The Yankees' Secret Weapon

[RJNorton]

(09-22-2017 06:42 PM)L Verge Wrote:  Thomas P. Lowry, MD, was well-known in the Civil War/Lincoln field for his writings on various topics that do not usually get covered in the more academic tomes -- more human interest research than what "true scholars" are supposed to write about. Since he is part of the amateur historians (like most of us), some of the professional historians ignored him. I heard him speak several times and found his topics interesting and refreshing. I also found him to be a very gracious and friendly gentleman with a good speaking style.

Dr. Lowry retired from the medical field after practicing psychiatry in California for about forty years. He and his wife moved to the DC suburbs to continue their work in the CW field and practically lived at the National Archives. They are well-known for their cataloging of thousands of courts-martial cases.

About 5-6 years ago, Archives personnel accused him of altering a date on a Lincoln Presidential Pardon of a soldier convicted of desertion. They said that the document's actual date was April 14, 1864, but that the "4" had been changed to a "5." Ironically, that change would make it seem that the kind-hearted Lincoln pardoned the young man shortly before his own assassination.

Tom professed innocence, but later confessed -- and then recanted the confession, saying that he was coerced into the confession of guilt. One of the archivists who did the investigation is a member of our Surratt Society. The outcome was that Dr. Lowry and his wife were banned from ever entering the National Archives. I believe that statutes of limitation kicked out any further punishment. Wikipedia does a pretty good job of summarizing the case: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thomas_P._Lowry

You can also go here to read Tom's side of the story: https://tomlowry.wordpress.com/2011/02/08/hello-world/

https://arstechnica.com/science/2021/12/...r-soldier/