Abraham Lincoln arrived in Washington about six oclock on the morning of February 23, 1861. By some accounts, the only person to greet him at the train station was Illinois Representative Elihu Washburne. The congressman drove the president-elect in his carriage to the Willard Hotel, where he breakfasted with Senator William H. Seward before calling on President Buchanan at the White House. Later that afternoon Washburne and Seward met Mary Lincoln and her three children at the train station and conducted them to the Willard. The family occupied room number six.