Partly-printed vellum DS as president, one page, 12.5 x 16.5, March 25, 1847. President Polk appoints John M. Brannon as "First Lieutenant in the First Regiment of Artillery, in the service of the United States." Signed at the conclusion in ink by President James K. Polk, and countersigned by Secretary of War William L. Marcy. The white paper seal affixed at the upper left remains intact. Nicely cloth-matted and framed with a portrait and plaque to an overall size of 27 x 24.75. In fine condition, with some skipping to Polk's somewhat light signature.
The appointee, John Milton Brannan (1819–1892) was a career U.S. Army officer who served with distinction in the Mexican–American War; he was promoted to the rank of brevet captain for 'gallant and meritorious conduct' during the battles of Contreras and Churubusco in 1847, and was severely wounded during the battle for Mexico City. Brannan was scandalized by the highly publicized disappearance of his first wife, Eliza Crane Brannan, daughter of Colonel Ichabod B. Crane, in 1858; she mysteriously disappeared after taking a ferry from Staten Island to Lower Manhattan and was initially presumed to have committed suicide or been murdered, but it was later discovered that she had secretly fled to Europe and married another Army officer.
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