Autograph letter signed by Brig. General William B. Hazen (1819-1875), to Secretary of War Edwin M. Stanton. Chattanooga, Tennessee, 16 October 1863. 

1 page, 4to. Docketed to verso WITH endorsement SIGNED by Major General William S. Rosecrans. Chattanooga, Oct. 1863. WITH autograph endorsement SIGNED by Brig. General Thomas J. Wood. [Chattanooga], 18 October 1863. WITH endorsement SIGNED by Major General Gordon Granger. Chattanooga, 18 October 1863. WITH autograph endorsement SIGNED by James A. Garfield. Washington, D.C., 29 October 1863.

WITH A.H. Ritchie, engraver. Maj. Gen. J.A. Garfield. Engraved portrait. 

Fine and very rare wartime document bearing the autograph endorsement signed by future United States President James A Garfield, as Brigadier General. The endorsement, written to the verso of a recommendation letter sent to Secretary Stanton, reads in full: "I do not know - in the whole Army of the Cumberland - a more worthy officer than Capt. Johnson. I hope he may be appointed."

The letter of recommendation was written by Brigadier General William B. Hazen (1819-1876), IV Army Corps, to Secretary of War Edwin Stanton, recommending Captain Henry W. Johnson be approved as Assistant Quartermaster of Volunteers. 

The document is enhanced even further by the inclusion of signatures of three additional Union generals, most notably that of Major General William S. Rosecrans (1819-1898). At the time of this document, Garfield was serving as chief of staff to Rosecrans, who commanded the Army of the Cumberland. The signatures were penned shortly after Garfield's heroic and bold ride at Chickamauga under enemy fire. 

As Garfield's endorsement is signed in Washington, D.C., it was signed shortly before his promotion to Major General, and subsequent resignation in December to fill the seat of Ohio's 19th District in the 38th Congress.

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