Description:

Taft William 1857 - 1930 Signed William H. Taft ornate naval commission of Lieutenant Commander Henry B. Soule, direct descendant of a passenger on the "Mayflower"

Document Signed "Wm H. Taft" as President and "N.C. Twining" as Acting Secretary of the Navy, 1 page, 15.5" x 19". Washington, August 22, 1911. On parchment. Completed in manuscript. Naval vignettes at top and bottom. Affixed to the lower center is a 2.25"-diameter seal of the Department of the Navy. Lightly rolled, horizontal fold in upper blank portion. Fine condition.

During the Spanish-American War, future Rear Admiral Nathan C. Twining (1869-1924) served on the USS Iowa in Cuban waters and later was executive officer of USS Kearsarge when that ship circumnavigated the globe with President Theodore Roosevelt's "Great White Fleet." In 1911, as Chief of the Bureau of Ordnance, Twining developed the U.S. Navy's first anti-aircraft cannon. During the bombardment of Vera Cruz, Mexico, in 1914, he commanded USS Tacoma. In World War I, he served as Chief of Staff for Admiral William Sims, Commander of Naval Forces in European waters. Rear Admiral Nathan C. Twining was the uncle of Air Force General Nathan F. Twining and Marine Corps General Merrill B. Twining, both of whom served during World War II. Henry Bishop Soule was a direct descendant of George Soule, a passenger on the Mayflower and a signer of the Mayflower Compact.

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