Sold – Abraham Lincoln Promotes a Pioneer Explorer of California

The U.S. Army Corps of Topographical Engineers was founded to conduct engineering surveys for military purposes and to explore routes for the passage of troops. It was an elite unit, with men like future Civil War generals Joseph E. Johnston and George G. Meade as members. One of the men was Robert S. Williamson, an 1848 West Point graduate who appears on the Corps list of officers in the Mexican War. In California in 1849 and 1853, Williamson, with William H. Warner and future general John G. Parke, made surveys eastward to the Sierra Nevadas.

In 1855, Williamson and Henry L. Abbot tracked a line for a railroad from the Sacramento River to the Columbia River. These explorations, with their valuable reports of their travels, demonstrated the practicability of spanning the continent with railroads along various routes, and established Williamson’s reputation. The reports still serve as primary sources for the exploration of early California. Williamson also served in the Civil War. Shortly after the war started, with this document he was promoted to captain.

Abraham Lincoln autograph on a Document Signed as President, on vellum, complete with engravings of an eagle and military accoutrements, Washington, August 10, 1861, appointing Williamson a captain in the Corps of Topographical Engineers.

The document is countersigned by Secretary of War Simon Cameron and its blue seal is still intact. Williamson was later promoted to major for gallant and meritorious services in action at Newbern, N. C. After the war, he turned his attention to meteorology, writing “On the Use of the Barometer on Surveys and Reconnaissances.”