1101 Abraham Lincoln ' s Clemency 1910 The incidents pictured in this film are founded on fact and relate to William Scott , a young soldier from the State of Vermont . Scott is on guard after a heavy day ' s march , and being found asleep is placed under arrest . He is tried by courtmartial and sentenced to death . Meantime we see President Lincoln in his study at the White House in deep thought , and seeing a vision of the Civil War and the sorrow caused by it . The vision disappears and he reads a letter from Mrs . Scott pleading for the pardon of her son . Deeply affected he lays the letter down and sees another vision , that of the grayhaired mother and a nameless grave . We next see being marched off to the spot where he is to be shot . All is in readiness for the fatal word of command to be given , when through a cloud of dust a coach dashes up attended by outriders . The President steps out and pardons the prisoner , who falls on his knees and blesses him . The next scene is that of a battle with the Union soldiers retreating . The colorbearer falls , but William Scott rushes up , grabs the flag and rallies the Union troops , but amid the dreadful carnage he himself is shot . That night the doctors and ambulances are searching among the dead for the wounded who are still alive . They reach Scott . He is dying . A vision of the President appears before him , giving him a wreath of fame . Scott staggers to his feet , and as the vision fades away , drops dead . As a fitting climax , we see a tableau of President Lincoln taking from a Union and a Confederate colorbearer their respective flags , rolling them together and when they are unrolled displaying the Stars and Stripes .