Description
Wonderful signed carte view of Brigadier General Adam Slemmer of Pennsylvania. The future general would enter the United States Military Academy in 1846, graduating in the Class of 1850, ranking 12th out of 44. Best known for his refusal to surrender Fort Pickens to secessionists of the Florida and Alabama militia just before the start of the Civil War. His action kept Fort Pickens in Union hands for the duration of the war and denied the Confederacy the use of Pensacola Harbor. Slemmer’s first active service was against the Florida Seminoles. At the outbreak of war, Slemmer was serving as a 1st lieutenant with the 1st US Artillery, commanding Fort Barrancas and the barracks at Pensacola Bay. Florida would secede on January 10, 1861. The same day, he would conduct a strategic maneuver, moving his small little command to Fort Pickens on Santa Rosa Island. This maneuver would keep Fort Pickens in Federal hands for the duration of the war ensuring control of the Gulf of Mexico. On May 14th, he was promoted to major of the newly authorized 16th US Infantry in which he aided in organizing. Slemmer would soon begin serving as acting inspector general of the Department of the Ohio serving under General Buell in his 1862 operations in Mississippi, Alabama, Tennessee and Kentucky as well as taking part in the Siege of Corinth and the advance into Kentucky. During the Battle of Murfreesboro, he would command the 1st Battalion and one company of the 2nd Battalion of the 16th Infantry. During the course of the battle, Slemmer would be severely wounded which would effectively end his active field service. While recovering from his wounding, he would be promoted to brigadier general of volunteers of April 4, 1863. From July of that year until the end of the war, he would serve as president of a board for examination of sick and wounded officers in Columbus and Cincinnati. Promoted to lieutenant colonel in the regular service in 1864 and brevet brigadier general in 1865. Following the close of the war he would serve as a member of a board for examination of candidates for promotion. In 1868 while in command of Fort Laramie, Slemmer would die of heart disease on October 7, 1868 at the young age of 39. This is a litho bust portrait of the general which has been glued to an old period slip of paper. It is signed across the front in Slemmer’s hand reading “A. J. Slemmer Brig. Genl. US Ra”. No back mark on this one.
