LINCOLN, ABRAHAM

Military appointment signed. Washington: 1 August 1864. Engraved document on vellum accomplished in manuscript and signed "Abraham Lincoln" as President, countersigned by Edwin Stanton as Secretary of War, with two engraved vignettes, blue wafer seal, and ink docketting at upper left, with a docketting stamp on the verso. 17 3/4 x 14 inches; frame 24 x 20 inches. Usual folds, some chipping to the seal, generally quite clean, the document ink in the body of the appointment rather faded, but the Lincoln signature is still quite strong. Not examined out of frame.

The recipient of this document, Walter Forehand, was a Massachusetts native. He appears to have been wounded at both the Battle of Antietam and that of Ball's Bluff. After the latter injury, he resigned his commission, but he was then active in the Veteran Reserves (originally called the Invalid Corps), in which disabled soldiers performed light duties, thereby freeing up active troops from these tasks. Records show that he was originally in the 19th Regiment of the Corps, transferring on January 14, 1864, to 133d Company, 2d Battalion. This is his appointment as a Captain in the Veteran Reserve Corps from September 5th, 1863, signed by Lincoln and Stanton.