The Baldwin County Courthouse in Milledgeville, Georgia was completely destroyed in a fire that broke out just before dawn.  Reports indicated that most of the papers of ongoing trials, as well as much of the county archive was rescued from the burning building.  No injuries were reported.  Milledgeville served also as the state capital.  (By John Osborne) 

Abraham Lincoln left Springfield, Illinois on February 11, 1861 for his journey to Washington DC.  His party had reached New York City from Albany the previous afternoon and spent the night at the Astor House.  In the morning Lincoln breakfasted with leading city bankers and endured a cool reception from Democratic mayor Fernando Wood at City Hall in the afternoon.  In the evening, he and Mrs. Lincoln saw the Verdi opera, Un Ballo in Maschera, at the Academy of Music and slept again at the Astor House.  (By John Osborne) 

Abraham Lincoln left Springfield, Illinois on February 11, 1861 for his eleven-day journey to Washington DC.  On this day his party reached New York City by train from Albany at 3 p.m.  From the Hudson River Railroad station at Tenth Avenue and 30th Street, he traveled in a thirty-five carriage procession, his own the same vehicle that had carried the Prince of Wales a few months earlier.  Through packed, orderly, but curiously silent crowds, it went down Broadway to the Astor House on City Hall Square where the presidential party spent the night. (By John Osborne) 

Abraham Lincoln had left Springfield, Illinois on February 11, 1861 for his eleven-day journey to Washington DC.  Having rested and attended church in Buffalo, New York, he once again boarded the train for his eight day of travel, this time to Rochester, New York and on the Albany, that state capital, arriving at 2:20 in the afternoon. He spoke before a joint session of the Assembly at the capitol, dined privately with the governor's family, and attended an evening reception.  As had become the case, there were massive crowds wherever he went. (By John Osborne) 

Abraham Lincoln had left Springfield, Illinois on February 11, 1861 for his eleven-day journey to Washington DC.  He reached Cleveland and spent the night and then left for Buffalo, New York. On the way, he stopped at Westfield, New York where he met Grace Bedell, the eleven-year old who three months before had famously advised him to grow a beard. He arrived in Buffalo at 4:30 that afternoon and was met at the railway station by former president Millard Fillmore.  He spent the night and the next day at the American Hotel in the city. (By John Osborne) 

Abraham Lincoln had left Springfield, Illinois on February 11, 1861 for his eleven-day journey to Washington DC.  His party had reached Pittsburgh the day before and in the morning he delivered a speech to five thousand listeners standing in drizzling rain in front of the Monongahela House Hotel.  The President-Elect then reboarded his train and traveled to Cleveland, Ohio where he spent the night. (By John Osborne) 

John Anderson, a slave who killed a white Missouri farmer while escaping to Canada in 1853 and who the United States had for months being trying to extradite, was released from custody in Hamilton, Ontario. His celebrated case lasted months before the Canadian courts granting the request.  On appeal, however, he was set free on a technicality.  He later toured Great Britain and emigrated to Liberia in December 1862.  (By John Osborne)  

The press reported that the south-central Pennsylvania residents of Shippensburg in Cumberland County awoke to find a massive secessionist "Palmetto flag"  hanging from a telegraph wire in the town.  The banner was immediately taken down and destroyed.  (By John Osborne)