President Benjamin Harrison era Naval Appointment 1890 signed Benjamin F. Tracy

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President Benjamin Harrison era Naval Appointment 1890 signed Benjamin F. Tracy:
$135.00

Final price. President Benjamin Harrison 1890 Naval Appointment signed by Secretary of the Navy, Benjamin F. Tracy.

In 1890 Secretary of Navy Benjamin F. Tracy signed this appointment of Simon P. Fullinwider as a United States Naval Cadet.

This Naval Appointment by ”President” [Benjamin Harrison] is signed by “B. F. [Benjamin Franklin] Tracy\" in black ink as Secretary of the Navy signed the appointment of Simon P. Fullinwider as a Cadet in the United States Navy on December 30, 1890. It is a single page is 9 1/2\" x 15\"

*** This is a part of a set of over 20 documents we have for sale comprising U.S. Naval Appointments by 5 United States Presidents to the overlapping naval careers of a father and son, Simon P. Fullinwider and Simon P. Fullinwider, Jr. The full set includes: Theodore Roosevelt, three appointments (1902, 1907, and 1908); William McKinley, two (both in 1889); Grover Cleveland, two (one in 1896, one in 1897); Woodrow Wilson, two (one in 1913 [to Fulllinwider SR], one in 1921 [to Fullinwider JR]); and Warren G. Harding, one (in 1922). These documents trace the entire naval careers of this man and his son, their lives as lived through great, crucial periods of American history, with Simon P. Fullinwider, Jr. on the U.S.S Missouri, including on the day the vessel became the first combatant vessel to pass through the Panama Canal (his First Ship To Pass the Panama Canal document we have listed as well).***

Benjamin Tracy (1830-1915) “Father of the Modern Fighting Navy” was a lawyer active in the Republican Party politics during the 1850s. He was a member of the New York State Assembly (Tioga Co.) in 1862. During the Civil War, he commanded the 109th New York Infantry Regiment. He was awarded a Medal of Honor for his actions during the Battle of the Wilderness on May 6, 1864. According to the official citation, Tracy \"seized the colors and led the regiment when other regiments had retired and then reformed his line and held it.\" Later that year, he became commandant of the Elmira prisoner of war camp, before being appointed Colonel of the 127th Infantry, U.S. Colored Troops, on August 23, 1864. Tracy was discharged from the volunteer service on June 13, 1865. On January 18, 1867, President Andrew Jackson nominated Tracy for appointment to the brevet grade of brigadier general of volunteers, to rank from March 13, 1865, and the U.S. Senate confirmed the appointment on February 21, 1867.

Tracy was noted for his role in the creation of the \"New Navy\", a major reform of the service, which had fallen into obsolescence after the Civil War. Like President Harrison, he supported a naval strategy focused more on offense, rather than on coastal defense and commerce raiding. A major ally in this effort was naval theorist Captain Alfred Thayer Mahan, who had served as a professor at the new Naval War College (founded 1884). In 1890, Mahan published his major work, The Influence of Sea Power upon History, 1660–1783—a book that achieved an international readership. Drawing on historical examples, Mahan supported the construction of a \"blue-water Navy\" that could do battle on the high seas.

Tracy also supported the construction of modern warships. On June 30, 1890, Congress passed the Navy Bill, a measure which authorized the construction of three battleships. The first three were later named USS Indiana (BB-1), USS Massachusetts (BB-2), and USS Oregon (BB-3). The battleship USS Iowa (BB-4) was authorized two years later.

Tracy\'s wife and child perished in a fire at their residence in Washington, DC in 1890.

After leaving the Navy Department, Tracy again took up his legal practice. In 1896, he defended New York City Police Commissioner Andrew Parker against Commission President Theodore Roosevelt\'s accusations of negligence and incompetence, in a performance that significantly embarrassed Roosevelt. (ref. Edmund Morris, The Rise of Theodore Roosevelt, p. 555) He also helped negotiate a settlement to the boundary dispute between Venezuela and Great Britain which had culminated in the Venezuela Crisis of 1895.

Tracy was the Republican candidate to be the first Mayor of Greater New York City when the five boroughs consolidated in 1898. He came in third behind Democrat Robert A. Van Wyck and Seth Low of the Citizen’s Union, winning 101,863 of the 523,560 votes cast in the election of 1897.

Lightly toned, lightly spotted vellum, with some stains. Tear near bottom right, other small tears, top left corner bent, easily matted out in framing. Nice raised \"Navy Department United States of America\" stamp. Approx. 9 1/2\" x 15\".

Presidential signature - autograph

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