Autograph document signed by Gideon Welles, as Secretary of the Navy. Washington, D.C., 12 May 1864. 1 page, 4to. 

A thorough order written by Secretary of the Navy Gideon Welles (1802-1878) announcing the death of Colonel John Harris (1793-1864) of the Marine Corps on 12 May 1864. In the document, Welles requests that flags throughout the different marine barracks and the Washington Navy Yard be hoisted at half-mast, and that eleven-minute guns be fired. Additionally, the officers of the Marine Corps were requested to "wear crape on their left arm for thirty days." 

After entering the Marine Corps in 1814, Colonel John Harris rose through the ranks to be appointed Colonel Commandant of the Marine Corps in 1859. During the beginning of his term, Harris was faced with difficulties because nearly half of his officers resigned to serve the Confederacy at the start of the Civil War. Though difficult, Harris was still able to establish a small, albeit mighty, Union Marine Corps force during the war. 

Gideon Welles, a strong supporter of Abraham Lincoln, was made the United States Secretary of the Navy from 1861-1869. Nicknamed by Lincoln as “Father Neptune,” and boasting a rather eccentric reputation, Welles was instrumental in carrying out the Union victory of sealing off Confederate Ports (preventing their exchange of cotton for war supplies), expanding the Navy, and creating the Navy’s Medal of Honor.

[Civil War, Union, Confederate] [Manuscripts, Documents, Letters, Ephemera, Signatures, Autographs][Navy, Naval History, Brown Water Navy, David Glasgow Farragut, David Dixon Porter, Battle of Mobile Bay, Battle of New Orleans, Blockade, Confederate Blockade]