Beschreibung:

LINCOLN, ABRAHAM. Printed document signed ("Abraham Lincoln") as President, countersigned by Secretary of War Edward M. Stanton, Washington, D.C., 30 July 1862. 1 page, large folio, ON FINE PARCHMENT, elaborately engraved, accomplished in manuscript, finely engraved with the bold heading "The President of the United States," beneath which an American Eagle in flight, holding olive branch and lightning bolts with the "E Pluribus Unum" motto; at bottom of the sheet, large vignette of military paraphenalia, imprint at bottom right: "Engraved by J.V.N. and C. H. Throop, Washn. City"; the accomplishments slightly pale, but Lincoln's and Stanton's signatures quite dark. Lincoln appoints James B[irdseye] McPherson to the rank of "Assistant Aide de camp with the Rank of Colonel." LINCOLN'S APPOINTMENT OF JAMES BIRDSEYE MCPHERSON, ONE OF THE HIGHEST RANKING UNION OFFICERS KILLED IN BATTLE An appointment that qualifies as ONE OF THE MOST IMPORTANT LINCOLN MILITARY COMMISSIONS IN PRIVATE HANDS. James Birdseye McPherson (1828-1864), graduated first in his West Point class in 1853. In August 1861 he was a lowly first lieutenant of engineers, but less than a year later ranked as a major general of volunteers and commanded a division. He served as a staff officer to Henry W. Halleck, was promoted to Brigadier General of Volunteers in May 1862 and was U.S. Grant's Chief Engineer at Forts Henry and Donelson, at Shiloh, and during the siege of Corinth. His appointment as Major General of Volunteers was in October 1862 and in January 1863 he commanded XVII Corps, one of three which fought under Grant throughout the Vicksburg campaign. In 1864 the 36-year-old McPherson succeeded W.T. Sherman as commander of the Army of the Tennessee. During the Battle of Atlanta, however, on 22 July 1864, he was surprised and killed by rebel skirmishers. Grant wrote that with McPherson's death "the army lost one of its ablest, purest and best generals" ( Memoirs , Library of America edition, p. 506).