FRANKLIN PIERCE (1804-1869). 14th President of the United States (1853-1857), a New Hampshire Democrat who served in the U.S. House and Senate and as a Brigadier General in the Mexican War, his presidency was marked by the divisive Slavery Kansas-Nebraska Act of 1854.

JEFFERSON DAVIS (1808-1889). American statesman who served as U.S. Senator from Mississippi, Secretary of War under Franklin Pierce, and, most famously, as the First and Only President of the Confederate States of America (1861-1865).
April 6, 1853-Dated Pre Civil War, Vellum Military Appointment Signed by President FRANKLIN PIERCE and Countersigned by his Secretary of War JEFFERSON DAVIS, Appointing Isaiah N. Moore Second Lieutenant in the First Regiment of Dragoons, Choice Very Fine. An exceptional dual-signed Vellum Military Appointment that unites the signatures of FRANKLIN PIERCE (1804-1869), 14th President of the United States, and JEFFERSON DAVIS (1808-1889), his Secretary of War, who would go on eight years later to become the President of the Confederate States of America.

This a juxtaposition to come of tremendous historical importance given the trajectory both men's careers would take toward the sectional crisis and the coming American Civil War. The appointment elevates ISAIAH N. MOORE, a graduate of the United States Military Academy at West Point, to Second Lieutenant in the First Regiment of Dragoons, one of the elite mounted units of the antebellum Regular United States Army. Moore went on to a distinguished career on the western frontier, serving primarily in New Mexico Territory as a scout and officer engaged in multiple skirmishes and campaigns against the Apache and other Native American tribes throughout the 1850s. By April 1861, at the outbreak of the Civil War, Isaiah Moore had risen to Captain in the Third Regiment of Cavalry, the successor designation to his original dragoon commission under the Army's 1861 Cavalry reorganization. Moore was stationed at FORT CRAIG, New Mexico Territory, a strategically vital Union outpost guarding the Rio Grande approach to the New Mexico goldfields and Santa Fe against Confederate invasion during the 1862 New Mexico Campaign. Moore is recorded to have died there in service on January 16, 1862, giving this appointment the poignant distinction of documenting the commissioning of an officer who would ultimately give his life in defense of the Union, during the very conflict his Countersigning Secretary of War Jefferson Davis would come to lead against it, as President of the Confederate States of America.

This superior quality clean vellum sheet measures 12.75" x 16.75" (by sight) and presents the standard ornate engraved Presidential commission format for military appointments, headed by an elaborate calligraphic title "The President of the United States of America". An embossed official Paper Seal of the War Department is sharply defined and fully intact at upper left. It is boldly Signed, "Franklin Pierce" at lower right and Countersigned, "Jeffn Davis, Secretary of War." The document is handsomely matted to an overall size of 17.0" x 21.0" with both signatures very clear and "Franklin Pierce" measuring a huge 4.5 inches long.
Jefferson Davis (1810-1889) was an American statesman who served as U.S. Senator from Mississippi, Secretary of War under Franklin Pierce, and, most famously, as the first and only President of the Confederate States of America (1861-1865). A West Point graduate and Mexican War veteran, he was captured and imprisoned for two years after the Confederacy's defeat, and spent his later years at Beauvoir, his Mississippi estate, writing his memoirs before his death in New Orleans in 1889.

Franklin Pierce (1804-1869) was the fourteenth President of the United States (1853-1857), a New Hampshire Democrat who previously served in the U.S. House and Senate and as a Brigadier General in the Mexican War. His presidency was marked by the divisive Kansas-Nebraska Act of 1854, which inflamed sectional tensions over Slavery and cost him his party's renomination, and he died in Concord, New Hampshire, in 1869 in relative obscurity.

This Military Commission’s text, is completed in a fine period clerk's hand, appoints Isaiah N. Moore Second Lieutenant in the First Regiment of Dragoons, to that rank from the twenty-first day of February 1853, given under hand at the City of Washington the sixth day of April in the year 1853.

Franklin Pierce and Jefferson Davis signed military appointment. Large sheet of vellum, 12.75" x 16.75" (sight); City of Washington; April 6, 1853. Document appointing Isaiah N. Moore a "Second Lieutenant in the First Regiment of Dragoons." Boldly signed, "Franklin Pierce" and countersigned, "Jeffer Davis" as Secretary of War. Matted to an overall size of 17" x 21". Toning, more so along central horizontal folds. A scarce and attractive appointment for a dragoon who died while in service during the Civil War!

Isaiah N. Moore was a graduate of West Point, who served primarily out West in New Mexico. He served as a scout and was engaged in multiple skirmishes and operations against the Apache and other native tribes during the 1850s. He was stationed at Fort Craig in New Mexico during the Civil War and is recorded to have died there on January 16, 1862.



Dimensions:

21" x 17"
[Antebellum Period, Westward Expansion, Civil War] [Franklin Pierce, Jefferson Davis, Fort Craig] [Manuscripts, Documents, Military Commissions, Autographs]