Mrs. Masson calls on Lincoln and asks that James H. McEwen, prisoner of war at Rock Island, Ill., be pardoned. Abraham Lincoln to John Catron, 6 April 1864, CW, 7:288.

President decides that Gen. Butler need not come to Washington relative to plan for exchange of prisoners. Butler, Correspondence, 4:29.

Attends meeting in House of Representatives at night, to hear speech of George Thompson, English antislavery orator. Washington Star, 7 April 1864.

Lincoln postpones trip to Fortress Monroe, Va., because Mrs. Lincoln is unwell. Abraham Lincoln to Benjamin F. Butler, 11 April 1864, CW, 7:293-94.

Interviews L. H. Putnam, "a very intelligent colored man," and sends him to Sec. Stanton to discuss Negro forces. Abraham Lincoln to Edwin M. Stanton, 11 April 1864, CW, 7:295.

Endorses military pass issued to John Ehler, aged 10: "They say that by the destruction of a bridge this boy has been unable to pass on this. Might it not be renewed for the little fellow?" Endorsement Concerning John Ehler, 11 April 1864, CW, 7:294.

President sends congratulations to Alexander II, Emperor of Russia, on birth of nephew. Abraham Lincoln to Alexander II, 12 April 1864, CW, 7:296-97.

Joint committee of City Councils of Washington visits President and calls attention to excess of quota set for the District of Columbia. Evening Star (Washington, DC), 13 April 1864, 2d ed., 2:5.

Cabinet meets. Principal subjects of discussion are exportation of French tobacco and national debt. Welles, Diary.

President reviews 67 courtmartial cases. Abraham Lincoln to Joseph Holt, 14 April 1864, CW, 7:298; Abraham Lincoln to Joseph Holt, 14 April 1864, CW, 7:298-99.

Interviews Henry C. Lea, Philadelphia pamphleteer associated with Union League. Lea to Lincoln, 18 April 1864, Abraham Lincoln Papers, Library of Congress, Washington, DC.

Confers with judge advocate general on court martial cases. CW, 8:538.

President returns to Washington in morning from Baltimore. Evening Star (Washington, DC), 19 April 1864, 2d ed., 2:4.

Recognizes Giovanni B. Cerruti as consul of Italy at San Francisco and Ferdinando de Luca as consul of Italy at New Orleans. Evening Star (Washington, DC), 21 April 1864, 2d ed., 1:6; Daily National Republican (Washington, DC), 21 April 1864, 2d ed., 3:2.

Does not attend cabinet meeting. Welles, Diary.

Rests preparatory to night reception at White House. Don C. Seitz, Lincoln the Politician: How the Rail-Splitter and Flatboatman Played the Great American Game (New York: Coward-McCann, 1931), 408.

Large crowd overruns White House at last reception of season. President gives "warm salutation and a pleasant word" to "official and social intimates." Washington Chronicle, 20 April 1864.

President empowers Gen. Meade to commute death sentences by courtmartial to imprisonment on Dry Tortugas, Fla., for duration of war. War Dept. Special Order, 20 April 1864, Abraham Lincoln Papers, Library of Congress, Washington, DC; Order Commuting Sentence of Deserters, 26 February 1864, CW, 7:208; Abraham Lincoln to George G. Meade, 21 April 1864, CW, 7:307.

Congressman Joseph Bailey (Pa.) confers with President on undisclosed matter. Bailey to Lincoln, 20 April 1864, Abraham Lincoln Papers, Library of Congress, Washington, DC.

Thomas H. Ford, Lieutenant Governor of Ohio under Governor Salmon P. Chase, and Captain Jasper K. Herbert converse with Lincoln for hour. Butler, Correspondence, 4:104.

President poses in White House office for photographs requested by Francis B. Carpenter. Frederick H. Meserve and Carl Sandburg, The Photographs of Abraham Lincoln (New York: Harcourt Brace, 1944), 20 April 1864.

Confers in afternoon with Gen. Grant, who returns to Army of Potomac tomorrow. Evening Star (Washington, DC), 21 April 1864, 2d ed., 2:4; Ulysses S. Grant, Personal Memoirs, 2 vols. (London: Low, Marston, Searle & Rivington, 1886), 2:141.

President reviews 72 courtmartial cases. Abraham Lincoln to George G. Meade, 21 April 1864, CW, 7:307.

Confers with governors of Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, and Iowa about enlistments and calls another meeting for 7 P.M., with Gen. Halleck and Sec. Stanton present. Abraham Lincoln to Edwin M. Stanton, 21 April 1864, CW, 7:308.

Cabinet meets. Secs. Seward, Chase, and Stanton absent. Welles, Diary.

President approves bill placing inscription, "In God We Trust," on coins. First used on 2-cent piece. Stat. L., XII, 54.

President forwards to Senate information on affairs in Nevada Territory. Abraham Lincoln to the Senate, 29 April 1864, CW, 7:322-23.

Tells Sec. Welles circumstances of his giving pass to Martha Todd White, half-sister of Mrs. Lincoln. Welles, Diary.

Spends part of evening at War Dept. Browning, Diary.

President discusses with O. H. Browning and former Sen. Thomas Ewing (Ohio) case of Commodore Charles Wilkes guilty of unauthorized publication of letters of Sec. Welles, and case of Capt. Samuel Black. Browning, Diary.

President Lincoln "pardon[s]" and frees twenty-five "Indian prisoners now in confinement at Camp McClellan near Davenport Iowa." The men represent a portion of the Indians who have been confined since November 1862, as a result of the August 1862 Dakota uprising. Missionary Thomas S. Williamson and Special Commissioner to the Indians George E. H. Day wrote to Lincoln and urged him to release the prisoners. Day wrote, "[I]n the name of humanity [I] beg that you will . . . order them released and sent to take care of their starving families now perishing for want of food." Thomas S. Williamson to Abraham Lincoln, 27 April 1864; William P. Dole to Abraham Lincoln, 28 April 1864, both in Abraham Lincoln Papers, Library of Congress, Washington, DC; Order for Pardon of Sioux Indians, 30 April 1864, CW, 7:325-26.

F. B. Carpenter introduces Lincoln to Elizabeth Cady Stanton, leader in women's rights movement, and her brother-in-law, Samuel Wilkeson, head of New York "Tribune" bureau in Washington. Carpenter, Six Months, 101.

After midnight Lincoln visits offices of John Nicolay and John Hay to show caricature by Thomas Hood and enjoy laugh. Hay, Letters and Diary.

Acknowledges invitation to attend Grand Musical Festival in Philadelphia on Wednesday, May 4, 1864. "I shall be most happy to be present at an entertainment which promises so much, especially as it is in aid of so beneficent a charity as that in which you are interested, if my engagements next week will allow it." Abraham Lincoln to James R. Fry, 30 April 1864, CW, 7:323-24.

Writes Gen. Grant and expresses "entire satisfaction with what you have done up to this time, . . . If there is anything wanting which is within my power to give, do not fail to let me know. And now with a brave Army, and a just cause, may God sustain you." Abraham Lincoln to Ulysses S. Grant, 30 April 1864, CW, 7:324-25.