Spain - Army/Infantry - Document - Isabel II - Reina de España - Documento de nombramiento de Capitán - 1853

Important Spanish military document from the Isabeline era: Royal dispatch appointing a captain, issued in the name of Doña Isabel II, Queen of the Spains, for the Army of the Island of Cuba. The document is dated at the Royal Palace on December 21, 1853, and appoints Don Santiago Alonso Mayans, who had hitherto been a lieutenant of the Infantry Regiment of Jaén number 41, as captain of the second company of the Barcelona Regiment of the Army of Cuba.

The text begins with the official formula:

“Doña Isabel Segunda, by the grace of God and by the Constitution of the Spanish Monarchy, Queen of the Spains…”

It outlines the military appointment, the orders addressed to the captain general or general commander of the district where the officer is to serve, as well as the acknowledgment by the corresponding Military Intendance. The provision explicitly places the new captain in the Army of the Island of Cuba, a piece of great interest for the history of the Spanish colonial army and ultramarine military administration under Isabel II.

The Infantry Regiment Barcelona had a long-standing connection with Cuba: it reappeared on the island in 1828 under the designation Regiment “Barcelona” No. 7 and stemmed from a military tradition begun in the late eighteenth century.

The dispatch bears a dry or embossed seal from the Royal Palace at the bottom, together with the handwritten phrase “Yo la Reyna,” typical of this type of document issued under sovereign authority. It includes signatures, rubrics, and notes of compliance and registration on the reverse, dated in Havana on January 28, 1854 and March 2, 1854, which documents its effective processing at the Captaincy General of Cuba.

The main rubric is attributed to a high personality within the Crown administration; however, prudence in cataloging suggests describing it as “handwritten signatures and rubrics of civil and military authorities” unless documentary confirmation of the identity of each signer is obtained.

Condition: generally coherent with an official 1853 document. It shows archival folds, moisture stains, oxidation, small specks of dirt, wear on edges, and areas of paper weakening or abrasion. The dry seal remains present, though showing aging wear. The document is presented framed under glass; the photographs, including the reverse, are an essential part of the description.

A piece especially suitable for collectors of historical manuscripts, Isabel II documentation, 19th-century Spanish militaria, Regiment of Barcelona, Cuban history, and Spanish ultramarine administration.