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Director/actor Ralph Ince was sometimes touted as "the greatest of Lincoln impersonators." This drama is one of many films in which he portrays the 16th president. It starts off with a prologue involving two men who had fought in France during WWI. During a Memorial Day parade, they carry on a conversation with a very old veteran. The old veteran tells them the story of President Lincoln (Ince), who had a disagreement with Stanton, his Secretary of War, over deserters. Stanton is not happy that the president pardons them so often. After a heated cabinet meeting, the president takes a walk through the streets of Washington, D.C., and runs across some soldiers with a deserter, Bobby Goodwin (Robert Agnew). Lincoln listens to the young man's story: His two brothers were killed in action before he himself enlisted. But then his fiancée (Aleen Burr) sent him a note saying that his dying mother (Margaret Seddon) was calling for him. When he was refused a leave of absence, he went to her anyway. Lincoln checks out the story and when he is satisfied it is true, he pardons Bobby. Back at the Memorial Day parade, the old man reveals that he is Bobby Goodwin.