Feb. 22, 1861 - Lincoln addresses a crowd in Harrisburg's Market Square

Feb. 22, 1861

Lincoln addresses a crowd in Harrisburg

Harrisburg, PA

* More important than the marker indicates: Lincoln originally refused to alter his plans to enter Washington, in light of assassination rumors, because he really wanted to talk at Harrisburg; after doing so, he agreed to sneak through Baltimore for safety's safe. 

"On February 22, 1861, while journeying to Washington for his Inauguration, Lincoln stopped at the Jones House, on this site. From the portico of the hotel, he addressed a large crowd gathered in Market Square."



https://www.hmdb.org/m.asp?m=6577

https://www.hmdb.org/m.asp?m=102324

Apparently Lincoln also, "spoke to a joint session of the legislature in the capitol. Having been warned of an assassination plot in Baltimore, Lincoln left the Jones House and traveled secretly by train overnight from Harrisburg to Washington."

At least according to this marker on the the Square. It also explains, "The Jones House, on the southeast corner of Second and Market Streets, was the city’s foremost hotel, providing accommodations for the prince of Wales, Tom Thumb, President Andrew Johnson, General Ulysses S. Grant and Admiral David Farragut." Yep, General Tom Thumb! 

More on Market Square... 
https://www.hmdb.org/m.asp?m=6592


And more on that glorious church, which is from 1859 and is the oldest building now standing on the square. 
https://www.hmdb.org/m.asp?m=6576

'On February 22, 1861, Bethel Church member Jacob T. Cumpton used his horse-drawn carriage to take President-elect Abraham Lincoln out of Harrisburg after news of an assassination plot became known.

The men and women of Bethel met at the church on January 15, 1863, to draft a public statement explaining the Black community’s position on President Lincoln’s Emancipation Proclamation.

“We would have preferred that the proclamation should have been general instead of partial,” they proclaimed. However, the public statement expressed the colored community’s endorsement of citizenship. “We are well aware that freedom and citizenship are attended with responsibilities, and that the success or failure of the proclamation depends entirely upon ourselves, as public sentiment will be influenced…by our correct deportment and moral standing in the community.”'

https://www.hmdb.org/m.asp?m=85917

This awesome website from the Library of Congress contains links to contemporaneous news articles, including Lincoln in Harrisburg. Their summary checks out:

"In Harrisburg, Lincoln was greeted by large crowds, was transported to the capitol in a carriage drawn by six white horses, and was treated to the last thirty-four gun salute of the journey before addressing the legislature. After the enthusiastic reception at the state capitol, he returned to his hotel where it was reported 'The remainder of the afternoon and evening was passed quietly.'"









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