LINCOLN SIGNED MILITARY COMMISSION FOR MEDAL OF HONOR RECIPIENT
LINCOLN, ABRAHAM. 1814-1869. CUTTS, JAMES MADISON. 1837-1903. Partially printed document signed (“Abraham Lincoln”) as President, appointing James Madison Cutts to the position of Captain in the Eleventh Regiment Infantry, 1 p, 440 x 347 mm, City of Washington, 15 August 1861, countersigned (“Simon Cameron”) as Secretary of War.
WITH: Printed document signed (“Mason A. Miles”) as commander and (“John Truesdale”) as Adjutant, initiating Cutts into the Medal of Honor Legion, 352 x 430 mm, Washington D. C., 9 June 1897. Printed Medal of Honor motifs worn, some staining, a bit browned.
Cutts was an American Civil War soldier who fought on behalf of the Union. His bravery in action particularly in the Battle of the Wilderness and the Battles of Spotsylvania and Petersburg lead him to be awarded the Medal of Honor.
In 1890, a group of veterans from the Civil War and American Indian Wars, formed the Medal of Honor Legion as a way to honor veterans who had received the Army’s highest honor, as well as further legitimize and protect the importance of the award.
Over the next several decades, membership expanded to veterans of other wars who received the Medal of Honor, eventually growing to include recipients of other high military awards such as the Distinguished Service Cross and the Navy Cross. As the organization expanded, the name changed, and it is now known as the Legion of Valor of the United Stated of America.