Presidents Day: Newly discovered Washington, Lincoln letters delve into pardon power, clemency
Fox News
Just in time for Presidents Day, letters from George Washington and Abraham Lincoln showcasing power during wartime with acts of mercy and clemency are up for sale.
Washington’s letter, valued at $55,000, was written in 1783 to one of his first spy chiefs in the Revolutionary War, ordering the release of one of the war’s last and most consequential POWs. Washington wrote: "Sir: I have the pleasure to congratulate you on your late Promotion to the rank of Brigadier General which took place in Congress the 7th Instant. Your Commission arrived here yesterday and I shall keep it till I can have the pleasure to deliver it to you in person, which I must request may be as soon as possible, and that you come prepared to remain with your Brigade the remainder of the Winter. If Captain Schaack is not yet gone to New York, I must desire you to take measures to oblige him to go in." Washington ordered Elias Dayton on Jan. 15, 1783, to release Schaack into New York, then occupied by the British.
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