On this episode of Our American Stories, during the Civil War, falling asleep on guard duty was a crime punishable by death. That was the fate awaiting William Scott, a young Union soldier who drifted off at his post one night. His case captured the attention of President Abraham Lincoln, who, astonishingly, chose mercy over execution.

What followed became one of the most remarkable Civil War stories, in which compassion and discipline collided in the heat of war. Jonathan White, a professor of history, Jack Miller Center fellow, and author of Midnight in America, shares the story.

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