Ebenezer Rockwood Hoar to John A. Rawlins, 3 June 1869

June 3, 1869. Hon. John A. Rawlins, Secretary of War. Sir: Your letter of March 13, 1869, concerning "the case of Henry Moyatt, a soldier tried by military commission in the late Third Military District, on a charge of murder, and still held in confinement, awaiting the action of the Executive upon his sentence,"— and your letter of May 4, 1869, again calling my attention to the same case, were received, and have been considered. Without going at large into the important and difficult questions which may arise upon the case, I think it sufficient to express my decided opinion that, upon the facts appearing in the record, and upon the suggestions made in the Report, of the Judge Advocate Gen'l. of April 17, 1869, which has been also laid before me, it is expedient that the sentence passed upon Moyatt should be remitted by the President, and that he should be discharged from military custody. Trusting that this expression of opinion may be found all that the case requires, I return the papers submitted to me—& have the honer to be, Very Respectfully, &c. E. R. Hoar, Attorney General