December 6-8, 2023 Firearms & Militaria
This lot is closed for bidding. Bidding ended on 12/8/2023
A fantastic document archive of Colonel Parker Hitt, who is known as the father of American Military Cryptology. Hitt first enlisted in the army in 1898 and began his military career as a sergeant in the 2nd US Volunteer Engineers. He was eventually commissioned as a 2nd Lieutenant and served in the Philippines, California, Alaska, Mexico during Pershing's Punitive Expedition, and Europe during World War I. Throughout his service he was constantly designing new devices to enhance the US military's cryptology capabilities and was often put in charge of coding and decoding messages, especially when he was with the American Expeditionary Force. Hitt retired from the army in 1928 after a successful career and passed away in 1971. He was inducted into the Military Intelligence Hall of Fame in 1988, and Hitt Hall at Fort Huachuca was named in his honor. Hitt's archive is quite extensive and includes 4 of his commissions: 15 September 1899 commission appointing Hitt as Second Lieutenant of Infantry signed by President William McKinley and countersigned by Secretary of War Elihu Root, 26 December 1899 commission appointing Hitt as Second Lieutenant of Infantry signed by President William McKinley and countersigned by Secretary of War Elihu Root, 8 July 1902 commission appointing Hitt as First Lieutenant of Infantry signed by President Theodore Roosevelt and countersigned by Secretary of War Elihu Root, 2 March 1903 commission appointing Hitt as First Lieutenant of Infantry signed by President Theodore Roosevelt and countersigned by Secretary of War Elihu Root, 11 March 1911 commission appointing Hitt as Captain of Infantry signed by President William Taft and countersigned by Assistant Secretary of War Robert Shaw Alison. Each Commission is accompanied by a James Spence Authentication Full Letter of Authenticity. The rest of the lot consists of various presidential related invitations that request the presence of Col. Hitt and his wife for various events at the White House and other locations. There are also several seasonal greeting cards that are addressed to Hitt and his wife from various presidents spanning from Calvin Coolidge to Dwight Eisenhower. One of the most comical is Ike and Mamie's faces pasted on Santa and Mrs Claus with Mamie's lip print and Ike's fingerprint on the inside of the card. This is a fantastic lot that is loaded with presidential history and named to an important American Military figure. All pieces exhibit blemishes that are typical of old paper ephemera but are nicely preserved with legible ink, printing, and images. CONDITION: Good-very good.
Item Dimensions: 19" X 8" X 4"
Paperwork
5 JSA LOAs, Research