download the appSign up to get the inside scoop on today’s biggest stories in markets, tech, and business — delivered daily. The shouting match turned physical, and eventually, Robinette injured Alexander with his pocketknife, according to the Post. After a senator from the recently formed state of West Virginia took up the case, Lincoln pardoned Biden's ancestor on September 1, 1864. The area, now in West Virginia, was full of Union supporters and became a key early battleground of the war. He went on to spend one month in the military prison at Fort Jefferson in the Dry Tortugas, near Key West, Florida, before Lincoln pardoned him.

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Persons: —, Joe Biden's, Barack Obama, Abraham Lincoln, Biden, Lincoln, Biden's, Moses J, Robinette, John J, Alexander, David Gerleman, he'd, Jane Organizations: Service, Union Army, Washington Post, Post, Business, Army, Potomac, Department, George Mason University, National Archives, Union Locations: splintering, Lincoln, Florida, West Virginia, Maryland, Virginia, Washington ,, Grafton , Virginia, Allegany County , Maryland, Rappahannock, Fort, Key West , Florida