Books and Manuscripts

[USS Constellation] 
Partially-Printed Document
(Baltimore): Printed and Sold by W. Pechin, August 7, 1799. Partially-printed document, signed by USS Constellation seaman Richard Reeves, appointing Levi Hollingsworth his attorney, for the recovery of “Prize money due to me as Seaman…of the said Frigate Constellation.”; signed at bottom by Reeves; blindstamp in top left corner. Lengthy inscription on verso by Baltimore Notary public Thomas Donaldson, attesting to the information on recto; autograph note on verso, signed by Hollingsworth, “Rec'd. one hundred & six dollars 13/100 Prize money for the Judgement Aug. 16. 1799." Creasing from old folds; light wear and soiling along edges; dampstaining in lower left and right edge. 13 1/4 x 8 1/4 in. (336 x 209 mm). In mat and in frame, 19 x 13 1/2 in. (483 x 343 mm). Includes a typed letter from Marshal W. Hawks, the director of The U.S. Frigate Constellation, regarding this document. 

A very early and rare document relating to the USS Constellation and the beginnings of the United States Navy. Here, Constellation seaman Richard Reeves appoints a prominent Philadelphia merchant as his attorney to collect war bounty won during one the frigate‘s first successful battles. 

The USS Constellation was one of the six original ships constructed for the newly reborn United States Navy following the American Revolution, and was the second put into service. Built after the passage of the Naval Act of 1794, the Constellation was designed by Joshua Humphreys and Josiah Fox, and constructed under the direction of David Stodder at Fell's Point, in Baltimore. Weighing 1,265 tons and bearing 36 guns, she was launched on September 7, 1797, and was noted for her speed from which she gained the nickname the “Yankee Racehorse”. 

At the height of the Quasi War in the summer of 1798 she patrolled the Atlantic coast with orders to capture French ships hostile to American commerce. That June she took her first prize, the French 14-gun schooner La Croyable. At the end of 1798 she was stationed in the Caribbean where she protected American commercial interests. In February 1799, she engaged in her first major battle, where she successfully captured the larger 40-gun French frigate, L'Insurgente. Shortly after this success, she then battled and captured two more French ships, the Diligent and Union. 

Reeves, who worked as a seaman on board the Constellation under Captain Thomas Truxton, here appoints Philadelphia merchant Levi Hollingsworth his attorney in order to receive prize money from one of these important battles. Following the American Revolution, Hollingsworth (1739-1824) was one of the most wealthy and powerful merchants in Philadelphia, specializing in the transactions of grain, flour, and whisky, as well as dabbling in land speculation. Born in Head of Elk, Maryland, Levi, like his father, became involved with the flour trade. An ardent supporter of American independence, during the war his flour companies supplied the Continental Army, and he himself served as a member of the First Troop Philadelphia Cavalry. Following the war he became one of Philadelphia's foremost Federalist leaders. During the issuance of this document, Hollingsworth was involved in the Supreme Court case, Hollingsworth v. Virginia, which ruled that the President of the United States possessed no formal role in the process of amending the Constitution to the United States.

Early documents relating to the Constellation are rare to auction.