Post-Revolutionary War to Civil War
1835 Navy Orders To Punish A USS Constitution Deserter

Signed By Mahlon Dickerson The Secretary of the Navy


(USS CONSTITUTION - US NAVY).
November 28th, 1835-Dated, Autograph Letter Signed, “M.(ahlon) Dickerson,” being an Navy Department order to Commodore William Crane of the USS Constitution, Choice Very Fine. Mahlon Dickerson has Signed this 8” x 11” official order for the USS Constitution, regarding the Punishment and Discharge of John Brown, a Deserter off that most historic and famed United States Navy fighting ship. The USS Constitution is a wooden-hulled, three-masted heavy frigate of the United States Navy. Named by President George Washington after the Constitution of the United States of America, she is the world's oldest floating commissioned naval vessel, famously nicknamed “Old Ironsides.”

Mahlon Dickerson (1770 - 1853) was an American Judge and Politician, elected Governor of New Jersey, as well as United States Senator from that State. He was twice appointed Secretary of the Navy, under both Presidents Andrew Jackson and Martin van Buren. Commodore William Montgomery Crane (1776 - 1846) was an Officer in the United States Navy during the First Barbary War and the War of 1812. This is a rare document indeed, dealing with the fate of a Deserter from the USS Constitution.