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“As his carriage…to their stations”: Charles F. Benjamin, “Recollections of Secretary Edwin M. Stanton,” Century 33 (March 1887), p. 761.

“fluent without…and large-hearted”: Entry for January 29, 1862, Diary of George Templeton Strong, Vol. III, p. 203.

“Persons at a distance…Congress speak it”: NYT, January 25, 1862.

Instead of the traditional…an evening ball: Keckley, Behind the Scenes, pp. 95–96; Frank Leslie’s Illustrated Newspaper, February 22, 1862.

some five hundred invitations: Frank Leslie’s Illustrated Newspaper, February 22, 1862.

“sought…their invitations”: JGN to TB, February 6, 1862, container 2, Nicolay Papers.

Marine Band…midnight supper: Poore, Perley’s Reminiscences, Vol. II, pp. 116, 119.

white satin gown…“in better style”: Keckley, Behind the Scenes, p. 101.

“much attached…ever known”: Entry for February 20, 1862, Taft diary.

built a cabin…troops on the shore: Entry for January 11, 1862, Taft diary (quote); Bayne, Tad Lincoln’s Father, p. 177.

performances in the attic: Bayne, Tad Lincoln’s Father, pp. 102, 106.

the pony…favorite pastime: Keckley, Behind the Scenes, p. 98; entries for January 26 and 27, 1862, Taft diary.

weather conditions in January: See January 1862 entries in Taft diary.

“There is a good deal…in the City”: Entry for January 8, 1862, Taft diary.

“a dreadful eruption…expected to live”: EMS to Oella Wright, March 24, 1862, in Wolcott, “Edwin M. Stanton,” p. 155.

“burning fever…ulcerated” throat: FAS to LW, February 2, 1862, reel 119, Seward Papers.

Seward left Washington: WHS to AL, February 6, 1862, Lincoln Papers.

Nettie Chase…contracted scarlet fever: SPC to KCS, January 10, 1862, reel 18, Chase Papers.

Mary thought it best…been sent out: Keckley, Behind the Scenes, p. 100.

“the dean…medical community”: Baker, Mary Todd Lincoln, p. 209.

“in no immediate…an early recovery”: Keckley, Behind the Scenes, p. 100.

The carriages…received their guests: Poore, Perley’s Reminiscences, Vol. II, pp. 115–18; Frank Leslie’s Illustrated Newspaper, February 22, 1862.

“exquisite taste…a Grecian knot behind”: Frank Leslie’s Illustrated Newspaper, February 22, 1862.

At midnight…including General McClellan: “Lincoln’s First Levee,” Journal of the Illinois State Historical Society 11 (October 1918), p. 389; Poore, Perley’s Reminiscences, Vol. II, pp. 119–20 (quote).

“The brilliance…the suffering boy”: Keckley, Behind the Scenes, p. 102.

“Those who were here…others have not”: JGN to TB, February 6, 1862, container 2, Nicolay Papers.

“frivolity, hilarity…within plain sight”: Jeffersonian Democrat, reprinted in The Liberator, February 28, 1862.

“a brilliant spectacle”: Star, February 6, 1862.

“our fair ‘Republican Queen’…of beauty”: Frank Leslie’s Illustrated Newspaper, February 22, 1862.

General Ulysses S. Grant: On Ulysess S. Grant’s careers prior to the Civil War, see chapters 2–5 of William S. McFeely, Grant: A Biography (New York and London: W. W. Norton, 1982).

Grant understood…an important mission: Ibid., pp. 96–97.

“to take and hold Fort Henry”: H. W. Halleck to USG, January 30, 1862, OR, Ser. 1, Vol. VII, p. 121.

Grant and Foote…Fort Donelson: McPherson, Battle Cry of Freedom, p. 396; Nicolay and Hay, Abraham Lincoln, Vol. V, pp. 120–22.

“Fort Henry is ours…on the 8th”: USG to H. W. Halleck, February 6, 1862, OR, Ser. 1, Vol. VII, p. 124.

Though a severe rainstorm: Ulysses S. Grant, Personal Memoirs of U.S. Grant (New York: C. L. Webster, 1885; New York: Modern Library, 1999), p. 152.

“plain brother…a presentiment”: USG to Mary Grant, February 9, 1862, The Papers of Ulysses S. Grant. Vol. IV: January 8–March 31, 1862, ed. John Y. Simon (Carbondale and Edwardsville: Southern Illinois University Press, 1972), p. 180.

Buckner, proposed a cease-fire…“can be accepted”: USG to Simon B. Buckner, February 16, 1862, enclosure 3 of USG to G. W. Cullum, February 16, 1862, in OR, Ser. 1, Vol. VII, p. 161.

Buckner…taken prisoner: USG to General G. W. Cullum, February 16, 1862, OR, Ser. 1, Vol. VII, p.