American Historian & Diplomat; U.S. Navy Secretary – 1845-46; U.S. Minister to Great Britain – 1846-49; Governor of Massachusetts - 1844

Mexican War-Date Letter Signed, 8” x 10”, as U.S. Navy Secretary during the presidency of James K. Polk, to “John Clapham, Gunner, U.S. Navy Yard, Washington.” In a circular letter designed for distribution to Navy officials shortly after the outbreak of war with Mexico, Bancroft urges a prompt accounting of the Navy officers available for active duty.

“Circular. Navy Department, July 30^th 1846. Sir, With a view to ascertain as accurately as possible, the services of the officers of the Navy, you will be pleased to fill up the enclosed blank in conformity with the headings of the several columns and return it to the Department as early as practicable. Where the information called for cannot be furnished from original documents in your possession, you will state it from recollection as nearly as you can, designating the instances in which it is given from memory. Temporary duty – such as attendance on Courts Martial, accompanying recruits from port to port or annual survey of stores, and the like – is to be omitted. I am respectf[ull]y, Yours, Geo. Bancroft.”

There is scattered foxing, along with two light horizontal folds, and general soiling and wear to the integral leaf.

American Historian & Diplomat; U.S. Navy Secretary – 1845-46; U.S. Minister to Great Britain – 1846-49; Governor of Massachusetts – 1844

SHUBRICK, WILLIAM BRANFORD (1790-1874) U.S. Navy Rear Admiral; Awarded a Congressional Medal for Gallant Conduct in the War of 1812

Mexican War-Date Letter Signed, 8” x 10”, Navy Department, April 27, 1846, “Geo. Bancroft,” as U.S. Navy Secretary during the presidency of James K. Polk, to “Mr. John Clapham, Gunner U.S. Navy, Paterson, N.J.” Just three days after the United States declared war with Mexico, Clapham is ordered to report to Commodore William B. Shubrick for duty at Washington, D.C. In the lower margin, Shubrick further directs Clapham, “Report to Commander D… W. Branford Shubrick, 5^th May 1846.”

A lifelong navy man, Shubrick was awarded a Congressional Medal, the antebellum precursor to the Congressional Medal of Honor, for gallant conduct during the War of 1812. As commander–in-chief of the U.S. naval force in the Pacific during the war with Mexico, he was responsible for the capture of several port cities in Mexico and southern California. In 1862, Shubrick was promoted to rear admiral on the retired list.

The sheet bears scattered foxing and light wear and staining along two horizontal folds. While the signature of Bancroft is light, Shubrick’s notation is quite distinct.

U.S. Postmaster General - 1861-64; Brother of Francis P. Blair, Jr.; Mayor of St. Louis – 1842-43; Counsel for Dred Scott before the U.S. Supreme Court

“…I have written to Col. Fremont by this mail & via Nicaragua at considerable length…”

Autograph Letter Signed, 2 ½ pages, on a folded 8” x 10” letter-sheet. Writing to his sister from San Francisco, Blair discusses his health and laboriously explains his difficulty in writing. He further mentions business matters with John C. Fremont, the noted western explorer whom the influential and politically connected Blair family had backed in the presidential election of 1856.

“San Francisco, Aug. 16, [18]59. My dear Sister, I have nothing to write & have written to Mary sending d[ra]fts. You will hear from her every thing I have to say but still I like to say a word or so to you all at Silver Spring where so large a part of my affections dwell. I have not been quite well & am not yet as well as I would like to be. But I really think it is home sickness as much as any thing else that ails me. I have had occasional symptoms lately of a return of the Panama fever but I have stopped them & am now [?] on matters very energetically. Don’t tell momma a word of this for the sound would for she…go mad about it. I wrote home because you would expect longer & fuller letters than I can write. I have written her tho at my usual length tho I found it hard work to find matter to fill my sheets to her…I am now in no mood to dwell here or on things here in any letters I want to get away. But I start [?] I get every thing fixed so I can leave [?] in good condition. Write me therefore just as if I were a fixture – tho the thought of such a prospect would slay me outright.

I have written to Col. Fremont by this mail & via Nicaragua at considerable length & about some matters of importance to him. You say that since writing I have had a conversation with J[?] who tells me he has a power of atty. & promised to bring it here to my office yesterday. But he did not. I seldom see him & don’t know where to hunt him. I suppose he will turn up in a few days again & if his [?] are sufficient. I will get him to act on them & get a contract with Palmer to set aside proceedings in case not approved by Fremont.

Our promising uncle James D. Blair has put around here from the Sandwich Islands whence he hails now. I have not seen him & shall not seek him. It is just as well to keep at a respectful distance from such fellows especially when they [word omitted] of him to you. Y[ou]rs Aff[ectionatel]y, M. Blair.

Ned [?] & his wife & the cooks [are] better than I have seen her in years very much improved & she has got that if nothing else by coming here. She sends love to you & mother.”

Overall condition is very good, with the usual folds and a few small stains.

U.S. Supreme Court Justice – 1870-92

Autograph Letter Signed, on imprinted 5 ½” x 9” U.S. Supreme Court stationery. Early in his term as Supreme Court Justice, Bradley congratulates Amzi Dodd upon his appointment as Vice Chancellor of New Jersey. An early founder of the Republican Party and an advocate for Lincoln, Dodd would later become President of the Mutual Benefit Life Insurance Company.

“Washington, May 2, 1871. Dear Amzi, You are Vice Chancellor. I am glad of it.  It is not impossible you may some day occupy my place or Judge Strong’s. I send you a parcel of bills which I took up for Delilah. They properly belong to her. Yours very truly, Jos. P. Bradley. I start for Savannah tomorrow.”

Light toning and soiling, with two horizontal folds; brushing of ink to a few letters.

U.S. Postmaster General – 1857-59; Governor of Tennessee – 1845-47; U.S. Congressman – Tennessee – 1839-45

Signature, as U.S. Postmaster General, “Aaron V. Brown, Post Master Genl. U.S.,” on a 1” x 3 ½” slip of paper, removed from an 1857 letter.

As Lincoln’s Treasury Secretary, Chase was instrumental in the efforts to finance the war and was responsible for the issue and acceptance of paper money as legal tender. Continued rivalry and strife with Lincoln precipitated his appointment to fill the Supreme Court vacancy created by the death of Roger B. Taney in 1864.

Ordering Copies of His Senate Speech Against the Fugitive Slave Act

Autograph Letter Signed, 4 ½” x 5”, as a first-term U.S. Senator from Ohio, requesting additional copies of his speech, probably Chase’s impassioned oration opposing the Fugitive Slave Act, a provision in the Compromise of 1850 which required northern citizens to assist in the return of suspected runaway slaves to the South, delivered before the U.S. Senate on March 26 – 27, 1850.

“Wash[ingto]n, May 6, [18]50. Dear Sir, Please send me 20 more copies of my speech, in packages of 5 each, as the enclosed $1 will pay for. Y[ou]rs, S.P. Chase.”

Lightly and evenly toned, with several horizontal folds and minor paper loss at the corners.

U.S. Treasury Secretary - 1814-16

Autograph Letter Signed, 1 ½ pages, on front and reverse of the first page of a 4 ½” x 7 ¼” letter-sheet, concerning two legal cases.

“D[ea]r Sir, In Mr. Fitzsimons’s case I hardly know how to advise. It appears to me that the United States are not interested in pressing the business, and yet every thing is so caviled at now-a-days, that there is no safety but in a strict legal course. If you think it would be advisable to obtain the opinion of the Secretary of the Treasury, I will forward any communication you please. Or, if you do not like to press Mr. F. I will assist you by writing to him on the subject. In Mr. Harris’s case, I can obtain no relocation. The circumstances are very much on the part of Olden, if not of Harris. Any reasonable overture, however, to secure the debt, at a distant period, would be listened to. In the meantime, the Bail must be satisfactory to the Marshall. I am very sincerely Y[ou]rs, A.J. Dallas, 20 Aug. 1801.”

The integral leaf bears remnants of two wax seals, and is addressed by Dallas to “Mr. Rawle,” undoubtedly William Rawle, the U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania, 1791-99, Dallas’s predecessor in that office. Appointed by Thomas Jefferson when he became President in 1801, Dallas served as U.S. Attorney for Eastern Pennsylvania until 1814, when he was named Treasury Secretary by President Madison.

The sheet bears general soiling and wear, along with the usual folds and light creases, and there is heavier toning in the margins.

U.S. Supreme Court Justice – 1862-77 – Appointed by Abraham Lincoln; U.S. Senator – Illinois – 1877-83

Letter Signed, in violet ink on 5” x 5 ¾” stationery, imprinted “Vice-President’s Chamber, Washington,” to a recipient identified only as “Mr. French.” While serving as President of the U.S. Senate, a position he held from 1881-83, Davis recommends a man for a postal department appointment in Indianapolis.

“March 23, 1882. Dear Sir: Mr. W.L. Rutledge, who has had from merit two promotions in the postal service, would be gratified to fill a vacancy, caused, or to be caused, by the retirement of Mr. Palmer at Indianapolis. He has proved his fitness signally, and under the rules which recognize capacity, fidelity and integrity, he certainly deserves this new mark of confidence. Very Respectfully, David Davis.”

The letter-sheet is lightly and evenly toned, with a horizontal fold at the center and a few superficial stains.

Union Brevet Brigadier General; Assistant U.S. Secretary of War – 1866-67; President of Western Union – 1892-1902

Eckert served on the staff of George McClellan as head of the Army of the Potomac telegraph operations during the Peninsula campaign. Later transferred to the War Department telegraph office, he became close to President Lincoln as the two spent hours together awaiting news from the front. Lincoln invited Eckert to accompany him to Ford’s Theater on the night of the assassination, but Stanton prevented his going, claiming that Eckert had too much work to do. After the war, Eckert served briefly as assistant secretary of war and later became president of the Western Union Telegraph Company.

Signature, “Thos. T. Eckert,” on a 1 ¼” x 3” slip of lined paper, affixed to heavier stock.

U.S. Secretary of State - 1881-85; U.S. Senator – New Jersey – 1866-69 & 1871-77

Signed Executive Mansion Vignette Card, 3 ¾” x 4 ¾”, as U.S. Secretary of State in the cabinet of Chester A. Arthur, “Fredk. T. Frelinghuysen, Secy. of State.” Dated “1884” in another hand in the lower margin.

Very light, even toning; pristine otherwise, both front and reverse.

U.S. Treasury Secretary – 1789-95; Revolutionary War Captain & Aide-de-Camp to General Washington; Killed in a Duel with Aaron Burr on July 11, 1804

Letter Signed, 1 ½ pages, front and reverse of a 7 ¾” x 9” sheet, a manuscript U.S. Treasury Department circular letter. At the authorization and direction of the House of Representatives during the term of the Second U.S. Congress, Treasury Secretary Hamilton seeks information relating to reported shortfalls in the receipt of funds by various customs officers for the year 1790.

“Treasury Department, April 14, 1791. Sir, The House of Representatives having been pleased to direct me to examine and report upon the endorsements of the several Officers of the Customs. I find it necessary to enable me to form a satisfactory judgment upon the subject that I be furnished with an accurate account, as much as possible in detail of all the monies received in the four quarters of the year 1790 by every Officer of the Customs who conceives himself to be insufficiently compensated. You will therefore if you think it proper to have your case taken into consideration transmit me such an account, and you will exhibit in detail likewise in the same paper the expenses of every kind which you have actually paid during the same year. The sooner this information is received, the more early I can enter upon the formation of a report. Should you think proper to make any observations they will be acceptable. For the greater clearness I wish the letter inclosing the above account to be confined to the subject. I am Sir Your Obed[ien]t Servant, A. Hamilton.”

The letter bears light, even toning and general wear, and there are a few edge chips and tears, all well away from the text. One of several paper breaks along the usual folds has been repaired with a small strip of paper on the reverse.

U.S. Vice President - 1861-65; Governor & Senator - Maine

Signature, as U.S. Senator, on a 6” x 8 ¼” sheet, for a fellow resident of Maine.

“S.S.Brooks, Augusta, Maine. From H. Hamlin, Washington, D.C., 1858.”

The overall condition is excellent, with a few small stains and light creases.

Personal Secretary of Abraham Lincoln; U.S. Secretary of State - 1898-1905 – McKinley & Roosevelt Administrations

Hay became a friend of Lincoln while studying law in Springfield, Illinois and accompanied him to Washington to become one of his personal secretaries. After the war, Hay and Nicolay wrote their biography of Lincoln, and Hay served as Secretary of State under McKinley and Roosevelt from 1898 through 1905.

Autograph Letter Signed, two pages, on the first and third leaves of a 5 ¼” x 8” letter-sheet. Addressing former Union General Frederick Tracy Dent, brother-in-law and secretary of President Ulysses S. Grant, Hay seeks the help of the President in securing his brother’s advancement in the military.

“New York, August 31 [no year]. My Dear General Dent, Enclosed you will find the note to the President which you suggested I should write. My brother Lieutenant Leonard Hay is Adjutant of the 9^th Infantry. He likes the service and desires to remain in it. I know him to be a very efficient and valuable officer and if you can do anything to promote his wishes, I am sure it will be to the advantage of the service, and will lay me under great personal obligations. I am very faithfully yours, John Hay. P.S. My address will be for the present ‘Republican Office, Chicago’ where I am always at your disposition.”

Beneath Hay’s closing and signature, General Dent has written and initialed a biographical notation of Hay, in pencil, “Private Sec[retary] of President Lincoln and author of Jim Beldsoe & little breeches. F.T.D.”

The letter-sheet bears the usual light toning, and there is weakness and clean separation, with no loss of paper, at the edges of two horizontal folds. The text of the letter is unaffected by a three-quarter inch area of paper loss in the upper margin of the second page.

U.S. Secretary of War - 1881-85; Son of Abraham and Mary Todd Lincoln

Signed Card, 1 ¾” x 3”, “Robert T. Lincoln.”

The card is lightly and evenly toned, with old mounting traces on the reverse. It is accompanied by an illustrated trade card from an Amsterdam, New York grocer.

Confederate Secretary of the Navy; Democratic U.S. Senator – Florida - 1851-61

Autograph Letter Signed, 9” x 11”, to “H.M. Morfit, Esq., Washington.” As a young Key West attorney, Mallory recounts the details and eccentricities in the settlement of a lawsuit.

"…Key West, Dec. 12, 1844. Dear Sir: Enclosed I have the pleasure of handing to you a draft on the Treasury Department for $2319.95., this being the amount of money recovered from Mr. F.A. Browne, for Mr. Thornton, less the expenses of collection and the purchase of the draft, a statement of which expenses I annex. I received the money in the currency of this Island, Spanish doubloons at $17 and Sovreigns [sic] at $5. A considerable loss would be sustained by shipping these coins to you, and I have therefore obtained from a friend the draft, at ½% less than its market value. We may congratulate ourselves on at length realizing this money, for it is the least, I fear, that Mr. B’s reduced circumstances will enable him to pay. From the inception of the suit, to its final liquidation, every step has been contested by him, and every means to protract or avoid payment, have been resorted to. He twice carried the cause, on different points, to the Court of Appeals, and nothing but constant watchfulness and industry has enabled me to collect it. Be pleased to answer this at your earliest convenience & oblige Y[ou]r Ob[edien]t Serv[an]t, S.R. Mallory.”

The letter is accompanied by a second sheet of the same dimension, on which Mallory has itemized the receipts and expenses in the case.

Both sheets have light toning and soiling in the margins, a few edge chips and tears, and the usual folds. The lower left corners of both sheets, excised at some point in time, have been professionally filled.

U.S. Secretary of War – 1877-79; Republican U.S. Representative – Iowa - 1869-77

Signature, as U.S. Secretary of War, “G.W. McCrary, Secy. of War, April 17, 1879,” on a 1 ½” X 3 ¾” slip of paper, inlaid to a period steel engraving.

U.S. Treasury Secretary – 1865-69 & 1884-85

Autograph Letter Signed, 1 ½ pages, on the first and fourth pages of a 5” x 8” letter-sheet, imprinted Jay Cooke, McCulloch & Co., 41 Lombard Street, London, E.C. As a partner in the London banking house of noted financier Jay Cooke, McCulloch introduces and recommends a publisher to another company official, “F.O. French, Esq., Office of Jay Cooke & Co., Corner of Wall & Nassau St., New York.”

“April 26, 1873. My Dear Mr. French, I have pleasure in introducing to you T.D. Galpin, Esq. of the firm of Messrs. Cassel Pettis & Galpin, which is said to be one of the largest publishing houses in the world. Mr. Galpin is you will perceive instructed in the question of ‘International Copyright’ upon which he is thoroughly informed. Mr. Galpin is an able man and I shall be obliged to you for such courtesies as may render his visit to New York agreeable and such introduction as may be of service to him. Very Truly Yours, H. McCulloch…”

Ruined by speculation in the construction of the Northern Pacific Railroad, Jay Cooke & Co., along with McCulloch’s London branch, closed its doors later in the year, bringing about the downfall of numerous other banking houses and contributing to the Panic of 1873.

The letter is easily displayable as one piece when unfolded, as illustrated.