Updated January 28, 2011
Since 1998, historians had believed that President Abraham Lincoln's final official act had been to grant a presidential pardon to a Patrick Murphy, a Union Army soldier who had been court-martialed for desertion during the Civil War. Now it turns out that the historians had been deceived by one of their own.On January 24, 2011, Archivist of the United States David S. Ferriero announced that noted Abraham Lincoln researcher Thomas Lowry had confessed to altering the date shown the Murphy pardon - written in Lincoln's own hand - to make it appear it had been issued on April 14, 1865, the same day Lincoln was assassinated by John Wilkes Booth. In fact, the pardon had been issued one year earlier, on April 14, 1864.
National Archives officials were tipped off to the alteration by archivist Trevor Plante who reported that the "5" in the year 1845 appeared to be written in a darker shade of ink than the rest of the date and that another number appeared to be written under the "5". Upon investigation, Archivist Mitchell Yockelson of the Inspector General's Archival Recovery Team (ART) confirmed Plante's suspicions.
Ironically, the National Archives first contacted Thomas Lowry himself for help in verifying the authenticity of the Murphy pardon. According to the Archives Inspector General, Lowery initially responded, but cut off communications after learning the details of the investigation.
On January 12, 2011, Lowry admitted to changing the date on the Murphy pardon in order to make the document appear to be one of Lincoln's last official acts as president, thus greatly inflating its historic significance. According to Lowry's confession, he brought a fountain pen into a National Archives research room - a violation of the Archives regulations - and used a special fade-proof ink to change the date.
Since the forgery in 1998, the Murphy pardon has been displayed in the Charters of Freedom exhibit in the National Archives, with Lowry receiving nationwide acclaim for his "discovery."
"I am very grateful to Archives staff member Trevor Plante and the Office of the Inspector General for their hard work in uncovering this criminal intention to rewrite history," said National Archivist Ferriero. "The Inspector General's Archival Recovery Team has proven once again its importance in contributing to our shared commitment to secure the nation's historical record."
Ferriero stated that the Archives' conservators would examine the Murphy pardon to determine if the original date of 1864 could be restored by removing Lowry's forged "5".
While the statute of limitations on Lowry's violation of federal law (18 U.S.C. § 2071) has run out, thus preventing his prosecution, he has been permanently banned from all National Archives facilities.
