February 20, 1863
Worry about the military strategy to retake Charleston continues. Assistant Navy Secretary Gustavus V. Fox writes Samuel F. Dupont, who is commanding the attack on Charleston, South Carolina: “I hope you will hold to the idea of carrying your flag supreme and superb, defiant and disdainful, silent amid the 200 guns until you arrive at the centre of this wicked rebellion and there demand the surrender of the Forts, or swift destruction. The President and Mr. Welles are very much struck with this program and Halleck and Cullum, as I have written you, declare that all their defences must be evacuated if you pass the forts. The sublimity of such a silent attack is beyond words to describe, and I beg of you not to let the Army spoil it. The immortal wreath of laurel should cluster around your flag alone.”
President Lincoln also meets with a group of Chippewa Indians at the White House.
Abraham Lincoln and the Civil War 
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