Details
LINCOLN, ABRAHAM. President. Autograph endorsement signed ("A. Lincoln") as President, [Washington, D.C.], 11 February 1865. 2 lines plus signature and date, written beneath a request addressed to Lincoln from W.H. Randall of the same date, fingersoiling (since the document constituted a pass, it was heavily handled) and smudges.
A PRESIDENTIAL PASS TO CROSS CONFEDERATE LINES, FOR MEDICAL REASONS
An unusual pass granted by Lincoln to a "Mr. Abraham U. Colby" who badly needed to leave New York and its bitter winter climate due to a "chronic disease of the lungs" (probably tuberculosis). Lincoln's endorsement is accompanied by a letter from Doctors Robert Watts and Willard Packerton of New York, dated 4 February, emphasizing the importance of Mr. Colby's travelling to Savannah "for the sake of the short sea voyage and the change in climates." This request was brought before the President by William Harrison Randall, republican congressman from Kentucky. Lincoln concurs with the doctors: "Let this gentleman & wife pass from New York to Savannah...A. Lincoln." Published in Collected Works, ed. R.P. Basler, 8:290. (2)
A PRESIDENTIAL PASS TO CROSS CONFEDERATE LINES, FOR MEDICAL REASONS
An unusual pass granted by Lincoln to a "Mr. Abraham U. Colby" who badly needed to leave New York and its bitter winter climate due to a "chronic disease of the lungs" (probably tuberculosis). Lincoln's endorsement is accompanied by a letter from Doctors Robert Watts and Willard Packerton of New York, dated 4 February, emphasizing the importance of Mr. Colby's travelling to Savannah "for the sake of the short sea voyage and the change in climates." This request was brought before the President by William Harrison Randall, republican congressman from Kentucky. Lincoln concurs with the doctors: "Let this gentleman & wife pass from New York to Savannah...A. Lincoln." Published in Collected Works, ed. R.P. Basler, 8:290. (2)