Senate committee announces to President that Senate is ready to receive communications. Senate Journal, 409.

Lincoln sends nominations for cabinet positions to extra session of Senate by private secretary, John G. Nicolay. Allan Nevins, The Emergence of Lincoln, 2 vols. (New York: Scribner, 1950), 2:455; Harlan H. Horner, Lincoln and Greeley (Urbana: University of Illinois Press, 1953), 212.

Receives letter from Secretary of State William H. Seward who decides to remain in cabinet. Barton, Life of Lincoln, 2:8.

Several state delegations, including Pennsylvania, Massachusetts, Illinois, and Michigan, call upon Lincoln. President replies to Massachusetts group: "As President, in the administration of the Government, I hope to be man enough not to know one citizen of the United States from another, nor one section from another." Evening Star (Washington, DC), 6 March 1861, 3:1-2, 4; Baltimore Sun, 6 March 1861; Reply to Massachusetts Delegation, 5 March 1861, CW, 4:274-75; CW, 8:467.

President Lincoln receives a letter from former Secretary of War Joseph Holt, who briefs Lincoln on the situation at Ft. Sumter, located near Charleston, South Carolina. Major Robert Anderson commands the fort and reported to Holt about the growing presence of Confederate forces. Holt informs Lincoln that "an expedition has been quietly prepared, and is ready to sail from New York on a few hours notice, for transporting troops and supplies." Lincoln forwards Holt's letter to Commanding General of the U.S. Army Winfield Scott, who quickly responds, "Evacuation seems almost inevitable." Joseph Holt and Winfield Scott to Abraham Lincoln, 5 March 1861, Abraham Lincoln Papers, Library of Congress, Washington, DC; Abraham Lincoln to Winfield Scott, 9 March 1861, CW, 4:279.

[See March 4, 1861.] President's son, Robert, returns to Harvard College. Horace Greeley and Sen. James W. Grimes (Iowa) have interview with Lincoln on questions of internal policy. President confers at late hour with Seward. N.Y. Times, 6 March 1861.

Asks Sec. Simon Cameron to appoint "my friend, E. Elmer Ellsworth" to post in War Dept. Abraham Lincoln to Simon Cameron, 5 March 1861, CW, 4:273.