GEORGE DE RUE MEIKLEJOHN - AUTOGRAPH 12/27/1898 CO-SIGNED BY: REAR ADMIRAL RICHARD P. LEARY - HFSID 87187

GEORGE DE RUE MEIKLEJOHN AND RICHARD P. LEARY
Signature from the Assistant Secretary of War and Spanish American War Admiral, dated 1898. Extremely rare!
Signatures: "G.D. Meiklejohn/Assistant Sec of War/December 27 / 98", on verso: "Yours [illegible],/Richard P. Leary/Captain, U.S. Navy", 6½x3. GEORGE DE RUE MEIKLEJOHN (1857-1929) represented Nebraska as Lieutenant Governor from 1889 to 1891, and later in the House from 1893 to 1897. He was also President of the Senate (1886), chairman of the Republican State convention (1887), and chairman of the Republican State central committee (1887 and 1888). In 1897, shortly after leaving the House of Representatives, Meiklejohn was appointed by President William McKinley as the Assistant Secretary of War, serving through the Spanish-American war until his resignation in 1901. He later pursued reelection to the Senate, but was not successful, and instead practiced law in Los Angeles until his death in 1929. RICHARD P. LEARY (1842-1901) served in the U.S. Navy from 1860 to 1901, serving in the American Civil War and the Spanish-American War. During the Civil War, Leary served on the Union Ships USS Canandaigua and USS Sangamon. During the Samoan crisis involving Germany, Leary commanded the USS Adams, and in protest of the bombing of an island village by the German Adler, placed his ship between the Adler and another proposed village, saving the village from similar attack. In 1897, he was promoted to captain, and commanded the USS San Francisco (C-5) in the Spanish American War. He retired in 1901 with the rank of Rear Admiral, and had a destroyer named in his honor in 1943 (the USS Richard P. Leary, DD-664). Irregularly cut. Left edge frayed, torn, and notched from binding. Toned. Meiklejohn's signature faint, but clearly legible. Slight surface creases. Otherwise, fine condition.