I could freely give my life to save his. Virginia C.

[David Lockmiller]

(07-04-2023 04:34 AM)Steve Wrote:  I've decided to look up the fates of all the soldiers on the memorandum found by David to see how many of them Lincoln spared from execution. I've only just started and won't finish until after the holiday.

But one of the soldiers on the list with Pvt Clifton has one of the most fascinating Civil War service records, timeline wise, I've ever seen. Since we only have dates of events and lack the stories behind them (like with Clifton), one's imagination can go into overdrive conjuring up scenarios of how the events of 1864 unfolded the way they did for this soldier.

Without further ado, the Civil War service record timeline of Pvt Robert Gill of Company D, 6th New York Cavalry

- Born in Ireland

- 28 August 1861, enlisted in the 6th NY Cav for three years at Troy, New York

- 16 December 1863, reenlisted in the same company

- 13 January 1864, sentenced to be shot to death for desertion, to be carried out on Jan 29th

- 26 January 1864, President Lincoln issues a temporary stay to review the case

- 28 January 1864, Special Order issued with Lincoln granting Gill a full pardon and returning him to his unit

- 14 September 1864, captured as a prisoner of war near Berryville, Virginia

- 24 September 1864, listed as "paroled" at Varnia, Virginia
(How was this possible? The prisoner exchange was still stopped at this time)

- 26 September 1864, arrives at Camp Parole

- 26 October 1864 to 26 November 1864, granted furlough

- At the same time dropped from the rolls of the 6th NY Cav (maybe the Army was preparing to medically discharge Gill?)

Unfortunately, there are no pension applications filed for Gill's service and I wasn't able to link any Robert Gill to this specific service record, so what became of him after the war may be lost to history.

13 January 1864, sentenced to be shot to death for desertion, to be carried out on Jan 29th

- 26 January 1864, President Lincoln issues a temporary stay to review the case

28 January 1864, Special Order issued with Lincoln granting Gill a full pardon and returning him to his unit

So, by Virginia Clifton's action to save her father's life, she also saved another deserving man's life and probably never knew it.

And, it probably brought much relief to President Lincoln.

Thanks for doing this, Steve!!! I was wondering what might be the consequences of President Lincoln's actions in this regard.