SIGNED BY ABRAHAM LINCOLN JUST FOUR DAYS AFTER FORT SUMTER: APPOINTMENT FOR BRIGADE QUARTERMASTER OF THE MILITIA FOR THE DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA, 1861

LINCOLN, Abraham. Document signed. Washington, April 16, 1861. One leaf, 10 by 16 inches, printed on one side and finished by hand, with embossed seal. Matted and framed with a portrait, entire piece measures 17 by 30 inches. $26,500.

Civil-War era document signed by President Lincoln and countersigned by Secretary of War Simon Cameron, appointing Arthur W. Fletcher to be the Brigade Quartermaster for the Militia of the District of Columbia just days after the Battle of Fort Sumter, a time when those in Washington widely expected the city to be seized by secessionists.

The document reads, in part: "The President of the United States of America, to all who shall see these presents greeting. Know ye, that, reposing special trust and confidence in the abilities & integrity of Arthur W. Fletcher, I do by these presents appoint him Brigade Quartermaster with the rank of Captain of the Militia of the District of Columbia: He is therefore carefully and diligently to discharge the duties appertaining to his office as Brigade Quartermaster. And he is to observe and follow all such orders and directions, from time to time, as he shall receive from the President of the United States of America, for the time being, or other superior officers set over him… This commission to continue in force during the pleasure of the President of the United States for the time being, and to date from the twelfth day of April 1861. Given under my hand, at the city of Washington, this sixteenth day of April in the year of our Lord one thousand eight hundred and sixty-one, and of the Independence of the United States of America, the eighty-fifth. By the President: [signed] Abraham Lincoln. [signed] Simon Cameron [printed] Secretary of War." Arthur Wellington Fletcher was a native of Maine; he is buried in the Congressional Cemetery in Washington.

Tape repairs along fold lines. Lincoln signature large and bold.