1862 MILITARY APPOINTMENT, SIGNED BY ABRAHAM LINCOLN AS PRESIDENT

LINCOLN, Abraham. Engraved document signed. Washington, March 10, 1863. Single vellum sheet (14 by 17 inches), partially printed and finished in a secretarial hand, embossed blue paper seal, matted and framed with Lincoln portrait and explanatory text, entire piece measures 25 by 31 inches. $16,500.

Splendid Lincoln Civil War document appointing Lovell Harrison Rousseau—a future congressman from Kentucky—as "Major General of Volunteers," countersigned by Edwin Stanton, Secretary of War, with fragile paper seal present, beautifully matted and framed with explanatory text and a portrait of Lincoln.

"On March 10, 1863, Abraham Lincoln signed this military appointment promoting Lovell Harrison Rousseau (1818-1869) to Major General of Volunteers effective October 8, 1862. On that October day, Rousseau had displayed courage during the stalemated Battle of Perryville. At the time that Lincoln signed this appointment, he was following the advances of General Ulysses S. Grant and his Vicksburg, Mississippi Campaign (January 30, 1862-July 4, 1863). Within the next few days, he would learn that Rear Admiral David G. Farragut and his crew aboard the USS Hartford had passed Confederate batteries at Port Hudson, Louisiana on March 14. In July, these last two major Confederate strongholds were captured, thus giving the Union control of the Mississippi River. Edwin M. Stanton, as Secretary of War (1862-1867, 1868), supported Lincoln's Emancipation Proclamation and promoted internal security. After the War, Rousseau served as a U.S. Representative from Kentucky (1865-1866, 1866-1867) and received the Alaskan Territory from Russia on behalf of the U.S (1867)" (from the framed explanatory text). This commission is handsomely engraved with two military vignettes, one of an emblematic eagle and the other an army motif with crossed flags, cannon, and other accoutrements of war. Docketed in red ink in upper left-hand corner.

Fine condition.