Clipped signature reads “W. B. FRANKLIN, MAJOR GENERAL US VOLS.” Clipping meas. approx. 1.25 x 3.75. Item comes framed with an early print of Franklin as a Major General. Mat is white while frame is black with a gold border. Frame meas. approx. 12.00 x 18.00 inches.

William B. Franklin graduated from West Point in 1843. During the Mexican War he fought at Buena Vista where he was breveted for gallantry. Between the war with Mexico and the Civil War Franklin was in Washington, D. C. where he oversaw the building of the Capitol dome and the addition to the Treasury building. On the outbreak of the war he was commissioned Colonel of the 12^th US Infantry and on May 14^, of 1861 he was appointed a Brigadier General of Volunteers.  Franklin held Division command in the Army of the Potomac. General Burnside selected Franklin to command The Left Grand Division of his army during the Fredericksburg Campaign. This put Franklin in command of the 1^st and 6^th Corps. Burnside claimed that Franklin disobeyed orders and contributed to the defeat at Fredericksburg. This ruined Franklin’s career with the Army of the Potomac. He eventually got command of the 19^th Corps and served at Sabine Pass and the Red River Campaign during which he was wounded. He remained inactive till the war’s end when he was assigned to desk work and resigned his commission.