Thomas Jefferson Papers
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To Thomas Jefferson from Robert Smith, 23 May 1804

From Robert Smith

Nav Dep 23rd May 1804

sir,

I have the honor herewith to send, for your signature, a Commission for Stephen Decatur junior, to be a Captain in the Navy of the United States.

I have the honor to be with the greatest respect sir, y mo ob servt.

Rt Smith

RC (DLC); at foot of text: “President of the United States”; endorsed by TJ as received from the Navy Department on 23 May and “Decatur” and so recorded in SJL with notation “post Captn.” FC (Lb in DNA: RG 45, LSP).

On 23 May, the National Intelligencer published an official letter from Edward Preble to the secretary of the navy dated 19 Feb., which described the destruction of the frigate Philadelphia by stephen decatur, Jr. In another dispatch to Smith, also dated 19 Feb., Preble recommended that Decatur receive the rank of captain, as his actions “would in any Navy in Europe insure him instantaneous promotion” (NDBW description begins Dudley W. Knox, ed., Naval Documents Related to the United States Wars with the Barbary Powers, Washington, D.C., 1939-44, 6 vols. and Register of Officer Personnel and Ships’ Data, 1801-1807, Washington, D.C., 1945 description ends , 3:441).

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    Jefferson Papers
    Title
    To Thomas Jefferson from Robert Smith, 23 May 1804
    Author
    Smith, Robert
    Recipient
    Jefferson, Thomas
    Date
    23 May 1804

    Reference

    Cite as
    “To Thomas Jefferson from Robert Smith, 23 May 1804,” Founders Online, National Archives, https://founders.archives.gov/documents/Jefferson/01-43-02-0364. [Original source: The Papers of Thomas Jefferson, vol. 43, 11 March–30 June 1804, ed. James P. McClure. Princeton: Princeton University Press, 2017, p. 476.]

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