John Nicolay's Thoughts on the Case of John Y. Beall-- Part 2: "Spy, Guerrillero, Outlaw and Would-Be Murderer"

"Mr. Jefferson Davis took the same view of the talismanic  character of the Confederate commission upon which Beall had relied, and issued a manifesto assuming responsibility of the act and declaring that it was done by his authority.  There was great clamor in regards to the case, and many people of all parties pleaded with Mr. Lincoln to commute the sentence of Beall.

"A petition in the cause was signed by most of the Democratic members of the House of Representatives and by many Republicans.

"But the Judge Advocate General reported that Beall, convicted upon indubitable  proof as a spy, guerrillero, outlaw and would-be murderer of hundreds of innocent persons traveling in supposed security upon one of our great thoroughfares, fully deserved to die the felon's death, and summary enforcement of  that  penalty was a duty the government owed society."

Summing It Up.  --Old Secesh