June 18 Wednesday – The Clemens family had escaped Hartford just in time. June 18 in Hartford was Buckingham Day, a local civic celebration for Union veterans. From the Hartford Courant:

If the weather is pleasant to-day there will be a great crowd of people in Hartford. The railroad companies have made arrangements to transport as many passengers as came here on Battle Flag Day in 1870. It has been thought, however, that the attendance would not be as large as on that day; but later reports indicate that the rush will be quite as great.

The Clemens family left New York by way of the Christopher Street Ferry to Hoboken, New Jersey, where they took a special car on the Delaware, Lackawanna, and Western Railroad for the ten-hour trip to Elmira. This was their usual routine each summer [MTNJ 3: 55-5n124].