In the afternoon, President Lincoln is in the East Room of the White House, where he meets with "20 or 30 one-legged soldiers." Chaplain J. C. Richmond accompanies the St. Elizabeth's Hospital veterans, and he notes, "These maimed heroes, sir, are eloquent without uttering a word. The limbs that are absent speak more loudly than the arms and legs that are here." A newspaper reports, "The President shook hands with all of them, calling them 'my boys,' and congratulating them on their brave and noble deeds." Remarks to "The One-Legged Brigade", 22 May 1863, CW, 6:226-27; Daily National Intelligencer (Washington, D.C.), 25 May 1863, 1:6; Chicago Daily Tribune (IL), 23 May 1863, 1:2.

President Lincoln writes to commanding officer for the District of Memphis Major General Stephen A. Hurlbut, and reports on what he is reading in the "Richmond [Virginia] newspapers" about the battles taking place near Vicksburg, Mississippi. Confederate Generals John C. Pemberton, William W. Loring, and Joseph E. Johnston, whom Lincoln mistakenly refers to as "Johnson," are trying to defend Vicksburg against Union General Ulysses S. Grant's attacks. Lincoln writes, "Grant beat Pemberton & Loring near Edwards' Station, at the end of a nine hours fight, driving Pemberton over the Big Black [Bridge] & cutting Loring off, & driving him South to Chrystal-Springs...Joe Johnson telegraphed all this, except about Loring, from his camp between Brownsville & Lexington, on the 18th." Abraham Lincoln to Stephen A. Hurlbut, 22 May 1863, CW, 6:226.