ASSOCIATE JUSTICE SAMUEL NELSON - AUTOGRAPH LETTER SIGNED 04/03/1871 - HFSID 317298

SAMUEL NELSON
As Associate Justice of the US Supreme Court, recently appointed to the Alabama claims commission, he declines an invitation to a Union veterans' reunion on account of "official engagements".
Autograph Letter signed: "S Nelson", 1 page, 5x7¾. Included is an unsigned 5x7 photograph of the Justice. Washington, 1871 April 3. To "M F Force Esq.", in full: "I have rec'd your invitation to attend the Annual Reunion of the Army of [the] Tennessee on the 6th and 7th next month at the city of Cincinnati, Ohio. I thank you for your kind invitation, but official engagements oblige me to respectfully decline it. Very respectfully yours". Samuel Nelson (1792-1873), who had made a name for himself as an attorney, was a Circuit Judge (1823-1831) and Associate (1831-1837) and Chief Justice (1837-1845) of the Supreme Court of New York before being appointed as an Associate Justice of the U.S. Supreme Court by President John Tyler in 1845. Serving until resigning due to illness in 1872, Nelson was involved in the historic Dred Scott case, and he was appointed by President Ulysses S. Grant to serve on the joint high commission that arbitrated the Alabama claims in 1871. The Alabama claims arbitration, assessing damages from Britain for allowing Confederate ironclad raiders to be built in, and launched from, British ports during the American Civil War, would indeed have kept Nelson busy in 1871. (The US got the negotiations off to a fiery start by suggesting Canada as appropriate compensation.)Heavily soiled and stained. Light surface crease. Left edge worn. Tape on verso. Corners lightly worn and creased. Toned. Bottom edge worn.