President reads Emancipation Proclamation to cabinet for criticism. Creation of new state of West Virginia under advisement. Welles, Diary.

Gens. John Newton and Cochrane of Gen. Burnside's staff interview Lincoln on Burnside's plans and ask his removal. Thomas Harry Williams, Lincoln and the Radicals (Madison: University of Wisconsin Press, 1941), 265.

Sen. Browning (Ill.) and Judge Hughes call on Lincoln in evening on behalf of Maj. Key. Browning, Diary.

Lincoln writes Gen. Butler: "I am contemplating a peculiar and important service for you, which I think, and hope you will think, is as honorable as it is important. I wish to confer with you upon it. Please come immediately upon your arrival at New-York." Abraham Lincoln to Benjamin F. Butler, 29 December 1862, CW, 6:22.