Books and Manuscripts

Washington, (D.C.), February 19, 1898. Partially-printed military commission, signed by William McKinley as President of the United States, appointing Francis M. Bunce a "Rear Admiral in the Navy from the 6th day of February 1898 in the service of the United States."; counter-signed by Secretary of the Navy John Davis Long. Blue paper seal at bottom; creasing from contemporary folds. 19 1/8 x 15 1/2 in. (486 x 394 mm).

A fine military commission signed by President William McKinley, promoting Commodore Francis M. Bunce to Rear Admiral in the United States Navy. This was the highest rank achieved by Bunce during his long and storied 40-plus year career in the Navy, one that began as a midshipman before the Civil War when he was 19-years-old. A graduate of one of the earliest classes of the United States Naval Academy in 1857, he gained attention for his service during the Civil War where he served in various roles and assisted in the Union Army's naval blockade of the Confederate States. Immediately after the war, he commanded the USS Monadnock around the treacherous Cape Horn on a voyage to California, the first long distance deployment of an ironclad monitor. Also, he at various points took command of the of the Boston, Washington, D.C., and New York Navy Yards, as well as commanded several gunboats, cruisers, and sloops-of-war. His leadership as commander-in-chief of the North Atlantic Squadron from 1895-97 saw the fleet modernized into an effective combat unit that would successfully defeat the Spanish Navy during the Spanish-American War in 1898.

He was appointed by the Senate to this role only a few days before the fateful sinking of the battleship USS Maine in Havana, Cuba, whose demise contributed to the outbreak of the Spanish-American War, in April, 1898. The fate of the Maine was connected to an order made by Bunce while he was Commander of the New York Navy Yard, when on December 8, 1897, he ordered the ship to Key West, Florida to rendevous with the rest of the North Atlantic Squadron. In January, 1898, the Maine was sent to Havana to assist in the protection of U.S. interests during the Cuban War of Independence, where on November 15 (five days prior to this document's signing) an explosion occured on board, sinking the vessel. Bunce remained commander of the New York Navy Yard until December, 1898, when he retired. He died in Hartford, Connecticut on October 19, 1901, and is buried there, in Cedar Hill Cemetery.

By descent in the Bunce family, and never before offered for sale.