President, with Secs. Seward and Chase, drives to Navy Yard for trial test of Hyde rocket. Capt. Dahlgren joins group. Defective rocket explodes; President miraculously escapes injury. Extracts from Dahlgren Diary, John G. Nicolay Papers, Library of Congress, Washington, DC; Bruce, Tools of War, 219.

Prescribes that Sunday labor in army and navy be reduced to measure of strict necessity. Order for Sabbath Observance, 15 November 1862, CW, 5:497-98.

John Hay writes: "Hell is to pay about Watt's affairs [John Watt, White House gardener and temporary steward, suspected of juggling government funds]. I think the Tycoon [President] begins to suspect him. . . . He [Watt] has got William and Carroll turned off, and has his eye peeled for a pop at me, because I won't let Madame [Mrs. Lincoln] have our stationery fund. They have gone to New York together." Dennett, Hay Diaries and Letters, 52.

[Mrs. Lincoln returns to New York from Boston and plans to stay at Metropolitan Hotel few days before going to Washington. Boston Transcript, 15 November 1862.]