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She lives now at No. 15 Dover-street Place.
Each of her sons, by his good conduct, had been made a sergeant.
The letter of
Mr. Newhall and the report of the
Adjutant-General were sent by the
Governor to the
Secretary of War, with this indorsement on the back of one of them:—
I send these copies: 1st, The letter of Mr. Otis Newhall, of Lynn, Mass., father of five sons, all of whom entered the Union army,—one of whom was killed, one of whom is a prisoner held by the rebels, two of whom are at the front,—asking the discharge of the fifth son, who has once been wounded.
Under the circumstances, I think that an exercise of the power to discharge at discretion would do good, and be a grateful recognition of the claims of a patriotic family.
2d, A report to me by the Adjutant-General of Massachusetts on this case, in which he mentions the case of a widow, Mrs. Bixby, who sent five sons, all of whom have recently been killed.
This is a case so remarkable, that I really wish a letter might be written her by the President of the United States, taking notice of a noble mother of five dead heroes so well deserved.
We will only add that the son of
Mr. Newhall was discharged, and that
President Lincoln wrote
Mrs. Bixby a letter full of sympathy and deep feeling, which we had the pleasure of placing in her hands.
On the 10th of October, the
Governor wrote to the
President that the newspapers announced that
Private Alfred C. Lawrence, Sixteenth Massachusetts Infantry, had been sentenced to be hanged for desertion, and that
General Meade had approved the sentence.
The Governor writes,—
This man's family has long been in pursuit of him, and get first intelligence of him as above.
They assure me that he is partially insane, having always been of that tendency, and formerly in the Worcester Insane Hospital.
I pray you delay execution to permit investigation and new evidence.
This young man's relatives lived in
Charlestown; and it appears by the following letter to them by the
Governor, dated Nov. 2, that he was pardoned:—
I have the pleasure to forward to you the inclosed copy of Special Order No. 373 of the War Department, announcing the pardon, by the
