President confers with Sen. Harlan (Iowa) who asks that Col. Edward Hatch be nominated for brigadier general. Abraham Lincoln to Edwin M. Stanton, 1 April 1864, CW, 7:279.

Cabinet meets. Welles, Diary.

[Irwin withdraws from Springfield Marine Bank $9 for semiannual payment of interest on scholarship at Illinois State University. Pratt, Personal Finances, 177.]

Lincoln thanks Rev. Frederick A. Farley, secretary of Brooklyn and Long Island Fair, who transmitted from "a few of your fellow-citizens" gift of silk bedspread formed of "National Colors." Abraham Lincoln to Frederick A. Farley, 1 April 1864, CW, 7:278.

President discusses with A. W. Thompson fiscal and political plan devised by latter. Thompson to Cameron, 3 April 1864, Simon Cameron Papers, Library of Congress, Washington, DC; Thompson to Lincoln, 3 April 1864, Abraham Lincoln Papers, Library of Congress, Washington, DC.

Prepares draft of order to prohibit exportation of salted provisions except those packed and shipped from state or territory bordering on Pacific Ocean. Order Prohibiting Export of Salted Provisions, 2 April 1864, CW, 7:279.

Gen. Butler invites President and Mrs. Lincoln to visit Fortress Monroe, Va. Butler, Correspondence, 4:9.

President, Mrs. Lincoln, and Mrs. Grant attend performance of Charles Gounod's Opera of Faust at Grover's Theatre. Evening Star (Washington, DC), 2 April 1864, 2d ed., 1:4; 4 April 1864, 2d ed., 2:4.

Lincoln confers with Joseph H. Barrett, commissioner of pensions, concerning attempted movement to postpone Baltimore Convention, called to meet in June. Abraham Lincoln to Joseph H. Barrett, 3 April 1864, CW, 7:279-80.

At night O. H. Browning calls on President on behalf of Ludwell Y. Browning, prisoner at Camp Douglas, Ill., and sees draft of Lincoln's letter addressed to A. G. Hodges. Browning, Diary.

President sends congratulations to Isabel II, Queen of Spain, on birth of daughter. Abraham Lincoln to Isabel II, 4 April 1864, CW, 7:283.

Lays before Senate treaty with Nez Percé Indians in Washington Territory. Abraham Lincoln to the Senate, 4 April 1864, CW, 7:284.

Discusses French-Mexican situation with Sec. Seward. Administration supports neither country. House of Representatives passes resolution disapproving French occupation of Mexico. Monaghan, Diplomat, 358.

Lincoln interviews Gen. Philip H. Sheridan, who is introduced by Gen. Halleck. Philip H. Sheridan, Personal Memoirs of P. H. Sheridan, 2 vols. (New York: C. L. Webster, 1888), 1:347.

With Mrs. Lincoln visits Grover's Theatre for performance of Carl Von Weber's Der Freischütz. Hay, Letters and Diary; Evening Star (Washington, DC), 4 April 1864, 2d ed., 1:4, 2:4.

Lincoln puts in writing substance of interview with A. G. Hodges, Gov. Bramlette (Ky.), and former Sen. Dixon (Ky.): "I am naturally anti-slavery. If slavery is not wrong, nothing is wrong. I can not remember when I did not so think, and feel. . . . I have done no official act in mere deference to my abstract judgment and feeling on slavery. . . . I felt that measures, otherwise unconstitutional, might become lawful, by becoming indispensible to the preservation of the constitution, through the preservation of the nation. Right or wrong, I assumed this ground, and now avow it. . . . I made earnest, and successive appeals to the border states to favor compensated emancipation, . . . They declined the proposition; and I was, in my best judgment, driven to the alternative of either surrendering the Union, and with it, the Constitution, or of laying strong hand upon the colored element. I chose the latter. . . . It shows a gain of quite a hundred and thirty thousand soldiers, seamen, and laborers. . . . I add a word which was not in the verbal conversation. In telling this tale I attempt no compliment to my own sagacity. I claim not to have controlled events, but confess plainly that events have controlled me." Abraham Lincoln to Albert G. Hodges, 4 April 1864, CW, 7:281-83.

Offers suggestions to Gen. Rosecrans regarding: 1. Order No. 61 concerning oaths of allegiance;2. Reported assassinations of returned Confederates; 3. Enlistment of Negroes not conducted in orderly manner. Abraham Lincoln to William S. Rosecrans, 4 April 1864, CW, 7:283-84.

President postpones regular Tuesday evening reception one week because of inclement weather. Evening Star (Washington, DC), 5 April 1864, 2d ed., 2:1.

Dennis F. Hanks, relative and lifelong friend of Lincoln, thanks him for $50 check. Hanks to Lincoln, 5 April 1864, Abraham Lincoln Papers, Library of Congress, Washington, DC.

Lincoln, accompanied by Mrs. Lincoln, visits Grover's Theatre to hear Friedrich von Flotow's romantic comic opera Martha; or, The Fair of Richmond sung by the Arion Society with the Grand Orchestra from the Academy of Music, New York. Evening Star, 6 April 1864, 2d ed., 2:1.

Receives March salary warrant for $2,022.33. Pratt, Personal Finances, 183.

President Lincoln writes to Mrs. Horace (Mary) Mann, of Concord, Massachusetts. He acknowledges receipt of a petition signed by 195 "persons under eighteen, praying that I would free all slave children." Lincoln writes, "Please tell these little people I am very glad their young hearts are so full of just and generous sympathy, and that, while I have not the power to grant all they ask, I trust they will remember that God has, and that, as it seems, He wills to do it." Concord Massachusetts Children to Abraham Lincoln, April 1864, Abraham Lincoln Papers, Library of Congress, Washington, DC; Abraham Lincoln to Mrs. Horace Mann, 5 April 1864, CW, 7:287; Mary Mann to Abraham Lincoln, 20 April 1864, Abraham Lincoln Papers, Library of Congress, Washington, DC.

Mrs. Masson calls on Lincoln and asks that James H. McEwen, prisoner of war at Rock Island, Ill., be pardoned. Abraham Lincoln to John Catron, 6 April 1864, CW, 7:288.

President decides that Gen. Butler need not come to Washington relative to plan for exchange of prisoners. Butler, Correspondence, 4:29.

Attends meeting in House of Representatives at night, to hear speech of George Thompson, English antislavery orator. Washington Star, 7 April 1864.

Lincoln interviews G. Thompson and friends on subject of emancipation, then conducts them to state dining room to see painting by F. B. Carpenter. Carpenter, Six Months, 76.

President and Mrs. Lincoln plan to visit Fortress Monroe, Va., "some time next week." Abraham Lincoln to Benjamin F. Butler, 7 April 1864, CW, 7:289.

President transmits to House of Representatives report of secretary of war regarding transfer of Maj. Nathaniel H. McLean. Abraham Lincoln to the House of Representatives, 7 April 1864, CW, 7:290.

Cabinet meets. Gideon Welles, Diary.

Signs act to authorize the Columbia Institution for the Deaf and Dumb and Blind, later Gallaudet University, to confer degrees. RG 11: United States Government Documents Having General Legal Effect, Entry 6: Laws of the United States, Enrolled Acts and Resolutions of Congress, 1789-1962, Vault, National Archives Building, Washington, DC.

"The President, with Mrs. Lincoln and Sec. Seward and family, will visit Ford's Theatre this evening to witness Edwin Forrest's grand impersonation of King Lear" in Shakespeare's King Lear. Evening Star (Washington, DC), 8 April 1864, 2d ed., 2:4.

President invites conference: "Will Senator Sumner please call and see me this morning?" Abraham Lincoln to Charles Sumner, 9 April 1864, CW, 7:293.

Interviews Charles W. Butts, of Pennsylvania, former cavalry officer, regarding return to Portsmouth, Va. Abraham Lincoln to Benjamin F. Butler, 9 April 1864, CW, 7:292.

Spends time with guests at last afternoon reception of season. Evening Star, 9 April 1864, 2d ed., 2:4.

Lincoln postpones trip to Fortress Monroe, Va., because Mrs. Lincoln is unwell. Abraham Lincoln to Benjamin F. Butler, 11 April 1864, CW, 7:293-94.

Interviews L. H. Putnam, "a very intelligent colored man," and sends him to Sec. Stanton to discuss Negro forces. Abraham Lincoln to Edwin M. Stanton, 11 April 1864, CW, 7:295.

Endorses military pass issued to John Ehler, aged 10: "They say that by the destruction of a bridge this boy has been unable to pass on this. Might it not be renewed for the little fellow?" Endorsement Concerning John Ehler, 11 April 1864, CW, 7:294.

President sends congratulations to Alexander II, Emperor of Russia, on birth of nephew. Abraham Lincoln to Alexander II, 12 April 1864, CW, 7:296-97.

Joint committee of City Councils of Washington visits President and calls attention to excess of quota set for the District of Columbia. Evening Star (Washington, DC), 13 April 1864, 2d ed., 2:5.

Cabinet meets. Principal subjects of discussion are exportation of French tobacco and national debt. Welles, Diary.

President reviews 67 courtmartial cases. Abraham Lincoln to Joseph Holt, 14 April 1864, CW, 7:298; Abraham Lincoln to Joseph Holt, 14 April 1864, CW, 7:298-99.

Interviews Henry C. Lea, Philadelphia pamphleteer associated with Union League. Lea to Lincoln, 18 April 1864, Abraham Lincoln Papers, Library of Congress, Washington, DC.

Confers with judge advocate general on court martial cases. CW, 8:538.

Lincoln sends to Senate supplemental treaty with Chippewa Indians. Abraham Lincoln to the Senate, 15 April 1864, CW, 7:299.

Cabinet meets. Secs. Chase and Stanton and Postmaster Gen. Blair absent. Topics of general interest only. Welles, Diary.

President authorizes transfer of Fort Smith, Ark., and Indian Territory to Department of Arkansas. Abraham Lincoln to Henry W. Halleck, 16 April 1864, CW, 7:300.

News of disaster of Red River expedition reaches White House. Monaghan, Diplomat, 359.

"The President is quite indisposed today, we regret to say, and is not receiving visitors." Evening Star (Washington, DC), 16 April 1864, 2d ed., 2:1.

Orders Provost Marshal General James B. Fry to put on record "that the Philadelphia quotas be adjusted for the calls of 1863 and 1864 already made." Abraham Lincoln to James B. Fry, 16 April 1864, CW, 7:299-300.

On recommendation of DeWitt C. Leach, agent of Mackinac Indian Agency, Detroit, Mich., that certain public lands be withdrawn from sale and added to Little Traverse Indian Reservation, Lincoln directs Sec. Usher: "Let the lands be withheld from sale as recommended." Abraham Lincoln to John P. Usher, 16 April 1864, CW, 7:300.

Lincoln receives invitation from William J. Albert, president, Maryland Sanitary Commission Fair, to be his guest while in Baltimore for fair on 18th. Albert to Lincoln, 17 March 1864, Abraham Lincoln Papers, Library of Congress, Washington, DC.

Lincoln commutes courtmartial sentences of 20 prisoners sentenced to be shot to imprisonment at the Dry Tortugas. Evening Star (Washington, DC), 18 April 1864, 2d ed., 2:4.

Interviews Chippewa Indian chiefs in East Room of White House and conducts them on tour. Washington Chronicle, 19 April 1864.

Participates in program opening Maryland Sanitary Commission Fair. Gov. Bradford (Md.) delivers eloquent address before crowd of 6,000 to 8,000, followed by 15-minute speech by Lincoln. President refers to change in Union sentiment since 1861 in Baltimore. It "is part only of a far wider change. When the war began, three years ago, neither party, nor any man, expected it would last till now. . . . So true is it that man proposes, and God disposes." Comments on meaning of liberty and massacre reported at Fort Pillow, Tenn. Washington Chronicle, 19 April 1864; Address at Sanitary Fair, Baltimore, Maryland, 18 April 1864, CW, 7:301-3.

Mrs. Lincoln does not attend Baltimore fair. Ladies of Knitting Circle to Mrs. Lincoln, 19 April 1864, Abraham Lincoln Papers, Library of Congress, Washington, DC.

President returns to Washington in morning from Baltimore. Evening Star (Washington, DC), 19 April 1864, 2d ed., 2:4.

Recognizes Giovanni B. Cerruti as consul of Italy at San Francisco and Ferdinando de Luca as consul of Italy at New Orleans. Evening Star (Washington, DC), 21 April 1864, 2d ed., 1:6; Daily National Republican (Washington, DC), 21 April 1864, 2d ed., 3:2.

Does not attend cabinet meeting. Welles, Diary.

Rests preparatory to night reception at White House. Don C. Seitz, Lincoln the Politician: How the Rail-Splitter and Flatboatman Played the Great American Game (New York: Coward-McCann, 1931), 408.

Large crowd overruns White House at last reception of season. President gives "warm salutation and a pleasant word" to "official and social intimates." Washington Chronicle, 20 April 1864.

President empowers Gen. Meade to commute death sentences by courtmartial to imprisonment on Dry Tortugas, Fla., for duration of war. War Dept. Special Order, 20 April 1864, Abraham Lincoln Papers, Library of Congress, Washington, DC; Order Commuting Sentence of Deserters, 26 February 1864, CW, 7:208; Abraham Lincoln to George G. Meade, 21 April 1864, CW, 7:307.

Congressman Joseph Bailey (Pa.) confers with President on undisclosed matter. Bailey to Lincoln, 20 April 1864, Abraham Lincoln Papers, Library of Congress, Washington, DC.

Thomas H. Ford, Lieutenant Governor of Ohio under Governor Salmon P. Chase, and Captain Jasper K. Herbert converse with Lincoln for hour. Butler, Correspondence, 4:104.

President poses in White House office for photographs requested by Francis B. Carpenter. Frederick H. Meserve and Carl Sandburg, The Photographs of Abraham Lincoln (New York: Harcourt Brace, 1944), 20 April 1864.

Confers in afternoon with Gen. Grant, who returns to Army of Potomac tomorrow. Evening Star (Washington, DC), 21 April 1864, 2d ed., 2:4; Ulysses S. Grant, Personal Memoirs, 2 vols. (London: Low, Marston, Searle & Rivington, 1886), 2:141.

President reviews 72 courtmartial cases. Abraham Lincoln to George G. Meade, 21 April 1864, CW, 7:307.

Confers with governors of Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, and Iowa about enlistments and calls another meeting for 7 P.M., with Gen. Halleck and Sec. Stanton present. Abraham Lincoln to Edwin M. Stanton, 21 April 1864, CW, 7:308.

Cabinet meets. Secs. Seward, Chase, and Stanton absent. Welles, Diary.

President approves bill placing inscription, "In God We Trust," on coins. First used on 2-cent piece. Stat. L., XII, 54.

President sends John Hay to Fortress Monroe, Va., with Asst. Sec. Fox for conference with Gen. Butler. Abraham Lincoln to Gustavus V. Fox, [23 April 1864], CW, 7:310.

Orders withdrawal of Gen. Blair's resignation and his assignment to new command. Abraham Lincoln to Edwin M. Stanton, 23 April 1864, CW, 7:312.

Accepts proposition of governors of Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, Iowa, and Wisconsin to raise 85,000 men to serve 100 days in approaching campaign. Abraham Lincoln to Edwin M. Stanton, 23 April 1864, CW, 7:312-13.

Interviews Mrs. Ward, sister of late John M. Weimer, and refers to Gen. Rosecrans her request for permission to return to St. Louis. Abraham Lincoln to William S. Rosecrans, 23 April 1864, CW, 7:310-11.

Transmits to Senate report of secretary of war regarding appointment of brigadier generals. Abraham Lincoln to the Senate, 23 April 1864, CW, 7:311.

Sends to Congress copy of note from Lord Lyons to secretary of state on subject of two British naval officers who recently received medical treatment at naval hospital at Norfolk. Abraham Lincoln to the Senate and House of Representatives, 23 April 1864, CW, 7:311.

Lincoln "loafs" in John Hay's room. Laughs at attack on President Davis in Richmond "Examiner." In evening confers with Gen. Burnside about opening campaign. Hay, Letters and Diary.

President Lincoln writes to mental health authority Dr. John P. Gray, of Utica, New York, regarding Private Lorenzo C. Stewart, whom a "military court, tried for murder, and sentenced to death, his execution awaiting the order of the President." Lincoln seeks to determine "Stewart's sanity, both at the time of the homocide, and at the time of your examination." Lincoln directs Gray to go to Elmira, New York, where Stewart is imprisoned in order to gather information and then to "report . . . to me . . . your own conclusions." Isaac F. Quinby, et al. to Abraham Lincoln, 21 April 1864, Abraham Lincoln Papers, Library of Congress, Washington, DC; Abraham Lincoln to John P. Gray, 25 April 1864, CW, 7:313-14.

From eastern portico of Willard's reviews Gen. Burnside's 30,000 troops en route from Annapolis, Md., to reinforce Army of Potomac. In evening Gov. Curtin (Pa.) visits White House. Lincoln discusses F. B. Carpenter's painting with him. Carpenter, Six Months, 81; Daily National Republican (Washington, DC), 25 April 1864, 2d ed., 2:4.

Sends regrets to John R. Woods, secretary of Illinois Sanitary Commission, that "I cannot be present at the inauguration of your Soldiers Home this week" in Springfield, Ill. Abraham Lincoln to John R. Woods, 25 April 1864, CW, 7:316.

Cabinet meets. Secs. Chase and Stanton and Postmaster Gen. Blair absent. Welles, Diary.

Photographers from M. B. Brady's studio work in White House to make stereoscopic studies of Lincoln in his office. Carpenter, Six Months, 91.

President reviews 51 courtmartial cases. CW, 8:540.

President interviews Gen. Solomon Meredith relative to dismissal of Lt. Samuel H. Meredith, his son. DNA—WR RG 107, Off. Sec. War, Orders and Endorsements, BB 14/2656.

Delivers commission as major general to Gen. Blair at White House. Clarence E. Macartney, Lincoln and His Cabinet (New York: Scribner, 1931), 288.

Confers with former Cong. Riddle (Ohio), ready to assume duties as consul at Mantazas, Cuba. Albert G. Riddle, Recollections of War Times: Reminiscences of Men and Events in Washington, 1860-1865 (New York: Putnam, 1895), 266-67.

Writes endorsement for Herman [J.] Huidekoper, of Pennsylvania: "I know nothing of the young man within named, except by hearsay, which is all in his favor. His brother Lt-Col. [Henry S.] Huidekoper, who lost an arm at Gettysburg, I do know, and for his sake I would be very glad for the advancement of the young man." Endorsement Concerning Herman Huidekoper, 27 April 1864, CW, 7:317.

Congratulates Gov. Murphy (Ark.) on successful organization of state government. Abraham Lincoln to Isaac Murphy, 27 April 1864, CW, 7:318.

Reviews 36 courtmartial cases. CW, 8:540.

President relates to John Hay story of Gen. Meigs coming to Soldiers' Home in July 1862, waking him, and urging retreat of Army from Harrison's Landing, Va. Hay, Letters and Diary.

Interviews Pvt. Charles G. Russell, deserter, who voluntarily surrenders to avoid arrest and punishment. Abraham Lincoln to Whom It May Concern, 28 April 1864, CW, 7:321-22.

Lincoln telegraphs his wife Mary, who is at the Metropolitan Hotel in New York City with their son Tad. Earlier in the day, Mary telegraphed Lincoln to advise him that they arrived "in safety." Mary asked Lincoln to "send me by mail to-day a check for $50." She also relayed Tad's inquiry about "the goats." Lincoln replies, "The draft will go to you. Tell Tad the goats and father are very well—especially the goats." Abraham Lincoln to Mary Lincoln, 28 April 1864, CW, 7:320; Katherine Helm, The True Story of Mary, Wife of Lincoln (New York: Harper & Brothers, 1928), 239.

Lincoln sends statement to House of Representatives regarding military status of Gen. Blair. Abraham Lincoln to the House of Representatives, 28 April 1864, CW, 7:319-20.

Transmits to Congress "Address to the President of the United States . . . on the condition and wants of the people of East Tennessee." Abraham Lincoln to the Senate and House of Representatives, 28 April 1864, CW, 7:321.

President forwards to Senate information on affairs in Nevada Territory. Abraham Lincoln to the Senate, 29 April 1864, CW, 7:322-23.

Tells Sec. Welles circumstances of his giving pass to Martha Todd White, half-sister of Mrs. Lincoln. Welles, Diary.

Spends part of evening at War Dept. Browning, Diary.

President discusses with O. H. Browning and former Sen. Thomas Ewing (Ohio) case of Commodore Charles Wilkes guilty of unauthorized publication of letters of Sec. Welles, and case of Capt. Samuel Black. Browning, Diary.

President Lincoln "pardon[s]" and frees twenty-five "Indian prisoners now in confinement at Camp McClellan near Davenport Iowa." The men represent a portion of the Indians who have been confined since November 1862, as a result of the August 1862 Dakota uprising. Missionary Thomas S. Williamson and Special Commissioner to the Indians George E. H. Day wrote to Lincoln and urged him to release the prisoners. Day wrote, "[I]n the name of humanity [I] beg that you will . . . order them released and sent to take care of their starving families now perishing for want of food." Thomas S. Williamson to Abraham Lincoln, 27 April 1864; William P. Dole to Abraham Lincoln, 28 April 1864, both in Abraham Lincoln Papers, Library of Congress, Washington, DC; Order for Pardon of Sioux Indians, 30 April 1864, CW, 7:325-26.

F. B. Carpenter introduces Lincoln to Elizabeth Cady Stanton, leader in women's rights movement, and her brother-in-law, Samuel Wilkeson, head of New York "Tribune" bureau in Washington. Carpenter, Six Months, 101.

After midnight Lincoln visits offices of John Nicolay and John Hay to show caricature by Thomas Hood and enjoy laugh. Hay, Letters and Diary.

Acknowledges invitation to attend Grand Musical Festival in Philadelphia on Wednesday, May 4, 1864. "I shall be most happy to be present at an entertainment which promises so much, especially as it is in aid of so beneficent a charity as that in which you are interested, if my engagements next week will allow it." Abraham Lincoln to James R. Fry, 30 April 1864, CW, 7:323-24.

Writes Gen. Grant and expresses "entire satisfaction with what you have done up to this time, . . . If there is anything wanting which is within my power to give, do not fail to let me know. And now with a brave Army, and a just cause, may God sustain you." Abraham Lincoln to Ulysses S. Grant, 30 April 1864, CW, 7:324-25.