President urges General George B. McClellan to stay execution of Private William Scott, Co. K, 3d Vermont Volunteers, ordered to be shot for sleeping on guard duty at Chain Bridge. National Republican (Washington, DC), 10 September 1861, 1:1; Lucius E. Chittenden, Recollections of President Lincoln and his Administration (New York: Harper, 1891), 266-80.

"Mr. Lincoln came this morning to ask me to pardon a man that I had ordered to be shot, suggesting that I could give as a reason in the order that it was by request of the Lady President [Mrs. Lincoln]." McClellan, War for Union, 91.

President and Mrs. Lincoln go for drive toward Arlington in their new open carriage. Russell, Diary.