Abraham Lincoln pardoned Biden’s great-great-grandfather

[David Lockmiller]

The Washington Post
By David J. Gerleman
February 19, 2024

On the evening of March 21, 1864, the quiet of a small corner of the Army of the Potomac’s sprawling winter camp along the Rappahannock River near Beverly Ford, Va., was disturbed when a fight broke out in one of the mess tents between Union Army civilian employees Moses J. Robinette and John J. Alexander. The scuffle left Alexander bleeding from knife wounds, and Robinette was charged with attempted murder.

On that March evening, the brigade wagon master, overheard Robinette saying something about him to the female cook and rushed into the mess shanty to demand an explanation. Tempers flared, expletives followed, and Robinette drew his pocketknife. A brief scuffle left Alexander bleeding from several cuts before camp watchmen arrived to arrest Robinette.

Nearly a month passed before Robinette’s military trial began. The charges specified that he had become intoxicated and incited “a dangerous quarrel,” violating good order and military discipline. Because a drawn weapon was involved, assault with “attempt to kill” was included among the charges.

According to the trial transcript, Robinette stated in closing “that whatever I have done was done in self defense, that I had no malice towards Mr. Alexander before or since. He grabbed me and possibly might have injured me seriously had I not resorted to the means that I did.”

The military judges were not convinced. The next day, they rendered a unanimous verdict: guilty on all counts with the exception of “attempt to kill.” The punishment was two years’ incarceration at hard labor. The commander of the Army of the Potomac, Gen. George G. Meade, did not confirm Robinette’s sentence until early July, when he was sent to the Dry Tortugas islands near Key West, Fla.

There, three Army officers who knew him petitioned Lincoln to overturn his conviction. They wrote that Robinette’s sentence was unduly harsh for “defending himself and cutting with a Penknife a Teamster much his superior in strength and Size, all under the impulse of the excitement of the moment.”

They testified that Robinette had, from the outbreak of the war, been “ardent, and influential … in opposing Traitors and their schemes to destroy the Government.”

Lincoln’s private secretary, John G. Nicolay, promptly requested that the judge advocate general, Joseph Holt, send over a report and the trial transcripts for presidential review. Holt’s report arrived in late August, and Lincoln made his decision, writing, “Pardon for unexecuted part of punishment. A. Lincoln. Sep. 1. 1864.” Shortly thereafter, the War Department issued Special Orders No. 296, freeing Robinette from prison.

Robinette was Biden’s great-great-grandfather.

David J. Gerleman is a 19th-century historian, Lincoln scholar and history instructor at George Mason University.

[Steve]

Interesting.

[Gene C]

I wonder what the source was that inspired the authors research

[Steve]

Gene, I'm sure an increased interest in Biden's family history after he was elected President had something to do with it. I don't know if Mr. Gerlemen has an interest in genealogy or not. Robinette is Biden's middle name, if Gerlemen came across the pardon while doing other Lincoln research it's unique enough that it could have prompted him to look to see if they're related. After finding out they are, then researching the court case records more closely.

[David Lockmiller]

(02-20-2024 06:25 AM)Gene C Wrote:  I wonder what the source was that inspired the authors research

The details are in the article:

The Washington Post
By David J. Gerleman
February 19, 2024

But the slender sheaf of 22 well-preserved pages of his trial transcript, unobtrusively squeezed among many hundreds of other routine court-martial cases in the National Archives, reveals the hidden link between the two men — and between two presidents across the centuries. Those few pages not only fill in an unknown piece of Biden family history but also serve as a reminder of just how many Civil War stories have yet to be told.

David J. Gerleman is a 19th-century historian, Lincoln scholar and history instructor at George Mason University.

[Rob Wick]

Why not just contact him and ask?

Best
Rob

https://historyarthistory.gmu.edu/people/dgerlema

[Gene C]

Good idea Rob

[David Lockmiller]

Gene, I got to thinking.

The Civil War court martial records may have required cataloguing and this would necessarily have included the name of the defendant. Presumably, one could do a database search by the name of the defendant.

All that a historian of Lincoln would need to know is the name of any male relative of President Lincoln living at that time in order to make the database connection by a simple search, I presume.


National Archives
Identifying Case File Numbers
Multiple finding aids to the court-martial case files are available in the Consultation Room (Room G-24) at Archives 1. On-site researchers may search the finding aids by the service member's name. Court-martial case files from the Civil War era (1861–1865) can also be searched by regiment.

Off-site researchers may search NARA's online catalog for a service member's name and then email our staff at archives1reference@nara.gov for additional assistance.

National Archives Court-Martial Case Files, 1809-1917

[Steve]

This article has a link to the Robinette case file:

https://www.axios.com/2024/02/21/abraham...-civil-war