In regard to that war, Lincoln stated that "[t]he last ray of hope for preserving the Union peaceably expired at the assault upon Fort Sumter.
Lincoln also addressed the fact that there were now three vacancies on the Supreme Court of the United States which he had not yet nominated individuals to fill.
A correspondent for the New-York Tribune testified that the leak was arranged by Henry Wikoff, a friend of Herald editor James Gordon Bennett Sr. Wikoff claimed that he got his information from "women... members of the president's own family," implicating Mary Todd Lincoln with whom he was a close friend.
[5] Daniel Sickles, then a Union general, visited Wikoff under pretense of being his legal counsel and convinced him to testify that the leaker was White House gardener John Watt, who confessed to the committee the next day.
[4] A few days later, Herald correspondent S. P. Hanscom testified that Wikoff had told him earlier that the leaks came from Mary Todd Lincoln.
He testified in secret, and he said that only members of his cabinet had seen the address ahead of time, meaning nobody else, including Mary, could have leaked it.