Abraham Lincoln and the Army discharge note (inset)

(FoxNews) – A hastily scrawled note by President Abraham Lincoln just two months
before his assassination ordering a disabled 14-year-old boy released from the
Army in response to an impassioned plea from the boy’s father went on sale
today in Philadelphia.

The message saying “Let this boy be discharged,” and signed A. Lincoln was 
written on a telegram from Col. Thomas W. Harris about his son, Perry. It had
been in a private collection and was valued at $15,000 by Nathan Raab of the
Raab Collection, which offered the previously unknown document for sale. 

The letter is considered rare because there are few Lincoln documents relating
to children.

Lincoln’s order came just two months before he was assassinated by John Wilkes
Booth at Ford’s Theatre on April 15, 1865. Ironically, Perry Harris was discharged
from the Army the same day.