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Document 27999

JAMES BUCHANAN and ISAAC TOUCEY. Partly Printed DS: "James Buchanan" as President and "Isaac Toucey" as Secretary of the Navy, 1p, 14½x16¾. On vellum. Washington, 1858 January 7. In part: "Know Ye, that reposing special Trust and Confidence in the Patriotism, Valour, Fidelity and Abilities of Abner Read, I have nominated, and by and with the advice and consent of the Senate, do appoint him a Lieutenant in the Navy, from the 6th of February 1854, on the Active List, in the service of the United States...." ABNER READ had served in the Navy in the Mexican War and was placed on the retired list with the rank of Lieutenant in 1854. In 1858, by this document, he was reappointed Lieutenant by President Buchanan as of the date of his original retirement. Read commanded the Wyandotte and saved Fort Pickens, Florida from falling into the hands of the Confederates at the start of the Civil War. He was assigned to the command of the New London in 1862 and cruised the Mississippi Sound in the Gulf of Mexico, taking more than 30 prizes and breaking up the trade between New Orleans, Louisiana and Mobile, Alabama. On July 16, 1862, he was commissioned Lieutenant Commander and on September 13th, Commander. In June 1863, Read was placed in charge of the steam sloop Monongahela. While engaging the batteries above Donaldsonville, Read received a fatal wound, dying in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, on July 12, 1863 at age 42. TOUCEY, Buchanan's only Secretary of the Navy, was a Northerner with Southern sympathies. During his term, he was accused of favoring the cause of the seceding states by deliberately sending some of the best vessels of the Navy to distant seas to prevent their use against the Confederates, a charge he denied. Rarely does a commission of a Civil War officer killed in action appear on the market. Naval vignettes at top and bottom. 2½-inch diameter orange seal affixed with red wax at bottom center. Folds. Slightly yellowed in some areas. Tackhead-size stain at right vertical fold with pinhead-size hole at cross fold touching 1 word. Overall, fine condition.

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