Annotation
[1] D, DNA WR RG 107, Presidential Telegrams, I, 313. This telegram is signed by Nicolay but not by Lincoln. General George Cadwalader replied on the same day: ``Your telegram of this date suspending execution . . . of John Murphy ordered for February tenth next until further orders is received. The record of his trial was forwarded yesterday by mail to the Dept.'' (DLC-RTL).
Not the same John Murphy about whom Lincoln telegraphed General Meade on October 8 and 12, 1863, Private John Murphy, an unassigned substitute, had been sentenced to be shot for desertion. Appeals from his wife and others were endorsed by Lincoln: ``Sentence commuted to hard labor during the war. Jan. 25. 1865. A. LINCOLN.'' (DNA WR RG 153, Judge Advocate General, NN 3237; AGO Special Orders No. 68, February 11, 1865). No record of further action by Lincoln has been found.