Franklin Pierce Document Signed as President

Partly-printed vellum DS as president, one page, 14.25 x 17.75, October 22, 1855. President Pierce appoints Pendleton G. Watmough as "a Lieutenant in the Navy." Neatly signed at the conclusion by President Pierce and countersigned by Secretary of the Navy James C. Dobbin. The orange seal affixed at the bottom remains intact. Mounted and framed to an overall size of 18.5 x 22. In fine condition, with a thin orange stain impinging on the lower vignette. During the Civil War, Watmough would go on to command the USS Memphis during the blockade off Charleston in 1863, and commanded USS Kansas off Fort Fisher in May 1864.