GDG- "a motley crowd" and Grant was one of them

[Dennis Lawrence]

Friday, March 8, 1861.
Washington, DC.

President's "first reception a motley crowd and terrible squeeze." Bates, 
Diary.

"The event was voted by all the oldest inhabitants to have been the most 
successful ever known there." Nicolay to Bates,

Sec. Welles presents officers of navy in full uniform to President and Mrs. 
Lincoln.

For two and a half hours the President shakes hands with all who pass him. 
William O. Stoddard, Inside the White House in War Times .

At 10:30 P.M. passes through East Room and withdraws to private apartment. 
Hundreds "gave up in despair and went home without seeing the President." 
Washington Star, 9 March 1861.

Ladies connected with foreign legations call upon Mrs. Lincoln. Baltimore 
Sun, 9 March 1861

 >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>

Tuesday March 8 1864

A rather scruffy-looking major general, accompanied by a small boy, tried 
to check into the Willard Hotel in Washington D.C. today. As the Willard 
was the classiest hotel in town, the clerk almost told the officer they had 
no vacancies, until he noticed that the signature in the register said 
"U.S. Grant & Son, Galena, Illinois". A room was promptly found, and Grant 
sent word to President Lincoln that he had arrived. Lincoln invited Grant 
to meet him at the White House that evening, neglecting to tell him that 
this was the night of the weekly Open House, when the "best people" of the 
town would attend. Grant, still in his battered battle uniform, was quite a 
shock to citizenry accustomed to the smooth-talking, ornately dressed 
McClellan and Joe Hooker. He was so short that Lincoln asked him to stand 
on a sofa in the East Room so everyone could get a look at him. Grant did, 
but was mortified  http://www.civilwarinteractive.com/ThisDay.asp   Civil 
War Interactive

Per

.