Lincoln acknowledges receipt of two lithographed facsimiles of Emancipation Proclamation sent by Thomas B. Bryan. Abraham Lincoln to Thomas B. Bryan, 18 January 1864, CW, 7:135.

Lincoln writes a note to "Whom it may concern" regarding Private John P. M. Thornton, with the 61st New York Volunteers, Company E. Lincoln explains, "Thornton . . . comes to me voluntarily under apprehension that he may be arrested, convicted, and punished as a deserter . . . I hereby direct him to report forthwith to his regiment for duty, and upon condition that he does this, and faithfully serves out his term, or until he shall be honorably discharged for any cause, he is fully pardoned for any supposed desertion heretofor committed." Abraham Lincoln to Whom It May Concern, 18 January 1864, CW, 7:137.

Confers with Walter Smith, Maryland slaveholder introduced by Sen. Johnson (Md.). Johnson to Lincoln, 18 January 1864, Abraham Lincoln Papers, Library of Congress, Washington, DC.

Drafts letter for Sec. Stanton to send to Gen. Butler at Fortress Monroe, Va., directing him to suspend certain fiscal measures affecting Norfolk and Portsmouth, Va. Abraham Lincoln to Benjamin F. Butler, [18 January 1864], CW, 7:135-36.

President Lincoln writes to William B. Sprague, of Albany, New York, in response to Sprague's request for Lincoln's autograph to be included in an "elegantly bound volume [of] autograph letters of all the Presidents of the United States." Sprague will donate the album to an upcoming fundraiser. Sprague explained, "When I asked a friend of mine how I could get a letter from you to crown the series, his instant reply was 'Write to the President himself.'" Sprague added, "I should prefer that the letter should not appear as addressed to myself; for in that case I can not say what temptation I might be under to keep it." Lincoln writes, "I send you this, for the use of the ladies mentioned, who are laboring for the relief of our sick and wounded soldiers." William B. Sprague to Abraham Lincoln, 13 January 1864, Abraham Lincoln Papers, Library of Congress, Washington, DC; Abraham Lincoln to William B. Sprague, 18 January 1864, CW, 10:219.