Inauguration Day ~ March 4, 1861

"Washington looked like an armed camp.  Cavalry and artillery had been clattering through the streets all morning.  Troops were everywhere.  Rumors of assassination plots, of Southern plans to seize the capital and prevent the inauguration, had put the army on the alert.
Shortly after noon, the carriage bearing President James Buchanan and President-elect Abraham Lincoln bounced over the cobblestones of Pennsylvania Avenue, heading for Capitol Hill.  Infantrymen lined the parade route.  Army sharpshooters crouched on nearby rooftops.  Soldiers surrounded the Capitol building, and plainclothes detectives mingled with the crowds.  On a hill overlooking the Capitol, artillerymen manned a line of howitzers and watched for trouble."

Tomorrow:  More of Russell Freedman's LINCOLN A PHOTOBIOGRAPHY, Clarion Books, 1987.