Beyond our Elusive William Daniel

In 1865 he applied for a pardon. He said he had opposed the ordinance of secession. He also said he had voted for Stephen Douglas for president in 1860, and that he had held no agency in the Confederacy. Also, he had not served in the Confederate Army. He had lost around four fifths of his property in the war. He was a planter, and his land was almost exclusively in Alabama and Florida. The value of his taxable property might be in excess of $20,000, but he was not sure of that. He had loaned Confederate treasury notes to the Confederacy, but did not come under any of the provisions that would exclude him from pardon. The writing is hard to read, but it appears that he says none of his property is abandoned property, except that Wilson's raiders took off with something which I cannot read. He answered numerous questions as to his activities, including the assertion that he had not shot or hung anyone for desertion, nor had he used dogs to hunt anyone for disloyalty, or supposed disloyalty to the Confederate States. He signed an oath of alleciance to the United States (24 Aug 1865). The Governor of Alabama recommended to President Johnson that he grant amnesty in a letter dated September 22, 1865.