$7,560
Estimate: $6,000 - $9,000
Auction: February 2, 2023 11:00 AM EDT
Washington, (D.C.), April 13, 1863. Partially-printed military commission on vellum, signed by Abraham Lincoln as President of the United States, appointing Charles E(dward). Blunt a Major in the Corps of Engineers; counter-signed by Edwin Stanton as Secretary of War; MS. in top left corner recording this document in Adjutant General's Office's official records, signed by Assistant Adjutant General, E.D. Townsend; blue paper seal intact; docketed by Blunt on verso. Creasing from contemporary folds, light soiling in top left edge. 19 3/8 x 14 3/4 in. (492 x 375 mm). In mat and in frame, 22 5/8 x 17 1/2 in. (575 x 444 mm). Lot includes a framed portrait of Lincoln.
Charles Edward Blunt (1823-92) served as a career officer in the United States Army Corps of Engineers for 40 years. He graduated from West Point Military Academy on July 1, 1846, and during the 1850s served in a variety of positions restoring and modifying forts in upstate New York, where he attained the rank of First Lieutenant. He was promoted and served as Captain from July 1, 1860 to March 3, 1863, when, as seen in this commission, he was promoted to Major. During the Civil War he served as Assistant Engineer in the construction of the defenses of Washington, D.C. from May 4 to November 20, 1861, and then as Superintending Engineer of the construction of the defenses at Boston Harbor and Massachusetts Bay, from November 20 to January 16, 1865. Following the war he was promoted to Lieutenant Colonel and oversaw the modification and improvement of defenses at a variety of forts in New York, the Great Lakes region, and in New England. On June 30, 1882 he was promoted to Colonel, and was in charge of the defenses, again, at Boston Harbor, until his retirement, on January 10, 1887.
Provenance
From the autograph collection of B. Harold Smick, Jr. (1925-2022) of Salem, New Jersey