The Compassion of Abraham Lincoln: In a Letter to his Judge Advocate General, He Directly Intervenes to Reinstate an Officer Who Had Been Dismissed From the Army for Being Derelict of Duty and Breaching Arrest

A powerful letter showing Lincoln’s direct involvement with the chief judicial military officer, showing the merciful Lincoln at work, and showing his prioritizing retaining experienced veterans in the service

The Judge Advocate General of the United States Army is the senior officer of the Judge Advocate General’s Corps of the United States Army. The position was abolished but then reinstated in 1849. In 1862, Lincoln appointed his first Judge Advocate General, Joseph Holt, only the second since 1783. He named Joseph Holt. Holt joined the Army as a colonel in 1862. As Judge Advocate General of the Army, Holt oversaw the expansion of military law to include the military prosecutions of citizens who were not in the military service. By the time he joined the Army, he believed that the only means to prevent treason from occurring again was to ensure that slavery was abolished for all time, and eventually equal treatment under the law enforced in the South.

At the beginning of the Civil War, Joseph Carbery Lay had an office in Washington, D. C., as an agent for the transaction of all kinds of business, including procuring patents, pensions, back pay, purchase and sale of real estate, writing of deeds, releases and other instruments regarding settlement of accounts with and claims against the Government.

He quickly enlisted in the 12th Infantry Regiment of the Regular Army as a lieutenant. During the Peninsula Campaign in the spring of 1862, the 12th Infantry distinguished itself in its first combat action at the Battle of Gaines Mill in June 1862, while sustaining fifty percent casualties. Lay was a captain at that time.

Captain Joseph Carbery Lay was cashiered – dismissed – from the Army on July 21, 1862, for being drunk on duty and breach of arrest. Lay felt that an injustice had been done, and wanted the dismissal revoked. In 1863, the matter came to the attention of President Lincoln, who insisted on seeing the record of the case. He was always anxious to prevent injustice from being done, and even a case in which alleged drunkenness was involved was not beneath his notice.

Autograph letter signed, as President, on Executive Mansion letterhead, Washington, September 1, 1863, to the Judge Advocate General, insisting that he receive the records in Lay’s case. “Sir: I am told that Carbery Lay, a Captain in the 12th. Regular Infantry, has been dismissed by a Court-Martial. Please get the record, and examine the case & report to me. Yours truly, A. Lincoln.”

Lincoln prioritized retaining experienced veterans in the service, and sided with Lay, as is indicated by the fact that Lay was reinstated by being appointed a lieutenant in the Seventeenth Infantry on October 30, 1863, less than two months after this letter. While Lay was serving in that unit in 1863, it was present in engagements at Rappahannock Station and on Mine Run, and marched with it until going into winter camp. In 1864 the regiment took part in the Wilderness Campaign and the operations before Petersburg, inscribing on its colors Laurel Hill, North Anna, Bethesda Church, Cold Harbor and Petersburg; while its records show in addition that it was also engaged at Spotsylvania Court House, and the battle of the Wilderness.

Lay’s problems were not over, however, as in June 1864, he was accused of having returned to his home in Washington without leave. He came back to base soon after and made a statement that he had been ill and sent to hospital and then had a difficult time rejoining his regiment. Perhaps to avoid disciplinary action, he resigned from the Army a few months later on September 12, 1864.

Over the years, we’ve had just a handful of letters showing the kindly, merciful Lincoln at work and none to Holt.