Abraham Lincoln statues

[David Lockmiller]

(10-20-2020 08:58 AM)David Lockmiller Wrote:  "'Are you, madam, the unhappy mother of this wounded and imprisoned son?'

"'I am,' I said.

By mistake, I left out the introductory paragraph detailing the circumstances of the mother's troubles as told to E. W. Andrews:

"She was a widow, she said, and resided near Nashville, Tennessee, but, although a native of that state, she had no sympathy with the rebellion. She had an only son. At the outbreak of the war he was a student in a Southern college. Without her knowledge or consent he enlisted in a rebel regiment, and was severely wounded at the battle of Nashville, taken prisoner, and carried North. The day after the battle, to her astonishment and grief, she first heard of these facts."

I should also like to point out that it was the letter written by one good lawyer to another that convinced President Lincoln of the need for justice in this case. And, President Lincoln responded as one might expect him to do in terms of justice, but with unexpected eloquence and meaning.

"'And do you believe he will honor his parole if I permit him to take it and go with you?'

"'I am ready, Mr. President, to peril my personal liberty upon it,' I replied.

"'You shall have your boy, my dear madam,' he said. 'to take him from the ranks of rebellion and give him to a loyal mother is a better investment for this government than to give him up to its deadly enemies.'

Then, taking the envelope, he wrote with his own pencil the order which you see upon it.

Note: I left out of my previous post the narrative of the prior disastrous meeting that the mother had with the Secretary of War on the same subject.