Partly-printed DS as president, one page, 16 x 11.25, April 18, 1853. President Pierce appoints James L. Collins to be an “Agent for the Indians in New Mexico.” Signed prominently at the conclusion by Franklin Pierce and countersigned by Secretary of State William L. Marcy. The embossed white seal remains affixed to the left side. In very good to fine condition, with a small hole to the left of the signature, and a tear to the right edge repaired with old tape on the back.
Born in Crab Orchard, Kentucky, in 1800, James L. Collins moved to Chihuahua, Mexico, in 1828, where he worked as a merchant. In the 1850s, he was appointed superintendent of Indian affairs in New Mexico by President James Buchanan and, as this document illustrates, as an Indian agent by President Pierce. In 1869, three years after he was made receiver of the land office and custodian of United States funds, Collins was found murdered in his office in Santa Fe, with $100,000 missing. Collins was also noted for publishing the Santa Fe Weekly Gazette from 1852 until 1858.
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