President interviews John J. Jarmey, of Ohio, concerning political matters in state. James to Cameron, 27 August 1864, Simon Cameron Papers, Library of Congress, Washington, DC.

In evening at Soldiers' Home, Lincoln and group of officials witness demonstration of Morse signalling from tower of Soldiers' Home to roof of Smithsonian Institution. Bates, Telegraph Office, 265.

President Lincoln drafts a letter to New York Times editor Henry J. Raymond, who forecasts big electoral losses for the Republicans. Raymond predicts that a peace summit will "turn the tide of public sentiment." Lincoln instructs, "You will proceed forthwith and obtain, if possible, a conference for peace with Hon. Jefferson Davis, or any person by him authorized for that purpose. . . . [Y]ou will propose, on behalf of this government, that upon the restoration of the Union and the national authority, the war shall cease at once, all remaining questions to be left for adjustment by peaceful modes. If this be accepted hostilities to cease at once." Ultimately, Lincoln and the Cabinet reject the peace conference suggestion. Henry J. Raymond to Abraham Lincoln, 22 August 1864, Abraham Lincoln Papers, Library of Congress, Washington, DC; Abraham Lincoln to Henry J. Raymond, 24 August 1864, CW, 7:517-18.