[Maryland Secessionist John Hanson Thomas]. Edwin M. Stanton Autograph Letter Signed.  One page, 7.75" x 8.75", Washington, September 9, 1864. Writing to Mrs. Annie Gordon Thomas, the wife of Maryland secessionist Dr. John Hanson Thomas, regarding the request for a field pass for her brother, in part: "I beg to inform you that about a Month ago, Mrs. Stanton received a note from your brother, Mr. Gordon, asking a pass for his wife and children to come to Baltimore. . . . On the day of its receipt I transmitted a pass . . . by my assistant Secretary, to General Grant, requesting it might be delivered according to Mr. Gordons request, to R[obert]. Ould agent for Exchange . . . General Grant received it and I have no doubt transmitted it to Mr Ould. From your note I infer that it has never reached Mr Gordon. . . . As my letter contained nothing but an acknowledgement of pleasant remembrance I am at a loss to imagine why it and the pages should have been withheld by Mr. Ould." Stanton's beautiful handwriting is very bold. Folds. Slight ghosting from the ink. With the original transmittal envelope.

Annie Gordon Thomas was the wife of Dr. John Hanson Thomas (1813-1881), a Baltimore physician and bank president. He was a member of the Maryland legislature from 1861-1865 and an advocate for the state's secession, for which he was arrested and imprisoned for six months, deepening his sympathy for the Southern cause. The brother mentioned was likely Douglas Hamilton Gordon, who served in the Confederate Army as a quartermaster. He so impressed President Jefferson Davis that Davis offered him the position of secretary of the treasury, which he refused.

Robert Ould (1820-1882) served as chief of the Confederate Bureau of Exchange. He was captured in April 1865 and provided his parole to Gen. Grant at Appomattox, who refused to acknowledge him as a prisoner. After returning to Richmond several days later, he was arrested by order of Secretary of War Stanton. Tried for treason by a military commission, he was acquitted and returned to Richmond where he resumed his law practice.