PRESIDENT FRANKLIN PIERCE - AUTOGRAPH LETTER SIGNED 12/09/1865 - HFSID 5089

FRANKLIN PIERCE
He arranges a meeting in Boston with a man he had appointed to office.
Autograph Letter Signed: "Franklin Pierce", 1½p, 5x8, front and verso. Concord, New Hampshire, 1865 December 9. To Charles P. Thompson, Gloucester, Mass. In full: "I am recovering rapidly from my late serious illness and hope to be in Boston next Tuesday. It occurs to me that some engagement may call you there at the same time. If so will you meet me at Peirce and Bacons 84 Water St say at 11 o'clock A.M. I would not have you incur any inconvenience but shall be glad to see you." FRANKLIN PIERCE (1804-1869) served New Hampshire as a US Representative (1833-1837) and Senator (1837-1942). He gave good service as a brigadier general in the Mexican War. As the 14th President - the only one from New Hampshire - Pierce had some successes: the Gadsden Purchase of land from Mexico and the opening of Japan by Commodore Matthew Perry. He alienated northerners, however, with his support for the Kansas-Nebraska Act and the Fugitive Slave Act. His reputation suffered further when it was learned in 1863 that he had secretly corresponded with Confederate President Jefferson Davis (who had been Pierce's Secretary of War), and expressed opposition to the US war effort. Pierce suffered much personal tragedy, including the early death of all his sons. Charles P. Thompson (1827-1894) was appointed U.S. Assistant District Attorney by President Pierce, serving from 1855-1857. He represented Gloucester in Congress from 1875-1877. Peirce and Bacon was a shipping company established in Boston in 1843. It ran a line of 15 packet ships to transport Texas products to the East Coast and to Europe. Folds, not at signature, pinhead-size hole at blank lower cross fold. Light stains at blank margin of signature page. Encapsulated. Overall, fine condition.