Beschreibung:

LINCOLN, ABRAHAM, and MILLARD FILLMORE, Presidents . Autograph endorsement signed ("A. Lincoln") as President, addressed to Joseph Holt, U.S. Judge Advocate General, comprising seven lines plus date and signature, on verso of an Autograph Letter Signed ("Millard Fillmore") to "His Excellency Abraham Lincoln," Buffalo, N.Y., 16 May 1863 (Lincoln's endorsement dated 19 May 1863). 4 pages, 8vo, 197 x 125 mm. (7 15 /16 x 4 7/8 in.), lined paper, Fillmore's letter on pages 1-3, Lincoln's endorsement on page 4 . FILLMORE PETITIONS LINCOLN ON "A MATTER OF JUSTICE" IN THE CASE OF HIS NEPHEW, DISMISSED FROM THE ARMY FOR "INTEMPERENCE" A highly unusual document connecting these two very dissimilar Presidents. It was during Fillmore's term of office that the Compromise of 1850 became law and the Fugitive Slave Act, repudiated by Lincoln, was enacted. In the election of 1856, Mary Lincoln, admitting to southern sympathies, had voted for Fillmore, the American Party candidate, while Abraham campaigned actively for Frémont, the first Republican Presidential candidate. Five years later, in February 1861, Fillmore and a crowd of 10,000 had greeted Lincoln and his party in Buffalo on his way to Washington for his inauguration. Here, the elderly Fillmore writes on behalf of his nephew, George Millard Fillmore, who "you honored...with a Commission as 2nd. Lieut. in the 3rd. U.S. Artillery." Promoted to First Lieutenant, the youth had "served in California and New Mexico. But recently, he "received an order from your Excellency dismissing him for alleged intemperance and inefficiency. If I believed the charges true I should not utter a word of complaint, but he brings me a letter from Capt. Hamilton...strongly disenditing him and he assures me they are not true, and says he can disprove them...[before] a court of inquiry. "Knowing as I do the press of business not only upon you but also upon the Department, I venture to ask as a matter of justice that he may have an opportunity to show his innocence, which if he fails to do, I shall most cheerfully acquiesce in his dismissal...." Lincoln, upon consideration, forwards Fillmore's petition: "Judge Advocate General, please examine and report upon this case. The young man is nephew of Ex. President Fillmore, who writes the within letter...." Printed in Basler, 6:222-223 (where it is noted that on 25 May the President had decided, probably upon the reccomendation of the Advocate General, to take no action in Fillmore's nephew's case). Fillmore had earlier played a role in obtaining his nephew's initial appointment, as noted by Basler, V:33n. Provenance : Charles W. Olsen, Chicago, Ill. (in 1953, as recorded by Basler) -- Anonymous owner (sale, Riba, 20 October 1990, lot 281).