Books and Manuscripts

Lincoln, Abraham
Partially-Printed Military Commission, signed
Washington, (D.C.), August 6, 1861. Partially-printed military commission on vellum, signed by President Abraham Lincoln, appointing George B. Butler Second Lieutenant in the Third Regiment of Infantry; counter-signed by Acting Secretary of War, Thomas A. Scott. Green seal intact in upper left; Adjutant General's manuscript in top left corner. Creasing from contemporary folds; tape residue on verso edges from old mount. 17 1/2 x 13 3/4 in. (444 x 349 mm). 

Abraham Lincoln appoints American painter George B. Butler (1838-1907) to the rank of Second Lieutenant. Born to a prominent and wealthy New York family, Butler studied with American artist Thomas Hicks in New York City, before going to Paris, in 1859, to study with Thomas Couture. Couture's many students included Édouard Manet and Puvis de Chavannes. Butler returned to the United States to serve in the Union Army during the Civil War and fought in the battles of Chancellorsville and Gettysburg. He was wounded in the latter battle and lost his right arm. He resigned from the Army in November 1863, and despite his injury he continued making art in New York and San Francisco. In 1875, he went to Italy and joined an artist colony on Capri, and later returned to New York, where he established a popular portrait gallery.