President Lincoln hated blood because it reminded him of the long on-going war. During this recent week, with his commuting of the death sentence of an Ohio soldiers for deserting, the president wrote "I did this, not on any merit in the case, but because I am trying to evade the butchering business lately."
In that same nature of the president, he recently gave the father of a Union soldier condemned to death a note saying his son was "not to be shot until further orders from me." The father argued that he was asking for a commutation and that the president could surely change his mind and have his son shot the next week. Mr. Lincoln replied "well, my old friend, I see you are not very well acquainted with me. If your son never looks on death till further orders come from me to shoot him, he will live to be a great deal older than Methuselah."
He also asked Naval Admiral John Dahlgren to meet with Captain Lavender of New York in reference to an idea Lavender had which would aid Union ships by removing under water obstructions from the paths of Naval vessels.
Two treaties with Indian tribes, the Shoshonee Nation of Indians and the Chippewa tribe, were delivered to Congress this week.
Mr. Lincoln also suggested that the nation mourn the recent death of his former Secretary of the Interior, Caleb Smith by draping the executive buildings in Washington in black bunting for fourteen days.
Great story about Lincoln!
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