Across decades, there apparently lies a link that ties together the current US President Joe Biden and Abraham Lincoln, the US president known for granting freedom to slaves. Recently uncovered documents show that Lincoln pardoned the great-great-grandfather of Biden. For what? Read on to know.
A pardon
The records from a court martial, held in the US National Archives and reported by the Washington Post, describe the trial of Moses J. Robinette, President Biden’s great-great-grandfather. He was accused of attempted murder following a late-night altercation with John J. Alexander, a fellow civilian employee of the Union Army, on March 21, 1864, at the Army of the Potomac’s winter camp in Virginia.
The incident reportedly occurred when Alexander overheard Robinette saying something about him to a cook and confronted him. A scuffle ensued, during which Robinette drew his pocketknife, inflicting several cuts on Alexander before others intervened.
Robinette, a 42-year-old veterinary surgeon hired by the army, argued that he acted in self-defence, fearing serious injury from Alexander, who was much stronger and larger.
He insisted that Alexander “possibly might have injured me seriously had I not resorted to the means I did.”
Despite his plea, Robinette was convicted by military judges and sentenced to two years of hard labour. However, three army officers petitioned Lincoln to reconsider, citing the harshness of the sentence and Robinette’s circumstances. They said he was defending himself against someone “much his superior in strength and size.”
Lincoln reviewed the case and granted a pardon on September 1 of the same year, overturning Robinette’s conviction.
Historical revelation
Historian David J. Gerleman, in the Washington Post, noted that this story had remained untold for more than a century. It “has waited 160 years to be told,” he writes.
He highlighted the significance of the 22-page transcript of Robinette’s trial. The “slender sheaf of 22 well-preserved pages of his trial transcript, unobtrusively squeezed among many hundreds of other routine court-martial cases in the National Archives, reveals the hidden link between the two men — and between two presidents across the centuries.”
“Those few pages not only fill in an unknown piece of Biden family history but also serve as a reminder of just how many Civil War stories have yet to be told,” he added.
(With inputs from agencies)
