“On one occasion, the Sanitary Commission of New York sent Tad (Lincoln) a soldier doll, which he named ‘Jack.’ The doll was dressed in Zouave uniform. Sadly, Jack had unfortunate character traits, causing the boys to have to frequently court-martial him- for sleeping at his post, or desertion, or some other crime- always sentencing him to be shot at sunrise. Tad, with his toy cannon, would act as firing squad. Afterward the dishonored Jack would be buried, undeservedly, with full military honors, in the White House rose garden.
One day, Julia (Taft, friend of the Lincoln’s children) was in Mrs. Lincoln’s room when ‘a strange and dreadful sound came through the window.’
‘What is that noise, Julia?’ Mrs. Lincoln asked her.
‘It’s probably the “dead march,”’ Julia answered. ‘I suppose the boys are burying Jack again.’
Mrs. Lincoln told Julia to hurry out and tell the boys to cease, as it would kill the roses. She obeyed, even though she knew that previous warnings hadn’t worked. Outside, Julia found a band of ‘a broken-down fiddle, a dented horn, a paper over a comb, and Tad’s drum.’ The irate gardener, Major Watt, arrived on the scene. Desperate for the survival of his precious roses, inspiration came to him: ‘Why don’t you boys get Jack pardoned?’
The boys felt this was a capital idea, and ran upstairs, Julia vainly trying to keep them from interrupting the president. John hay had no better luck stopping them. Hearing all the commotion outside his office, Lincoln came out to see what the trouble was. After hearing Tad’s request, the president told Tad that pardons weren’t granted without a hearing, and it was up to them to tell him why Jack deserved a pardon.
Tad characteristically delivered his argument in a rush of words. Almost everyday, he said, they tried Jack for being a spy or deserter or something and then they shot him and buried him and Julia said it spoiled his clothes and Major Watt said it dug up his roses so they thought they should get Pa to fix up a pardon.
The president considered these facts with due gravity and then told Tad he thought he’d made a case. It was a good law, he said, that no man shall twice be put in jeopardy of his life for the same offense. Since Jack had been shot and buried a dozen times, he was entitled to a pardon. He turned to his desk, on which so many pardons were to be signed, and wrote on his official paper: ‘The Doll Jack is pardoned by order of the President A. Lincoln.’
And so poor Jack was saved from execution. However, it is sad to relate that even the presidential pardon failed to reform the incorrigible Jack. In less than a week, he was again convicted of being a spy. This time, however, they decided he should be hanged from a tree in the Taft garden.”
Ruth Painter Randall, Lincoln’s Sons
