To Thomas Jefferson from Robert Smith, 18 May 1804
From Robert Smith
Navy Department 18. May. 1804
Sir,
I have the honor to enclose for your signature Commissions for the following gentlemen,
| now Lieutenants |  |
Charles Stewart— | Captain in the Navy. | |
| Isaac Hull |  |
to be Masters Commandants | ||
| Andrew Sterett | ||||
| John Shaw | ||||
| Isaac Chauncey | ||||
| John Smith | ||||
| Richard Somers | ||||
| Stephen Decatur & | ||||
| George Cox | ||||
| now Midshipmen | |
Arthur St. Clair | |
to be Lieutenants in the Navy |
| H. J. Reed | ||||
| S. Vanschaick | ||||
| C. Gadsden | ||||
| Jas. T. Leonard | ||||
| J Maxwell | ||||
| Jno. Trippe | ||||
| Edwd. N. Cox | ||||
| O. H. Perry | ||||
| Jos. Bainbridge | ||||
| Robert Henley | ||||
| Jno. Mc.P. Gardner | ||||
| Wm. Crane | ||||
| Rt. Stewart | ||||
| S. G. Blodgett | ||||
| Jas. Gibbon | ||||
| A. C. Harrison | ||||
| Danl. T. Patterson | ||||
| Danl. Murray |
All these gentlemen have been in the service for a considerable period of time—and we know that they are meritorious—They are wanted for the expedition against Tripoli.
I have the honor to be, with the highest respect, Sir, Yr. mo ob. servt.
Rt Smith
RC (DLC); in a clerk’s hand, signed by Smith; notations on left side of list written vertically; at foot of text: “President United States”; endorsed by TJ as received from the Navy Department on 18 May and “for commissions” and so recorded in SJL. FC (Lb in DNA: RG 45, LSP). Enclosure: commission to Isaac Chauncey as master commandant, 18 May 1804 (MS in ICHi; printed form with blanks filled by a clerk, signed by TJ and countersigned by Smith). Other enclosures not found.
On 9 Nov. 1804, TJ sent the Senate an abbreviated list of these commissions that included only the promotions for captain and masters commandant. The promotion to captain went to Stephen Decatur, Jr., instead of Charles Stewart in recognition of Decatur’s meritorious actions in destroying the frigate Philadelphia. During the conflict with Tripoli, the navy needed more lieutenants than authorized by law; that restriction, coupled with a difficult promotion exam, resulted in no midshipman being commissioned a lieutenant until 1807. Instead, the midshipmen listed above served as acting lieutenants in the Mediterranean (Christopher McKee, A Gentlemanly and Honorable Profession: The Creation of the U.S. Naval Officer Corps, 1794-1815 [Annapolis, 1991], 278-80; Smith to TJ, 23 May; TJ to the Senate, 9 Nov.).