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At the Institute’s core is the Gilder Lehrman Collection, one of the great archives in American history. More than 85,000 items cover five hundred years of American history, from Columbus’s 1493 letter describing the New World through the end of the twentieth century.

Lincoln, Abraham (1809-1865) [Presidential pardon of Charles Wallace who had abandoned his regiment in the Dakota Territory in October 1856].

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Gilder Lehrman Collection #: GLC04437 Author/Creator: Lincoln, Abraham (1809-1865) Place Written: Washington, D.C. Type: Autograph endorsement signed Date: 6 August 1862 Pagination: 1, 1 p. Order a Copy

Abraham Lincoln's 6 August 1862 pardon of Charles Wallace is on the verso of a letter to him from Dakota Territory representative J. B. S. Todd in Washington, D.C. dated 3 August 1862, which said he enclosed a letter to Lincon from Obed Foote of Yanktown, Dakota Territory (Foote letter is lacking). Wallace would be pardoned on condtion that he return to his regiment. Also on the verso is an endorsement by military surgeon Justus Townsend, dated 20 November 1862, stating that he has found Wallace unfit for military duty because of an injured hand that likely will require amputation, and a order for discharge from Adjutant General Edward D. Townsend, dated January 17.

Lincoln's note is dated 6 August 1862. The last document on the document, initialed by Edward Townsend, is dated January 17, [1863].

Lincoln, Abraham, 1809-1865
Todd, John Blair Smith, 1814-1872
Foote, Obed, fl. 1862
Townsend, Justus, fl. 1862
Townsend, E. D. (Edward Davis), 1817-1893

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