Virginia Historian Denies Changing Date on Lincoln Pardon Document

Shown here is Virginia historian Thomas P. Lowry. (MyFoxDC.com)

A Virginia historian accused of altering the date on one of President Abraham Lincoln's official pardons now says he did no such thing.

Thomas P. Lowry, 78, was accused by the National Archives Monday of tinkering with historical records. The Archives said he admitted to changing the year on the pardon document in question from 1864 to 1865 to make it seem more significant -- had the document been signed on April 14, 1865, as he claimed when he unearthed it in 1998, it would have been one of Lincoln's final acts before he was assassinated.

But Lowry told MyFoxDC.com that he was bullied by federal officials into signing a confession when they visited him in Woodbridge, Va. He told MyFoxDC.com he never changed the language on the pardon, which was for a Civil War union soldier.

Since the statute of limitations has expired, federal officials cannot file charges against Lowry.

He has, however, been banned from the National Archives.

Click to read more on the Lincoln pardon at MyFoxDC.com.