President is concerned with operations at Chancellorsville

President Lincoln spent much time this week in the telegraph office concerned over telegrams from the battle raging at Chancellorsville. His telegram to General Butterfield asked "Where is General Hooker? Where is General John Sedgwick? Where is Stoneman?"

The response he received was as follows: "General Hooker is at Chancellorsville. General Sedgwick with 15,000 to 20,000 men is on the road to Chancellorsville. General Stoneman has not been heard from."

General Hooker had told the president that he had no concern about the Confederates -- his only concern being the weather. President Lincoln consulted with a weather "expert" Francis Capen. Capen had assured that there would be no rain until at least April 30 or May 1. After experiencing rain for a ten hour period prior to those dates, the president dismissed Capen.

    

West Virginia statehood is approved

On April 20, after a long wait, the citizens of western Virginia were granted statehood, to take affect on June 20, 1863.

The Senate and House had passed the legislation. The Senate bill was passed in July of 1862. The House bill was finally passed in December of 1862. President Lincoln had signed the statehood bill on December 31, 1862. But the citizens still had to ratify the legislation due to the addition of the Willey Amendment addressing gradual emancipation of slavery. The citizens had overwhelmingly ratified the changes by a public vote, and now the citizens awaited Mr. Lincoln's approval.

I stood proudly beside the president when he made the announcement.  I had been born in Summit Point, Virginia and raised in Mill Creek (now Bunker Hill), Virginia. Both were now part of the newly formed and now newly approved state of West Virginia.

The president may have returned to meet with General Hooker

Mr. Lincoln met with Washington Mayor Richard Wallach and members of the school authority. The group was asking the president's support for offering scholarships to the service academies for students of the public schools in the District of Columbia.

Troubled by the news that Charleston, South Carolina, had still not fallen, President Lincoln implored Read Admiral Samuel DuPont and General David Hunter to stay the course and continue to pursue the objective of victory in Charleston.

The president had entered into a contract with Bernard Kock for the immigration of persons of African extraction to the Republic of Haiti. On April 16 the president cancelled that contract.

President Lincoln and General Henry Halleck left Washington for the day on April 19, returning late in the same evening. There was speculation that he had returned to Aguia Creek to meet again with General Joseph Hooker.

Mr. Lincoln gets a surprise kiss from a princess

While at General Hooker's headquarters, from April 5 to April 10, the president was embarrassed by an incident in camp.  A member of General Hooker's staff, General Daniel Sickles had an Austrian prince on his staff. The prince's wife was in attendance, and kiss the president  during the reception line. Reporter Noah Brooks, who was apart of the official presidential party, reported on the scene as follows: "As soon as he could collect himself and recover from his astonishment, the President thanked the lady, with evident discomposure, whereupon some of the party made haste to explain that Princess Salm-Salm had laid wager with one of the officers that she would kiss the President."

The president reviewed four infantry corps of about 60,000 men. He rode horseback to visit troops who were convalescing. The presidential party return to Washington aboard the "Carrie Martin" arriving around midnight on April 10.

The president learned on April 12 from a dispatch from Rear Admiral Samuel F. DuPont that the siege of Charleston had failed.



    

The presidential party calls on General Hooker

Mr. Lincoln agrees to meet with General Joseph Hooker at the mouth of the Aquia Creek on the morning of 5 April. The presidential party included Mrs. Lincoln, their son Tad, Attorney General Edward Bates, California journalist Noah Brooks, Dr. Henry, and Captain Medorem Crawford.  They  left the Naval Yard in Washington around 5 p.m.on April 4 and traveled on board the steamer "Carrie Martin" stopping near Indian Head Maryland due to a snow squall. They celebrated Tad's 10th birthday aboard the ship.

The presidential party arrived at the mouth of the creek at 10 a.m. and took a special train to Falmouth, Virginia and to General Hooker's headquarters. While there they reviewed about 10,000 Union cavalry soldiers. Mrs. Lincoln spent her first night sleeping in a tent, quite a daunting experience, no doubt for herself. Her son, Tad, at the same time, was loving every minute of his soldering experience.

 President Lincoln has set April 30, 1863 as a national day of humiliation, sating and prayer.


Philadelphia artist Martin was commissioned to paint a full-length formal portrait of President Lincoln and his two sons.

General Sherman does not accept the president's intervention

This week, General William T. Sherman got in a powerful dispute with newspaper reporter, Thomas Knox, of the New York Herald.  Knox had reportedly followed General Sherman's army to Chickasaw and printed an account disparaging Sherman's sanity. Knox also revealed General Sherman's troop strength. Sherman had Knox arrested. The reporter was banished from Sherman's army when found guilt of disobeying an order.

President Lincoln thought it necessary to have the New York Herald's support. He revoked Knox's court marshal and said he would allow Knox to return to Sherman's army upon authority of General Ulysses S. Grant. General Grant relayed the proposal to General Sherman. Without mincing any words at all, General Sherman said, "Come with a sword or a musket in your hand...and I will welcome you...but come as you now do...as a representative of the press...and my answer is, 'Never'."

In a move called "bold" by some, Mr. Lincoln notified Tennessee military Governor Andrew Johnson that it was alright to organize Negro soldiers. Johnson was governor of a slave state and owned slaves himself. Mr. Lincoln said "the colored population is the great available and yet unavailed of, force for restoring the Union. The bare sight of fifty thousand armed, and drilled black soldiers on the banks of the Mississippi, would end the rebellion at once."

Mr. and Mrs. Lincoln tour the Patent Office

Mr. and Mrs.Lincoln take a rare respite from the crowded and often hectic White House to take a tour of the Patent Office.  Mrs. Lincoln contributes several presents they have received to the office collection of unique treasures including ones from the King of Siam and the Tycoon of Japan.  A suit of armor was among them.

The president declares for the public sale of lands in the Territory of Washington and the states of Michigan and Kansas. Those sales had been provided for in the federal law.

It is announced that the president has secured treaties for commerce and transportation with the Republic of Liberia.

The Cabinet continued their meetings on  the subject of privateering. Privateering had become a major problem for the Union navy and private merchant ships that we being stopped and boarded by private vessels, armed by the Confederacy. It was a highly profitable venture for the privateers, and caused hardships for Union vessels intent on blockading the southern ports.