Annotation
[1] AES, DLC-RTL. Lincoln's endorsement is written on an affidavit of Mary Sheffield, Brooklyn, New York, April 28, 1864, that her husband Alonzo Sheffield had enlisted in the Fifty-first New York Volunteers on August 21, 1861, while intoxicated, that he had left the regiment after two months to return to his business and had never concealed himself until arrested as a deserter on April 1, 1864, and that he was the sole support of his family. On May 16, Colonel Daniel T. Van Buren, assistant adjutant general, Department of the East, enclosed papers in the case to General John A. Dix, who forwarded them to Lincoln with the following endorsement: ``Respectfully forwarded with the request that the attention of the President . . . may be called to the case for the purpose of suggesting that his interposition, on the ex parte representations of interested persons, in cases of military crime, is almost always hazardous. In this case the soldier, whom he ordered discharged, while laboring under the charge of desertion, deserted a second time; but the substitute having been provided, it was not deemed proper to suspend the President's order & ask a reconsideration. But it is respectfully suggested that in all future cases, reference may be made to the Comg. Genl. of the Dept. for a report before any final action is taken.'' (DLC-RTL).