Franklin Pierce and Jefferson Davis

Partly-printed vellum DS, signed “Franklin Pierce" as president and "Jeffer. Davis" as secretary of war, one page, 13.75 x 17.25, May 29, 1856. President Pierce appoints William P. Craighill as "Second Lieutenant in the Corps of Engineers." Crisply signed at the conclusion by President Pierce and boldly countersigned by Secretary of War Davis. The white paper seal affixed to the upper left remains intact. In very good to fine condition, with light soiling, and some scattered small holes. A classmate of Philip Sheridan, John Bell Hood, and James B. McPherson, Craighill ranked second in the United States Military Academy class of 1853 and was commissioned in the United States Army Corps of Engineers. During the Civil War, he worked on the defenses of Pittsburgh, Baltimore, San Francisco, and New York City. He would later be appointed Chief of Engineers by President Grover Cleveland in 1895.