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The Papers and Writings of Abraham Lincoln, Complete

Volume 6 — ON EXECUTING 300 INDIANS

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LETTER TO JUDGE-ADVOCATE-GENERAL.

EXECUTIVE MANSION, WASHINGTON, December 1, 1862.

JUDGE-ADVOCATE-GENERAL.

SIR:—Three hundred Indians have been sentenced to death in Minnesota by a military commission, and execution only awaits my action. I wish your legal opinion whether if I should conclude to execute only a part of them, I must myself designate which, or could I leave the designation to some officer on the ground?

Yours very truly,

A. LINCOLN.

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