ALS signed “Jeffer. Davis,” one page both sides, 5 x 8, March 17, 1860. Letter to Richard Worsam Meade II, the older brother of Gettysburg hero George Meade, in relation to his son, Richard Worsam Meade III. In full: "I sympathize deeply in your anxiety for your son, and satisfied. That his conduct has been entirely becoming of a soldier and a gentleman, will hold myself ready to give him my friendly services if he should need them. It does not appear to me probable that a Court Martial can pass any sentence which would be injurious to him for asserting his rights, personal and official, even though the manner should not have been that prescribed by regulations for the preservation of good order, etc. A quaint old soldier once described our national characteristic by saying that the American people were over tolerant of the offence of fighting too much; and I should expect the marine to be driven from a profession which his conduct shows him to be unworthy of." Davis signs his initials, "J. D.," at the end of a brief postscript, "The letter of your son is herewith enclosed." In very good to fine condition, with the upper portion cleanly detached; it would display nicely under glass. Richard Worsam Meade III was an officer in the United States Navy who was promoted to lieutenant-commander on July 16, 1862. His subsequent Civil War service was distinguished, and included participation in the suppression of the July 1863 New York Draft Riots, as well as active combat and blockade enforcement work while commanding the Mississippi River ironclad Louisville in the latter part of 1862, and the gunboat Marblehead in South Carolina waters in 1863-1864.
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