“BE IT KNOWN THAT CADET SAMUEL BECK…”: COLLECTION OF CAREER MILITARY DOCUMENTS, INCLUDING HIS COMMISSION AS ADJUTANT GENERAL SIGNED BY MCKINLEY, IN ORIGINAL CUSTOM METAL-GILT TUBE

(MCKINLEY, William) BRECK, Samuel. Collection of military documents. [West Point; Washington: various printers], 1855-97. Seven items of various sizes, rolled into a contemporary 17-inch metal tube. $7500.

Seven original documents relating to the career and family of Brigadier General Samuel Breck, Adjutant General of the Army, including his diploma from West Point and his final commission signed by President McKinley. Housed in a handsome contemporary black metal tube, hand-lettered in gilt.

Career officer Samuel Breck “graduated the United States Military Academy in 1855 and served in the Florida War of 1855-56. He was Assistant Professor of geography, history, and ethics at the Academy in 1860-61. During the Civil War he served as Assistant Adjutant-General of McDowell’s division early in 1862… and [later in the year] of the Department of the Rappahannock, being engaged in the occupation of Fredericksburg and the Shenandoah Valley expedition” (Appleton’s). Breck received three brevets for war service (Boatner, 82). From 1870 onward he served in Washington as Assistant Adjutant-General in charge of rolls, returns, and the preparation of the Volunteer Army Register, under General George D. Ruggles, whom in 1897 he succeeded as Adjutant General of the Army with the rank of Brigadier General (New York Times). This collection of seven military and family documents begins with Breck’s ornately engraved diploma from the United States Military Academy (1855) and ends with his final commission as Adjutant General (1897), signed by President William McKinley and Secretary of War Russell Alger.

Documents in generally fine condition, rolled to fit into contemporary metal tube.