The Battle of Fort Fisher, N.C.

Wednesday, December 28, 2011

Altered Lincoln Pardon

From the Jan. 31st Washington Post "Archivists won't display altered Lincoln Pardon."

A pardon signed by Lincoln, but whose date was altered to appear to have been one of his last acts before the assassination, has been taken out of circulation.

It was changed by historian Thomas Lowry who wrote a 5 in over the 4 in 1864 sometime in 1998 using a fountain pen.

Lincoln did pardon a mentally incompetent Army Private Patrick Murphy on April 14, 1864. The original has been replaced by a high resolution scan after determining that any attempt to delete the 5 would cause irreparable damage.

Not very Nice of Lowry. --Old B-Runner

No comments: