ANS as president signed “A. Lincoln,” one page, 3.25 x 2, February 17, 1865. In full: “Allow Mrs. J. K. Dougherty of Clay County, Mo. to remain in New Jersey so long as she does not misbehave.” In fine condition, with a few small stains. The woman who received this pass was likely the widow of John Kerr Dougherty, nee Irene F. Reed. Her husband had been a sergeant in the Confederacy’s 3rd Missouri Infantry and was part of the charge by General Cockrell's brigade at the Battle of Tennessee, where he was killed near the breastworks. Attending to this matter—a grieving, perhaps enraged widow—was one of many important subjects President Lincoln attended to on February 17th; he also agreed to support the release of Roger A. Pryor, a former congressman from Virginia held as a prisoner of war; considered the case of the spy John Y. Beall, whose death sentence was upheld; and signed the Army commission for his eldest son, Robert Todd Lincoln. Penned amidst a nation’s turmoil and the stresses of the highest office, this is an immensely desirable handwritten presidential note. Pre-certified PSA/DNA.
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