Discovery at the National Archives
Archivist of the United States David Ferriero announced today that Thomas Lowry, a long-time researcher and Lincoln expert, confessed to altering a Lincoln document owned by the Archives. According to the press release, about a dozen years ago, Lowry brought in a fountain pen containing pigment-based ink and changed the year on a presidential pardon from 1864 to 1865. "Lowry was then able to claim that this pardon was of significant
historical relevance because it could be considered one of, if not the
final official act by President Lincoln before his assassination."
Close up of the Lincoln pardon for Patrick Murphy, a Civil War soldier in
the Union Army, showing the
date change. Records of the Judge Advocate General (Army) National Archives.
Conservators at the National Archives will now assess whether the original date can be restored.
