Civil War-dated autograph endorsement signed as president, "Let this man be discharged. A. Lincoln, Jan. 13, 1865,” penned on the detached docketing panel of an affidavit submitted to him, folded to 3.5 x 4. The document, which remains only partially intact, requests the release of a soldier held prisoner who "was conscripted into the Rebel service in the month of October 1862 and assigned to the 18th Tenn. Rebel Inf. Regt. and was captured on or about the 18th of May 1864 at Resaca, Ga." They go on to vouch for his excellence of character and for his sincerity if allowed to take the oath of allegiance. The Lincoln piece is in very good condition, with a central vertical fold, and light toning from prior display; the affidavit is in poor condition, with several areas or paper loss and old tape stains.
On December 8, 1863, President Lincoln had issued the Proclamation of Amnesty and Reconstruction, by which he offered full pardons to any participant in the rebellion who laid down his arms and swore a loyalty oath, agreeing to 'faithfully support, protect and defend the Constitution of the United States, and the union of all the States there under.' By this stroke of Lincoln's pen, he approved the release of a former Confederate soldier held as a prisoner of war.
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