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President Abraham Lincoln, wrote a letter on May 19, 1864, to anti-slavery Congressional leader Senator Charles Sumner of Massachusetts, proposing that, widows and children of soldiers should be given equal treatment regardless of race. His letter led to the Congressional Resolution frequently referenced as H.R. 406, Section 13 to rectify the issue.
President Lincoln had written the letter to Senator Sumner, after meeting with Mary Booth, the widow of black Civil War soldier, Major Lionel F. Booth, who was killed at Fort Pillow, Tennessee the previous month by a Confederate sniper. Although this resolution was passed, the Library of Congress has no record that Mary Booth ever applied for or received the widow's pension she sought.
