Desirable partly-printed vellum DS as president, one page, 15 x 18, July 24, 1856. President Pierce appoints James I. Waddell as a "Lieutenant in the Navy…in the service of the United States." Signed at the conclusion by Franklin Pierce, and countersigned by Secretary of the Navy James C. Dobbin. The orange Navy Department seal remains affixed to lower vignette. In very good to fine condition, with light staining passing through the signature; the bright orange seal is as vibrant as the day it was affixed.
A delegate to the 1852 Democratic National Convention, Dobbins helped secure the nomination of dark horse candidate Franklin Pierce for the presidency. Pierce appointed Dobbin United States Secretary of the Navy as a reward for his work in the presidential campaign. James Iredell Waddell (1824-1886) was an officer in the United States Navy and later in the Confederate States Navy, who during the Civil War took command of the CSS Shenandoah, which he used to sail around the globe and launch raids against the U.S. Navy. It was not until August 1865 that he learned the war had ended. He eventually surrendered his vessel to British authorities in Liverpool on November 6th, marking the last official surrender of the Civil War.
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