Partly-printed vellum DS as president, one page, 15 x 18, October 13, 1855. President Pierce appoints William D. Whiting as a "Lieutenant in the Navy." Signed at the conclusion by Franklin Pierce and countersigned by Secretary of the Navy James C. Dobbin. The orange Navy Department seal remains affixed to the lower vignette. In fine condition, with the signature quite faded but mostly legible.
William D. Whiting was a Civil War Union Naval officer (1823-1894) who, after being appointed lieutenant, began serving on the steam frigate Niagara when the first Atlantic cable was laid in 1857. After the outbreak of the Civil War, he served as the executive officer of the sloop USS Vandalia at the capture of Port Royal in 1861 and commanded the steamer USS Wyandotte on the South Atlantic blockade and in the Potomac flotilla. He was promoted to Lieutenant Commander in July 1862 and participated in the attacks on the defenses of Charleston while aboard the gunboat USS Ottawa. From 1864 to 1865 he commanded the USS Savannah in the Eastern Gulf station.
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