Lincoln forwards nomination of Sen. William P. Fessenden (Maine) as secretary of treasury to Senate. Confirmed instantly. Hay, Letters and Diary.

Fessenden calls on Lincoln to suggest Comptroller of Currency Hugh McCulloch to replace Secretary of the Treasury Salmon P. Chase. Lincoln informs Fessenden that he has already sent Fessenden's name to the Senate for confirmation. Francis Fessenden, Life and Public Services of William Pitt Fessenden, 2 vols. (Boston: Houghton, Mifflin, 1907), 1:315-18.

At 10 P.M. Fessenden calls in person to deliver letter declining cabinet post; "but the President was in bed asleep." Francis Fessenden, Life and Public Services of William Pitt Fessenden, 2 vols. (Boston: Houghton, Mifflin, 1907), 1:320.

President confers with Cong. Julian (Ind.) on power of Congress to confiscate landed estates of Confederates. George W. Julian, Political Recollections 1840-1872 (Chicago: Jansen, McClurg, 1884), 245.

Former Sen. Fessenden (Maine), newly nominated secretary of treasury, has long interview with President at White House. Chicago Tribune, 3 July 1864.

President interviews Gen. Meigs regarding Fort Leavenworth, Kans. Diary, Montgomery C. Meigs Papers, Library of Congress, Washington, DC.

President and family begin summer residence at Soldiers' Home. Washington Chronicle, 3 July 1864.

President approves act granting lands to aid in construction of railroad and telegraph line from Lake Superior to Puget's Sound on Pacific coast. Stat. L., XIII, 365.

Mrs. Lincoln and Robert arrive home. Washington Chronicle, 3 July 1864.

President Lincoln writes to U.S. Supreme Court justice and friend David Davis and to federal judge Samuel H. Treat, of Springfield, Illinois, seeking each man's "summary of the evidence, with your impression, on the Coles County [Illinois] riot cases." On March 28, in Charleston, members of the 54th Illinois Infantry clashed with area Democrats and a riot ensued. Nine people died, including six soldiers and three citizens. Twelve people were wounded. Abraham Lincoln to David Davis, 2 July 1864, CW, 7:421-22; Abraham Lincoln to Samuel H. Treat, 2 July 1864, CW, 7:422-23; Robert D. Sampson, "'Pretty Damned Warm Times': The 1864 Charleston Riot and 'The Inalienable Right of Revolution'," Illinois Historical Journal 89, no. 2 (Summer 1996): 99-116.

Transmits to Senate information regarding African slave trade. Abraham Lincoln to the Senate, 2 July 1864, CW, 7:422.

In morning former Sen. Fessenden (Maine) calls again to deliver letter declining cabinet post, but President persuades him to accept it. Francis Fessenden, Life and Public Services of William Pitt Fessenden, 2 vols. (Boston: Houghton, Mifflin, 1907), 1:320.

President suspends writ of habeas corpus and establishes martial law in Kentucky. Proclamation Suspending Writ of Habeas Corpus, 5 July 1864, CW, 7:425-27.

Cabinet meets. Sec. Fessenden attends for first time. President more formal than usual. Welles, Diary.

Receives June salary warrant for $2,022.33. Pratt, Personal Finances, 183.

At 8 A.M. Lincoln acknowledges Gen. Grant's telegram of last night as very satisfactory and reports: "Some firing between Rockville and here now." Abraham Lincoln to Ulysses S. Grant, 11 July 1864, CW, 7:438.

About 9 A.M., accompanied by Assistant Adjutant General James A. Hardie and mounted escort, rides out to front in direction of Tennallytown. Evening Star (Washington, DC), 11 July 1864, 3d ed., Extra, 2:6.

Accompanied by Mrs. Lincoln, visits Fort Stevens, DC. Carpenter, Six Months, 301.

Present at Fort Stevens during attack. Soldier roughly orders him off parapet. Hay, Letters and Diary.

Witnesses skirmish with Gen. Early's troops in front of Fort Stevens. Bates, Telegraph Office, 252.

At wharf to welcome reinforcements sent up Potomac by Gen. Grant. Harper, Press, 269-70.

Orders militia and volunteers of Washington into federal service for period of 60 days. Evening Star (Washington, DC), 12 July 1864, 3d ed., Extra, 2:1.

President telegraphs Gen. Grant: "Vague rumors have been reaching us for two or three days that Longstreet's corps is also on its way this vicinity. Look out for it's absence from your front." Abraham Lincoln to Ulysses S. Grant, 12 July 1864, CW, 7:438.

Cabinet meets. Discussion centers around Gen. Early's raid on Washington. Welles, Diary.

Each day of skirmishing President rides to suburbs and watches "the soldiers repulse the invaders." Francis F. Browne, The Everyday Life of Abraham Lincoln (New York: Thompson, 1886), 661-62.

President, Mrs. Lincoln, and several members of Congress visit Fort Stevens, DC, at 4 P.M. and watch operations from parapet. Washington Chronicle, 13 July 1864.

Assistant Secretary of State Frederick W. Seward and father, Secretary of State William H. Seward, drive out to Fort Stevens with President. Frederick W. Seward, Reminiscences of a War-Time Statesman and Diplomat, 1830-1915. By Frederick W. Seward, Assistant Secretary of State during the Administrations of Lincoln, Johnson, and Hayes (New York: Putnam, 1916), 248.

President tours fortifications again. Under fire again at Fort Stevens. Man shot at his side. Hay, Letters and Diary.

General Wright tells Lincoln to get out of danger. Lincoln does not move. Young officer, Oliver Wendell Homes Jr., shouts: "Get down, you fool." President moves back. Monaghan, Diplomat, 378.

At night President and Mrs. Lincoln drive along line of city defenses and are greeted by soldiers. Evening Star (Washington, DC), 13 July 1864, 3d ed., Extra, 2:1.

President asks Gov. Curtin (Pa.) to come to Washington relative to 2d Pennsylvania Heavy Artillery. Abraham Lincoln to Andrew G. Curtin, 17 July 1864, CW, 7:444.

Assures Gen. Hunter that Gen. Grant wishes him to remain in command and no one is scapegoat. Abraham Lincoln to David Hunter, 17 July 1864, CW, 7:445.

Telegraphs Grant hope that desperate effort to get position "shall not be desparate [sic] in the sense of great loss of life." Abraham Lincoln to Ulysses S. Grant, 17 July 1864, CW, 7:444-45.

President issues call for 500,000 Volunteers. Proclamation Calling for 500,000 Volunteers, 18 July 1864, CW, 7:448-49.

J. R. Gilmore reports to Lincoln on interview with President Davis: South fighting for independence and not slavery; terms of peace must be based on recognition of independence. James R. Gilmore, Personal Recollections of Abraham Lincoln and the Civil War (Boston: Page, 1898), 288-89.

E. J. Moore, sixth Pennsylvania district, discusses appointments with President. More to Cameron, 25 July 1864, Simon Cameron Papers, Library of Congress, Washington, DC.

President converts loan certificates for $26,181.40 into U.S. stocks. Washington Chronicle, 17 October 1864.

Telegraphs Gen. Sherman who opposes sending recruiting officers into Confederate States: "We here, will do what we consistently can to save you from difficulties arising out of it. May I ask therefore that you will give your hearty cooperation?" Abraham Lincoln to William T. Sherman, 18 July 1864, CW, 7:449-50.

President states position of his government regarding peace, in document to be delivered by Horace Greeley and John Hay to persons in Canada purporting to represent Confederate States: "Any proposition which embraces the restoration of peace, the integrity of the whole Union, and the abandonment of slavery, and which comes by and with an authority that can control the armies now at war against the United States will be received and considered by the Executive government of the United States, and will be met by liberal terms on other substantial and collateral points; and the bearer, or bearers thereof shall have safe-conduct both ways." Abraham Lincoln to Whom It May Concern, 18 July 1864, CW, 7:451.

President names three members of board of directors of Union Pacific Railroad and Telegraph Company. Appointment of Government Directors for Union Pacific Railroad, 19 July 1864, CW, 7:451-52.

Cabinet meets. Agenda includes riot in Coles County, Ill., of March 28, 1864, between soldiers on leave and "Copperheads," and controversy between Gov. Peirpoint (Va.) and Gen. Butler. Welles, Diary; Charles H. Coleman, Abraham Lincoln and Coles County, Illinois (New Brunswick, NJ: Scarecrow Press, 1955), 226.

Lincoln writes statement for signatures of three citizens of Philadelphia: "We believe there are in the Philadelphia Post-Office between two hundred and fifty and three hundred employees under the Post-Master, and that no one of them openly supports the renomination of Judge Kelly [Kelley] for Congress, and that several of them say and intimate privately that it is because they are restrained by the Post-Master." Statement of Philadelphia Citizens, 19 July 1864, CW, 7:452.

Replies to Gen. Grant: "Yours of yesterday about a call for 300,000 is received. I suppose you had not seen the call for 500,000 made the day before, and which I suppose covers the case. Always glad to have your suggestions." Abraham Lincoln to Ulysses S. Grant, 20 July 1864, CW, 7:452-53.

Answers Jacob T. Wright, chairman, Republican State Union Central Committee of Indiana, who asks that Gen. Butler be given Sec. Stanton 's place: "All a mistake. Mr. Stanton has not resigned." Abraham Lincoln to Jacob T. Wright, 20 July 1864, CW, 7:454.

[Harvard College confers upon Robert Todd Lincoln the degree of Bachelor of Arts.] Daily National Republican (Washington, DC), 21 July 1864, 2d ed., 2:3.

Lincoln recommends former landlady: "The bearer of this is a most estimable widow lady, at whose house I boarded many years ago when a member of Congress. She now is very needy; & any employment suitable to a lady could not be bestowed on a more worthy person." [Mrs. Ann G. Sprigg received appointment in Treasury Dept.] Abraham Lincoln to William P. Fessenden, 21 July 1864, CW, 7:454.

President reads to cabinet correspondence between himself and Horace Greeley concerning Niagara Falls peace negotiations. Welles, Diary; Bates, Diary.

President and cabinet view F. B. Carpenter's unfinished painting of Lincoln reading Emancipation Proclamation to cabinet. Carpenter, Six Months, 350.

John W. North, associate justice of district court, Nevada Territory, asks President for a hearing before taking action on charges against him. North to Lincoln, 23 July 1864, Abraham Lincoln Papers, Library of Congress, Washington, DC.

Lincoln telegraphs Gen. Hunter at Harper's Ferry, W. Va.: "Are you able to take care of the enemy when he turns back upon you, as he probably will on finding that Wright has left?" Abraham Lincoln to David Hunter, 23 July 1864, CW, 7:456.

President writes Sec. Usher: "I know nothing personally of Mr. Rohrer, but shall be very glad if the Sec. of Interior can oblige the gentlemen who write the within letter." Abraham Lincoln to John P. Usher, 24 July 1864, CW, 7:456.

President confers with Gen. Meigs relative to destroying fords across Potomac from Washington to Harper's Ferry, W. Va., by means of dams. Diary, Montgomery C. Meigs Papers, Library of Congress, Washington, DC.

T. Shaffer interviews President regarding difficulty of getting cotton out of Military Division of West Mississippi. Abraham Lincoln to Edward R. S. Canby, 25 July 1864, CW, 7:457.

President writes Abram Wakeman, post-master at New York, that men from South recently at Niagara Falls, N.Y., were empowered to assist in selecting candidate and platform for Chicago convention. Next presidential contest will "be no other than a contest between a Union and a Disunion candidate." Abraham Lincoln to Abram Wakeman, 25 July 1864, CW, 7:461.

Thanks Loyal Ladies of Trenton for cane made from arch erected in 1789 on spot where Cornwallis was repulsed. [Presented on June 16, 1864 at Sanitary Fair in Philadelphia.] Abraham Lincoln to the Loyal Ladies of Trenton, New Jersey, 25 July 1864, CW, 7:458.

Writes William O. Snider, probably of Philadelphia: "The cane you did me the honor to present throough [sic] Gov. Curtin was duly placed in my hand by him. Please accept my thanks; and at the same time, pardon me for not having sooner found time to tender them." Abraham Lincoln to William O. Snider, 25 July 1864, CW, 7:460.

Cabinet meets. Secretaries Welles and Usher, Attorney General Bates, and Lincoln present. Welles, Diary.

President recognizes Francis A. Hoffmann as consul for Kingdom of Hanover at Chicago. Evening Star (Washington, DC), 29 July 1864, 2d ed., Extra, 2:3.

Col. Shaffer discusses Gen. Butler's position with President. Butler, Correspondence, 4:547-48.

In evening Sec. and Mrs. Welles visit for hour with Lincoln at Soldiers' Home. Welles, Diary.

President writes Gen. Sherman who complains about promotion of Gens. Alvin P. Hovey and Peter J. Osterhaus: "My recollection is that both Gen. Grant and yourself recommended both H & O. . . . I beg you to believe we do not act in a spirit disregarding merit. We expect to await your programme, for further changes and promotions in your army. My profoundest thanks to you and your whole Army for the present campaign so far." Abraham Lincoln to William T. Sherman, 26 July 1864, CW, 7:463-64.

President appoints Richard W. Thompson, of Indiana, commissioner to examine Union Pacific Railroads. Appointment of Richard W. Thompson as Commissioner to Examine Union Pacific Railroads, 27 July 1864, CW, 7:464-65.

Telegraphs Gen. Hunter at Harper's Ferry, W. Va.: "Please send any recent news you have—particularly as to movements of the enemy." Abraham Lincoln to David Hunter, 27 July 1864, CW, 7:465-66.

Promises Gov. Johnson (Tenn.) to look after matter of Gen. Alvan C. Gillem. As for Gen. Schurz, "I appreciate him certainly as highly as you do; but you can never know until you have the trial, how difficult it is to find a place for an officer of so high rank, when there is no place seeking him." Abraham Lincoln to Andrew Johnson, 27 July 1864, CW, 7:466.

Directs Sec. Stanton to examine petition of female workers in Philadelphia Arsenal and provide relief consistent with law and public service. Abraham Lincoln to Edwin M. Stanton, 27 July 1864, CW, 7:466-67.

President asks J. W. Forney and Morton McMichael, editor of Philadelphia "North American," to come to Washington tomorrow or Saturday. Abraham Lincoln to John W. Forney, 28 July 1864, CW, 7:469.

Telegraphs Gen. Grant to meet him at Fortress Monroe, Va., 8 P.M. Saturday, the 30th. Abraham Lincoln to Ulysses S. Grant, 28 July 1864, CW, 7:469-70.

President changes purpose and decides to meet Gen. Grant at Fortress Monroe, at 10 A.M. Sunday, the 31st. Abraham Lincoln to Ulysses S. Grant, 29 July 1864, CW, 7:470.

President Lincoln writes to Anne Williamson, of Edinburgh, Scotland, and thanks her for sending him a woolen wrap. The eighty-one-year-old Williamson wrote, "As one deeply interested in your present struggle, I trust the Lord will bless all your endeavors for the peace of your country and the freedom of the slave." Lincoln writes, "I thank you for that pretty and useful present, but still more for those good wishes to myself and our country which prompted you to present it." Abraham Lincoln to Mrs. Anne Williamson, 29 July 1864, CW, 7:471; New York Daily Tribune, 3 August 1864, 4:5.

At 12 M. Sec. Seward escorts Chevalier Bertinatti to White House for presentation of credentials as envoy extraordinary and minister plenipotentiary of Italy. President replies to presentation. Reply to Joseph Bertinatti, 30 July 1864, CW, 7:473-74.

Lincoln appoints Maj. John A. Bingham, judge advocate of volunteers and former congressman (Ohio), to Court of Claims; appointment declined. Abraham Lincoln to John A. Bingham, 30 July 1864, CW, 7:472.

Leaves Washington in time to reach Fortress Monroe Sunday morning for meeting with Gen. Grant. Abraham Lincoln to Ulysses S. Grant, 29 July 1864, CW, 7:470.

Marine band gives regular Saturday evening concert on White House grounds. President probably did not attend. Washington Chronicle, 31 July 1864.

President approves treasury regulations governing commercial intercourse and directs military personnel to assist agents of Treasury Dept. in executing them. Approval of Treasury Regulations, 30 July 1864, CW, 7:471-72.

President at Fortress Monroe to confer with General Ulysses S. Grant. Welles, Diary, 1 August 1864.

Waits at wharf for Grant to come from Gen. Butler's house. Mrs. Butler does not see President or Mrs. Lincoln and ladies. Butler, Correspondence, 4:566.

Lincoln receives Grant aboard U.S.S. Baltimore at 10 A.M. for conference. Begins return trip to Washington at 3 P.M. Washington Chronicle, 2 August 1864.

Grant and members of staff accompany President to Norfolk, where they spend some time at the Navy Yard. Evening Star (Washington, DC), 1 August 1864, 3d ed., 2:1.