Henry Knox To James Barron About Problems Appointing Knoxs Son In The Military 20 November 1800

Knox's son has been under the command of Captain Barron as a lieutenant. Knox informs Barron that despite a recommendation from John Adams, the Senate had declined to approve the nomination of the President of the United States of him as a Lieutenant of the Navy. Secretary of the Navy Stoddert suggested Henry Jackson Knox be a midshipman under Barron, but Knox believes his son would see that as a degradation. Knox asks Barron, then, if his son Henry Jackson Knox could be an acting Lieutenant with the emoluments only of a midshipman.