SAMUEL L. SOUTHARD - DOCUMENT SIGNED 07/09/1827 CO-SIGNED BY: HUGH H. STOCKTON - HFSID 17110

SAMUEL SOUTHARD. Circular LS: "Samuel Southard" as J.Q. Adams' Secretary of the Navy, 1p, 7¾x9¾. Navy Department, 1827 July 9. To Midshipman H.H. Stockton of New Jersey instructing him, in full: "In the three columns below you will be pleased to insert the State or Territory in which you were born; that from which you were appointed into the service; and that of which you now claim citizenship; and return this letter as early as practicable, to enable the Department to correct the Navy Register." Stockton has penned: "New-Jersey" in each column and signed: "Hugh H. Stockton".Above his signature, he has written: "Everham August 17th 1827." SAMUEL LEWIS SOUTHARD, who had been a Monroe presidential elector in 1820, was appointed Secretary of the Navy by his friend Monroe in September 1823. Southard served under Monroe until 1825 and continued through the administration of John Quincy Adams (1825-29). He was instrumental in the establishment of the first naval hospitals and endorsed the formation of a naval academy, a naval criminal code, the intelligent location of navy yards and the reorganization and growth of the Marine Corps. Hugh H. Stockton may be related to the Stockton family of New Jersey, which includes Signer of the Declaration of Independence Richard Stockton, U.S. Senators Richard Stockton, John Porter Stockton and Commodore Robert Field Stockton. Irregular left edge. Tape reinforces 1½-inch separation at lower vertical fold. Mounting remnants at corners on verso, no show through.