Partly-printed vellum DS as president, one page, 15.75 x 19.5, May 8, 1866. President Johnson appoints William S. Ketcham of the Army of the United States as a "Major General by Brevet." Signed nicely at the conclusion by Andrew Johnson as president and countersigned by Secretary of War Edwin M. Stanton. Upper left retains the original blue War Office seal. In fine condition, with some light skipping to the signature. An unusually crisp and well-preserved example, with uncommonly bold vignettes and a near-perfect, striking blue government seal.
William Scott Ketchum (1813-1871) was a U. S. Army officer who served in the Seminole Wars, on the Western frontier, and during the American Civil War. He was made a brigadier general of Volunteers in February 1862 and, for the rest of the war, he had staff duties in Washington D.C. that were concerned with inspection, recruitment, and auditing. Following the Civil War, General Ketchum spent four years on special service in the adjutant general’s office in Washington D.C., then retired in December 1870. The mysterious circumstances surrounding General Ketchum’s death were dramatized in the CBS radio program Crime Classics on July 27, 1953; the landlady of his boarding house, Ellen G. Wharton, was suspected of poisoning him, although she was ultimately found not guilty.
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