Rare Civil War USMC Discharge Signed by Commandant Jacob Zeilin SOLD

Description

Rare Civil War USMC Discharge Signed by Commandant Jacob Zeilin.

Extremely Rare Civil War period discharge for Private John Forrest enlisting in the U.S. Marines on the 19th day of November, 1861.  Forrest was 27 years of age, and stated that he was born in New York State at that time.  Several signatures appear on this document, among them, Jacob Zeilin as Commandant of the Marine Corps, Col. W.L. Shuttleworth, Commander of the Brooklyn Navy Yard, and a few others.  Forrest was discharged having served his full enlistment on 19 November, 1865.

John Forrest applied to the Treasury Dept. in December of 1865, for prize money due him while serving on the U.S.S. Grand Gulf. This document is signed by an auditor at the Treasury, S.J.W. Tabor.  The USS Grand Gulf was rather successful during your blockading during the war, capturing several prize ships. (brief history included).  He again applied to the Treasury on October 2, 1874 for more prize money due from his service on the U.S.S. Varuna. (brief history).

Apparently, Forrest had lied about his place of birth as being New York State, when he was not a citizen, and included in this lot is his 1868 document making him a citizen of the United States, at New York on October 14th of that year.  Signed by the clerk for the City and County of New York.

The prize money documents are very good overall, with some tape repairs on the back folds; the USS Varuna document has some paper loss, but not affecting any content. The large format discharge (14 x 17″ approximate), tape repairs on the center vertical fold, and acid free tape over a missing strip of paper from upper right hand corner. All legible.

Commandant Jacob Zeilin, was the 7th commandant of the Marine Corps.  His career began in 1831. During his career, he served on many ships, commanded several posts, selected to join Commodore Matthew Perry on his expedition to Japan in 1852-3, and took part in actions during the Mexican and Civil Wars.  In 1868, Zeilin approved of the design of the “Eagle, Globe, ad Anchor,” as the emblem for the Marines, replacing the old bugle with the letter “M” at the center. Zeilin retired in 1876, after 49 years of service.

This is the first Civil War discharge for the USMC I have ever seen, and in contacting several serious collectors, they echoed my observance as to the near total lack of these documents on the market.