This framed document is a very fine, original Civil War military commission appointing James L. Bryant as Sergeant in the 33rd Regiment, Massachusetts Volunteer Infantry. Pre-printed on high-grade vellum paper, this army commission is typical of those official forms given to enlisted soldiers who gained promotion during the war years and afterwards. Only cursory research has been done on James Bryant as yet but the New Hampshire native was a twenty-one year old factory hand in Framingham, MA when he enlisted as a private in Company "C", 33rd Massachusetts Volunteer Infantry on August 6, 1862. He served with the company and was promoted to Sergeant on May 1, 1865. After the war, Bryant returned to Massachusetts and became a member of G.A.R. Post 49 in Newburyport. He died on March 12, 1928.

Bryant's commission as Sergeant in Company "C", 33rd Regiment of Massachusetts Volunteers is printed on a cream-colored vellum document and is housed in a modern, glass enclosed wood frame along with a CDV of Bryant in civilian clothes. The rectangular commission measures 14" wide x 9½" high and appears in very good condition with just scattered spots of foxing and one 'quarter'-size stain in the lower right quadrant of the document. Commission itself has seven vertical folds or creases visible, the result from storage of this paper. In addition to the handwritten data on Bryant, the vellum bears the handwritten signatures of the regiment's commanding officer and its adjutant. Bryant's commission and its accompanying CDV have been single-matted and set in a modern wood frame with crude paper cardboard backing. The hardwood frame measures 21½" wide by 12½" high. This framed vellum document along with the CDV of Sergeant James Bryant is an original piece of Massachusetts's history and a wonderful, identified American Civil War paper artifact.