Rutherford B. Hayes Document Signed

Partly-printed vellum DS as president, signed “R. B. Hayes,” one page, 15.75 x 19.75, October 31, 1877. President Hayes appoints John G. Walker as a "Captain in the Navy…in the service of the United States." Signed neatly at the conclusion by Rutherford B. Hayes, and countersigned by Secretary of the Navy Richard W. Thompson. The dark blue Navy Department seal remains affixed to lower vignette. In fine condition. John Grimes Walker (1835–1907) was an admiral in the United States Navy who served during the Civil War. After the war, he served as Chief of the Bureau of Navigation, head of the Lighthouse Board, and commander-in-chief of the Squadron of Evolution and of the North Atlantic Squadron. In retirement, he led commissions to investigate the construction of a Central American canal connecting the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans.