Wednesday, November 21, 1860
President-elect Lincoln and wife Mary Todd Lincoln leave Springfield for Chicago where he will confer with Vice President-elect Hannibal Hamlin and others concerning the composition of his Cabinet. Lincoln had been a frequent visitor to Chicago where he often tried cases and gave political speeches. At the Republican National Convention at the Wigwam there on May 16, Lincoln had defeated favored New York State William H. Seward for the nomination. Lincoln was viewed as more electable in key states that Republicans needed to win the election. Reluctantly, Seward would become Lincoln’s secretary of state.
The Lincolns are accompanied Senator Lyman Trumbull and his wife. Trumbull will introduce him to Hamlin at the Tremont Hotel, where Lincoln customarily stayed when in Chicago.
Abraham Lincoln and the Civil War 
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