Annotation
[1] Washington Daily Morning Chronicle, March 28, 1863. The Chronicle account of the ceremonies which preceded Lincoln's speech reads in part:
``The Executive Mansion was yesterday morning the scene of a very interesting ceremony. The Indian chiefs now in the city met the President of the United States and had a formal interview with him. The meeting took place in the East room. Quite a number of persons were present, among whom we noticed Secretaries Seward, Chase, and Welles, Daniel S. Dickinson, of New York, Professor Henry, and other celebrated personages. The Indians were all seated on the floor in a line, and around them the spectators formed a ring which, notwithstanding the assiduous yet polite efforts of Mr. Nicolay, was still too contracted to permit all to see the principal actors. The silence, which would seem to be the part of common propriety on such an occasion, was by no means observed by the restless and eager crowd of visitors. Everybody seemed to find some one's bonnet or shoulder in the way, and to think himself or herself entitled to the best and most conspicuous place. The ladies, too, could not refrain from audible comments on the speeches.
``Still everything went off very well. These Indians are fine-looking men. They have all the hard and cruel lines in their faces which we might expect in savages; but they are evidently men of intelligence and force of character. They were both dignified and cordial in their manner, and listened to everything