Abraham Lincoln Revisionist and pro-Northern Bias at National Archives
Forged, Fabricated, and Falsified: The Date Change Document!
Press Release January 24, 2011
Washington, DC
Well-known pro-Lincoln revisionist and pro-Union author Thomas Lowry,
while at the National Archives, confesses to altering Lincoln document. Altering is a nice way of saying that Lowry took
a primary document that had been preserved for 150 years and destroyed it.
National Archives discovers "Date Change on Lincoln Record," and long-time
Lincoln researcher and well-known author and pro-Northerner, Thomas P. Lowry, plead guilty.
Archivist of the United States, David S. Ferriero, announced today that
Thomas Lowry, a long-time Lincoln researcher from Woodbridge, VA, confessed on January 12, 2011, to altering an Abraham Lincoln
Presidential pardon that is part of the permanent records of the U.S. National Archives. The pardon was for Patrick Murphy,
a Civil War soldier in the Union Army who was court-martialed for desertion.
Lincoln revisionist Lowry admitted to changing the date of Murphy’s
pardon, written in Lincoln’s hand, from April 14, 1864, to April 14, 1865, the day John Wilkes Booth assassinated Lincoln at Ford’s Theatre in Washington, DC. Having changed the year from 1864 to 1865,
Lowry was then able to claim that this pardon was of significant historical relevance because it could be considered one,
if not the final, official act by President Lincoln before his assassination.
Forger Thomas P. Lowry (aka
Mr. Fraud) spent 10 years in the Archives, 5 days a week, accessing and reading the hand-written records. How many additional
documents did Lowry forge, fabricate, falsify, and destroy? The answer will most likely never be known. But, one thing is
certain, the winner really does write the history - even when it's a blatant lie.
(See also What Caused the Civil War? pro-Lincoln Revisionist James McPherson
v. President Abraham Lincoln.)
When you find one roach, you don't have to look too far to find more.
The matter was referred to the Department of Justice for criminal prosecution; however the Department of
Justice informed the National Archives that the statute of limitations had expired, and therefore Lowry could not be prosecuted.
The National Archives, however, has permanently banned him from all of its facilities and research rooms.
“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."
Pro-Lincoln Revisionist (aka pro-Union Revisionist) Lowry has brought
reproach upon himself and has strengthened the general public mistrust of academic history. (See pro-Lincoln Revisionist James McPherson.)
President Abraham Lincoln "Forgery Date"
Lincoln Revisionist and "Forgery Change" Record
President Abraham Lincoln Forgery Date
Lincoln Revisionist Record Date Change
(Left) Close up of altered date and Abraham Lincoln “A. Lincoln”
signature from a President Lincoln pardon for Patrick Murphy, a Civil War soldier in the Union Army. (Right) Close up of the altered date: Long-time Lincoln researcher Thomas Lowry admitted to
changing the date of Murphy’s pardon, written in Lincoln’s hand, from April 14, 1864 to April 14, 1865. Records
of the Judge Advocate General (Army) National Archives.
President Abraham Lincoln Date Change and Forgery
Pro-Lincoln Revisionist, aka Lincoln Forger
(Above) President Lincoln pardon for Patrick Murphy, a Civil War soldier in the Union Army who was court-martialed
for desertion. Records of the Judge Advocate General (Army) National Archives.
In 1998, Lowry was recognized in the national media for his “discovery”
of the Murphy pardon, which was placed on exhibit in the Rotunda for the Charters of
Freedom in the National Archives Building in Washington, DC. Lowry subsequently cited the altered record in his book, Don’t
Shoot That Boy: Abraham Lincoln and Military Justice, published in 1999. Subsequently, innumerable pro-Lincoln historians
and authors relied heavily upon the "Murphy Date" as a primary source and as additional proof to corroborate
the deified image of the compassionate Father Abraham.
"The First, Second, Ninth, and Tenth amendments [to the Constitution] and States' Rights have been unlawfully
trampled upon by the federal government since the early days of the republic."
Woods continues: "The Civil War was not principally about slavery, and Abraham Lincoln was no friend to the slaves." Thomas E Woods, Jr., holds an AB from Harvard and a Ph.D. from Columbia. He teaches American
History, is the associate editor of The Latin Mass Magazine, and is a prolific essayist on historical subjects. He
lives with his family in Coram, New York.
In making the announcement regarding the Lincoln date change, the Archivist
said, “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. 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.”
National Archives archivist Trevor Plante reported to the National Archives
Office of Inspector General that he believed the date on the Murphy pardon had been altered: the “5” looked like
a darker shade of ink than the rest of the date and it appeared that there might have been another number under the “5”.
Investigative Archivist Mitchell Yockelson of the Inspector General’s Archival Recovery Team (ART) confirmed Plante’s
suspicions.
Lowry is one fine example of pro-Lincoln revisionism and "how" and "why"
history books, to many, have become a venue for biases and personal agendas. It also reinforces the oft asked question:
Is it, what I am reading, trustworthy, fair, balanced, and historically accurate? After all, Lowry had forged and altered a
"primary document."
In an effort to determine who altered the Murphy pardon, the Office of the
Inspector General contacted Lowry, a recognized Lincoln subject-matter expert, for assistance. Lowry initially responded,
but when he learned the basis for the contact, communication to the Office of Inspector General ceased.
On January 12, 2011, Lowry ultimately agreed to be interviewed by the Office
of the Inspector General’s special agent Greg Tremaglio. In the course of the interview, Lowry admitted to altering
the Murphy pardon to reflect the date of Lincoln’s assassination in violation of 18 U.S.C. § 2071. Against National
Archives regulations, Lowry brought a fountain pen into a National Archives research room where, using fadeproof, pigment-based
ink, he altered the date of the Murphy pardon in order to change its historical significance.
In the New York Times, Harold Holzer acknowledges and admonishes his fellow
Lincoln Historians and Worshippers: “Shame on all of us in the Lincoln studies profession for accepting it [Lowry's
book] without question.”
This matter was referred to the Department of Justice for criminal prosecution;
however the Department of Justice informed the National Archives that the statute of limitations had expired, and therefore
Lowry could not be prosecuted. The National Archives, however, has permanently banned him from all of its facilities and research
rooms.
Lowry, according to his biographical sketch, claims to have practiced
medicine as both physician and psychiatrist for forty years, but did he really? If so, was he qualified in either practice?
By altering a primary document at the National Archives, Lowry, also, has now placed his entire life under the microscope.
Inspector General Paul Brachfeld expressed his tremendous appreciation for
the work of Plante and the Inspector General’s Archival Recovery Team in resolving this matter. Brachfeld added that
“the stated mission of ART is ‘archival recovery,’ and while the Murphy pardon was neither lost or stolen,
in a very real way our work helped to ‘recover’ the true record of a significant period in our collective history.”
At a later date, National Archives conservators will examine the document
to determine whether the original date of 1864 can be restored by removing the “5”.
Another Lincoln worshipper and idolater, Allen Guelzo, receives
egg on face. Guelzo goes so far as to refer to Lincoln, in Lowry's fraudulent work, Don’t Shoot That Boy: Abraham
Lincoln and Military Justice, as "compassionate Father Abraham."
Author of numerous books that
also consecrate and apotheosize Lincoln, Dr. Allen C. Guelzo, Dean of Templeton Honors College at Eastern College: "The
question of whether Lincoln really was the compassionate Father Abraham could only be settled by hard data, something which
none of Lincoln’s biographers seem to have known where to find. Thomas Lowry did. A retired northern Virginia psychiatrist,
Lowry worked through 37,000 Civil War-era army courts-martial records in the National Archives, and discovered that 792 of
them bore a notation or endorsement by Lincoln, most of which were not itemized by Roy P. Basler’s standard Collected
Works of Abraham Lincoln (1953). These cases became Lowry’s statistical index to Lincoln’s compassion."
Conclusion
Lowry is one fine example of revisionism and "how" and "why" history books, to many, have become a venue for biases and personal agendas. It also reinforces the oft asked question: Is it,
what I am reading, trustworthy, fair, balanced, and historically accurate? After
all, Lowry had forged a "primary document."
Why does one revise and rewrite history? What does one hope to accomplish
and achieve? When one acts there is always motive. Why did Lowry, and perhaps hundreds of pro-Lincoln revisionists, rewrite
and even destroy historical documents? There is motive of personal gain and fame, i.e.,
book deal(s), signings, and speaking engagements; the ability to control, to change and mold, something to fit what one feels
so passionate about; the opportunity to make a wrong a right; the means to justify the end or end result; and of course, to
continue feeding the insatiable Lincoln worshippers with - the ever prevalent image of the deified LINCOLN.
Lowry, according to his biographical sketch, claims to have practiced medicine as both
physician and psychiatrist for forty years, but did he really? If so, was he qualified in either practice?
Regardless, where there is one roach then there are many more. Lowry is just one roach that got caught while
the infestation continues growing daily. One got caught with his hand in the proverbial cookie jar, while there are perhaps
hundreds, even thousands, at large.
Lowry is the classic example of revisionism - which James McPherson wholeheartedly embraces - and how history,
to many, has become a joke. We have all heard many times how the winner writes the history, well, Lowry and so many others
prove the case.
And one may only imagine how many additional Lincoln documents that forger
Lowry and numerous other pro-Northern revisionists, through the many years, forged, falsified, fabricated, and destroyed.
Why? To keep Lincoln's monikers alive and well: Honest Abe, Saint Abe, Father Abraham, Lincoln the Emancipator, Great Lincoln,
Great Emancipator, Great Liberator, and Uncle Abe. So the next time you hear someone say Honest Abe or the Great Emancipator, ask
yourself is it really historically accurate? No winners here. A Lincoln document of 150 years has been destroyed.
Biographical Sketch of Thomas P. Lowry
I am a product of northern California -- beaches, high Sierras, high
school in the East Bay, plane spotting in World War II, seven years at Stanford. Starting in 1957, I was a physician and psychiatrist
-- an always interesting life -- in California and New Mexico, publishing several very dull medical books. Around 1995, with
my wife Beverly, we began reading the Civil War records of misbehavior at the National Archives. Just like today's tabloids,
only wilder. We found that high school history left out all the interesting stuff.
As you can see from my titles, I don't do battles or famous generals or
comment on grand strategy. We do "human interest" stories (all true) of men terrified in combat, of women who miss having
their men in bed, of abused horses, of loyal friends, of political conniptions, and of the surprisingly ubiquity of prostitution.
And little byways: Was Lincoln gay? Why were so many of his bodyguards drunks? Was Robert E. Lee's favorite ranger just a
horse thief?
So, I retired from scuba diving (damaged ears), and from medicine (forty
years is enough), and I'm having a great time. About my books -- I don't think you'll find a boring one.
(Continued below)
Recommended Reading: The Politically Incorrect
Guide to American History. Review: Claiming that most textbooks and popular history books were written
by biased left-wing writers and scholars, historian Thomas Woods offers this guide as an alternative to "the stale and predictable
platitudes of mainstream texts." Covering the colonial era through the Clinton administration, Woods seeks to debunk some
persistent myths about American history. For instance, he writes, the Puritans were not racists intent on stealing the Indians'
lands, the Founding Fathers were not revolutionaries but conservatives in the true sense of the word, the American War Between
the States (to even call it a civil war is inaccurate, Woods says) was not principally about slavery, and Abraham Lincoln
was no friend to the slaves. As President, Lincoln trampled the Constitution, its numerous Amendments, the U.S. Supreme
Court and the Chief Justice, and even States' Rights. Continued below...
FDR's New Deal policies actually made the Depression worse. He also covers
a wide range of constitutional interpretations over the years, particularly regarding the First, Second, Ninth, and Tenth
amendments, and continually makes the point that states' rights have been unlawfully trampled upon by the federal government
since the early days of the republic. Though its title is more deliberately provocative than accurate, Woods' attack on what
he sees as rampant liberal revisionism over the past 25 years proves to be an interesting platform for a book. He's as biased
as those he rails against, of course, but he does provoke thought in an entertaining way even if he sometimes tries to pass
off opinion as hard facts. This quick and enjoyable read is packed with unfamiliar quotes, informative sidebars, iconoclastic
viewpoints, and a list of books "you're not supposed to read." It is not a comprehensive or detailed study, but that is not
its aim; instead, it offers ideas for further research and a challenge to readers to dig deeper and analyze some basic assumptions
about American history--a worthy goal that Woods manages to reach.
From the Inside Flap: Everything well, almost everything you know about
American history is wrong because most textbooks and popular history books are written by left-wing academic historians who
treat their biases as fact. But fear not: Professor Thomas Woods refutes the popular myths in The Politically Incorrect Guide
to American History. Professor Woods reveals facts that you won't be or never were taught in school, tells you about the "Books
You're Not Supposed to Read," and takes you on a fast-paced politically incorrect tour of American history that will give
you all the information you need to battle and confound left-wing professors, neighbors, and friends. About the Author: Professor
Thomas E. Woods Jr. holds an AB from Harvard and a Ph.D. from Columbia. He teaches American History, is the associate editor
of The Latin Mass Magazine, and is a prolific essayist on historical subjects. He lives with his family in Coram, New York.
Recommended Reading: The Real Lincoln: A New
Look at Abraham Lincoln, His Agenda, and an Unnecessary War. Description: It hardly seems possible that there is more to say about someone who has been subjected
to such minute scrutiny in thousands of books and articles. Yet, Thomas J. DiLorenzo’s The Real Lincoln manages to raise fresh and morally probing questions, challenging the image of the martyred
16th president that has been fashioned carefully in marble and bronze, sentimentalism and myth. In doing so, DiLorenzo does
not follow the lead of M. E. Bradford or other Southern agrarians. He writes primarily not as a defender of the Old South
and its institutions, culture, and traditions, but as a libertarian enemy of the Leviathan state. Continued below...
DiLorenzo holds
Lincoln and
his war responsible for the triumph of "big government" and the birth of the ubiquitous, suffocating modern U.S. state. He seeks to replace the nation’s memory
of Lincoln as the “Great Emancipator” with the record of Lincoln as the “Great Centralizer.” In DiLorenzo's work, Lincoln is exposed also
as the "Great Tyrant." Outstanding read and it also goes to the heart and soul of "What caused the Civil War?" as
well as States' Rights, Southern Secession, and related "big government" causes.
Recommended Reading: Lincoln Unmasked: What You're Not Supposed to Know About Dishonest Abe. Description:While
many view our 16th president as the nation’s greatest president and hero, Tom Dilorenzo, The Real Lincoln: A New Look at Abraham Lincoln, His Agenda,
and an Unnecessary War, through his scholarly research, exposes the many unconstitutional decisions
of Abraham Lincoln. Lincoln Unmasked, a best-seller, reveals that ‘other
side’ – the inglorious character – of the nation’s greatest tyrant and totalitarian. Continued below...
DiLorenzo's book is filled with facts and primary sources, all which refute the likes of Lowry and
like-minded pro-Lincoln revisionists who rely principally on distortion and twisted logic. A controversial book
that is hailed by many and harshly criticized by others, Lincoln Unmasked, nevertheless,
is a thought-provoking study and view of Lincoln that was not taught in our public school system. (Also
available in hardcover: Lincoln Unmasked: What You're Not Supposed to Know About Dishonest
Abe.)
Recommended Reading: The Intimate World
of Abraham Lincoln, by Dr. C. A. Tripp. Description: For four years in the 1830s,
in Springfield, Illinois, a young state legislator shared a bed with his best friend, Joshua Speed. The legislator was Abraham
Lincoln. When Speed moved home to Kentucky in 1841 and Lincoln's engagement to Mary Todd was broken off, Lincoln suffered
an emotional crisis. An underground campaign has been accumulating about Abraham Lincoln for years, focusing on his intimate
relationships. He was famously awkward around single women. Before Mary Todd, he was engaged to another woman, but his fiancée
called off the marriage on the grounds that he was "lacking smaller attentions." His marriage to Mary was troubled. Meanwhile,
throughout his adult life, he enjoyed close relationships with a number of men — disclosed here for the first time,
including an affair with an army captain when Mrs. Lincoln was away. Continued below...
This extensive study by renowned psychologist, therapist, and sex researcher
C.A. Tripp, examines not only Lincoln's sexuality, but aims to make sense of the whole man. It includes an introduction by
Jean Baker, biographer of Mary Todd Lincoln and an afterword containing reactions by two Lincoln scholars and one clinical
psychologist. This timely book finally allows the true Lincoln to be fully understood. About
the Author: Dr. C. A. Tripp passed away in May 2003, just two weeks after completing the manuscript of The Intimate World
of Abraham Lincoln. A psychologist, therapist, and sex researcher, he worked with Alfred Kinsey in the late 1940s and 1950s
before obtaining a Ph.D. in clinical psychology from New York University. He maintained a private practice of psychology for
years and taught at the State University of New York, Downstate Medical Center, from 1955 to 1964.
Recommended Reading:The Politically Incorrect Guide to the Civil War (Politically Incorrect
Guides). Description: Get ready for a rousing rebel yell as bestselling author H.W. Crocker, III (Robert E. Lee on Leadership)
charges through bunkers and battlefields in The Politically Incorrect Guide(TM) to the Civil War. Crocker busts myths and
shatters stereotypes as he profiles eminent--and colorful--military generals while taking readers through chapters such as
"The Civil War in Sixteen Battles You Should Know" and culminating in the most politically incorrect chapter of all, "What
if the South Had Won." Revealing little-known truths, like why Robert E. Lee had a higher regard for African Americans than
Lincoln did, this is the "P.I.G." that every Civil War buff
and Southern partisan will want on their bookshelf, in their classroom, and under their Christmas tree. Proving that Father
Abraham wasn't so honest, after all, also hits Lincoln's 14,000 plus biographers in the ole wallet.
Continued below…
From the Inside Flap: Think
you know the Civil War? You don't know the full story until you read The Politically Incorrect GuideTM to the Civil War. Bestselling author and former Conservative Book Club editor H. W. Crocker III
offers a quick and lively study of America's own Iliad--the Civil War--in this provocative
and entertaining addition to The Politically Incorrect GuideTM series. In
The Politically Incorrect GuideTM to the Civil War Crocker profiles eminent--and colorful--military generals including the
noble Lee, the controversial Sherman, the indefatigable Grant, the legendary Stonewall Jackson, and the notorious Nathan Bedford
Forrest. He also includes thought-provoking chapters such as "The Civil War in Sixteen Battles You Should Know" and the most
devastatingly politically incorrect chapter of all, "What If the South Had Won?" Along the way, he reveals a huge number of
little-known truths, including why Robert E. Lee had a higher regard for African Americans than Lincoln did; how, if there
had been no Civil War, the South would have abolished slavery peaceably (as every other country in the Western Hemisphere
did in the nineteenth century); and how the Confederate States of America might have helped the Allies win World War I sooner.
Bet your history professor never told you:
* Leading Northern generals--like
McClellan and Sherman--hated abolitionists
* Bombing people "back to
the Stone Age" got its start with the Federal siege of Vicksburg
* General Sherman professed
not to know which was "the greater evil": slavery or democracy
* Stonewall Jackson founded
a Sunday school for slaves where he taught them how to read
* General James Longstreet
fought the Battle of Sharpsburg in his carpet slippers
This is the Politically Incorrect
GuideTM that every Civil War buff and Southern partisan--and everyone who is tired of liberal self-hatred that vilifies America's greatest heroes--must have on his bookshelf.
Recommended Reading: The Politically Incorrect
Guide to the South (and Why It Will Rise Again). Description: The latest installment in the New York
Times bestselling Politically Incorrect Guide series expands on the pro-South slant of the hugely successful Politically Incorrect
Guide to American History. Author Clint Johnson shows why the South, with its emphasis on traditional values, family, faith,
military service, good manners, small government, and independent-minded people, should certainly rise again. Continued below...
From the Inside Flap: What the PC Police don't want you to know--and what they got plain wrong--about the
South. From the Founding Fathers to the frontiersmen who tamed the West to the country music, NASCAR, Bible-thumping heart
of "Red State" America, the South is the quintessence of what's original, unique, and most loved about American culture. And
with its emphasis on traditional values, family, faith, military service, good manners, small government, and independent-minded
people, the South is just plain more livable than the North--which is one reason why millions of Yankees, white and black,
have been moving down South in droves.
The Politically Incorrect Guide(tm) to the South gives you the facts behind
scores of revelations like these:
· How Southerners led the way in drafting the Declaration of Independence,
the U.S. Constitution, and the Bill of Rights
· How the Northern victory led to today's all-powerful federal government
· Why race relations in today's South are much better than in the North--or
anywhere else in America
· Why the South is naturally conservative (and the North is naturally liberal)
· How American jazz, blues, and rock and roll all came from the South
· Why Southerners are overrepresented in the military--and no, it's not
poverty
· The best American literature? Southern, of course
"The South is all about memory, heritage, and pride of place," writes Clint
Johnson. "I refuse to go along with the expunging of that memory, heritage, and pride, and I hope the readers of this book,
Northern and Southern, will rise up and join me in protesting those who are trying to do it."
About the Author: Clint Johnson, a native of Fish Branch, Florida, has written
seven books about the War for Southern Independence. He and his wife live in the majestic mountains of North Carolina,
a state his ancestors colonized more than three hundred years ago.
Recommended Reading: When in the Course
of Human Events: Arguing the Case for Southern Secession. Review: As a historian, I have learned that
the heart of any great work in history lies in the ample and accurate use of primary sources, and primary sources are the
great strength of this work. While countless tomes have debated the perceived moral sides of the Civil War and the motivations
of the various actors, this work investigates the motives of the primary players in the era and in their own words and writings.
This gives the work an excellent realism and accuracy. The author, Charles Adams, has earned a reputation as one of the leading
economic historians in the field, particularly in the area of taxes. He utilizes this background to investigate the American
Civil War, and comes to some very striking conclusions, many that defy the politically-correct history of today. His thesis
postulates that the Civil War had its primary cause not in slavery or states' rights, but rather in cold, hard economic concerns.
Continued below...
He shows that the North used its supremacy in Congress to push through massive
tariffs to fund the government, and that these tariffs fell much harder on the export-dependent South than upon the insular
north. In fact, the total revenue from the "Compromise" Tariffs on the 1830s and 40s amounted to $107.5 million, of which
$90 million came from the South. The majority of the revenue, moreover, was spent on projects “far from the South.”
According to Adams, this disparity finally pushed the South to seek its own independence. Supporting this conclusion is the
fact that the South enacted extremely low tariffs throughout the war, whereas the north enacted the Morrill Tariff of 1861,
which enacted tariffs as high as 50 percent on some goods. Adams also chronicles the oft-overlooked excesses of the Lincoln
Administration, and compares them to the actions of Julius Caesar. Using the letters and reports of the times, he tells
how Lincoln suspended habeas corpus, trod roughshod over the Constitution, jailed thousands of U.S. citizens who dared disagree
with him and even wrote a warrant for the arrest of the Chief Justice of the United States. Adams also ably uses the viewpoints
of British and other Europeans to describe different contemporary views on the struggle. These provide excellent outside insight.
On the whole, readers will find the book a superb and scholarly analysis, providing fresh insights into the motivations and
causes of the defining war in American history. AWARDED 5 STARS by americancivilwarhistory.org
.)