DS as president, one page, 12 x 14.75, July 3, 1863. President Lincoln appoints William E. Leeds as Boatswain in the United States Navy. Signed at the conclusion in black ink “Abraham Lincoln,” and countersigned by Secretary of the Navy Gideon Welles. On the day Lincoln signed this document, the greatest battle of the Civil War, at Gettysburg, Pennsylvania, was coming to a close. There, the Confederate troops were finally repulsed after three days of hard fighting in which both sides suffered heavy casualties. The battle marked the high point of Confederate activity during the war, after which their military fortunes would steadily decline. Lincoln would later travel to that historic site in November 1863, and deliver his famous Gettysburg Address. Gilt cloth matted and framed with a color portrait of Lincoln and an informational plaque about the Navy’s participation in the Civil War, to an overall size of 35.25 x 22.5. Leeds would serve as Boatswain in the North Atlantic Squadron aboard the New Ironsides. During the summer of 1863, the ship battered Confederate positions during the successful campaign to take Fort Wagner. During this effort, on August 21, New Ironsides was the target of a torpedo boat attack attack. Another such attack, by CSS David during the night of 5 October 1863, damaged the ironclad, but she was able to remain on station until May 1864, when she went to Philadelphia for repairs and a general overhaul. Upon completion of this work in late August, New Ironsides recommissioned to join the North Atlantic Blockading Squadron. In December she participated in a major assault on Fort Fisher, North Carolina, in an effort to stop blockade running into the port of Wilmington. Though this attack was called off on Christmas Day, after an extensive bombardment, the Federal fleet returned to renew the operation in mid-January 1865. New Ironsides was one of dozens of warships that vigorously shelled Fort Fisher, preparing the way for a ground assault that captured the position on January 15.In very good condition, with moderate horizontal and vertical folds, one through portion of last name of Lincoln’s signature, intact but worn seal and some scattered mild toning and soiling. COA John Reznikoff/PSA/DNA and R&R COA. Oversized.
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