At 3 P.M. Lincoln, accompanied by many officials, attends dress drill of 7th New York Regiment in front of Capitol. Evening Star (Washington, DC), 27 April 1861, 3:1; William Swinton, History of Seventh Regiment, National Guard, State of New York, During the War of Rebellion (New York: Fields, Osgood, 1870), 128.

Reviews 8th Massachusetts. Bates, Telegraph Office, 21.

In the White House, President Lincoln addresses the "Frontier Guard, under the command of Senator [James H.] Lane of Kansas." The Frontier Guard's soldiers assist in defending the "neighborhood of the Executive Mansion." Lincoln remarks, "I have desired as sincerely as any man . . . that our present difficulties might be settled without the shedding of blood. . . . But if the alternative is presented, whether the Union is to be broken in fragments and the liberties of the people lost, or blood be shed, you will probably make the choice, with which I shall not be dissatisfied." Reply to the Frontier Guard, 26 April 1861, CW, 4:345; National Republican (Washington, DC), 27 April 1861, 3:2; Sun (Baltimore, MD), 29 April 1861, 2:3; New York Daily Tribune, 1 May 1861, 5:3.

[Commissioner of Public Buildings requests from Secretary of War 6 additional Colt's pistols, Navy size, for police at Executive Mansion. Six now on hand are deemed insufficient under existing circumstances. DNA—RG 42 Commissioner of Public Buildings, Letters Sent, Blake to Cameron, 26 April 1861.]