President receives invitation by hand of former Cong. Ashmun (Mass.) to attend Soldiers' Fair at Springfield, Mass., and declines. Abraham Lincoln to Ladies Managing the Solders' Fair at Springfield, Massachusetts, 19 December 1864, CW, 8:171.

Issues call for 300,000 volunteers. Proclamation Calling for 300,000 Volunteers, 19 December 1864, CW, 8:171-72.

Recognizes Henri Enderis as consul of Swiss Confederation at Chicago for states of Michigan, Wisconsin, Iowa, and Minnesota. Washington Chronicle, 22 December 1864.

Attends promenade concert at Ford's Theatre. Washington Chronicle, 20 December 1864.

Interviews O. H. Browning at White House in evening. Browning, Diary.

Lincoln writes to Joseph H. Choate, who is the chairman of the New England Society. Choate, of New York City, invited Lincoln to attend the Society's "Annual Festival in commemoration of the Landing of the Pilgrims, to be held at the Astor House" on December 22. Lincoln's "duties" prevent him from accepting the invitation. He offers, "The work of the Plymouth emigrants was the glory of their age. While we reverence their memory, let us not forget how vastly greater is our opportunity." John Hodges Choate to Abraham Lincoln, 28 November 1864, Abraham Lincoln Papers, Library of Congress, Washington, DC; Abraham Lincoln to Joseph H. Choate, 19 December 1864, CW, 8:170; New York Herald, 23 December 1864, 5:1.