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The Report of the Judge Advocate General is approved & as in the state of the pleadings & in the absence of proof the court was not warranted in finding the prisoner guilty of desertion, & as he
has confessed himself guilty of absence without leave only, it is ordered that the death sentence be commuted to confinement at hard labor for six-months from this date. A. LINCOLN
Oct. 10. 1863
[1] DS, ORB. The signature and date are in Lincoln's autograph. Since this document has been removed from the papers with which it was originally filed, there is no clue to the case.