Mary Lincoln stopped wearing mourning clothes for her beloved Willie on New Year’s Day 1864. Facing a presidential election ahead, the Lincolns started the year on a high note at a traditional public reception at the Executive Mansion.

Mrs. Lincoln wore a dark dress with a train.

The start of the social season meant Mary Lincoln would once again face off with Kate Chase Sprague, who served as hostess for her father, Secretary of the Treasury Salmon Chase.

Mrs. Sprague, younger and more beautiful than the first lady, often sniped about Mrs. Lincoln’s Southern roots. Sprague was proud of her own Yankee lineage.

Source: Mary Lincoln: A Life by Catherine Clinton

On this day 151 years ago, President Lincoln issued an executive order that proclaimed the freedom of slaves in 10 states — freeing 3.1 million of the 4 million slaves in the U.S. The Emancipation Proclamation was based on the president’s authority as commander in chief of the armed forces. It made the eradication of slavery a goal of the war.

The evening before the order was issued was called Watch Night.  Abolitionists and slaves watched and waited for word that the proclamation had been issued.