1From John Adams to United States Senate, 5 April 1798 (Adams Papers)
I nominate Edward Prebble of Massachusetts to be first Lieutenant of the Frigate The Constitution in the Place of Benjamin Lee who has declined his appointment and John B. Cordis of Massachusetts to be second Lieutenant of the same Frigate in the Place of William H Wattles, who is Said to be deceased. DNA : RG 46—Records of the U.S. Senate.