Annotation
[1] Charles B. Boynton, History of the Great Western Sanitary Fair (1864), p. 183. The source also prints a letter from Defrees, December 15, transmitting Lincoln's note as an autograph to be sold at the Fair, which reads in part as follows: ``A poor girl in the employment of the Government printing-office had a brother impressed into the rebel service, and was taken prisoner by our forces. He desired to take the oath of allegiance, and to be liberated. She sought an interview with the President, who wrote the note, asking me to inquire into the facts, which I did, and the young man was liberated on the President's order.'' The girl has not been identified.