Abraham Lincoln pardoned Joe Biden’s great-great-grandfather, records show – Law Officer

President Abraham Lincoln was known for being a gracious man who was willing to give people the benefit of the doubt as he often offered grace and mercy to allies and adversaries alike. In newly discovered document’s, the 16th President of the United States reportedly pardoned the great-great-grandfather of Joe Biden, the 46th President of the United States, according to court-martial records contained in the National Archives that were recently brought to light.

Biden’s relative in the incident, Moses J. Robinette, was identified by The Washington Post as the president’s great-great-grandfather. Despite a lack of formal medical training, he was hired as a civilian veterinary surgeon by the U.S. Army Quartermaster’s Department during the Civil War in late 1862 or early 1863.

On March 12, 1864, Robinette got into a skirmish with another Union Army civilian employee while they were camped along the Rappahannock River near Beverly Ford, Virginia, as the Civil War remained ongoing, the news outlet reported, citing National Archive documents.

The other man involved in the fight with Robinette was identified as John J. Alexander. He was left bleeding from knife wounds before the fight was broken up. Robinette was subsequently charged with attempted murder.

At the conclusion of his trial about a month later, Robinette said “that whatever I have done was done in self defence, that I had no malice towards Mr. Alexander before or since. He grabbed me and possibly might have injured me seriously had I not resorted to the means that I did.”

However, the military judges were unconvinced and they rendered a unanimous verdict: guilty on all counts with the exception of “attempt to kill.”

Hence, Robinette received a sentence of two years of hard labor. He was incarcerated at Fort Jefferson on a remote island near Florida.

The fight caused “an unexpected intersection in the histories of two American presidents, Lincoln and Biden — a story that has waited 160 years to be told,” The Post noted.