Sold For $7,668
*Includes Buyers Premium
Civil War-dated autograph endorsement as president, signed "A. Lincoln," on a 6.5 x 3.25 address overleaf attached to a letter written by Thomas Jacks requesting the release of two prisoners, March 1, 1865. Jacks writes, in part: "I would most respectfully request that you release from prison upon their taking the Oath of Allegiance—W. M. Johnson, Alton, Ills—and Monroe Thomas, Fort Delaware. I am not personally acquainted with either of these prisoners but they are endorsed to me by gentlemen of high respectability. They are both Conscripts—poor men with families." The endorsement, written in the hand of Lincoln's secretary John Hay, in full: "Let W. M. Johnson & Monroe Thomas, Prisoners of War, be discharged on taking the oath of Dec. 8, 1863." In fine condition, with light brushing to the date, and almost all of the integral sheet bearing Lincoln's endorsement trimmed away. Accompanied by a full letter of authenticity from PSA/DNA.
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.'
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