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.

Ed Donahue

James Stewart as Charles Lindbergh in Spirit of St. Louis (1957)

James Maitland Stewart (May 20, 1908 – July 2, 1997)

Stewart starred in many films widely considered classics and was
nominated for five Academy Awards, winning one in competition
and receiving one Lifetime Achievement award. He was a major
MGM contract star. He also had a noted military career and was
a World War II and Cold War veteran, who rose to the rank of
Brigadier General in the United States Air Force Reserve.

General Stewart

1952

T. E. Lawrence in 1900

    Thomas Edward Lawrence (August 16, 1888 – May 19, 1935)

    T. E. Lawrence was a British Army officer known for his liaison role 
during the Sinai and Palestine Campaign and the Arab Revolt against 
Ottoman Turkish rule of 1916–1918. The extent and variety of his 
activities and associations, and his vivid description of them in writing,
earned him international fame as Lawrence of Arabia, a title which 
was used for the 1962 film (Lawrence of Arabia) based on his World
War I activities starring Peter O’Toole. Lawrence was fatally injured
in a motorbike crash in Dorset.