Edward Payson Weston leaves Boston on a walk to Washington, D.C.

Weston, 20, who had pledged to walk to the inaugural of Abraham Lincoln if he was elected president in 1860, begins his walk at the Massachusetts State House. He walks the 478 miles to Washington, D.C. in 208 hours. Weston arrives a few hours after the inauguration ceremony on March 4, 1861, but in time to attend an inaugural ball that night. The Union Army later considers Weston’s accomplishment in determining how far troops can be ordered to go on a forced march.