Lafayette Park Lafayette Park constituted seven acres of beautiful landscaping across Pennsylvania Avenue from the White House, surrounded by some of the city’s most elite homes. “The houses round it are few in number–not exceeding three or four on each side, but they are among the best in Washington, and the…” Abraham Lincoln’s White House […]

The Ellipse and Treasury Park The area south of the White House, now known as the Ellipse, frequently was the site of Union Army encampments. The area even further south around the unfinished Washington Monument was used to graze cattle for… Abraham Lincoln’s White House >

Pennsylvania Avenue Pennsylvania Avenue was the main paved thoroughfare in Washington, extending four miles, all the way from Rock Creek Park on the northwest to the Anacostia River on the east. It was interrupted in its path from the Capitol to the White House only by the… Abraham Lincoln’s White House >

Salmon Chase’s Home The home of Secretary of the Treasury Salmon P. Chase was a three-story brick townhouse at the corner of E and Sixth Streets. At the outset of the war, Chase rented the building for $100 a month and later bought it from the estate of Silas Holman Hill, a businessman and… Abraham […]

The Capitol President-elect Lincoln had not visited the Capitol since 1849 when he left the city at the end of his single term in the U.S. Congress. His subsequent failure to be appointed by President Taylor as U.S. Land Commissioner had precluded any need to return. When he arrived again in… Abraham Lincoln’s White House […]

General Post Office Building The General Post Office Building was located on E Street between 7th and 8th Streets NW. “The Post-office is certainly a very graceful building. It is square, and hardly can be said to have any settled front or any grand entrance,” wrote British novelist Anthony Trollope in 1861. “It is not […]

Patent Office Located at Seventh and F Street, across from the Post Office, the Patent Office had been visited by Abraham Lincoln and his son Robert when Mr. Lincoln was a congressman and seeking to patent his invention for moving boats over river shoals. British novelist Anthony Trollope called it… Abraham Lincoln’s White House >

The State Department The State Department was located in a smaller and unimpressive brick building just North of the Treasury Building along Pennsylvania Avenue. (It was torn down after the Civil War to accommodate a north wing for the Treasury Department.) The President was more likely to visit Secretary of State William H. Seward at… […]

Treasury Department The Treasury Building was located just east of the White House — where Pennsylvania Avenue makes a right turn on its path from the Capitol to the White House. The building used during the Civil War was the third one that the Treasury Department occupied on the site — the first two had… […]

Elihu B. Washburne (1816-1887) “Watchdog of the Treasury,” Elihu B. Washburne was the Illinois Congressman (Whig, Republican 1851-69) and Galena attorney who supported Mr. Lincoln’s drive for Senate in 1854 and headed the congressional investigation of General John C. Frémont. He served as chairman of the… Abraham Lincoln’s White House >