The Yankees' Secret Weapon

[David Lockmiller]

(12-26-2021 02:12 PM)RJNorton Wrote:  

(09-22-2017 07:42 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/

After a prolonged time of badgering and bullying, threats and promises, I (foolishly, very foolishly) wrote that I had done it. Ah, but that wasn’t good enough. Tremaglia moved in. Now he wanted a motive. I protested I that had no motive. He suggested that I was seeking fame. He suggested that I put down what kind of pen I had used. Bottom line, he dictated a plausible, detailed confession to a crime I had never committed, with the promise of no publicity and no bad consequences.

After they left I had a very bad feeling, a premonition of disaster. When I told Beverly what I had done, she had more than a premonition, she was furious. “Don’t you know that the cops are allowed to lie? Why didn’t you wake me up? I’d have thrown them out of the house. They had no evidence, because there is no evidence! We sat at the same table in the Archives for ten years. We helped the staff get rid of people who were damaging the records. Neither of us would write on the records, and neither of us did. Their promise of nothing bad happening is a lie. Cops lie. Something dreadful will happen. And soon.”

At age seventy-eight I was still a liberal, a believer in justice.

One of the Lincoln notes that caught our attention was squeezed into the margin of the trial of Private Patrick Murphy of the Second California Infantry. He had been sentenced to death. Lincoln reprieved him in a note dated April 14, 1865. This of course was also the date of the assassination. We immediately called this note to the attention of several Archives employees. They thought it so important that the page was removed from the usual files and was exhibited in the Rotunda of the National Archives, where it was seen by thousands. The date looked like “1865” to us. It looked like “1865” to the special Archives curator assigned to examine it. It looked like “1865” to all the tourists who viewed it.

And, there is this character observation made by Laurie Verge in the post above:

"I heard [Thomas Lowry] 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."