The Walt Whitman Archive
In Whitman's Hand
Scribal Documents
About this Item
Title: Amos T. Akerman to George W. Ashburn, 1 November 1871
Date: November 1, 1871
Whitman Archive ID: nar.02545
Source: National Archives and Records Administration. Transcribed from digital images or a microfilm reproduction of the original item. For a description of the editorial rationale behind our treatment of the correspondence, see our statement of editorial policy.
Contributors to digital file: Elizabeth Lorang, John Schwaninger, Anthony Dreesen, and Melanie Krupa
 image 1 |  image 2 |
November 1, 1871.
Mr. Geo. W. Ashburn,
Sir:
I have received your letter of the 6th of October. On account of your family, I should be delighted to be able to favor your release. But in official action I am bound by public considerations; and I have not been able to see how you can be released except upon a principle that would work serious detriment to the public service. The best atonement which you can make for the serious error in which you fell, is a submissive suffering of the sentence—with a hearty resolution to act uprightly in the future.
Respectfully, &c.
A. T. Akerman,
Attorney General.
declining pardon