To William S. Rosecrans [1]

Office U.S. Military Telegraph,
Major General Rosecrans War Department,
St. Louis, Mo. Washington, D.C., Nov. 10 1864.

Suspend execution of Major Wolf until further order, & meanwhile, report to me on the case. A. LINCOLN

Annotation

[1] ALS, DNA WR RG 107, Presidential Telegrams, I, 234. On November 10, 1864, Lincoln received telegrams from James E. Yeatman, Able Barton, and P. L. Terry, of St. Louis, Missouri, asking clemency in the case of Major Enoch O. Wolf (DLC-RTL). Wolf was one of seven Confederates held as hostages to be shot in retaliation for the murder by Confederate guerrilla Colonel Timothy Reeves of Major James Wilson and six Union soldiers, all of the Third Missouri State Cavalry. Six Confederate soldiers had already been shot on October 29 in retaliation for the Union men murdered with Wilson. On November 7, Department of the Missouri, Special Orders No. 287, ordered that Wolf be shot on November 11, in retaliation for the murder of Major Wilson. On November 10, Rosecrans acknowledged receipt of Lincoln's telegram, and on November 11 wrote a detailed report covering the essential facts as given above (DLC-RTL). See further Lincoln to Rosecrans, November 19, infra.

https://quod.lib.umich.edu/l/lincoln/lincoln8/1:220?rgn=div1;view=fulltext