President interviews wife of 1st Lt. Robert F. Hunter on behalf of husband courtmartialed and cashiered for drunkenness on duty. Abraham Lincoln to John F. Lee, 21 December 1861, CW, 5:78.

In the afternoon, near the Navy Yard, Lincoln and others observe as the New York Fifteenth Regiment's Engineer Corps "tests" the stability of a newly-constructed "pontoon bridge." A newspaper reports, "The President was invited to ride over, and immediately ordered his carriage to be driven across, remarking that if he should get overboard he could wade ashore." NewYork Herald, 22 December 1861, 5:1-2.

Sen. Browning (Ill.) in long conference with President discusses: 1. "Trent" affair; 2. treaty with Mexico; 3. Rothschild offer of loan. Later they visit Gen. and Mrs. McClellan. Browning, Diary; Monaghan, Diplomat, 190.