Franklin Pierce & Jefferson Davis Signed Military Appointment, 1854

1p of vellum, measuring 13.25" x 17.25", Washington, D.C., dated February 9, 1854. A military appointment signed "Franklin Pierce" as President and countersigned "Jeffn Davis" as Secretary of War. The document appoints "Stephen F. Benét…First Lieutenant in the Ordnance Department." With military and patriotic motifs at the top and bottom margins. White paper seal adhered to the upper left edge. With flattened folds, along with minor additional creasing at the corners and around the paper seal. Faint toning at the folds. Boldly signed by both.

Jefferson Davis (1808-1889) was born in Kentucky and graduated from the U.S. Military Academy in 1828. After service under Zachary Taylor in the Black Hawk War, Davis established a plantation in Mississippi and became a Democratic politician. In 1845, he won election to the U.S. House of Representatives, but soon resigned his seat in Congress to raise a volunteer regiment for the Mexican War. He returned to politics after the war and served as a U.S. Senator and as Secretary of War (1853-1857). As a moderate, he initially opposed secession, but when Mississippi seceded in January 1861, Davis resigned from the Senate and returned to Mississippi. A month later, the Montgomery Convention named him as provisional president of the Confederacy, and he was officially inaugurated on February 22, 1862.

This item comes with a Certificate from John Reznikoff, a premier authenticator for both major 3rd party authentication services, PSA and JSA (James Spence Authentications), as well as numerous auction houses.

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