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342

Stephen Decatur

Currency:USD Category:Collectibles / Autographs Start Price:NA Estimated At:2,500.00 - 3,000.00 USD
Stephen Decatur

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Auction Date:2012 Mar 14 @ 18:00 (UTC-5 : EST/CDT)
Location:5 Rt 101A Suite 5, Amherst, New Hampshire, 03031, United States
ALS - Autograph Letter Signed
ANS - Autograph Note Signed
AQS - Autograph Quotation Signed
AMQS - Autograph Musical Quotation Signed
DS - Document Signed
FDC - First Day Cover
Inscribed - “Personalized”
ISP - Inscribed Signed Photograph
LS - Letter Signed
SP - Signed Photograph
TLS - Typed Letter Signed
ALS signed “S. Decatur,” three pages on two adjoining sheets, 8 x 10.5, June 2, 1816. Letter to Captain Robert T. Spence. In full: “I have received your two letters the one accompanied by a very fine fowling piece for which I return you my thanks. A few days before it came to hand, I received account from New York of the arrival of one from England, which I had ordered from thence, otherwise I should have retained your present as the case now stands two would be a superabundance & so soon as my New York gun arrives I will return you yours, in the mean time I will continue to use the one in possession.

Your last letter my dear sir, is grateful in as much as it satisfies me of the interest you take in my welfare although I cannot help differing with you in opinion on several material points contained therein. Had Mr. Thorn been entirely acquitted of the matters preferred against him, I do think he would have been entitled to a meeting, in the present instance I should think I degraded myself whence I to place myself upon an equality with him. The enclosed note, which is an answer to one I received from Mr. T, friend will explain my view of the case & I trust it will be such as you yourself would have dictated.”

Continuing on the same page, and concluding on the third page, Decatur has handwritten the text of the letter he wrote to Mr. Thorn’s friend, Mr. Johnston Verplank, in New York, and signed “SD.” In full, “Sir, your communication of the 20th Inst. addressed to me at Washington, reached me here yesterday only–you have been misinformed as to the reason of the late court martial, in the case of Purser Thorn. Instead of a ‘Public acquittal from the charges’ preferred against him, the court found him guilty of part of these charges, to wit, an attempt to commit crime & awarded as the punishment of his guilt, that he should be reprimanded by the Sect. of the Navy. The consummation of this offense, had it been known to the court, must have cashiered him, & as the facts stood in proof nothing but the detection prevented in accomplishment, now, at the casuists may perhaps discuss a diversity in this guilt, & laws make a difference in the punishment of the actual crime, & an attempt (so frustrated) to commit it, I can recognize no such distinction as applicable to a question of honor–But regarding this sentence as fixing indelible disgrace upon Mr. Thorn, I cannot condescend to receive from him any application unbecoming our relative stations.” Reverse of second page bears an address panel in Decatur’s hand, addressed to “Rot. T. Spence Esq., Captn in the Navy of the US. Baltimore.”

In good to very good condition, with intersecting folds, professional repair and restoration to several tears and separations, some over small portions of writing, and areas of paper loss, one repair affecting initials, scattered toning and wrinkling, chipping to edges, and two words missing from text at seal hole, but are present and stuck to the wax seal.

Herman Thorn (1783-1859) was a naval officer who served as purser about the sloop of war USS Peacock. Decatur brought a complaint against him in 1816 for bringing unauthorized merchandise on board to sell, and wrote about the case to Captain Robert T. Spence (1785-1826), who was also a hero of the Barbary War and was commanding naval forces at Baltimore at the time. Thorn left the Navy after his court martial and moved to New York City, where he married into wealth and became a well-known “habitué of Broadway.” Decatur was named to the Board of Navy Commissioners in Washington, D.C. also in 1816, which required him to serve on court martial boards and decide cases such as the one involving Thorn. Ironically, a court martial case would lead to his death in a duel with Commodore Jame Barron in 1820. A remarkable document written by the Conqueror of the Barbary Pirates.
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