Autograph Letter Signed, "Alfred Balch." One page, 7 5/8"x 11". Nashville. December 13, 1843. Addressed on integral leaf. With red, circular "NEW YORK" postal cancellation. Balch writes, in part: " The promise I made to send you the autograph of General Jackson has not been forgotten … I addressed him a note on this subject to which he made a reply and in which he acknowledge the honor which your request implied: but this note was mislaid and thereupon I charged a divine little widow who is a member of the family at the Hermitage to recover it … she has always said that the next time I came she would be sure to have it … The old Hero if he lives, which is exceedingly doubtful will be seventy seven years of age the fiftieth of the coming March … " A friend of Andrew Jackson, Alfred Balch was appointed Commissioner of the Indian Treaties during Jackson's presidency. Subsequently, Balch was appointed federal district court judge for the state of Florida by President Van Buren in 1840. Very Fine.