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1599

Thomas Jefferson

Currency:USD Category:Collectibles / Autographs Start Price:NA Estimated At:4,000.00 - 5,000.00 USD
Thomas Jefferson

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Auction Date:2012 Feb 15 @ 18:00 (UTC-05:00 : 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
Partly-printed DS as president, signed “Th: Jefferson,” one page, 13.25 x 17, May 22, 1801. Jefferson appoints Joshua Blake “a Lieutenant in the Navy in the service of the United States…to take rank from the 4th day of July 1800.” Signed at the conclusion by Jefferson and countersigned by Acting Secretary of the Navy Henry Dearborn. Elaborately double matted and framed, with frame and ornate designs done in 22k gold leaf, with a color portrait of Jefferson and an informational plaque, to an overall size of 34 x 27. In very good condition, with intersecting folds (a horizontal fold through top of a few letters of signature), some areas of scattered moderate spotting, light toning (some over the signature), and light wrinkling.

Joshua Blake was promoted to lieutenant for his actions during the Quasi-War with France, but found himself plagued by accusations of cowardice only three years later during the Barbary Wars. On August 3, 1804, Commodore Preble commenced an attack on Tripoli as enemy gunboats ventured outside the rocks of Tripoli while American gunboats, including gunboat no. 3 commanded by senior Lieutenant Joshua Blake, attacked the Tropolitans. Outnumbered 3 to 1, gunboats no. 1 and no. 2 engaged the enemy, but gunboat 3 failed to close, firing from a distance. Though the encounter was an American victory with only one death, Blake's performance came into question and he was replaced.

An affronted Blake called for a court of inquiry which revealed that the lieutenant had obeyed a signal of recall, mistakenly given from the flagship. In a letter to Blake on September 6, 1806, Preble wrote "Captain Somers, who commanded the division to which you were attached on the 3rd of August, made his report...I extracted from that report the very mildest part. Had I published the whole...it would have influenced the public mind, as well as the Secretary's, much against you....Of course I placed you in action with the rest of the squadron, and I observed that had you gone to the assistance of Capt. Somers, some of the enemy's boats might have been captured, still I did not infer but that you were as usefully employed…your motives for demanding a court of inquiry were undoubtedly correct." A year later, Blake was court-martialed for quarreling with a superior officer, receiving a public reprimand.
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