James K. Polk Military Commission Signed as president. One page, 15.25" x 16.75", Washington, D.C., May 26, 1847, partially ...

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James K. Polk Military Commission Signed as president. One page, 15.25" x 16.75", Washington, D.C., May 26, 1847, partially printed on vellum with the original paper seal. The commission signed "James K. Polk", appoints Joseph C. Wallace as second lieutenant in the "Third Regiment of Dragoons". Counter signed by Secretary of War W. L. Marcy and docketed on the front by R. Jones, adjutant general.

The commission is sold with eight letters from and to Joseph Wallace, including a draft of his letter to President Polk requesting appointment as an officer in the regular army. During the Mexican War, the United States' Third Regiment of Dragoons was stationed at Port Isabel, Texas, and Matamoras, Mexico, along the Rio Grande at the Gulf of Mexico. Army records indicate Wallace resigned his commission in August 1847; however, a photocopy of a letter from the United States General Hospital in Matamoras dated March 1848 indicates that a rifle "found in the effects of Lieut. Wallace late of the 3rd U. S. Drgns" is being sent to "Mrs. Wallace, the mother of the late deceased." Worthy of further research. Small repaired tear on the lower right edge, else fine.