The Compassion of Abraham Lincoln: In a Letter to General Meade, After a Visit From a Grieving Mother, the President Intervenes to Save the Life of an Underage Soldier, Who Was to Be Shot the Very Next Day

Lincoln’s compassion and mercy are central to his legacy, and the picture that has come down to us envisions him as a man who was generous of spirit, who pardoned soldiers who fell asleep on guard duty, showed leniency whenever possible, and aided widows and orphans. Because of his position as President, he had opportunities to prove or disprove this reputation, as many requests for pardons, deferrals of executions, and pleas to aid soldiers came to him.

From the start of the Civil War, Lincoln felt the weight of the sacrifice that so many families were making for the Union, and he saw that tens and then hundreds of thousands of men – sons, husbands, and brothers – were dying. He was not anxious for any additional lives to be taken. He was especially interested in mitigating death sentences for military offenses such as desertion, and was moved by the pleas made by fathers and mothers on behalf of children under arrest and incarcerated. So he spent time reviewing the results of army courts-martial cases. His writings show that he seldom turned the needy aside, which did not meet with the approval of his generals or legal staff. Attorney General Edward Bates’ pardon clerk later wrote of Bates that he discovered “his most important duty was to keep all but the most deserving cases from coming before the kind Mr. Lincoln at all; since there was nothing harder for him to do than to put aside a prisoner’s application and he could not resist it when it was urged by a pleading wife and a weeping child.”

Lincoln often displayed this compassion in his treatment of children, perhaps due to his having lost three of his own when they were still young. It is uncommon for any autograph or document of Lincoln’s relating to minors, including that of boys in the army, to reach the marketplace, this being one of that small number.

The Army of the Potomac, General Orders No. 93, October 2, 1863, announced sentence of John Murphy, unassigned recruit, 119th Pennsylvania Volunteers, to be shot October 9 for desertion. Murphy’s mother came to Washington and directly applied to the President for clemency. Lincoln responded affirmatively.

Autograph letter signed, as President, Washington, October 8, 1863, to Major General George G. Meade, commander of the Army of the Potomac. Meade was notorious for believing that to maintain discipline, shooting deserters was a necessity, and was known to resent Lincoln’s interference in what he considered military matters. “I am appealed to in behalf of John Murphy, to be shot tomorrow. His mother says he is but seventeen.” Then, wanting to be sure that Meade would not duck this, Lincoln added, “Please answer.”

“The Collected World of Abraham Lincoln” takes up the story from there. It notes that no reply from Meade had been located, but the execution did not go forward. On October 12 Lincoln again wrote Meade on this subject, specifically pardoning Murphy: “The father and mother of John Murphy of the 119th Pennsylvania Vols. have filed their own affidavits that he was born June 22, 1846; and also the affidavits of three other persons who all swear that they remember the circumstance of his birth and that it was in the year 1846…. I therefore, on account of his tender age, have concluded to pardon him, and to leave it to yourself whether to discharge him, or continue him in the service. A. Lincoln.” Again not hearing from Meade, on October 15 he wrote asking, “Did you receive my dispatch of 12th pardoning John Murphy?” Meade seems to have avoided getting back to Lincoln, but followed orders and the execution was cancelled.

This is just the third time in all our decades that we have had a letter or note of Lincoln saving the life of a boy caught up in the gears of war. Thus it’s a real rarity.