Lincoln goes on damage control

• On his trip to Washington, President-elect Lincoln makes numerous stops along the way, but in an effort to tone down his remarks yesterday in Indianapolis about the preservation of the Union which angered Upper South and other conservative Democrats, he goes out of his way to avoid expressing his real opinions, asking citizens in Cincinnati to be loyal to the Constitution, and even stating to several thousand of the German Industrial Association in Cincinnati that he will not reveal what he plans to do with the national crisis as President. "I deem it my duty that I should wait until the last moment, for a development of the present national difficulties, before I express myself decidedly what course I shall pursue.”/1861

• Jefferson Davis, President-elect of the Confederacy, also makes whistle stops on his way to Montgomery, Alabama, at one stop admitting that secession could eventuate in war./1861

• The Arkansas State Militia seizes the US Arsenal at Napoleon, Arkansas/1861

• Louisiana adopts its own state flag. Louisiana's Governor Thomas O. Moore obtains control of Federal property in the State with the help of the Legislature./1861