To James Madison from Gaetano Caruso [ca. 2 January, 1816]
From Gaetano Caruso
[ca. 2 January 1816]
Gaetano Caruso has the honor to state to the President of the United States that in the year 1805 at the time that the American Squadron blockaded Tripoli, Captain John Hall of the United States Marine Corps engaged G Caruso in the Capa[c]ity of Director and leader of a military Band for said Corps under the conditions specified in the inclosed Document which were not fulfilled.1 A few months afterwards it was proposed that he should take his discharge, whereupon he addressed himself to the Ex-Secretary of the Navy relative to this Subject, who directed Colonel Wharton through Commodore Rodgers not to molest him as he was a foreigner, nevertheless Colonel Wharton constantly urged him to take his discharge; Caruso being a man of feeling could not resist these repeated Solicitations and at length applied for his discharge, which could not be granted without petitioning for it, in which he stipulated that a passage for him and his family Should be allowed him and it was agreed that they should go on board the Frigate Chesapeake as will appear by the inclosed order from Robert Smith Esquire,2 but directions having been received to dismantle Said Frigate on account of a disturbance which took place with an English Vessel, he was obliged to disembark and of course he could not avail himself of the concession granted him. In consequence of said disappointment, Caruso has often applied to the Secretary of the Navy but unfortunately has never received an answer, and as his last resource he has now taken the liberty to address the President of the United States, imploring that he will order that he be supplied with the means of transporting himself and family to their own Country, for during their residence in America they have suffered heavy indisposition owing to the climate and they all wish to return as soon as possible.3
The said Caruso trusts to the well known benevolence of the President and has the honor to be his most obedient humble Servant,
Gaetano Carus⟨o⟩
RC translation and enclosures (DNA: RG 59, NFL, Spain). Enclosed in Luis de Onís to James Monroe, 2 Jan. 1816, which seconded Caruso’s request. Undated; conjectural date assigned based on Onís’s covering letter. For enclosures, see nn. 1–2.
1. Caruso enclosed a contract, dated 17 Feb. 1805 (3 pp.; in Italian), signed by himself, ten other band members, and Capt. John Hall. It stated that the band was to serve on board the frigate President for three years; that Caruso was to be paid twelve scudi per month, the first clarinet player eight scudi, and the other band members seven scudi per month, plus rations and clothing, or an allowance for the same; that the band members’ wives were each to receive six scudi per month; that the band members were to be allowed to go ashore when the ship was in port; that they would receive free passage back to Sicily if they were in the United States when the contract expired; that Caruso’s son and the son of another band member were to play the triangle and tambourine with the band, and be paid in rations and clothing, or the equivalent in money, as they chose; that all the players would be allowed to keep their instruments when the contract expired; and that Hall would make a gift of ten scudi to each band member, and forty scudi to Caruso. Filed with the contract is an undated partial petition from Caruso [here spelled Carusi] to Congress (3 pp.; in French), in which the contract was evidently enclosed, declaring that upon arrival in the United States with his wife and three children, Caruso had been paid seven dollars per month rather than the twelve he had been promised; he was unable to pay his rent, and his furniture was seized and sold. When Caruso finally received his pay, Marine Corps Commandant Lt. Col. Franklin Wharton told him to leave the service, and made his life miserable until he did so despite orders to the contrary from Smith. Sick and unable to support his family, or speak English, Caruso asked Congress to order that he be paid, or grant him a modest sum until he could obtain passage to Sicily in a merchant ship rather than a frigate, in order to avoid repeating the inconvenience he had suffered with the Chesapeake.
2. Caruso enclosed a 26 Feb. 1807 order from Smith to Capt. James Barron (1 p.), stating that Caruso was to receive passage to the Mediterranean on the Chesapeake. Filed with the note is another of the same date from Smith to Caruso (1 p.), informing Caruso that Barron would provide him passage, and was expected to sail in approximately six weeks.
3. Caruso was still in the United States in 1831, when he petitioned Congress to grant him $1,000 for a passage to Sicily for himself and family. The House of Representatives dismissed his request, noting that the reason he had not been employed for three years as specified in his contract was that Hall had not been authorized to employ the musicians, and stating that Caruso and his family had been offered passage to the Mediterranean in the U.S. ship of the line Washington in 1816 but had declined it (, Naval Affairs, 3:894–95).