A 1p partly printed and partly handwritten document signed by 27th U.S. Secretary of War Edwin M. Stanton (1814-1869), as "Edwin M Stanton" at lower right. Issued from the War Department in Washington, D.C. on November 16, 1866. The document on bifold cream paper has a small paper fragment adhered near the first page bottom, and has three inscriptions/dockets on the second and last pages. The third page is blank. Expected wear including gentle toning and flattened paper folds, as well as a few splits along these folds. Stanton's signature is slightly smeared. Else near fine. 8" x 10.25."

War Secretary Stanton promoted Civil War veteran Gregory Barrett, Jr. (ca. 1837-1898) to the rank of First Lieutenant of the 26th Infantry Regiment effective after July 28, 1866, and ordered him to report to New York City for examinations. Initially, Barrett, Jr. was reserved for military service at 26th Infantry Regiment headquarters at San Antonio, Texas, though notations on the last page docket indicate that he was eventually redirected to Austin, Texas.

Barrett, Jr. led a very colorful life before and after the Civil War, according to oral histories and contemporary newspaper accounts. A Baltimore, Maryland native, Barrett, Jr. was the son of Irish immigrants who worked in a prison and volunteered as one of the city's early volunteer firefighters. Barrett, Jr. was also a gang leader of the Rip Raps, a nativist-leaning posse whose members violently and frequently clashed with Baltimore's other crews: the Double Pumps, Blood Tubs, Tigers, and Plug Uglies.

Barrett, Jr. joined the 4th Infantry Maryland Volunteers in August 1862 as a Captain, and had been promoted to Brevet Colonel by war's end; Stanton's promotion and transfer to the 26th Infantry Regiment was his first post-war reassignment. Barrett, Jr. was stationed at Fort Brown and Fort Worth, Texas; Fort Reno, Oklahoma; and Detroit, Michigan, before recruiting Spanish-American soldiers in West Virginia. Captain Barrett, Jr. was stationed with the 10th Infantry Regiment when he died of yellow fever in Santiago de Cuba, just before he was slated to be promoted to the rank of major. As related in the August 12, 1898 issue of "The Baltimore Sun": "When the call for troops came efforts were made to dissuade him [Barrett, Jr.] from going to the front, but he insisted that, if he were going to die, he would rather do so with his regiment than anywhere else, and, having had the yellow fever once, disregarded entirely the perils of the climate…"

This item comes with a Certificate from John Reznikoff, a premier authenticator for both major 3rd party authentication services, PSA and JSA (James Spence Authentications), as well as numerous auction houses.

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