Cabinet meets at 10 A.M. Memorandum of Gen. McClellan on military matters under consideration. Memorandum, 3 August 1861, George B. McClellan Papers, Library of Congress, Washington, DC.

Prince Napoleon [Napoleon Joseph Charles Paul Bonaparte] of France, traveling in U.S. as private citizen, visits President at noon. Evening Star (Washington, DC), 3 August 1861, 2:1.

["The Prince, arriving (at White House) with Baron Mercier, found no one—neither butler nor doorman—at the main entrance to show him in . . . I do not remember which employee, who happened to be passing by, took care of this duty." The meeting was "not so gay"; the Prince, huffed at his reception, "took a cruel pleasure in remaining silent." Camille Ferri-Pisani, Prince Napoleon in America, 1861: Letters from His Aide-de-Camp, translated by Georges J. Joyaux (Bloomington: Indiana University Press, 1959), 94, 100.]

President approves act providing for construction of armed ships and floating batteries, and for other purposes. Stat. L., XII, 286.

In early afternoon, with Sec. Seward and Mrs. F. W. Seward, drives to General Hospital in Georgetown. National Intelligencer, 5 August 1861.

Drafts letter from Sec. Cameron to Gov. Hamilton R. Gamble (Mo.) assuring governor that if he promises security to citizens in arms who become peaceable and loyal, the government will cause promise to be respected. Simon Cameron to Hamilton R. Gamble, 3 August 1861, CW, 4:470-71.

At 7 p.m., President Lincoln and his wife, Mary, host a state dinner for Prince Napoleon, who is the nephew of the former French emperor. A newspaper reports, "Prince Napoleon was seated at the right of Mrs. Lincoln and opposite General [Winfield] Scott, who was at the President's left. Gen. [George B.] McClellan was at the right of [the] Prince . . . The affair was unusually sociable and enjoyable . . . a fact much due to the tact of Mrs. Lincoln in so grouping the guests as to bring parties together likely to enjoy each other's society and conversation." Evening Star (Washington, DC), 5 August 1861, 2:1; National Republican (Washington, DC), 5 August 1861, 3:2; George B. McClellan, McClellan's Own Story: The War for the Union (New York: Charles L. Webster & Company, 1887), 84; Camille Ferri Pisani, Prince Napoleon in America, 1861: Letters from His Aide-de-Camp, Georges J. Joyaux, trans. (Bloomington: Indiana University Press, 1959), 103-114.