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The officer whose duty it would be to execute John S. Young, upon a sentence of death for murder &c, is hereby ordered to suspend such execution until further order from me. A. LINCOLN
[1] ALS, DNA WR RG 107, Presidential Telegrams, I, 134. On August 17, 1864, Governor Johnson telegraphed Lincoln:
``John S. Young was tried some time since . . . by a military commission & found guilty of murder &c. sentenced to be hanged. . . . on Friday the 26th inst. I have not had an opportunity to examine the evidence in the case. Gen'l Thomas['] Judge Advocate informs me that . . . the proof does not show that he was personally involved in the murder but with a gang a portion of whom committed it. he is a very young man and was influenced to enter the Rebel army by others. . . . he is not more than one or two degrees removed from idiocy. . . . I would recommend . . . that the punishment . . . be commuted to . . . imprisonment . . . during his natural life. if the President does not commute the punishment I hope he will grant short respite if the punishment is commuted I hope the President will send the order to me so that it may be held up to the very last moment of time before his execution believing it will have a good moral effect & placing his numerous friends under deep obligations to the President . . . for having saved his life in the very last moment of time.'' (DLC-RTL).
See further Lincoln's communication to Mrs. Mary M. Baldwin, August 24, infra.