Lincoln, Abraham | A contingency stay of execution for a fellow Kentuckian

Lincoln, Abraham

Autograph letter signed ("A. Lincoln") as sixteenth president, to Major General Alvin P. Hovey, "or whoever may have charge at the proper time," concerning the potential execution of John B. Castleman

One page (255 x 202 mm) on a bifolium of blue-ruled Executive Mansion letterhead (watermarked B & P Lawrence | Kent Made), Washington, D.C., 29 November 1864; edges browned, tiny central ink blot, short fold separations, the leaves separated at central fold, verso of integral blank severely browned from acidic framing, long fold separations to integral blank. Framed and glazed.

A brief but significant example of President Lincoln's clemency. John Breckinridge Castleman (1841–1918) was a Confederate officer, who—in a reversal of the standard military progression of the day—later became a United States Army brigadier general. While a captain under General John Hunt Morgan's guerilla command, Castleman conspired with the so-called Sons of Liberty to liberate Camp Douglas, a vast Union POW camp near Chicago, during the Democrat presidential convention at Chicago in August 1864. Private detectives learned of the plot, and its ringleaders, including Castleman, were arrested. 

Charged as a spy, Castleman was confined, in turn, at Camp Morton, Point Lookout, and the Old Capitol Prison in Washington, D.C., before being returned to General Hovey's command to stand trial. Castleman was, in fact, never tried, but exiled, likely on private orders from Lincoln. "According to an article accompanying the facsimile published in the Louisville Post, Lincoln gave his order of November 29 to Judge Samuel M. Breckinridge, of St. Louis, Missouri, whose wife was Virginia Castleman, sister of John B. Castleman, with the comment, 'Sam, this is for you and Virginia, entrusted in confidence, with the condition that its existence shall not be known unless the emergency arises for which this letter provides.' Castleman's banishment lasted for eighteen months, and he never knew of Lincoln's order until the original was given to him by his brother-in-law fifteen years later" (Basler, 5:123 note). [Castleman's autobiography, Active Service, states that he received the letter thirteen years after it was written.]

The order directed to General Hovey but given to Samuel Breckinridge—at a meeting with Lincoln in the White House, according to Castleman's memoir and confirmed by Lincoln Day by Day—reads, "Whenever John B. Castleman shall be tried, if convicted, suspend execution until further order from me, and send me the record."

During his exile, which ended when he was pardoned by President Andrew Johnson, Castleman studied medicine in France. Returning to Kentucky, he revived the Louisville militia, which served in the Spanish–American War as the 1st Kentucky Volunteers. Castleman was commissioned a colonel in the U.S. Army and after the war he was promoted to brigadier general and served as military governor of Puerto Rico.

Castleman's legacy in Louisville is controversial, and he has both detractors and advocates. A non-military equestrian statue of him (which he immodestly had a hand in installing in 1913) was removed from Cherokee Triangle near the entrance to Cherokee Park in 2020; its ultimate disposition is still being debated. Also still debated are the sincerity of his "repentance of a mistake" in espousing the Confederacy; his role in segregating Louisville's park system; and the advocacy of racial justice of his later years. In a letter to the Louisville Journal-Courier following Castleman's death, the African-American educator African American educator and community member J. Raymond Harris wrote that although "Gen. Castleman gave the vigor and strength of his early manhood to 'The Cause,' which, had it been triumphant, would have delayed the unshackling of 3,000,000 human being, yet no hero on the other side ever held so high a niche in the hearts and minds of colored Kentuckians" (issue of 26 May 1918, p. 19). More recently in the Courier Journal, Kentucky State Historian and former Georgetown College professor John C. Klotter gave this assessment of Castleman: "My basic view is that by the last decades of his life, he was a moderate Democrat, at a time when that party was transitioning from being the most conservative of the two parties. That meant that he was not an advocate of black rights particularly, but also favored fair play for African Americans. He took some stands that angered some white Kentuckians on race, but others that were more in tune with the age" (https://www.courier-journal.com/in-depth/news/local/2019/07/24/should-john-castlemans-statue-come-down-in-louisville-kentucky/1674586001/).

REFERENCES

Collected Works of Abraham Lincoln, ed. Basler, 8:123 (text taken from a facsimile printed in the 4 September 1916 issue of the Louisville, Kentucky, Post; original not located); cf. Castleman, Active Service (Louisville, 1917), pp. 176–179

PROVENANCE

Samuel M. Breckinridge (given to him by President Lincoln to be used as necessary) — John B. Castleman (given by his brother-in-law, ca. 1877) — Louise Castleman Railey (bequest of her father) — Speed Museum


Provenance:Property Sold to Benefit the Acquisition Fund of the Speed Museum