"SUCH A DASTARD NEVER OUGHT TO HAVE BEEN IN THE NAVY" JACKSON, ANDREW. Autograph Note Signed, twice (each "A.J."), as President, to an unnamed recipient, recording Jackson's own reaction to an anonymous letter to him, the note written vertically over the address panel of the anonymous letter. The letter, urging Jackson to forgive and reinstate Navy Lieutenant Robert Randolph. 2 1/2 pages, 4to, written on two sheets; moderate brittling overall, complete and partial separations along folds, moderate toning at edges, scattered marked bleedthrough, dampstaining to address leaf (not affecting note). Np, [May 1833]
"Such a dastard never ought to have been in the Navy. He that has rob[bed] the dead, a brother officer, ought not to associate with the honest. He who was patronized by the gallant [Stephen] Decatur & after his death had the mean[n]ess to traduce him# is unworthy of the countenance of any honest man. --A.J. #Commodore Ridgely --A.J." In 1832, a Naval Court of Inquiry examined the charge of fraud brought against a Purser aboard the USS Constitution, Lt. Robert Randolph; in December of that year, the Inquiry found Randolph not guilty of the charges, though they could not account for $4,000 in missing funds. Jackson had an interest in the case, and, presumably believing Randolph guilty, dismissed him from the Navy. On May 6 of the following year, Randolph attacked Jackson aboard a steamboat bound for Fredericksburg, VA. Randolph escaped after inflicting only minor injuries.
