This was the first time Lincoln appeared in public with a beard, which he had begun growing after being elected president, in response to a written request by 11-year-old Grace Bedell.

On Inauguration Day, Lincoln's procession to the Capitol was surrounded by heavily armed cavalry and infantry, providing an unprecedented amount of protection for the President-elect as the nation stood on the brink of war.

An entourage of family and friends left Springfield, Illinois, with President-elect Abraham Lincoln on February 11 to travel by train to Washington, D.C. for the inauguration.

[5][6][7] For the next ten days, he traveled widely throughout the country, with stops in Indianapolis, Columbus, Pittsburgh, Cleveland, Buffalo, Albany, New York City, and south to Philadelphia, where on the afternoon of February 21, he pulled into Kensington Station.

Decisive action will be taken to relation to the matter, and every man, from ex-Cabinet officers down to the humblest department clerk or Senate employe[e], will be held to the strictest account.