An Abraham Lincoln Military Commission For A Soldier Wounded At Antietam; He Was Commissioned In The Veterans Reserve Corps

ABRAHAM LINCOLN (1809-1865). Lincoln was the Sixteenth President.DS. 1pg. August 1, 1864. Washington. A vellum military commission signed Abraham Lincoln as President and co-signed E.M. Stanton as Secretary of War. The President appointed James Wylie Crawford a First Lieutenant in the Veterans Reserve Corps. Crawford (1832-1910) was from Maine; according to family lore, he was badly wounded at Antietam (I bought this directly from a descendant). This injury required his enlistment in the Veterans Reserve Corps. The Veterans Reserve Corps allowed wounded soldiers to remain active, often performing small tasks and light duty; established in the middle (truncated) of 1863, it was first known as the Invalid Corps until the official name was changed. The document recently underwent conservation with the vellum stretched and flattened; the top right corner of the vellum has shrunk and the document was once rolled. The Lincoln autograph is a tad light and gets lighter as the autograph gets towards the conclusion; the Stanton is also a bit faint (but vellum does not hold ink that well, especially compared to paper). (Inventory #: 6509)