President Lincoln's Cottage at the Soldiers' Home, on the grounds of the Armed Forces Retirement Home in Washington, D.C., was built in 1842 and 1843 as the home of George Washington Riggs and later became a presidential retreat. James Buchanan stayed there, and Abraham Lincoln and his family lived there seasonally from June to November in 1862, 1863, and 1864 during the Civil War. The cottage is especially important as the place where Lincoln drafted the preliminary Emancipation Proclamation. Later used by Rutherford B. Hayes and Chester A. Arthur, it was restored to its Lincoln-era appearance and opened to the public as a site of both presidential residence and wartime decision-making.

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Washington, District of Columbia · USA