A Glimpse of the
Inaugural

Unknown photographer
Washington, D.C., 1861
Copyprint
Prints & Photographs Division
Copyprint deposit, 1861

On March 4, 1861, President-elect Abraham Lincoln traveled from the Willard Hotel to the Capitol in an open carriage with defeated President James Buchanan. All points of the inaugural route were protected by cavalry and infantry with riflemen perched in windows of the Capitol. This photograph captures the crowd gathered before the east portico of the unfinished Capitol to glimpse the inaugural ceremonies.