Description:

PHILIP SPENCER AND HIS EXECUTIONER
(1823 – 1842) Midshipman aboard USS Somers, was executed for mutiny without the benefit of a court-martial, after being suspected of conspiring to kill opposing crewmembers and turn the brig into a pirate ship. The event was commonly referred to as the ‘Somers affair'. This was a particularly shocking incident, as Philip Spencer was the son of JOHN D. SPENCER (1788-1855), who was the sitting Secretary of War under John Tyler! The younger Spencer's excessively rare letter is an A.L.S. 1p. 4to., Geneva, Nov. 3, 1838. In part: ‘…As perhaps you would like to know how the family are situated at present & like the opportunity of letting you know that we are quite well…' Also present in the lot is a receipt signed by ALEXANDER S. MACKENZIE (1803-1848), the captain of the Somers who ordered the execution of Spencer and two others and was subsequently court-martialed himself for his actions. The receipt, 6.5 x 2.25 in., New York, June 1, 1844, is in the amount of $152.67 received from William Sinclair at the Navy Yard in New York. It should be noted that on the verso of the Spencer letter is pasted a very rare A.N.S. of THOMAS J. SUTHERLAND (1801-1852) who participated in the Patriot War, a series of raids on the U.S.-Canada Border in the late 1830s. Fine.

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December 5, 2024 10:00 AM EST
Elkton, MD, US

Alexander Historical Auctions LLC

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