AUTOGRAPH LETTER, SIGNED, FROM WILLIAM H. WATSON, GOVERNOR SALOMON'S MILITARY SECRETARY, TO COLONEL THOMAS H. RUGER, COMMANDING THE THIRD WISCONSIN VOLUNTEER INFANTRY, 13 AUGUST 1862, CONCERNING PROMOTION OF OFFICERS

Madison, 1862. Entirely in ink manuscript. Two lined leaves, each written on recto only, on stationery of State of Wisconsin, Executive Department, with engraving of a tradesman and farmer flanking the Seal of the United States, and the motto "Forward" at the head. Engraved by Wellstood, Hanks, Hay & Whiting, New York. Very Good plus.

In response to Colonel Ruger's promotion recommendations, Secretary Watson assures him, on behalf of the Governor, that "the officers named by you have acted in the capacity assigned in the late action, where the regiment has suffered severely, and is unwilling to cause a moment's feeling of disappointment (truncated) to a brave soldier." He laments "the severe loss incurred by the regiment and the state in the death of the gallant Lt. Col. Crane, and fears that the list of losses when complete will reveal the names of many other of the noble sons of Wisconsin, martyrs in the cause of their country."
A Wisconsin lawyer, Ruger was appointed Lieut. Colonel of the Third Wisconsin, and was soon promoted to Colonel. After the War he became Reconstruction Governor of Georgia. Lt. Col. Crane had been killed at the Battle of Cedar Mountain four days earlier.
Edward Salomon [1828-1909], a Prussian-born Jew, was the eighth Governor of Wisconsin. He immigrated to the United States in the aftermath of the Revolutions of 1848, settled in Milwaukee, and developed a law practice. Originally a Democrat, he supported the election of Abraham Lincoln in 1860, and was elected governor in 1861. He was the brother of Civil War veterans Bvt. Brig. Gen. Charles E. Salomon [1824-1894], Bvt. Maj. Gen. Frederick C. Salomon [1826-1897], and Sgt. Herman Salomon [1834-1881]; and cousin to Bvt. Brig. Gen. Edward Selig Salomon [1836-1913], Civil War hero and Governor of the Washington Territory from 1870-1872. (Inventory #: 38964)