Abraham Lincoln Military Appointment Signed. One partially-printed page, 13.5" x 17.5", Washington, August 19, 1861, appointing "William H. Acker . . . Captain in the Sixteenth Regiment of Infantry." Countersigned by Simon Cameron as secretary of war. Lightly stained near the upper edge with spots of scattered foxing. Lincoln's signature has begun to fade, but is still wholly legible. Mounted to a backing board. Affixed at the lower left corner is a 2.5" x 4" carte de visite of Acker, shown standing next to a chair in full uniform.

William Henry Acker (1833-1862) enlisted in the Union Army as a captain in Co. "C," 1st Minnesota Infantry Regiment. He was wounded by buckshot at the First Battle of Bull Run and resigned from the volunteer army several weeks later. He was then commissioned a captain in the regular army, joining the 16th Infantry Regiment. He performed recruitment duty in Minnesota and Wisconsin before rejoining his regiment at Munfordville, Kentucky. He was killed shortly after at the Battle of Shiloh, April 7, 1862.