Civil War presidential commission signed by Lincoln
Presidential document signed.
Folio (ca. 400 x 505 mm). 1 p. Engraved vellum appointment with manuscript insertions, countersigned by Secretary of War Edwin M. Stanton, with blue paper seal.
€ 16,000.00
Civil War commission appointing Warren Miller “Assistant Adjutant General of Volunteers with the rank of Captain”, signed in full by President Abraham Lincoln and countersigned by Secretary of War Edwin McMasters Stanton (1814-69). Issued in Washington on 8 March 1864, at a pivotal phase of the war as the administration prepared for coordinated spring campaigns under newly appointed General in Chief Ulysses S. Grant.
The engraved federal arms and martial trophies surround the text, with the bright paper seal affixed at upper left; the standard printed formula confers office and rank “in the service of the United States”. Assistant adjutants general served as key staff officers responsible for orders, returns, and organization of volunteer forces, here raised under wartime authority and administered through the Adjutant General’s Office.
A well preserved presidential commission in the classic vellum format, exemplifying Lincoln’s wartime executive acts and the mobilization of the volunteer army.
Stargardt & Moirandat, Basel, 2003, lot 329. Later in a Swiss private collection.
Narrow old folds, one crossing the forename of the signature. Paper seal with small loss, otherwise clean and well preserved.
