. Dixon to Welles, 16 April 1861, Gideon Welles Papers, Library of Congress, Washington, DC.

Writes Col. Elmer E. Ellsworth: "I have been, and still am anxious for you to have the best position in the military which can be given you." Abraham Lincoln to Elmer E. Ellsworth, 15 April 1861, CW, 4:333.