AMERICAN ARCHIVE
STORIES FROM THE WHITE HOUSE
Bunking in the White House
Engraving of federal soldiers quartered in the East Room, 1861.
White House Historical Association/White House Collection
Senator James Lane of Kansas sent troops to the White House to protect President Abraham Lincoln during the American Civil War.
In the days after the first shots were fired at Fort Sumter in South Carolina, many feared that the country’s capital of Washington D.C. would soon become a target. James Lane, a U.S. Senator from Kansas, sent his troops to the White House to ensure the president was protected from harm.
On April 18, 1861, President Lincoln’s private secretary John Hay wrote, “The White House is turned into barracks,” with soldiers stationed in the East Room to protect the president. He noted that the Kansas soldiers were “a splendid company—worthy of such an armory.”
The Cassius M. Clay Battalion of the Union Army, comprised of civilian volunteers, on the South Lawn, 1861.
National Archives and Records Administration
Soldiers on the South Lawn of the White House, 1862.
White House Historical Association/White House Collection
President Abraham Lincoln, 1863.
Library of Congress
The East Room, 2021.
Bruce White for the White House Historical Association
In the East Room
Originally designed as the “Public Audience Room,” the East Room is the largest and most ceremonial of the State Floor rooms. It is minimally furnished to better accommodate large gatherings and events, from press conferences to weddings and concerts.
AMERICAN ARCHIVE
STORIES FROM THE WHITE HOUSE
