President consults with Messrs. Dudley and Hunt, Kentucky Unionist commissioners, on neutrality of state. Hay, Letters and Diary.

At 10 AM, reviews Colonel Edward D. Baker's California regiment on parade, and remarks to Baker, "If I was a military man, I should call this a very splendid regiment." National Republican (Washington, DC), 23 August 1861, 1:2; New York Times, 23 August 1861.

Asks Attorney General Bates: "Will the Attorney General please make out pardons in the Missouri cases he and I spoke of, and place them in my hands?" Abraham Lincoln to Edward Bates, 22 August 1861, CW, 4:495.

Writes Sec. Cameron: "Victor B. Bell [Illinois businessman], now of Colorado, is one of my most valued friends; . . . I would like for him to be an Asst. Quarter Master or Commissary of Subsistence of Volunteers. Can you not fix it for me?" Abraham Lincoln to Simon Cameron, 22 August 1861, CW, 4:495-96.

[Mrs. Lincoln and party attend demonstration of lifesaving equipment at Long Branch, N.J., in afternoon escorted by former Gov. William A. Newell (N.J.), who gives "grand hop" in her honor in evening at Mansion House. New York Times, 24 August 1861.]