Signed Abraham Lincoln Civil War era document appointing Green Clay of Kentucky (1839-1912) as Secretary of the Legation of the United States at St. Petersburg, Russia, July 15, 1861. Signed by President Abraham Lincoln and countersigned by Secretary of State William Seward. Embossed presidential seal lower left. 12" x 18" sight, framed under glass in later narrow black metal frame, 12 1/4" x 18 1/4". Col. Green Clay was a member of Bourbon, County Kentucky's prominent Clay family. He was the son of Brutus Junius Clay and grandson of General Green Clay. He attended Transylvania University in Lexington, KY, and Yale University. He was a recent graduate of Harvard Law School in 1861, when his fellow Kentucky native, President Abraham Lincoln, appointed him Secretary to the United States Minister to Russia. That post was held by Clay's uncle, the Honorable Cassius Marcellus Clay, a noted abolitionist. Green Clay worked only one year in Russia, helping his uncle secure Russian support for the Union cause before returning to the US to fight in the Civil War. He served as a Colonel in the Union Army, 3rd Kentucky Cavalry from 1862 to 1865. CONDITION: Lincoln autograph clear and bold, crossed by two fold lines. Some separations along fold lines, overall toning, scattered creasing. 1 3/4" tear lower left edge.