President Abraham Lincoln Refused To Kill Innocent Confederate Prisoners For Crimes Committed By Other People

President Abraham Lincoln Refused To Kill Innocent Confederate Prisoners
For Crimes Committed By Other People

A Service Of LoveAllPeople.org
Rev. Bill McGinnis, Director

HTML version of this page, with full links is located at
http://loveallpeople.org/lincolnrefusedtokilltheinnocentforcrimesofotherpeople.html

BACKGROUND

The time was may, 1864, toward the end of the United States Civil War. The
Union Army
was heading toward the Confederate capital at Richmond, Virginia .
. .

THE INCIDENT - President Lincoln said he could not kill the innocent for
the guilty.

There were serious questions, too, to be decided about negro soldiers, for
the South had raised a mighty outcry against the Emancipation
Proclamation, especially against the use of the freed slaves as soldiers,
vowing that white officers of negro troops would be shown small mercy, if
ever they were taken prisoners. No act of such vengeance occurred, but in
1864 a fort manned by colored soldiers was captured by the Confederates,
and almost the entire garrison was put to death. Must the order that the
War Department had issued some time earlier, to offset the Confederate
threats, now be put in force? The order said that for every negro prisoner
killed by the Confederates a Confederate prisoner in the hands of the
Union armies would be taken out and shot. It fell upon Mr. Lincoln to
decide. The idea seemed unbearable to him, yet, on the other hand, could
he afford to let the massacre go unavenged and thus encourage the South in
the belief that it could commit such barbarous acts and escape unharmed?
Two reasons finally decided him against putting the order in force. One
was that General Grant was about to start on his campaign against
Richmond, and that it would be most unwise to begin this by the tragic
spectacle of a military punishment, however merited. The other was his
tender-hearted humanity. He could not, he said, take men out and kill them
in cold blood for crimes committed by other men. If he could get hold of
the persons who were guilty of killing the colored prisoners in cold
blood, the case would be different; but he could not kill the innocent for
the guilty. Fortunately the offense was not repeated, and no one had cause
to criticize his clemency.

Source: This description was copied from pages 244-245 of the book: The
Boys' Life Of Abraham Lincoln, by Helen Nicolay, as digitized by Google
below:

HTML version of this page, with full links is located at
http://loveallpeople.org/lincolnrefusedtokilltheinnocentforcrimesofotherpeople.html

Please also see our HTML page devoted to this book, located at
http://www.loveallpeople.org/library/boyslifeofabrahamlincoln.html

Blessings to you. May God help us all.

Rev. Bill McGinnis, Director - LoveAllPeople.org

All of our original content on all of our web pages is in the Public
Domain. You may link to these pages by any means you choose, including
"framing."

Index of LoveAllPeople.org: - ETHICS & HUMAN RELATIONS - POLITICS & PUBLIC
AFFAIRS - CHRISTIAN - AUTOMOTIVE - LAW & LEGAL SERVICES - HEALTH & FITNESS
- PUBLISHING & CONSULTING - AFFILIATES & FEATURED PRODUCTS - SITE MAP -
CONTACT LINK

"Seeking The Greatest Good For The Greatest Number, With Basic Rights For
All."
Search all pages in The LoveAllPeople.org Network,
using the search box below . . .

For list of suggested searches, click => HERE!

See what we do => On The Web and Newsgroups-1 and Newsgroups-2.
To support us, please visit the advertisers appearing on our pages.

The advertising above is served automatically and independently by Google.

We are . . . http://www.LoveAllPeople.org
"Treat Others As You Would Like To Be Treated."