细节
LINCOLN, ABRAHAM, President. Autograph letter signed ("A. Lincoln") as President, TO MAJOR GENERAL GEORGE MEADE, Commander of the Army of the Potomac, Washington, D.C., 24 September 1863. 1 page, 4to, on lined Executive Mansion stationery. Fine.
PRESIDENT LINCOLN STAYS THE EXECUTION OF TWO UNION PRIVATES
"I am appealed to in favor of a private (name not remembered) in Co. D, 1 Regt. New Jersey Volunteers, in 6th Corps, who is said to be under sentence to be shot tomorrow. Please give me briefly the facts of the case, including his age and your opinion on it." In a postscript of a similar nature, the President asks: "Also give me a like statement in the case of Daniel Sullivan, of 13th Regt. of Massachusetts Vols., 1st Army Corps." Published in Collected Works, ed. R.P. Basler, 6:478.
Private Daniel Sullivan of Massachusetts had been sentenced to be shot for desertion; his sentence was commuted by Lincoln the next day to six month's imprisonment. Lincoln, perhaps more than any President, was painfully aware that he was the last recourse of appeal in capital cases, especially when the sentence had been passed by court-martial. The sheer volume of such stays of execution for which Lincoln was responsible will probably never be known, but it is a significant number, and it is noteworthy that Lincoln took the time from a crowded day to inquire personally into what might otherwise have been considered routine military executions. Here, he makes a particular point of asking for the age of the first soldier, as that might have a bearing on his decision whether to stay the execution.
PRESIDENT LINCOLN STAYS THE EXECUTION OF TWO UNION PRIVATES
"I am appealed to in favor of a private (name not remembered) in Co. D, 1 Regt. New Jersey Volunteers, in 6th Corps, who is said to be under sentence to be shot tomorrow. Please give me briefly the facts of the case, including his age and your opinion on it." In a postscript of a similar nature, the President asks: "Also give me a like statement in the case of Daniel Sullivan, of 13th Regt. of Massachusetts Vols., 1st Army Corps." Published in Collected Works, ed. R.P. Basler, 6:478.
Private Daniel Sullivan of Massachusetts had been sentenced to be shot for desertion; his sentence was commuted by Lincoln the next day to six month's imprisonment. Lincoln, perhaps more than any President, was painfully aware that he was the last recourse of appeal in capital cases, especially when the sentence had been passed by court-martial. The sheer volume of such stays of execution for which Lincoln was responsible will probably never be known, but it is a significant number, and it is noteworthy that Lincoln took the time from a crowded day to inquire personally into what might otherwise have been considered routine military executions. Here, he makes a particular point of asking for the age of the first soldier, as that might have a bearing on his decision whether to stay the execution.