both letters itemize tools and supplies necessary for a sea voyage to join the U.S. Navy’s squadron in the Mediterranean, approved by James Barron, Commodore at the Norfolk Navy Yard, framed 28-3/4 x 13-1/2 in. overall  

Provenance: Morphy Auctions, Denver, Pennsylvania, Early Arms & Militaria Sale, November 17, 2020, Lot 1160

Note: Launched at the Washington Navy Yard in 1825, the U.S.S. Brandywine was a 44 gun frigate which had the honor of conveying the Marquis de Lafayette back to France as her first mission. 

James Barron served as a United States Navy officer in the Quasi War and the Barbary Wars, during which he commanded a number of famous ships, including U.S.S. Essex and U.S.S. President. He was court martialed in 1808 for his actions while commander of the frigate Chesapeake the previous year, the Chesapeake-Leopard Affair, which led to surrender of his ship to the British and almost led to war between the two nations. Suspended without pay for five years, he spent most of the War of 1812 in mercantile pursuits. Returning to active duty in the peacetime Navy, he was unable to obtain sea duty or promotion, accusing Commodore Stephen Decatur of leading a conspiracy against him. Barron challenged and killed Decatur in a duel during March 1820 in which he was also badly wounded. He recovered his health, but not his reputation and spent the rest of his naval career ashore, the most senior officer in the service when he died at Norfolk in 1851.