1864 Abraham Lincoln Presidential Letter
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GUEST:
Well, this letter has been a part of my life. It was in my home long before I was born. It was written in the Executive Mansion in Lincoln's own hand.
APPRAISER:
It's a letter written by Abraham Lincoln.
GUEST:
Written by Abraham Lincoln. Well, it was sent to the colonel of the 91st Division, and that was my great-great-uncle, and his brother was my great-grandfather. They were down in Brownsville, Texas, in the Civil War. David C. Edwards. This is what he wrote-- "If David C. Edwards "is in any trouble about desertion, "suspend action and report the facts to me. Yours, A. Lincoln." And that was written because his fiancé knew that this boy had deserted. Well, he was court-martialed, and he was supposed to be shot.
APPRAISER:
Which boy deserted?
GUEST:
It was a boy from Illinois. And his fiancé came out with him to Brownsville, Texas, when he entered the Army, and she was still there when this happened, I guess.
APPRAISER:
So her fiancé deserted
GUEST:
He deserted
APPRAISER:
The U.S. Army during the Civil War.
GUEST:
Yes. She waited until she heard that Lincoln was back in his office. She got on a train and went straight to Washington, walked right up to his office, walked in, and said, "Please, "my fiancé is a wonderful young man, "he loves his country. Please don't let them shoot him." He picked up his pen, and while she stood there, he wrote this letter. She took it back to my great-great-grandfather, and he was a colonel, and he... Of course, a letter from Lincoln like this, he's going to look at it. And he did, and the boy was not shot.
APPRAISER:
So the fiancé got on the train from Brownsville, Texas,
GUEST:
Yeah
APPRAISER:
all the way to the nation's capital
GUEST:
Right
APPRAISER:
during the height of the Civil War in order to save her fiancé's life.
GUEST:
Yes.
APPRAISER:
You have a carte de visite, 1860s-era photograph of the family members, some Confederate money and U.S. money, and an engraving of the Lincoln family itself. I've certainly seen a lot of Lincoln letters over the years.
GUEST:
And you've seen them similar to this?
APPRAISER:
No. I don't seem them in the marketplace much at all.
GUEST:
Really!
APPRAISER:
And it's been in your family continuously since the Civil War.
GUEST:
Always, that's right.
APPRAISER:
I find the content of the letter extraordinary. I think it really brings to life who the man and the president Abraham Lincoln was. I would appraise the letter at... retail value, at between $10 to $12,000.
GUEST:
Oh, my goodness. Well, I think the opening of his heart is of even more consequence than how much it's worth.
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