HISTORY BY HAND

original historic handwritten manuscripts, documents and letters

a division of Jonathan Sheppard Books

Item Number: DM4006

The Letter: Folded Letter, from First Lieutenant William B. Whitehead of the US Cutter “Rush”, to Jesse Hoyt, Collector of the Customs - Port and District of New York, dated “New Haven July 1838”.  (9 ½” X 7 ¾”, four sides, with writing on sides 1 and 4 only).  Except for a small separation at one of the folds, in excellent condition.

Whitehead writes to return $22.86, that amount being the pay due the ship’s carpenter John Pool who deserted the vessel on the first of February 1838 while Whitehead was in temporary command of the ship at New Haven.

Background Information: The revenue cutter Rush (formally named the “Richard Rush”, after the Secretary of the Treasury) was commissioned as a Coast Guard cutter in 1831.  The 71 foot long cutter was built by Webb and Allen of New York and designed were used to fight pirates, combat smugglers and operate with the Navy. The cutter operated out of New York until suffering damage from ice in the winter of 1840, after which she was transferred to the Lighthouse Board, becoming that service’s first tender.

Jesse Hoyt was Collector of Customs at the Port of New York from March 29, 1838 until his resignation in 1841.  He succeeded Samuel Swarthout, whose financial accounts were called into question by Martin Van Buren’s administration.

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