Annotation
[1] AD, CSmH. Lamon wrote the letter (dated December 16, 1861), following Lincoln's draft, but added two polite closing sentences (DNA RG 46, Senate Communications on District of Columbia, Thirty-seventh Congress, Second Session). The Senate resolution of December 9 had directed Marshall Lamon ``to inform the Senate by what authority he receives slaves into the jail of the District at the request of their masters and holds them in confinement until discharged by their masters.'' Bills introduced in the Senate to appoint a warden of the District jail (February 12, 1862) and to abolish the office of marshal and create the office of sheriff (May 8, 1862) were obviously aimed at Lamon. The first of these contained an amendment (February 14) as follows: ``That whenever the marshal or other officer. . . shall commit any person to said jail, he shall leave with said warden a certified copy of the precept by which said person was committed; and no person shall be committed. . . unless by virtue of some process or order from some magistrate. . . .'' (Senate Journal, p. 210). Both bills failed to become law.