The newly bearded President-Elect Abraham Lincoln is making his way from Springfield, Illinois to Washington for his inauguration as president of the United States. But today, February 18, 1861, he was spending an eventful day traveling to Albany, New York.
It was a long train ride, having left Springfield on February 11th, he had passed through pars of Illinois, Indiana, Ohio, and now to Buffalo, New York. He had spent the day yesterday in Buffalo with former President Millard Fillmore, joining him at church before picking up Mrs. Lincoln and dining at Fillmore’s residence. Today, several hundred people and a military escort watch Lincoln’s train depart at the weary hour of 5:45 am. New-York Tribune editor Horace Greeley is on board with Lincoln as the train makes stops in the New York towns of Batavia, Rochester (where Frederick Douglass may or may not have seen him), Clyde, Syracuse, Utica, Little Falls, Fonda, Amsterdam, and Schenectady. NY Governor Edwin D. Morgan has assigned five members of his staff to accompany Lincoln, who dines in a special car fitted for dinner on a train used a few months previously by the Prince of Wales (Lincoln’s son, Robert, is not so complementarily labeled, the “Prince of Rails”).
At Syracuse, a crowd of 10,000 waits by a platform erected in front of the Globe Hotel, only to be disappointed when Lincoln speaks from the back of train instead. By this time, he is exhausted and, while he acknowledges remarks by the mayor of Utica, does not rise to speak on a platform built for that purpose in Schenectady.
But then there is Albany, capital of the state. After exchanging short speeches on the train platform with Mayor George H. Thatcher, Lincoln rides to the state Capitol to be welcomed by the governor. Here he addresses a joint meeting of the state legislature, saying:
“It is true that while I hold myself without mock modesty, the humblest of all individuals that have ever been elevated to the Presidency, I have a more difficult task to perform than any one of them. . . . I still have confidence that the Almighty, the Maker of the Universe will . . . bring us through this as He has through all the other difficulties of our country.”
Then it is off to the Delavan House, his home for the evening, where he meets with Thurlow Weed (a William Seward handler) and is greeted by the Rail Splitters political club. A committee escorts him to call on various New York dignitaries and sightseeing. Afterwards, the Lincoln and Governor Morgan families have an evening meal at the governor’s mansion. But he isn’t done yet. At 9 pm he is back at the Delavan House for a levee (aka, a meet-and-greet party) at which he greets about 1,000 people. Then he also visits a separate levee held for ladies.
Finally, he can get some rest. But not much. He and Mrs. Lincoln will leave Albany at 7:45 am the next morning, and as reported by journalist Henry Villard, “grateful for safe deliverance and resolved never to return,” because a rivalry between the governor and members of the legislature for the honor of entertaining Lincoln has made their visit burdensome. Tomorrow the family will continue to New York City, making stops in Rhinebeck, Hudson, Poughkeepsie, Fishkill, and Peekskill before finally arriving in New York City mid-afternoon.
There is still a long way to go before getting to Washington. And there is a murder plot afoot trying to keep that from happening.
[Photo credit: By German, Christopher S. – Library of Congress, Public Domain, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=25149728]
Coming in February 2026: Unable to Escape This Toil
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David J. Kent is President of the Lincoln Group of DC and the author of Lincoln: The Fire of Genius: How Abraham Lincoln’s Commitment to Science and Technology Helped Modernize America and Lincoln: The Man Who Saved America.
His previous books include Tesla: The Wizard of Electricity and Edison: The Inventor of the Modern World and two specialty e-books: Nikola Tesla: Renewable Energy Ahead of Its Time and Abraham Lincoln and Nikola Tesla: Connected by Fate.
