Auction 739 April.

Partly-printed vellum DS as president, one page, 13.75 x 17.75, August 26, 1850. President Fillmore appoints George A. H. Blake as a “Major in the First Regiment of Dragoons.” Signed at the conclusion by Millard Fillmore, and countersigned by Secretary of War Charles M. Conrad. The original War Department seal remains affixed to the upper left corner. In very good to fine condition, with some faint staining and overall fading to the handwritten portions, all of which remain fully legible.

George Alexander Hamilton Blake (1810–1884) was a career U.S. Army cavalry officer whose service spanned more than three decades and three major conflicts. Commissioned a first lieutenant in the 2nd U.S. Dragoons in 1836, he first saw combat in the Second Seminole War in Florida before distinguishing himself in the Mexican–American War, fighting in major engagements including Cerro Gordo, Contreras, Molino del Rey, Chapultepec, and the capture of Mexico City, where his gallantry earned him a brevet promotion to major. In the 1850s he served on the western frontier, helping establish Fort Massachusetts in present-day Colorado and participating in campaigns against Native American tribes while commanding cavalry expeditions across the Southwest. During the Civil War he rose to colonel of the 1st U.S. Cavalry and commanded a brigade in the Army of the Potomac during the Peninsula Campaign, where he was wounded at Gaines’s Mill; he later served in staff and administrative roles through the Gettysburg campaign. For his wartime service he received brevet promotions to brigadier general and major general before retiring from the army in 1870.