Partly-printed vellum DS as president, one page, 15.25 x 19, April 16, 1860. President Buchanan appoints Edwin H. Stoughton as a “Second Lieutenant in the Sixth Regiment of Infantry in the service of the United States.” Signed at the conclusion by James Buchanan and countersigned by Secretary of War John B. Floyd. In very good to fine condition, with fading to all of the handwritten portions, including Buchanan's signature. Accompanied by a War Department receipt documenting Stoughton's resignation from the military on March 4, 1861.
A year after his promotion and subsequent transferral to the 6th U.S. Infantry, Edwin Henry Stoughton (1838–1868) resigned his regular commission in March 1861, and in September was appointed commander of the 4th Vermont Infantry with the rank of colonel. He was only 23 at the time of his appointment and was said to be the youngest colonel in the army. Stoughton was appointed a brigadier general in the Union Army during the American Civil War, but his appointment expired after it was not confirmed by the U.S. Senate. Four days later, on March 8, 1863, he was captured by Confederate partisan ranger John S. Mosby while asleep at his headquarters in the Virginia village of Fairfax Court House. The incident became well known, and Stoughton became an object of ridicule as a result. He was included in a prisoner exchange two months later but resigned his commission after he was not reappointed as a brigadier general.
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