Partly-printed vellum DS as president, one page, 15.75 x 19.75, April 19, 1899. President McKinley appoints Charles T. Forse as a “Commander in the Navy…in the service of the United States." Boldly signed at the conclusion in ink by President McKinley and countersigned by Secretary of the Navy John D. Long. The bright blue Navy Department seal remains affixed to the lower vignette. In fine condition. Charles Thomas Forse (1844-1925) was a Pennsylvania native who joined the U.S. Navy in 1863 during the Civil War. He met President Abraham Lincoln near the end of or after the war and asked for an appointment to the U.S. Naval Academy. The midshipman graduated in 1868. He served for 40 years, including 22 years at sea on various duties such as patrolling the Caribbean Sea and surveying the Yukon River in Alaskan territory. He rose through the ranks, and he became a rear admiral upon retirement in 1903.
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