War Department General Orders, No. 24, signed by future CSA General Samuel Cooper ("S. Cooper"), as US Adjutant General. Washington, 11 October 1853.

5 pages, 4 5/8 x 6 7/8, disbound, dampstaining. Cooper's signature appears on page 5. 

Orders announce Army promotions including that of Ulysses S. Grant to captain, 4th Infantry Regiment and John Buford to first lieutenant, 2nd Dragoon Regiment; and resignations including that of First Lieutenant Ambrose Burnside and Captain William T. Sherman, both of the 3rd Artillery Regiment.

COOPER, Samuel (1798-1876) built a career as a staff office in the United States Army, eventually being promoted to colonel and becoming the regular army's adjutant general in July of 1852. When the Civil War broke out, he resigned his post and joined the Confederate States Army. His wife's family was from Virginia, and he himself enslaved 6 individuals according to the federal census of 1850. By May of 1861, Cooper was promoted to full general in the Confederate Army, reporting only to Jefferson Davis. Thus, notably, Cooper technically outranked Robert E. Lee, though the latter would leave the larger legacy.