LINCOLN, Abraham (1809-1865). Partly-printed document signed ("Abraham Lincoln") as President, Washington, 1 August 1864.

One page, 422 x 497mm, countersigned by Edwin M. STANTON (1814-1869) as Secretary of War (file holes, dampstained at top edge, small remnant of seal still adhered).

Lincoln commissions Union infantryman George W. Gile, wounded at Antietam, as Colonel in the Veteran Reserve Corps. George W. Gile (1830-1896) served in the 22nd Pennsylvania during the Civil War, where his first serious combat was the Second Battle of Bull Run, in which he took command after his Colonel was absent due to illness and his Lieutenant Colonel was mortally wounded early in the conflict. He was shortly thereafter promoted to Lieutenant Colonel in September 1862—just weeks before a bullet struck his thigh at Antietam. Later, Gile was further promoted to Colonel, though his wounds led to his discharge on 3 March 1863; he further enrolled at the Veteran Reserve Corps two months later, and was made Colonel in September 1863. (Antietam on the Web, https://antietam.aotw.org/).

[With:] CURTIN, Andrew G. (1815-1894). Three documents signed as Pennsylvania governor, each 430 x 342mm, appointing Gile to an assortment of ranks and regiments within the Pennsylvania volunteers from 1861 to 1862. [Also with:] Gile's membership certificate to the New England Society of Pennsylvania, c.21 Apr. 1887.