?Final Price Realized includes Buyer’s Premium added to Hammer Price
Estimate: $ 1,000 - $ 2,000
"SUCH A DASTARD NEVER OUGHT TO HAVE BEEN IN THE NAVY" ANDREW JACKSON. Autograph Endorsement Signed, twice (each "A.J."), as President, written vertically over the address panel of an anonymous letter to him, railing against the officer who is the letter's subject. 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.
