To John B. Majors1Jump to section
St. Joseph, Mo. Washington, Dec. 22, 1864.
Postpone the execution of Higswith, Holland & Way, for twenty days. A. LINCOLN
Annotation
[1] ALS, DNA WR RG 107, Presidential Telegrams, I, 266. Captain John B. Majors of the Forty-third Missouri Regiment was senior officer at St. Joseph. On December 22, Brigadier General James Craig of the Enrolled Missouri Militia, telegraphed Lincoln from St. Joseph: ``I respectfully & earnestly recommend that the execution of Higswith Holland & Utz sentenced to be hung tomorrow in this city be postponed for twenty (20) days'' (DLC-RTL). Lincoln misread ``Utz'' as ``Way.'' A further error seems to have been made in transmitting the telegram, for the name ``Higswith'' is an error for ``Highsmith.'' Concerning the cases of James P. Holland, John H. Utz, and Henry W. Highsmith, see Lincoln's further telegram to Majors, January 9, and his endorsement to Joseph Holt, January 11, 1865, infra.