Abraham Lincoln had left Springfield, Illinois two days before for his slow eleven-day journey to Washington DC and his new life as president.  His party had reached Cincinnati in Ohio the night before and there he had given a speech and spent the night.  He resumed his whistlestop journey through Ohio, giving small addresses at towns like Milford, Miamiville, and Xenia.  He arrived in Columbus in the early afternoon where he addressed the state legislature and attended a reception in the evening before spending the night.  (By John Osborne) 

Abraham Lincoln had left Springfield, Illinois the day before for his slow eleven-day journey to Washington DC and his new life as president.  Having given an important speech the night before, Lincoln had breakfast with Indiana governor Oliver Morton and paid a morning visit to the state capitol.  He then reboarded his special train and resumed his trip towards his next stop in Cincinnati, Ohio, stopping at several small Indiana towns to give impromptu speeches.  It was his fifty-second birthday.  (By John Osborne) 

On a morning of cloud and drizzle, Abraham Lincoln left Springfield, Illinois for a slow eleven-day journey to Washington DC and his new life as president.  Boarding the special three-car train at around eight a.m., he gave his now-famous "farewell speech" to his friends and neighbors gathered at the station.  In the next days he would visit Indianapolis, Columbus, New York City, Philadelphia, and Harrisburg.  He would not return to Springfield again during his lifetime.  (By John Osborne) 

The loading of heavy cannon and "several tons of shells" aboard a steamship bound for New York City attracted crowds of Philadelphians to the Reading Railroad docks at the foot of Willow Street in the city.  The shipment came from a foundry near Pittsburgh and was intended to add to the defenses of New York Harbor by strengthening the Stevens Water Battery there. War excitement clearly was growing as crowds watched and cheered as the weapons were loaded.  (By John Osborne)

"Old Fort Kearny" was a two story blockhouse along the Platte River near Nebraska City that the army had abandoned in 1848 for a newer and more useful site.  Secessionists reportedly occupied the empty structure on Monday night.  They flew the Palmetto flag of South Carolina until enraged locals took back the fort the next morning and hoisted the Stars and Stripes in its place.  No fighting or injuries were reported.  (By John Osborne)  

British Vice-Admiral Robert Fitzroy issued the world's first weather forecast from his Meteorological Office at the Board of Trade in London, warning of gales along the coast. Fitzroy had opened the office in 1853, gathering weather information from ships logs and other sources.  In 1859 he was connected by telegraph to British ports and was ultimately able to gather reports, study the results and send out what he called "forecasts."  (By John Osborne)

Edward Payson Weston bet a friend that if Lincoln won the election he would walk from the State House in Boston to the U.S. Capitol in under ten days.  After trial walk of thirty-six miles from Hartford to New Haven on New Year's Day, 1861, he set out on the 478 mile journey.  He reached the U.S. Capitol at five in the afternoon on Inauguration Day, having walked for ten days, four hours, and twelve minutes.  That night he attended the Inauguration Ball and later met Abraham Lincoln who offered to pay for his train-ticket home.  (By John Osborne)  

Edward Payson Weston bet a friend that if Lincoln won the election he would walk from the State House in Boston to the U.S. Capitol in under ten days.  After trial walk of thirty-six miles from Hartford to New Haven on New Year's Day, 1861, he set out on the 478 mile journey.  He reached the U.S. Capitol at five in the afternoon on Inauguration Day, having walked for ten days, four hours, and twelve minutes.  That night he attended the Inauguration Ball and later met Abraham Lincoln who offered to pay for his train-ticket home.  (By John Osborne)