During the afternoon preceding his assassination the President signed a
pardon for a soldier sentenced to be shot for desertion, remarking as
he did so, “Well, I think the boy can do us more good above ground than
under ground.”
He also approved an application for the discharge, on taking the oath of
allegiance, of a rebel prisoner, in whose petition he wrote, “Let it be
done.”
This act of mercy was his last official order.