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Civil War-dated partly-printed vellum DS as president, one page, 14.25 x 17.25, August 10, 1861. President Lincoln appoints Orville E. Babcock as “Second Lieutenant in the Corps of Engineers in the service of the United States.” Signed at the conclusion by Abraham Lincoln, and countersigned by Secretary of War Simon Cameron. The embossed green seal remains affixed to the upper left. Cloth-matted and framed with a portrait and engraved plate to an overall size of 29.25 x 25.25. In very good to fine condition, with light staining slightly affecting Cameron's signature, but not Lincoln's bold signature.
A notable military commission from President Lincoln that represents one of the earliest appointments in the formidable and controversial career of Orville Elias Babcock (1835–1884), an engineer and Union general who served as the aide-de-camp to General U. S. Grant during the Civil War. Babcock’s wartime experience with Grant served him well throughout his career, with President Grant naming Babcock as his military private secretary at the White House, and later appointing him as Superintendent of Buildings and Grounds for Washington D.C. Trouble followed Babcock, however, as he was criminally indicted twice over corruption charges and associated with four scandals. After Babcock was indicted as a member of the Whiskey Ring in 1875, Grant provided a written deposition on Babcock's behalf—a first for a sitting president—which was admitted at Babcock's 1876 trial and resulted in his acquittal. Although Grant dismissed Babcock from the White House, he did not forsake his wartime comrade; in February 1877, he appointed Babcock Inspector of Lighthouses for the Federal Lighthouse Board's Fifth District. Away from the public eye, Babcock continued to serve as lighthouse inspector under Grant's successors Rutherford B. Hayes, James A. Garfield, and Chester A. Arthur.
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