Annotation
[1] Copy and AES, DLC-RTL. The original opinion written by Lincoln has not been located. The endorsement of August 18, 1864, is in Lincoln's autograph on the back of the copy. Gates wrote to Lincoln, September 28, 1861, `` . . . I received your confirmation of your first opinion . . . and presented it with the first opinion to the Pay Master General and demanded a restoration of the money stopped out of my pay for the month of August last---which he declined . . . without an order from the War Depart. . . . '' (DCL-RTL). The twentieth section of the law referred to stipulated that officers when absent from duty more than six months should not receive allowances for servants, forage, etc.
[2] Bates was leaving Washington when Lincoln's communication arrived, and J. Hubley Ashton, assistant attorney general, answered August 26, 1864, ``The view expressed by your Excellency . . . is a perfectly sound one. . . . '' (Ibid.). Whether Gates was ever able to collect has not been determined.