To Edwin M. Stanton1Jump to section
Today Mrs. Elizabeth J. Platt calls and states that she is a widow, and at the beginning of the war had two sons only, both whom entered the army, and the eldest was mortally wounded at Gettysburgh, and afterwards died; that the younger Edwin F. Platt, of Co. F. 7 New Jersey Vols. was made a prisoner at same battle, but by parole or exchange is now at Annapolis Md. She says he was under sixteen when he entered the service and is now only a trifle over eighteen and is in feeble health. She says he and his brother were in all the battles of their Regiment.
She now asks his discharge and if Hon. Daniel S. Gregory will say in writing on this sheet, that he personally knows Mrs. Platt and that he fully believes this statement, I will allow the discharge upon the papers so indorsed being presented to me.
A. LINCOLN
Let Edwin F. Platt, named in my note on the other half of this sheet, be discharged. A. LINCOLN
Oct. 21, 1863
Annotation
[1] Copy, ISLA. On Lincoln's note Daniel S. Gregory endorsed:
``The representation of Mrs. Platt as set forth in the accompanying statement is correct, excepting one particular which the President mis-understood, but it does not detract from the merits of the case. She has another son, now in France. Her husband I knew personally as a worthy man whose funeral I attended six years ago, and the family have been residents in this place more than a quarter of a century. D. S. GREGORY
``Jersey City, Oct. 20, 1863''
The roster of Company F, Seventh New Jersey Volunteers lists Charles F. Platt, died July 24, 1863, at Jersey City, of wounds received at Gettysburg, and Edwin F. Platt, discharged for disability, November 2, 1863.