Three documents signed by William W. Belknap

Heading: (Belknap, William)
Author:
Title: Three autograph letters signed by William W. Belknap
Place Published: Washington, DC
Publisher:
Date Published: 1871-74
Description:

Three ALS matted and framed together in Optium Museum Acrylic glass frame: 42.6x70.4 cm (16¾x27¾"). Reverse of frame under acrylic glass to reveal writing on reverse of letters.

Two documents on War department letterhead with the third being a personal letter, all signed by William W. Belknap, Secretary of War. Of particular note is a War department letter dated February 4th, 1874 requesting from the Secretary of the Interior 10 copies of the Sixth Annual Report of the U.S. Geological Survey of the Territories (1872). This report would have covered the Dakota Territory into which hordes of gold seekers would flood later in the year when gold was discovered. The other War Department document certifies the signature of Chief of Ordnance, A.B. Dyer. The personal letter addressed to "Crosby" details Belknap's proposed travels to NY via Chicago and complains of the "cold + blustering + very disagreeable" weather in Keokuk.

William Worth Belknap was a lawyer, soldier in the Union Army, government administrator in Iowa, and the 30th United States Secretary of War under President Ulysses S. Grant. In 1875, Grant, Belknap, and other members of Grant's administration secretly agreed to remove troops from the Black Hills after gold was discovered. The US had protected the area from white settlers as part of a US treaty with the Lakota. The withdrawal of troops allowed a gold rush of white settlers to take place, and the US took de facto possession after the Lakota refused to sell their sacred lands. In 1876, the trader post scandal at Fort Sill led to Belknap's resignation, impeachment by the Democratic-controlled House, and trial by the Senate.
Condition Report: Some offsetting from ribbon, a bit of toning and edgewear; unexamined out of frame.