Partly-printed vellum DS as president, one page, 13.25 x 8.5, March 4, 1819. President Monroe appoints Cadwalader Ringgold as “a Midshipman in the Navy of the United States." Signed at the conclusion by Monroe, and countersigned by Secretary of the Navy (and future U.S. Supreme Court Justice) Smith Thomson, and Register of the U.S. Navy and author of a biography of John Paul Jones, John H. Sherburne. In very good condition, with creasing, some staining, and buckling at the center due to the nature of the vellum.
This was the first-ever commission issued to Cadwalader Ringgold (180-1867) who was 16-years-old at the time. He was third in command in the 1838-42 U.S. Exploring Expedition under Charles Wilkes where he surveyed Antarctica. In 1849 he surveyed San Francisco Bay. In 1853 he led an expedition to the Northwest, but contracted malaria and was declared insane and relieved of duty. He regained his senses before the Civil War and served as a Commodore (Rear Admiral, lower half), retiring because of age in 1864. His older brother, Samuel Ringgold, is considered 'The Father of Modern Artillery' and the first U.S. Officer to die in the Mexican War.
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