President Lincoln writes to Leonard Swett, whom he "authorized . . . to take possession of" the New Almaden Quicksilver Mine after the U.S. Supreme Court voided Andres Castillero's ownership claim. Lincoln rethinks the order concerning the Santa Clara County, California mine, and writes, "Many persons are telegraphing me from California, begging me, for the peace, of the State, to suspend the military enforcement of the writ of possession . . . while you are the single one who urges the contrary. You know I would like to oblige you, but it seems to me my duty . . . is the other way." Abraham Lincoln to Charles W. Rand, 8 May 1863, CW, 6:205-206; Abraham Lincoln to Leonard Swett, 15 July 1863, CW, 6:333-34; Milton H. Shutes, Abraham Lincoln and the New Almaden Mine (San Francisco, CA: Lawton R. Kennedy, 1936), 6-8.

Approves letter of J. R. Gilmore to Gov. Zebulon B. Vance (N.C.) regarding restoration of peace between states, reunion of states on basis of abolition of slavery, and reinstatement of Confederate citizens in all rights of citizenship. Endorsement on Letter of James R. Gilmore to Zebulon B. Vance, [15? July 1863], CW, 6:330-31.

Robert Lincoln quotes President as saying after Confederate army's escape following Battle of Gettysburg: "If I had gone up there I could have licked them myself." Nicolay, Lincoln's Secretary, 171; Hay, Letters and Diary.

President proclaims "Thursday the 6th. day of August next, to be observed as a day for National Thanksgiving, Praise and Prayer." Proclamation of Thanksgiving, 15 July 1863, CW, 6:332-33.