LS signed “Wm. McKinley, Jr.,” one page, 7.75 x 9.75, Head-Quarters, First Division First Army Corps letterhead, June 1, 1865. Letter to a colonel, in part: "Private H. H. Adriance, Company 'F,' 8th Regiment U.S. Ret. Vol. who remained absent from his Regiment two days over his leave, and is now reported as a deserted, having furnished satisfactory evidence that his absence was unavoidable, will be released from arrest & returned to duty." In very good condition, with overall staining and dampstaining, affecting appearance, but not readability.
McKinley was 18 years old and teaching in a country school in Ohio when the Civil War broke out. Enlisting as a private in the 23rd Ohio Volunteer Regiment in June 1861, he participated in the bloody Battle of Antietam in September 1862. He went on to serve as a second lieutenant on the staff of Rutherford B. Hayes, and he was mustered out at the end of the war as a brevet major of volunteers. McKinley was the last president to have served in the Civil War, and the only one to begin his service as an enlisted man.
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