iii Hook ;W3^ I'kKSKNTKI) liY THE LIFE AND TIMES OF ANDREW JACKSON By THOS. E. WATSON Author of "The Story of France," "Napoleon, " " Waterloo, " '* Bethany, " "Life and Times of Thomas Jefferson," "Handbook of Politics and Economics," "Socialists and Socialism," "Sketches of Roman History, " etc., etc. PRESS OF THE JEFFERSONIAN PUB. CO. THOMSON, GEORGIA 1912 ■s^ Copyright. 1912 THOMAS Ev WATSON INTRODUCTORY It had always been my impression that the biogra- phies of Andrew Jackson were either too eulogistic or too defamatory. Knowing human nature as I do, it did not seem to me that he could be so faultless as his admirers claimed, nor so wicked as his enemies alleged. Therefore, I made an independent investigation of my own, consulting original authorities, official docu- ments, and other sources of informatioli which had never been used. In this manner, a very human Andrew Jackson was discovered. I have told the truth about him, showing his defects as well as his virtues; his faults as well as his patriotic achievements. In this work of unveiling the real Andrew Jackson, I have been greatly aided by Col. John B. Brownlow, of Knoxville, Tennessee; by Col. Sam King, of Bristol, Tennessee; by W. D. Williams, of Greenville, Tennes- see; by the late Rolfe S. Saunders, who was for a long while the agricultural editor of the Scimitar, of Mem- phis, Tennessee; and by Mr. George A. Alexander, of Washington City. Col. Brownlow, particularly, made me acquainted with many out-of-print books, of the most interesting character, which none of the Jackson biographers consulted. Of course all the published biographies, the histories of the United States, and the memoirs of Jackson's dis- tinguished contemporaries were familiar to me, and have been utilized to the extent that they seemed to deserve. THOS. E. WATSOK August 21, 1912. ^x TABLE OF CONTENTS CHAPTER I. Birth; Childhood; Jackson's father and mother; the Jacksons pagb during the Revolutionary War; Young Jackson sows wild oats ........ 9 CHAPTER n. Andrew Jackson studies law; Characteristics as a young man 20 CHAPTER HI. The State of Franklin; Glorious John Sevier; Andrew Jack- son leaves North Carolina and settles in Tennessee 31 CHAPTER IV. Jackson practising law in Jonesboro; Buys a young negro woman; Origin of O. K.; Jackson stabs a fellow citizen; Moves to Nashville; Anecdote of the Indians . . 44 CHAPTER V. Jackson boards with the widow jJonelson; Her daughter Rachel who is unhappily married; She and Jackson fall in love with each other; She elopes with Jackson; Her husband secures a divorce from her; Fatal consequences of Jackson's too hasty marriage . . . .54 CHAPTER VI. Jackson prospers as a lawyer; Becomes a large land-owner; "Primitive conditions in Tennessee; Jackson as a gentle- man-gambler . • . . .76 CHAPTER Vri. Jackson chosen delegate to Tennessee Constitutional Conven- tion; On committee to draft Constitution; Member of Congress; His vote against congratulatory address of Congress to President Washington; United States Sena- tor from Tennessee; resigns from the Senate; Elected .^udge Tennessee Supreme Court; Major General of the State militia; Quarrels with John Sevier; Seeks appoint- ment to Governorship of Louisiana Territory; Store- keeper; Chicken fighter and horse racer ... 89 CHAPTER VIII. Horse race arranged between a horse owned by Jackson and one owned by Capt. Ervin; Race called off and forfeit (3) 4 CONTENTS— Continued paid; Controversy over notes in which forfeit was paid; Jackson challenged by Thomas Swann; Ignores challenge; Canes Swann; McNairy takes Swann's part; Jackson denounces Charles Dickinson; Duel between McNairy and John Coffee; Coffee wounded; Dickinson's card in reply to Jackson; Dickinson challenged by Jackson; Accepts challenge; Duel is fought in Kentucky and Dick- inson is killed ........ 103 CHAPTER IX. Aaron Burr's schemes to found empire; Visits Nashville; Guest at Jackson's home; Jackson fellow-conspirator with Burr; Abandons Burr when he learns of his treasonable designs; Jackson's home life; Race track anecdotes; Row with Silas Dinsmore, U. S. Indian agent . . 119 CHAPTER X. Jackson leads troops against Florida; Anecdote of Rev. Learner Blackman; Forces against Florida dismissed; Jackson's return to Tennessee; Wins nickname of "Old Hickory;" Presentation of flag to returning troops by ladies of East Tennessee; Jackson's speech of accept- ance; Jackson threatened with financial ruin; Thomas H. Benton rescues him; Jackson acts as second for William Carroll in duel with Jesse Benton; Thomas H. Benton denounces Jackson; Jackson threatens to horse- whip him; Fight between the Benton brothers on one side and Jackson, John Coffee and Stokely Hayes on the other; Jackson badly wounded by Jesse Benton; Jesse Benton's irreconciliable spirit ..... 133 CHAPTER XI. Battle of Buchanan's Station between whites and Indians; Massacre of Fort Mims . . . . . .148 CHAPTER XII. Effect of the slaughter of Fort Mims; Georgians, Mississip- pians and Tennesseans take the field; Sketch of the Creeks; Their advancement in the arts of civilization; Indians defeated at Tallushatches by General Coffee and at Talladega by General Jackson; Pathetic incident of the Battle of Tallushatches; Accounts of the battles of Tallushatches and Talladega by Davy Crockett 16i CHAPTER XIII. Effect of the victories at Tallushatches and Talladega; Hilli- bees sue for peace; Slaughter of Hillibees by Tennessee troops; Jackson's row with Generals Cocke and White; Embarrassing position of General White; Causes Gen- eral Cocke's arrest at the head of his troops; He retires from the service; Is tried by court-martial and acquitted; CONTENTS— Continued 5 Mutiny among Jackson's troops; Jackson a strict discip- linarian; His men go to their homes; Davy Crockett's accounts; New levies arrive; Indians attack Jackson's force at Enotachopco Creek; Colonel John Williams, of the Regular Army, joins Jackson with his regiment, through the persuasions of Judge Hugh L. White; Choc- taw Indians join Jackson; Unjustifiable execution of John Woods . .. .170 CHAPTER XIV. Jackson's fine army; Crushes the Indians at Horse Shoe Bend; Sam Houston's bravery; William Weatherford, Indian Chief, hero of the Creek War; His career sketched; Anger of Colonel Williams at Jackson's official report of the battle of Horse Shoe Bend; Jackson defeats vVilliams in race for the United States Senate; Colonel King challenges Jackson to a duel .... 183 CHAPTER XV. British preparing to attack New Orleans; Jackson scatters his troops; Jackson dines at Edward Livingston's; His dress and manners; Makes favorable impression on the ladies; Commodore Patterson warned of the approach of the " British fleet; British destroy American squadron on Lake Borgne; Jackson aroused; Gets down to work; Orders in his scattered forces; Reinforcements arrive; British land at Bien venue; Capture Major Villere; Villere escapes; Warns Jackson of the peril of New Orleans; Jackson rises to the occasion; To arms! The enemy is at hand! Jackson's motley army; He attacks the British at night; Takes position behind Rodriguez Canal; Errors of the British ••...... 196 CHAPTER XVr. Numerical strength of the British army; Its magnificent makeup; Strength of Jackson's force; Battle of New Orleans; British storm the American works and are sig- nally defeated; Losses on both sides . . .209 CHAPTER XVII. Rejoicings over the victory of New Orleans; Jackson crowned with laurel; Mrs. Jackson comes down to New Orleans; Jackson holds the city under martial law; Protest of a citizen; He is clapped into jail; Writ of habeas corpus Issued in his behalf; Jackson arrests the Judge who had issued the writ, and banishes him; Has six of his soldiers shot; Fined $1,000 for contempt of court; Heartily wel- comed on his return to Nashville; Triumphal progress to Washington; Created Major General of the Southern Division .. . . .218 CHAPTER XVIII. Results of the War of 1812; Autonomy of the Union pre- served; Conduuct of the New England States during the 6 CONTENTS— Continued PAGE war; How the victory of New Orleans saved the Louis- iana Purchase to the United States; Jackson becomes Tennessee's richest citizen; Cause of the first Seminole War; Destruction of the Negro Port . . .225 CHAPTER XIX. Encroachments upon Florida Indians by citizens of Georgia; War precipitated by General Gaines; Burning of Fowl- town; General Jackson rushes to arms; His army out of proportion to the task in hand; Seminoles ambush a party of soldiers on the Appalachicola; Another party attacked; General Jackson's arrival at Fort Scott; Gen- eral Mcintosh's aspirations; Jackson's army has its "Baptism of Fire;" Jackson seizes St. Marks; Arbuthnot, a Scotch merchant, taken into captivity; Indian Chiefs murdered; Jackson's army arrives at Suwannee, to find it deserted; Burning of Suwannee; End of the Seminole War; Court-martial and execution of Arbuthnot and Ambrister 236 CHAPTER XX. Jackson takes possesion of Pensacola and Fort Barrancas; His explanation of this proceeding; Begins his home- ward march; Anger of Great Britain and Spain at Jack- son's high-handed conduct; They are pacified; Horrible massacre of friendly Indians at Cheha by Captain Obed Wright, of the Georgia Militia; Correspondence between Jackson and Governor Rabun in reference to the matter; Jackson finds a foeman worthy of his steel 248 CHAPTER XXI. Jackson's secret purpose in going to war with the Seminoles; Opinion of Jackson's conduct in Florida held by mem- bers of President Monroe's Cabinet; Calhoun and Craw- ford would censure him; John Quincy Adams his staunch defender; Jackson comes off with flying colors; Spain cedes Florida to the United States; Jackson resigns his commission in the Army; Is appointed Governor of Florida by President Monroe; Arrests and' imprisons the Spanish ex-Governor at the complaint of a mulatto woman; President Monroe contemplates appointing Jack- son Minister to Russia; Thomas Jefferson's comment; Jackson resigns the Governorship and returns to the Hermitage ........ 254 CHAPTER XXII. Life at the Hermitage; Jackson's household; The outcast, Henry Lee; Jackson as a host; His devotion to his wife; Character sketches of Daniel Webster, Henry Clay, John C. Calhoun, Thomas H. Benton and John Randolph . 264 CHAPTER XXIII. Other great men of the period; Compromises and principles upon which our Government was founded; Cavalier and CONTENTS— Continued 7 PAGE Puritan; Quarrels between the sections; The Jay treaty; Constitutional Convention of 1787; Dissensions therein 276 CHAPTER XXIY. The Federalists; They organize the Government and control it for twelve years; Tneir defeat; Coming in of the "Vir- ginia House;'' The JefEersonian Republicans; A National "machine;" Presidential nominations by the Congres- sional caucus system; William H. Crawford's oppor- tunity; Split among the Jefferson Republicans; Effort by politicians to overthrow the House of Virginia; Jackson sounded; Says he isn't fit, but at length consents to make the race; rlis competitors; Sketches of William H. Crawford and John Quincy Adams . . . .292 CHAPTER XXV. Glen made great support of obscure friends; William H. Lewis' efforts in behalf of Andrew Jackson a striking example; He resolves to make Jackson President; Con- gressional caucus nominates Crawford; Jackson nomi- nated by the Legislature of Tennessee; Is elected United States Senator . . . . . , . 300 CHAPTER XXVI. Jackson's queer votes in the Senate; The Coleman letter; Progress of the Jacksonian campaign; Jackson's serenity and conciliatory manners; Refuses to intrigue for the Presidency; The result of the race; Jackson among the first to congratulate Adams on his election . . 306 CHAPTER XXVII. Presidential aspirant; Sad plight of William H. Craw- ford; charges against his "administration of the Treasury Department made by a Calhoun organ; His previous friendship for Calhoun turned into bitter hatred; George M. Troup; His determination to extinguish the Indian title to all lands held by them in Georgia in accordance with the agreement of 1802; Treaty at Indian Spring; Killing of General Mcintosh; President Adams sends General Gaines to Georgia; threat of Federal coercion; Governor Troup's bold stand; The Georgia Militia ordered to pre- pare for fight; President Adams backs down ' . 311 CHAPTER XXVIII. • Jackson and Calhoun elected President and Vice-President; Aunt Rachel's death; A crushing blow; Jackson on his way to his inauguration; Incidents of the trip; He takes the reins of office . .321 CHAPTER XXIX. Charming Peggy O'Neal; Her gayety; Her social ostricism; Calhoun slated as Jackson's successor; Martin Van Buren's CONTENTS-Continued PA6B aspirations; Plans collision between Jackson and Calhoun; Becomes Mrs. Eaton's champion; Wives of Cabinet officers refuse to receive Mrs. Eaton; Cabinet resigns, or is dis- missed; Mrs. Calhoun's refusal to recognize Mrs. Eaton as her social equal kindles Jackson's implacable resent- ment; begins to seek for quarrel with Calhoun; Craw- ford's letter to John Forsyth; Rupture between Jackson and Calhoun; Anecdotes of the period . . 329 CHAPTER XXX. The manufacturing system one of the ^causes of the inequali- ties of wealth in this country; The South never in favor of a protective tariff; The "Tariff of Abominations;" Georgia and South Carolina bitterly oppose it; South Carolina passes Nullification" ordinances; Jackson influ- enced in his course toward South Carolina by hatred of Calhoun; Issues proclamation of remonstrance and warn- ing against nullification; Makes preparations to collect the Custom-House duties in South Carolina; Empowered to use the military to enforce the law; Calhoun's defiance of Jackson; The protective principle surrendered; Civil war averted; Incidents and anecdotes of contemporary characters ••...... 345 CHAPTER XXXI. Money; The United States Bank; Clay's premature effort for its re-charatering; The bill introduced; Jackson proposes changes;,. Clay and Webster decline their acceptance; The bill passes Congress; Jackson vetoes it; Extracts from his Message; The Presidential campaign of 1832; Jackson re-elected; Orders removal of the Government deposits from the United States Bank; Duane's refusal; He is removed from office and succeeded by Taney; The deposits are checked out; Description of Jackson's heroic bearing in the matter ........ 364 CHAPTER XXXII. Jackson the originator of the spoils system in office; Ousts his political opponents; Two cruel examples; Pathetic end of James Monroe; Extracts from Prentiss' "Speech on Defal- cation;" Anecdotes . . . .377 CHAPTER XXXIII. Benton's warfare upon the United States Bank; Calhoun's idea of State-built railroads; Close of Jackson's adminis- tration; Van Buren his successor; Failure of his adminis- tration; Jackson returns to the Hermitage; Interest and influence in subsequent political events; Joins the church; His health gives way; Closing scenes; His death .400 Life and Times of Andrew Jackson CHAPTEE I. Andeew Jackson was born on March 15, 1767. There has been a hot dispute over the place of his birth, but the weight of the legal evidence favors South Carolina. His parents were immigrants from the northern part of Ireland, where the people are mainly Presbyterians in religion, and where there is an inter-mixture of Scotch blood; but there seems to be no positive proof that the Jacksons belonged to the over-worked family of Scotch- Irish. They were poor people, living at Carrickfergus, linen weavers by trade, and,, if any one of them had ever been prominent in any way, the story is lost. The most pains- taking researches made by enthusiastic hero-worshippers have failed to trace the Jackson lienage to a single cattle- lifting lord, or to any other member of that upper world into which the biographical snob is so eager to cast his anchor. The Jacksons were plain, common, industrious, honest folks, who held a respectable, independent place in their own community, but who were not so prosperous as to resist the temptation to try their fortunes in the New World. Hugh Jackson, brother to Andrew's father, had been a soldier in a British regiment, and had served in America. He was present at Braddock's defeat, and may have known Fausett, the Virginia scout, who is said to have given the rash British general the wound of which he died. (See note.) Apparently, Hugh Jackson became interested in the efforts of the Catawba Land Company to colonize its 2aj 9 10 LIFE AND TIMES OF JACKSON. holdings in the Carolinas, for upon his return to Ireland he began to get together a band of kinspeople, neighbors and friends, for the purpose of emigrating to America. Among those whom Hugh Jackson persuaded was his brother, Andrew. But, before everything could be got ready for the voyage, Hugh Jackson fell in love with the daughter of well-to-do parents, and married her ; and the wife of Hugh was so satisfactory in herself and her sur- roundings that the happy husband decided to remain in the old country — his wife having vetoed his emigration scheme. His brother Andrew, however, had probably already made his arrangements to go to America, and, having be- come unsettled, found it not so easy to sink back into his former life; therefore, after some hesitation, he and the three Crawfords, one of whom was the husband of his wife's sister, took ship for Charleston. Upon his coming to North Carolina, it seems that Andrew Jackson was too poor to buy land. Instead, therefore, of locating in the Waxhaw Settlement, where most of the immigrants from Carrickfergus had bought homes, he went to Twelve-mile Creek, a branch of the Catawba. Here he was seven miles distant from the Waxhaw Settlement, and was face to face with the gigantic task of carving out a farm from the wilderness. The historian, the orator, the painter, have been eager in the duty of blazoning the deeds of our pioneer missionaries, law-makers and soldiers. The names of these heroes live, and deserve to live, in letters of light upon the records of our country. But, to our pioneer Note: "The Virginia provincials, under Washington, by their knowl- edge of border warfare, and cool courage, alone saved the day. Braddock was himself mortally wounded by a provincial named Fausett. A brother of the latter had disobeyed the silly orders of the General, that the troops should not take position behind the trees, when Braddock rode up and struck him down. Fausett, who saw the whole transaction, immediately drew up his rifle and shot him through the lungs." "The Great West," Howe. LIFE AND TIMES OF JACKSON. 11 farmers, justice has never been done. Theirs was a combat calling for every soldierly trait of John Smith and Miles Standish. The patient courage which swung the axe, in the depths of primeval woods, was no less heroic than the bravery which made the musket conquer. The toil of the warrior's march was slight by compari- son with the homely, but exhausting, work of preparing the soil for the sowing of seed. The arrows of the red men were not more deadly to the soldier than were the fevers which rose from the swamps and pulled down the settler as he struggled to open out his farm. In the South, in the East, in the West, the story of the pioneer plowman of America is one of dauntless courage, of quiet heroism. He found the New World a wilderness and he has well-nigh made it a garden. His axe, his spade, his hoe, his plow, his muscle, his brain, his very heart and soul have all been enlisted in the work; and never once have his lips uttered the craven's plea for '* Protection." Never once has he gone to the doors of legislation begging special favors. Never once has he lied to government and people for the purpose of securing a selfish advantage at the expense of his fel- lowman. No. He has not only not demanded of the government either Protection or Privilege, but he has submitted — yes, for one hundred years he has submitted! — to be robbed of a portion of his annual produce in order that our Infant Industry Capitalists should be able to build up the corporate power which now, in the form of Trusts, dominates the Eepublic and secures the lion's share of all the wealth created in every field of industry. Like many another pioneer of the American wilder- ness, Andrew Jackson found the task too hard. He died under the strain. The impression which his famous son had as to the immediate cause of his death was that he ruptured a blood vessel in the handling of a heavy log. The body of the hero who had fallen in the fight for his wife and little ones — the fight to make a home for them in the wilderness — was buried in the graveyard of 12 LIFE AND TIMES OF JACKSON. the Waxhaw Settlement church. In after years, when efforts were made to identify the spot it could not be done. According to local tradition, there was held at the cabin-home of the dead man the grewsome "wake" which was customary among the Irish in the Old Co1m- try. Eelatives from the Waxhaw settlement came out to Jackson's "clearing," when they learned that he was no more; and, after preparing the body for burial, their grief gradually wore itself out, and the whiskey-jug be- came the ruling factor of the occasion. As lamentation gave place to' revelry, it is said that "the corpse came in for his share of the refreshments." What this may mean, each reader shall judge for himself. The same tradition claims that the body was hauled from the cabin to the graveyard upon a rough wooden frame or sled, and that such was the disorder of the jour- ney that the corpse was jolted off the sled and "tumbled on its face in a little bottom," on the banks of Waxhaw Creek, near the crossing. The man who was riding the horse, which was hitched to the sled, had not known that he had lost his load until one of the funeral party in advance, happening to look back, saw "the sled bouncing up and down, in a very light way." They had to go back miles before they came to the spot where the body had rolled off the sled. The numerous biographers of Andrew Jackson have shunned this local tradition as something entirely too horrible to put in print; yet books are only valuable to the extent that they tell the truth. The story is useful as an illustration of the extreme roughness of frontier conditions at that time, the poverty of the Jacksons, and the rude simplicity of border funerals. The immigrant had gone into the unbroken wilder- ness to build his log cabin ; and apparently there was no' wagon road from his "clearing" to the Waxhaw Settle- ment. The use of the wooden frame or sled to carry the Funeral of Jackson's father LIFE AND TIMES OF JACKSON. 13 body on, would indicate more strongly the lack of a road than the lack of a wagon, for, even though the Jacksons had no such vehicle, the Waxhaw relatives would have brought one if there had been a passable road. The corpse, tumbling off the sled and being left behind on its face in the little bottom, is uncanny, but to the dead the uncanny is not the uncommon. The brilliant soldier — son of the Emperor Charles V — Don John of Austria, who broke the sea-power of the Turks in the battle of Lepanto, died dismally in the Netherlands ; and his body was carried On horse-back to Spain, in two sacks — half of the body in one sack and half in the other. * When Abraham Lincoln died, his face discolored so rapidly that those in charge, to save the feelings of the people who would want to gaze upon the revered fea- tures, painted out the shocking discoloration; and, thus artificially masked, the martyred President waa borne to his tomb. The wido"w Jackson and her two little boys did not go back to the distant, lonely cabin on Twelve-mile Creek. From the church-ground where the husband and father had been buried, they went to the home of George Mc- Camie, who had married Mrs. Jackson's sister. Here, within a fortnight of the funeral, a son was born to the widow ; and this son she named Andrew, after his father. As soon as she was able to travel, the widow Jackson left the McCamie home and went to live with James Crawford, her brother-in-law. Mrs. Crawford was an invalid, and Mrs. Jackson took charge of the Crawford housekeeping. Thus she and two of her boys lived for several years, the oldest son, Hugh, remaining with George McCamie. The family name of Andrew Jackson's mother was Hutchinson. She had, at least, a primary English edu- cation, for it was she who taught Andrew to read. That she was a woman of strong, lovable traits, is proven by 14 LIFE AND TIMES OF JACKSON. the sound advice she impressed upon the mind of her great son, and by the passionate attachment to her which he carried throughout his life. After the battle of New Orleans, when the victor had been crowned with laurel in the Cathedral and acclaimed like a demi-god through the streets, it was of his mother that he spoke to the officers whom he was about to dis- band — thier glorious work being done. ** Gentlemen, if only she could have lived to see this day!" As you follow the narrative of Andrew Jackson's career, you will hear him say many things that you will not approve, will see him do many things which you can- not applaud, but when you recall that at the very top- notch of his success and his pride, his heart stayed in the right place, and was sore because his mother could not be there to gladden her old eyes with the glory of her son — you will forgive him much in his life that was harsh and cruel and utterly wrong. During each Winter, for two or three years, after he had reached the age of seven, Andrew Jackson was sent to the old-field school of a Mr. Branch. After this, he attended the select school which a Presbyterian preacher, Dr. David Humphreys, taught in the Waxhaw settle- ment. He appears to have been going to this higher school in the spring of 1780, when the inroad of Tarleton created a panic in that portion of the Carolinas. At some later period of his youth, he is said to have attended the old Queen College or Seminary at Charlotte a couple of terms, but the time is not definitely known. As to education, therefore, it may be safely stated that Andrew Jackson enjoyed much more than the ordi- nary advantage of a back-woods boy of his time. At the age of ten, he had become so good a reader that he was often chosen to read the newspaper to the assembled neighbors ; and he remembered with pride, in after years, that he had thus had the honor of "reading out loud" the Declaration of Independence upon his arrival in the Waxhaw Settlement. For a lad of ten this was, indeed, something to remember with honest satisfaction. LIFE AND TIMES OF JACKSON. 15 He also learned to write "a good hand," which can be easily read even to this day: he was well up in arithme- tic, and was fond of geography: grammar he detested, as most of us did. While yet a school-boy he wrote a composition which was in the nature of a patriotic proc- lamation, reminding his countrymen that they must ex- pect occasional defeats and that they could hope to win only by steady effort and resolute courage. From the advent of Tarleton, in 1780, and the Buford Massacre, until the surrender of Cornwallis, the widow Jackson and her boys were tossed hither and thither in the whirlwind of the Revolutionary War. The people of the Carolinas were divided, as they were in other States, some being Tories and in favor of remaining subjects of Great Britain, while the majority \^ere Whigs, and in favor of Independence. The feud between the two local factions waxed bitter, splitting into savage groups almost every neighborhood, and often setting in hostile array, the one against the other, members of the same family. The troops sent over to this country by King George committed many atrocities^ some of which historians have shrunk from recording, but it is also true that many a nameless horror was perpetrated by our own people upoii each other. In the later stages of the conflict, almost no mercy was shown by Tory to Whig, or by Whig to Tory. After Gates' disastrous defeat at Camden, Andrew Jackson made his home for a while at the house of Mrs. Wilson, a distant connection of Mrs. Jackson. This lady lived a few miles from Charlotte. During his stay with her, Andrew made himself useful pulling fodder, going to mill, driving cows to pasture, gathering vegetables for the table, carrying in the wood, and taking farm tools to the blacksmith shop to be mended. Mrs. Wilson had a son who became Andrew Jack- son's playmate and friend; and this son, who was after- ward a prominent minister of the Gospel, used to relate that whenever young Jackson went to the blacksmith 16 LIFE AND TIMES OF JACKSON. shop lie would bring back with him some new weapon, spear, club, tomahawk, or grass blade with which to kill the British. Dr. Wilson remembered having told his mother one day, when speaking of Jackson, "Mother, Andy will fight his way in the world." A girl of the neighborhood, who became in due time Mrs. Smart, happened to see Andrew Jackson as he passed along the road, on his way to the home of Mrs. Wilson. She described the lad as being almost a scarecrow. He was riding a little grass-fed pony or colt, which was so small that the long thin legs of "the gangling fellow," Jackson, could almost meet under the horse's belly. The rider wore a wide-brimmed hat which flapped down over his face, which was yellow and worn. His figure was covered with dust, and as this Knight of the Sorrowful Countenance galloped along the road, he and his shabby little hol-se presented the forlornest spectacle that had ever greeted the laughing eyes of the girl who was to become known in Jacksonian annals as Mrs. Susan Smart. Hugh Jackson, the oldest of the three boys, joined the band of patriots which was raised and equipped, at his own expense, by that noble leader, Colonel William R. Davie, of South Carolina. Only sixteen years of age, Hugh Jackson left the field hospital, where he had been suffering from fever, and joined in the assault upon Stono Ferry. The excitement, the exertion, the heat of the day (June 20, 1779), brought on a relapse, and the gallant youth died. As to' Andrew Jackson, he himself said : "Take it altogether, I saw and heard a good deal of war in those days, but did nothing toward it myself worth mention. ' ' However, he further stated that he acted for Colonel Davie as mounted orderly, or messenger, "being a good rider and familiar with all the roads in those regions." He witnessed the battles of Hanging Rock and Hob- LIFE AND TIMES OF JACKSON. 17 kirk 's Mill, and took part in a skirmish with the Tories at the house of Captain Sands. Andrew and Robert Jackson were taken prisoners, and it was while so held that the boys were ordered, Rob- ert first and then Andrew, to clean the boots of one of Tarleton's lieutenants. Both refused, and to each was dealt a savage sabre-cut which had much to do with Rob- ert 's death soon afterward, and which gave to Andrew a scar and a hatred which he bore to his grave. To the rescue of her boys, came Mother Jackson, she who was "as gentle as a dove and as brave as a lioness." The lads were so young, and were in such a desperate plight with smallpox, that the British officers were per- haps glad to get rid of such an encumbrance ; at any rate they were released or exchanged, and the dismal group, the mother and her sick boys, journeyed back to their home. But Robert was already so far gone that he died; and when the smallpox left Andrew, he was a mere skeleton. ''It took me all the rest of the year (1781) to recover my strength and get flesh enough to hide my bones." To the sacred cause of liberty, Elizabeth Jackson had already given two of her sons. The third had barely escaped a like fate. But the golden-hearted woman was not to be cast down, or taught cowardly prudence. No sooner was Andrew out of danger, than she sent him to the home of Joseph White, another brother-in-law, and set out, herself, to carry food and medicine to the sick and wounded patriots who were confined in the British hulks in Charleston Harbor. Braver, it may be, than the soldier himself is the bat- tlefield nurse who brings water to his parched lips, ban- dages to his bleeding wound, tender ministrations to his dying hours. May it yet come to pass that some time, some time, in the unfolding of higher and better things, these angels of Mercy, the Good Women of the Christian Nations, may be able to rush in between the lines, as once happened in the days of old, and stay the hands lifted to shed human blood ! 18 LIFE AND TIMES OF JACKSON. Elizabeth Jackson, in the spirit of consecration, went to what seemed to her the post of duty, thinking nothing of the cost to herself. They were in prison — her neighbors, friends, com- patriots — and she did visit them. She brought to the suffering prisoners words of comfort; messages from horpe ; the motherly sympathy which heals like a balsam ; the kind word which is sweeter than myrrh. Then the ministering angel, the best of all created things, a good woman, passed out of the ship, carrying with her the deadly fever which knew no difference be- twixt the good and the bad. After a brief illness, she died, and she was buried near Charleston; but her dust lies in a grave that cannot be found. After the loss of his mother (in the fall of 1781), Andrew Jackson remained with Joseph White, a saddler by trade, helping him in his shop, in the making and mending of saddles and harness. At the same time, he read everything he could lay his hands on — books, pam- phlets and newspapers. His uncle's father was a local magistrate, possessed of a book of law forms and rules of common practice. Most young men would lay such a book underneath a volume of Sermons, and then spread a layer of dust over both ; but Andrew Jackson afterward said that he read and re-read the law book until he knew it by heart. [There is a tradition that Jackson's leave-taking of the saddler's trade was of a sudden and volcanic character. He happened to make a mis-lick with his awl and drove it into his leg. In a burst of anger and pain, he swore that he would make his living some other way, and he quit the shop. I am indebted for this note to Mr. John M. Thompson, of Concord, N. C, whose grandfather, Faulkner, was a cousin to Andrew Jackson. Mr. Thomp- son relates that the Waxhaw schoolhouse, which Jackson attended, was afterward bought by his (Thompson's) grandmother, and was moved to her place. It was first used as a shuck house, and when the roof had decayed and gone, the logs were used by Mr. Thompson's father to make the floor of a hogpen.] LIFE AND TIMES OF JACKSON. 19 But at this period in his growth an unfortunate thing happened. The death of his father and his brothers had left Andrew Jackson the heir-at-law to a considerable part of the estate of Hugh Jackson, of Carrickfergus, his grandfather. The amount, some fifteen hundred or two thousand dollars, was just about enough to unsettle the average young man, jostling him out of the routine of dull, mo- notonous industry— saddle-mending, for example. The legal representative of the Hugh Jackson estate, in America, was the William Barton, of Charleston, at whose house Elizabeth Jackson had died. Why it was that he turned over the money to the young man before he became of age is not explained. Perhaps Andrew wanted the money, and had made up his mind to get it. If so, the conduct of Barton is comprehensible. When- ever Andrew Jackson wanted a thing and made up his mind to get it, he could become a most troublesome citi- zen. At all events, Mr. Barton paid over the money to the boy, and the boy sowed wild oats with it. He bought a fine horse, and tine equipments for the horse; he bought fine raiment for his own person, in- cluding a gold watch ; he bought a fine pair of pistols, so that he would be ready, in case it became desirable to shoot somebody. In short, he went to going all the gaits of a fast young man, until his money was gone. At the last, he made a bet which would have swept away even his horse, had he lost ; but luck favored him ; he won ; and it is a convincing proof of his inborn good sense that he immediately paid up his debts, and rode his fine horse away from Charleston and its allurements. 20 LIFE AND TIMES OF JACKSON. CHAPTEE II. Studying Law! To that stage had Andrew Jackson come, in 1785, steered by the unseen forces which govern the world. It is doubtful whether he himself could have explained how he happened to drift into that profession rather than some other. In the finding of one's life-work there is much more of feeling around in the dark than is generally supposed. Cervantes did not begin to write Don Quixote until he had tried success by many routes, and had landed on the wrong side of a prison door. Bacon's best work was done after his disgrace as an officer of state, and after Queen Elizabeth had expressed the weighty opinion that he didn't know much law. Oliver Goldsmith, the neglected physician, wrote ''The Deserted Village" and ''The Vicar of Wakefield" after he had waited in vain for patients bringing fees. Had Napoleon been a success as an author, he might. never have meddled with politics. Had Genral Lew Wallace been a success as a soldier, he might never have written "Ben Hur." Had U. S. Grant been a money-maker at the outbreak of the Civil War, he might never have commanded on the winning side at Appomattox. Had Sam Houston been able to wear with credit the harness of social and political existence in Tennessee, he might never have thrown himself amid the wilder men of the Southwest and won fame as a builder of empire ! Patrick Henry's failure in other fields shunted him into the legal profession ; and Jefferson 's partial failure as a lawyer became a stepping-stone into the higher call- ing of practical statesmanship. Happy is the man who can find out, early in life, the work which he is best fitted to do. Among the most pitiable of the wretched is he who grows old at a task which, too late, he learns was not set for him. The gray-haired school-teacher or commonplace LIFE AND TIMES OF JACKSON. 21 preacher, who realizes that he should have been a mer- chant, lawyer, doctor or civil engineer, is pathetic. To know what to try to do is the great problem, and it may be that even the men who succeed in their chosen calling could have rendered mankind better service in some other field. Henry Brougham's shrewd old mother bewailed his quitting the House of Commons to don the robes of Lord Chancellor : Dr. Samuel Johnson lamented the fate which never gave him a chance to try his hand in Parliament : Edmund Burke writhed under Goldsmith's famous lash- ing of him "who to party gave up what was meant for mankind. ' ' What is it that draws the most ambitious men of modern times into "the study of law!" The reward, of course. All things considered, no other profession offers so great a return upon the invest- ment of time, talent and industry. While the nations are standing in arms, clothed in- steel from head to foot, the purpose is not so much to. fight as to discourage attack from without and insurrec- tion from within. The standing army gives the education whose watchword is "Obey!" It cultivates the class- pride and prejudice upon which caste rule is built. It interests millions of citizens in the maintenance of "Law and Order" — the law which imposes the yoke of the ruling caste and the order which restrains its victims from revolt. The military profession, therefore, is one which irre- sistibly attracts very many aspirants to influence, to po- sition, to power; but even the military profession does not win over so many ambitious young men as does ' ' the study of the law." In the building up of our civilization we have compli- cated matters to such an extent that the lawyer is indis- pensable, almost omnipotent. Does the layman know anything about his own rights as a citizen ? Very little. Upon the simplest things only is he informed. At every turn he finds himself under the 22 LIFE AND TIMES OF JACKSON. necessity of getting help from the lawyer. Great is the corporation — the bank, the railroad, the trust — but the corporation dares not move a step without a lawyer in the pilot-house. From the Justice's Court in the rural district and the Mayor's Court in the village, all the way up to Presiden- tial policies and Governmental problems, the lawyer is the doctor who must be called in to look at the tongue of the difficulty, and to write out a prescription. In the business world the lawyer levies his tribute upon the great and the small, the rich and the poor, the hayseed farmer and the silk-hat financier. Our Wall Street Money-Kings would no more think of organizing a rascally scheme of High Finance with- out the help of lawyers than the buccaneers of old would have thought of flying the pirate flag without guns on board. In the political world the lawyer is omnipresent, in- dispensable. Who organizes the Machine and steers the Boss on his cruise, keeping him off the reefs and bars of the Criminal Code? The lawyer. Who maps out the campaign, devises a fraud upon the people which the statute cannot quite reach, and then, after the election has been stolen from the people, shows the Boss how to keep the stolen goods in defiance of right and in spite of the legal proceedings! The lawyer. Who is it that the beneficiaries of class-legislation naturally select to advance their claims, voice their de- mands, guard their interests in the legislatures of states, in the Congress of the United States, in the Cabinet of the President? The lawyer. Under our system, so complex has it become, the man who wants to do right doesn't know how. Except in the simplest transactions, a lawyer must show him how. If, on the contrary, a bad man wants to do wrong, but wants LIFE AND TIMES OF JACKSON. 23 to escape punishment, he needs, and can generally get, a lawyer to show him the way. The innocent man, accused of crime, needs a lawyer; is not safe without one, and may be convicted, even then, if he happens to employ a sorry one, who can be out- witted by the prosecution. The guilty man, accused of crime, needs a lawyer; is not safe without one ; and if he employs a good one, while the prosecution is managed by a sorry one, the jury may be forced to turn him loose, although they feel that he is *'as guilty as a dog." , Thus, looked at from the standpoint of mere ambi- tion, sordid selfishness, the ''study of law" powerfully attracts young men who want to get on in the world. But there is another point of view — thank God ! It is not every student of Blackstone or Coke who licks his chops, by anticipation, over the sweets of mental prostitution. It is not every student of the law who means to be- come the jackal to the lion, the doer of dirty work for hire, the seller of divinely fashioned genius to the highest bidder — with the morals of a harlot, without that excuse of dire necessity which the harlot can often give. In most cases the boy who comes to the study of the law is actuated by nobler motives, a higher purpose. A generous ambition to gain knowledge, to fit himself for a leader's place among men, to arm himself with the weapons which enable him to fight the battles of the weak and to defend the right against the wrong, find place in his mind and heart, just as they do in the beauti- ful language of the oath which he must take. Almost in the very words — and quite in the identical spirit — that ancient Chivalry solemnly swore the Knight- Errant to his duty, pledging him to champion the cause of the weak and the oppressed, the oath of office conse- crates the young lawyer to his work by the same holy vows. For it must be remembered that no profession has a more glorious tradition and heritage than that of the law. 21 LIFE AND TIMES OF JACKSON. The Crusaders who have in modern times gone forth to redeem the Holy Sepulchre of Truth from the Infidel have been led, by whom? The lawyer. The Knight-Errant who rode forth to break the chains, lift the yoke, batter down the prison door of the captive, the weak, the oppressed, has been, whom? The lawyer. Great was Mirabeau, but he dreamt only of changing France into a constitutional monarchy, leaving Divine Eight on the throne and hereditary Privilege intrenched. It was Danton, the lawyer, who led the Revolution, and sketched the Democratic state, in which all the peo- ple should rule for the benefit of all. It was the lawyer who led in the long, hard fight for Civil liberty in England; the lawyer who slew the mon- sters of her Criminal Code; the lawyer who armed the private citizen with school-book and ballot. It was the lawj^er who pleaded Ireland's cause at the bar of Public Opinion, wrung from British intolerance Religious Freedom, compelled the recognition of the Irishman's rights in Irish land, and so won upon the conscience and the fear of the ruling caste that the tri- umph of the Cause of Ireland has become a question of time rather than a matter of doubt. In our own history, whose record is better than that of the lawyer? Would our forefathers ever have gone to war with Great Britain had they awaited the lead of Benjamin Franklin, John Dickinson and George Washington? Never in the world. Not until Patrick Henry and Dabney Carr and Thomas Jefferson and James Otis and John Adams and Alexander Hamilton, the hot-headed young lawyers, had fired the woods, and the flames were leaping onward with a rush which none could stop, did those more cautious and conservative citizens, Franklin, Dickinson and Washington, commit themselves to the movement of the Colonies against the Mother Country. LIFE AND TIMES OF JACKSON. 25 The lawyer lit the signal fires of that Revolution, the lawyer wrote the Declaration of Independence, the law- yer framed the Constitution, the lawyer organized the Government. The lawyer struck down Feudalism in America, wrote the statute for Religious Liberty, swung wide the doors of individual opportunity, and forged, ready for use, every weapon against tyranny which a free people need to protect themselves from oppression. Even at that early period there was another side to the shield, not so bright as that which I have presented ; but, throughout the Revolutionary era, the patriotic service of the lawyer was so splendidly conspicuous that the reverse side of the shield was as the spot on the sun. When Andrew Jackson rode into Salisbury, N. C. (1785), and put up at the Rowan House, the old-fashioned tavern, he was eighteen years old, and had already gone to the school of experience, to an extent which few of his future competitors for national honor had equaled. His boyhood had breathed in the hot atmosphere of war. The sound of musketry, of rifle fire, of cannon play, had been familiar to his ear. The sight of bloodshed, scenes of carnage, the ruthless deeds of Tory hate and Whig revenge had burnt their impressions upon mind and heart. The dangers amid which he had lived, the hardships which he had endured, the lust of victory and the panic of defeat, tl^e sudden flight from the deadly at- tack, the narrow escape from awful death, the loss of his brothers and mother, the imprisonment and maltreat- ment of himself, the wild disorders and appalling cruel- ties of foreign invasion added to Civil strife — all these things were factors in the molding of Andrew Jackson. When he entered the office of Spruce McCay to read law under that influential attorney, he had already given evidence of the traits of character which afterward made him one of the best loved and best hated men that ever lived. It had already been shown that he would fight at the 3 a j 26 LIFE AND TIMES OF JACKSON. drop of a hat ; that he was headstrong, impatient of con- tradiction, and overbearing. Weaker boys who turned to him for protection got it. He would "take up" for the small boy, and, if need were, wage his battle. He was high-tempered, quick as powder, hard to get along with — and the boy who laughed at him because he had what was called "a slobber mouth" had to run or fight. He had shown that he was fona of outdoor life, out- door sport, games, and recreations. He loved to hunt, was a good shot, an expert horseman and rode admir- ably, excelled in running and jumping. Some say that even when thrown by a stronger man he "wouldn't stay throwed;" others relate that John Lewis could out-jump him and throw him down; and that when John Lewis threw him, Andy did "stay throwed." That he was be- lieved to have a generous nature is proven by the fact that he is said to have been a great friend to this same John Lewis. The eighteen-year-old Jackson had already shown his fondness for gambling at cards, on chicken fights and horse races, on the throw of a dicebox, on almost any sort of game or contest. He was known also as a wild young fellow who would drink too much whiskey, indulge in too many coarse practical jokes, and who, when inflamed by anger, could out-curse anybody in all the regions round about. During his stay of two years in Salisbury Jackson's character continued to unfold itself along those lines. He was not much of a student ; it is not recorded that he did any office work for Spruce McCay; nor does any biog- rapher explain how it was that he paid for his board and lodging. It seems that he kept his horse, and that he was active in horse-racing, cock-fighting, card-playing circles ; but it is not probable that he relied upon his winnings to pay his way. How, then, did he do it? Perhaps his work as school-teacher should be assigned to this period of his life, and it is possible that some rem- nant of his legacy may have tided him over. LIFE AND TIMES OF JACKSON. 27 Illustrative of the rougher side of his character is the practical joke which he played upon the eminent respect- abilities of Salisbury by sending cards of invitation to the Christmas ball to two notorious strumpets of the town. The unclean birds came to the ball, as per Andrew Jack- son 's cards, and the uproar in the fowl-house was consid- erable. But Andy was a great favorite with the ladies^ as "wild" young men have ever been — and he succeeded in getting rid of the disturbers and at the same time holding the admiration of the eminently respectable. Another anecdote of the period represents him en- gaged with boon companions in a carousal, which lasted throughout the night and wound up with a general smashing of all the furniture in the room. A flood of light is poured upon his standing with the ''unco good and rigidly righteous'' at this time by the exclamation of the old lady of Salisbury, who, on being told, forty years later, that Andrew Jackson was a can- didate for President, cried out : "What! Jackson up for President? Jackson? An- drew Jackson? The Jackson that used to live in Salis- bury? Why, when he was here, he was such a rake that my husband would not bring him into the house! It is true, he might have taken him out to the stable to weigh horses for a race, and might drink a glass of whiskey with him there. Well, if Andrew Jackson can be Presi- dent, anybody can." From the office of Judge Spruce McCay, Jackson went to that of Colonel John Stokes, where he continued his studies until he thought himself ready for admission to the Bar. In the spring of 1787 he applied for and re- ceived his license to practise law. For a year after his admission to the Bar he appears to have lived at a village, Martinsville, N. C, where two friends of his kept a store. Tradition says that he helped them in running the business, and that he accepted a local position as constable or deputy-sheriff. At any rate, he realized soon that he was gaining no foothold in North Carolina, and he made up his mind to try his fortune in 28 LIFE AND TIMES OF JACKSON. the new country beyond the mountains, where Robertson and Donelson and Sevier were planting the beginning of another state on the Cumberland. Before we follow Jackson into Tennessee, let us pause ' ' to take his picture. ' ' He was tall and slender — standing six feet and one inch in height. Carrying himself straight as a ramrod, and stepping with a quick, springing clearlift walk, he made the impression upon the observer that he was as active as a cat — lithe, sinewy, tough, and with not a lazy bone in his body. He had a shock of red hair, and a pair of fine blue eyes, which rested unwinkingly upon one in conversation, and which blazed when he was aroused. His face was sallow, freckled, long, thin, angular, with a fighting jaw. His bearing toward men was open, frank, confident, self-assertive. Toward women he was deferential, most attentive and polite. Surprising as it may seem, there is no room for doubt that Andrew Jackson's manner toward ladies was from the first, captivating to a marked degree. By the time he reached the age of eighteen he had developed a taste for good dressing. The same trait which led him to want the finest-looking horse, the richest caparison, the best pistols and guns, the best dogs and game chick- ens, led him to choose for himself a style of wearing ap- parel, both in the material and the make, which was far above the average of the backwoods. Some of his lady friends went to the courthouse the day he was examined for admission to the Bar, and one of these has left a description of him as he then ap- peared. Those who recall Albert Gallatin's statement that Jackson, when in Congress, looked and dressed like an uncouth backwoodsman may not be able to reconcile his testimony with that of Mrs. Anne Rutherford, who says : '*He always dressed neat and tidy, and carried him- self as if he was a rich man's son. ''The day he was licensed he had on a new suit, with LIFE AND TIMES OF JACKSON. 29 a broadcloth coat, ruffled shirt, and other garments in the best of fashion." There is no disputing about taste; and the reader is- left to the conclusion that a style of dressing which ap- peared to be the best of fashion to a country girl of North Carolina may have seemed ''irregular" to such a cosmopolitan gentleman as Gallatin. The red breeches of Thomas Jefferson had been "the best of fashion ' ' in Paris, but when he wore them in New York, as a member of Washington's Cabinet, social rumblings were heard and social upheavals feared. 30 LIFE AND TIMES OF JACKSON. CHAPTER III. The Horse-Shoe Knights of Virginia, who rode gal- lantly in the train of royalist Governor Spottswood to the summits of the Blue Ridge, and gazed from those heights upon the unexplored wilderness beyond, were thought to have done a notable deed. It was boasted of, as the mariner of ancient times boasted of having car- ried his ship beyond the Pillars of Hercules. The passes over the Blue Ridge are as prosaic, now- adays, as are the Straits of Gibraltar, but for many a year after the golden spurs of the Virginia Cavaliers had grown cold, a veil of mystery and the spell of danger hung over the mountain ranges which separated the sea- board colonies from the Western wilds. Traders, trappers and hunters came and went. Indi- vidual daring, the spirit of adventure, the craving for excitement and the greed for gain forced the secret of the wilderness; and gradually there spread among the people of the older communities a knowledge of the won- derful country beyond the Alleghanies. Land-grabbing corporations brought on the war be- tween England and France which led to the downfall of French dominion in America, and thus paved the way for the War of Independence. Land-grabbing corporations multiplid their activities after the Revolutionary conflict was ended. A drag-net of land-grants was thrown over vast regions where bears and Indians still roamed the woods which they had occu- pied from time immemorial. Just as young George Washington had acted as advance courier for a land-grabbing corporation in the forests of Ohio, so Daniel Boone served as a land-grabber in penetrating to the dark and bloody ground which became Kentucky. David Henderson, James Robertson, John Sevier, John Danelson, William Blount, Isaac Shelby, George Rogers Clarke, George Washington, Andrew Jackson — LIFE AND TIMES OF JACKSON. 31 they were land speculators, land-grabbers — the last one of them. And in their hunger for land they drove back bar- barism, and planted the standards of civilization, fought the hard fight against savage nature and savage man — winning the battle at as great a sacrifice of toil and blood as any struggle for the progress of the race has ever cost. In what is now Tennessee the first permanent colo- nists were James Robertson and John Donelson, to whom soon came John Sevier and those unconquered men of North Carolina who, having been routed by Tyron's roy- alists at Almance, were "not cowed down, but, like the mammoth, shook the bolt from their brow and crossed the mountains. ' ' * These men of the frontier held the lists for civiliza- tion, defiant of all the terrors, hardships and losses that savage men and savage conditions could send against them — and never a helping hand did they ask or receive from the Federal Government. They adopted for themselves a form of government, based upon the Virginia model, and supported by the suffrage of every member of the community. It was free, it was indpendent, it was democratic ; and it was the first government of that kind among the white people of America. For five or six years this robust and self- reliant democracy maintained law, order and independ- ence, under written '* association and articles for their conduct." Five Commissioners selected by the com- munity, "by consent of every individual," administered the public affairs, acted as judges in disputed claims of debt and property, took probate of wills and acknowledg- ment of deeds, issued marriage licenses and hanged horse thieves. In short, the little settlement beyond the Alleghanies, finding itself alone in the wilderness, instinctively did what their ancestors had done in the woods of Germany — assembled under a tree and agreed upon a government. Thomas Carlyle tells us that the King was once the *Note. — Capt. William Bean was the first actual settler in what is now Tennessee. 32 LIFE AND TIMES OF JACKSON. able man, he toward whom the eyes of his neighbors turned in times of doubt and danger, he who was fit to be first in doing. By this simple, just and natural rule Kings of men were once the ablest of men, and even the democrat might not deny that a right thus founded in God-given qualities, freely recognized by the tribe, was divine. In the olden time when our skin-clad ancestors had met in primitive council, had passed upon the compara- tive merits of rival leaders, had chosen the one able man from out of all the others, had seated him upon the broad shield and lifted him on high amid the clashings of spears upon bucklers, and the boisterous shouts of warriors well pleased with their chief, you may be sure that the able man, thus freely chosen, was ever the best of the tribe — the craftiest in council, the strongest in war. And so it happened in the settlement on the Watauga when, in May, 1772, the pioneers drew together to form a government and select their able men. John Carter, Zachariah Isbell, Charles Robertson were chosen members of the committee, and this fact itself proves their worth. A name which stands out in history more clearly is that of sturdy, steadfast, level-headed, lion-hearted James Robertson, who was the second man of the com- mittee. But the first man was John Sevier, one of the most gallant and fascinating characters that ever held the frontier for Christian civilization. Gay, frank and bold, generous as the sunlight, simple as a child, brave as Richard the Lion-hearted, a man whom all men could honor, all women trust, all children love — John Sevier crosses one's line of vision, as we look back upon our his- torical landscape, like a French warrior of the very best type — truly a knight from Frankland, clad not in bur- nished steel, but in buckskin ; carrying not a spear, but a rifle ; winning not the garlands of fair ladies at the tour- nament, but the heartfelt, tear-dimmed ''God bless you!" of pioneer wives and mothers whose homes he had made safe, whose children he had rescued from tomahawk and scalping-knife. LIFE AND TIMES OF JACKSON. S3 Glorious John Sevier ! The heart swells as one thinks of him. No better soldier ever rode to battle. A soul of nobler impulse never lifted a hero to lofty deeds. Eeady at all times to mount and ride, to march and fight, to lead or follow, to command or obey, his far- reaching prowess gave safety to Upper Georgia, to the Western settlements of the Carolinas and tc^ struggling Tennessee. And at the darkest hour of the Eevolutionary War, when the pall of unbroken defeat and failure was spread from the dismal neighborhood of Valley Forge to the stricken field of Camden, it was John Sevier— glorious John Sevier! — who, more than any other man, led the dash of the horsemen of the Southern valleys upon Fer- guson and King's Mountain — ^the headlong ride which made the turning-point of the Eevolutionary War! And when the gallant soldier had come back home after the victory, and foimd at his house terrified settlers who clamored to know when he could be ready to mount again and lead them against the warring Indians, the tireless patriot answered, "As soon as Kate can get us some dinner." In November, 1777, North Carolina absorbed the in- dependent Watauga commonwealth into a new county, called Washington; and thereafter the government of Sevier and his fellow-commissioners was superceded by that of the North Carolina authorities. In 1784 the State of North Carolina ceded to Con- gress her territory west of the Alleghanies, with the proviso that the cession be accepted within two years. The state closed her land-office in the ceded territory, nullified all entries made after the act of cession, stopped the delivery of goods which were due to the Cherokee Indians, and thus created a state of confusion which was aggravated by the outbreaks of the wronged and infuri- ated Cherokees. Actuated by the belief that their self-preservation de- manded it, the settlers came together in convention at Jonesboro, August 23, 1784, deliberated upon the situa- tion, and issued an address to the people. •• 34 LIFE AND TIMES OF JACKSON. In October, 1784, North Carolina repealed her act of cession, and John Sevier advised the people to return to their allegiance to the parent state. But hotter heads carried the day and the upshot of the matter was that a convention was held in Greenville, November 14, 1785, and it was resolved that Washington county should henceforth be the State of Franklin. John Sevier was elected Governor, a full set of government functions cre- ated and officers chosen to put them into operation. Congress had declined to accept North Carolina's act of cession, and the State insisted upon her right to rule the territory. A period of trouble, contending factions and clashing jurisdictions ensued. The stars in their courses fought against the new Re- public. The Federal Government frowned upon it; neighboring States had no love for it ; Benjamin Franklin — shrewd, sly, worldly-wise Benjamin ! — fought shy of it ; internal factions rent it. Sevier realized that civil war would be the price which he must pay for the separate existence of the State of Franklin; and Sevier had no heart for civil war. Stopping just short of that, the new State collapsed. North Carolina resumed her own, but almost immediately passed a second act of cession (February, 1790,) under which the territory was deeded to the United States. President Washington appointed William Blount governor of the territory (August, 1790), and in the fol- lowing October the new government was organized. The population of the territory in July, 1791, was 36,043, of whom 3,417 were slaves. The young lawyer who had halted at a dead town in one of the older North Carolina settlements must have found it a dull business. There was no other lawyer in Martinsville, and, inasmuch as it takes two to make a quarrel, one lawyer would starve in almost any town. Clearly, it would never do to stay longer at Martins- LIFE AND TIMES OF JACKSON. 35 ville; and, if he considered the Atlantic Seaboard at all, he must have decided that no promise of success was held out to him in that direction. That he should be one of those who made up their minds to go West was, under all the circumstances, quite natural. He had no family ties to bind him to the older settlements. Of his immediate kindred, none but he was left. The Crawfords were connections by marriage only ; the records fail to show that he was especially fond of his Carolina relatives, or they of him. He seems to have gone his way and they, theirs, with considerable mutual indifference. If ever he went back to the old neighborhoods on a visit to those with whom he lived when a boy, the fact is not stated. Unless I am greatly mistaken, a general impression prevails that the youth of Andrew Jackson was one of hardship, privation and heroic struggle with the draw- backs of poverty and neglect. I am sure that such an im- pression was on my own mind when I began the studies for this biography. Such an impression, if it prevails, is erroneous. Andrew Jackson's father died under the toil and strain of making a home and farm in the wilderness; Andrew Jackson's mother died under the toil and strain of the Revolutionary War ; but Andrew Jackson himself saw no more of the horrors, felt no more of the rigors of that time which tried men's souls, than a majority of the lads of the day saw and felt. He was his mother's idol, favored beyond her other boys. She kept him at her apron-strings while she was housekeeping for her brother-in-law, Crawford. At her knee, she taught him to read. For several years she kept him at school. He was so far in advance of the people around him that he was chosen to act as public reader when the newspapers of North and East came drifting into the backwoods. The devoted mother, ambitious for her favorite son, sent him to the Academy, while his brothers, Hugh and 36 LIFE AND TIMES OF JACKSON. Robert, followed the plow. Andrew was to be the preacher of the family, therefore Andrew must get book learning. The other sons were to be farmers; no High School for them. The clap of thunder which fell upon the Waxhaw set- tlement when Tarleton struck Buford and cut down his panic-stricken men, ran Andrew away from the High School and his brothers out of the cornfield ; and all three were roughly knocked about for a while, as the armies tramped and fought in the Carolinas. But little Andrew was soon put in a place of safety by his mother, while she departed upon that mission of mercy from which she never returned. In a short while came the legacy from the grand- father's estate in Ireland, and young Andrew Jackson found himself in possession of a gi'eater capital than the vast majority of American boys have started life on — somewhere between fifteen hundred and two thousand dollars. Biographers agree in stating that the young man squandered his inheritance in riotous living. This is probably true. But it is a significant fact that henceforth in Jackson's career he never seems to have suffered for the lack of money. After the payment to him of the legacy, in the eighteenth year of his age, we shall never see him again when he does not present the appearance of a well-to-do citizen. According to all accounts, he is found well-dressed, well-lodged, well-mounted — gay in spirits and prosperous in outward seeming. He boards at the best tavern in Salisbury while he gives two years to the study of law. Patrick Henry was able to give but six weeks, and Alexander H. Stephens, three months, to the same study; they were poor young men, and they were in a hurry to get to work. Andrew Jackson "car- ried himself like a rich man's son," boarded at the ^' Rowan House," and leisurely "read law" for two years, apparently not being in a hurry to get to work! When admitted to the bar he is garbed in broadcloth and ruffled shirt; he owns a splendid saddle-horse, keeps a LIFE AND TIMES OF JACKSON. 37 pack of hounds, has extra fine pistols and a new rifle, made to order "by Yeomans, of Charlotte;" is able to put up stakes at horse-races, chicken-fights, dice-throw- ing and card-playing; and is a leader among the respect- able young people in such society functions as are com-* mon to Salisbury and Charlotte! When the young lawyer comes to the conclusion that he can better his fortunes by following the tide of emi- gration westward he does not tie his belongings into a bundle and tote the bundle at the end of a stick — as so many an emigrant has done. No! Andrew Jackson rides over the mountains upon a spirited stallioli, leading a first-rate pack-horse which is loaded with a goodly supply of bachelor furnishings, and followed by his string of hounds. In his pocket is one hundred and eighty dollars in hard cash, and one of the first things that he does after his coming into Ten- nessee is to' buy a negro woman "named Nancy, about eighteen or twenty years of age." (November, 1788.) Verily, we must abandon the belief that Andrew Jackson belongs to the class of American youths who rode to fame and fortune by their own efforts, unaided by the help of family and friends. Never did he taste the bitter cup of physical want, of hunger and cold, of helpless, spirit-breaking poverty. Never was he without home and loyal friends and a suf- ficiency of the comforts of life. Never was it his lot to suffer that humiliation, that mortification, that inward- bleeding wound which the proud nature writhes under, when there is no money in the pocket, no change of cloth- ing for the body, no welcoming light in any window in all the world, as the harassed day draws to' its end and the wretched night comes on. Poverty! Why, Andrew Jackson never in his whole life had a genuine taste of what the cruel world really means. Few men have been more greatly indebted to the in- telligent affection of a self-sacrificing mother. Few sons of poor parents have had such advantages as were his 38 LIFE AND TIMES OF JACKSON. lot ; and few lads of poor parents ever did such a scanty amount of manual labor. Compared to the rugged, self- taught youth of Benjamin Franklin, Eoger Sherman, Abraham Lincoln, Andrew Johnson, Sam Houston, Fran- cis Marion and Nathaniel Greene, the boyhood of An- drew Jackson almost assumes the appearance of having been cast upon ** flowery beds of ease." Unless the harness-making uncle managed to get some hard work out of him, I cannot find that Andrew Jackson was ever made to do any real, steady manual labor at all. You can find Franklin setting type, Sherman mak- ing shoes, Greene hammering hot iron on the anvil, Lin- coln splitting rails, Andy Johnson making a suit of clothes, Davy Crockett clearing a new ground and raising a crop, James Garfield trudging the towpath and U. S. Grant looking after the tanyard and hauling wood into St. Louis; but if Andrew Jackson ever did do a hard day's work, at manual labor, for anybody, at any time, you can find something in the record that escaped my attention. The boy was full of life, fun and frolic; was restless and adventurous; could not be put down or reined in; was off on the creek fishing, or in the woods hunting ; was gone to the races where the wild excitement was irre- sistibly fascinating to his soul, or was heading a band of noisy youngsters who were out for a good time, and who were pretty sure to make the night more or less hideous to the Elders in Israel. Such was young Andrew Jackson. Another most important fact must be borne in mind in considering the extent to which he was indebted for early advantages. When he rode over the mountains astride his mettlesome race-horse, he carried in his pocket a guaranty of power and profit. He had been appointed ** state's attorney" to a court whose jurisdiction stretched far and wide over the inhabitants of those remote regions. How did Andrew Jackson happen to draw that high prize in the lottery of youth — a solicitorship to a court of general jurisdiction? Curiously, the biograp!hers are LIFE AND TIMES OF JACKSON. 39 silent. And yet the wonderful career of their hero pivots upon that appointment. Without it, he could never have gained the foothold which enabled him to snatch the major-generalship of militia from the most popular man in Tennessee, John Sevier; and without that office, he would never have gone to New Orleans as commander-in- chief. Whose influence secured for the briefless barrister of North Carolina the appointment of "state's attorney?" Beyond a doubt, young Jackson owed this first step in his career to the generous and influential attorneys under whom he had read law. Judge Spruce McCay and Col. Montfort Stokes were men of great local weight. They naturally felt an interest in the youngsters whom they had trained for the bar. When the new circuit was created for the country beyond the mountains, and a su- perior court set up therein, the judgeship was secured for John McNairy, who was studying under McCay at the time that Andrew Jackson entered his office: the clerkship was given to Thomas Searcy, a fellow-student in Stokes's office, and the solicitorship came to Andrew Jackson. In fact, a pamphlet published by Montfort Stokes, son of Col. John Stokes, in 1824, makes this statement: "He (Jackson) became convinced after a year's resi- dence in Guilford County, of the advisability of seeking a newer field, and sought the aid of his friends in secur- ing the appointment as public solicitor for the Western Districts, to give him a start in the new country with whose fortunes he had decided to cast his own." This impersonal reference doubtless covers the facts which his modesty would not permit Mr. Stokes to state more plainly, to wit : that he and his father had been in- strumental in obtaining for Andrew Jackson the official position which gave him "a start in the new country." Success in life often hangs upon an "If;" and failure is the do'om of the man who goes wrong at the forks of the road. If Napoleon had not stopped his victorious armies in 1813 and consented to that fatal truce, if he had 40 LIFE AND TIMES OF JACKSON. led the turning movement at Bautzen instead of sending Ney to do it, there might have been no Waterloo. If Beauregard and Johnston had advanced upon Washing- ton, after the first battle of Manassas, there might have been no Appomattox. If the French king, in his flight to Varennes, had not stopped on the wrong side of the town, he would not have lost his own head and that of his queen to the Kevolution, and Euroj)e might not have been able to put armies in the field to crush democracy in France. If a certain American general had sent a certain letter by special courier, instead of by mail, there might have been no War of 1812, no Battle of New Orleans, no clash between a President Jackson and a Secretary Cal- houn, and none of those dire results to the country which flowed from that collision. And if Andrew Jackson, in starting out in life, had gone East instead of West, his own history and that of the United States would have been materially different. By temperament and equipment he was unfitted for a settled, quiet, humdrum community. High-strung and domineering, he was also irregular in his habits, defec- tive in education, and lacking in mental discipline. He had chosen the law as his profession, yet it is certain that he had never buckled down to a thorough study of it, and that he knew very little about it. He was familiar with the Book of Forms and with the Eules of Practice. He could doubtless draw a correct indictment according to the blank form, and could carry a suit upon a note to judgment, or steer a disputed land- title by the John Doe-Richard Roe route laid down on the chart. On the frontier, therefore, he could hope to be able to practice law. To the illiterate hunters and trappers of the West ; to jurors who came to court with their guns and dogs, and who went into the box clad in hunting-shirts, with hunt- ing-knives in their belts ; to justices and judges who paid less attention to statute, precedent and decisions than to sympathy, passion, prejudice and popular favor; to the brother lawvers who were even more deficient in legal LIFE AND TIMES OF JACKSON. 41 lore than himself, young Andrew Jackson might very well hope to appear to advantage. f Much of human grandeur being relative, environment / has a great deal to do with it. ( To us boys of the old field school the schoolmaster seemed a prodigy of learning. Every deserted village, left behind in the evolution of the human race, has prob- ably afforded the same half- sad, half comic spectacle of the Wise Man who was great, not so much by reason of his own attainments as by his superiority to those who knew less. Whether Caesar did, or did not, say that he would rather be the first man in the Alpine town than second man in Eome, the fact remains that the first man of the town occupied, in many respects, the more enviable posi- tion of the two. In sweet Auburn, loveliest village of the plain, the schoolmaster was a proud and happy man, for everybody looked up to him, everybody honored him, nobody ma- liciously envied him, and not a hand would have been lifted to do him harm. And during the young manhood of Andrew Jackson, when he rode the circuit in Tennessee, knowing more law than most of his brethren at the bar, afraid of nothing on earth, ready to challenge to a duel some trained law- yer from the older settlements when that lawyer tres- passed upon his own preserves and made fun of his ignorance — as Waightstill Avery did — thus holding his ground against all comers, partly by brute force and partly by mental superiority, he was probably nearer to happiness than he ever was afterward. From court to court he rode his race-horse, pistols in holsters, carrying his gun and his pack of hounds, ready for the court-house, ready for the deer chase, ready for the shooting-match, ready for the horse-race, ready for the house-raising and log-rolling, ready to 2q out himself and drag into" the court-house the desperi- ^ whom the sheriff feared to arrest. e Rough-and-tumble times these were iw backwoods 4aj 42 LIFE AND TIMES OF JACKSON. Tennessee, with rude and lawless elements boiling and bubbling in that inevitable period of unrest and struggle which prevails in border settlements before the com- munity takes form, and everybody smugly congratulates everybody else on the "reign of law and order.'* In just such a state of society young Jackson was pe- culiarly fitted to lead, dominate and prosper. Had he gone eastward instead of westward, had he cast in his lot with the lawyers that were striving for advancement in the cities of the original thirteen sea- board states, nothing is more certain than that the world would never have heard of him. His lack of knowledge of the law would have made him easy prey to those who were masters of this profes- sion ; his fiery temper would have kept him constantly in battle array, and in fighting those lawyers who got the better of him in the citation of legal authorities he would, in the nature of things, have met the wrong man, sooner or later. Abraham Lincoln was a great advocate before the courts of Western Illinois, where wit and humor, anec- dote and invective, the play of popular passion and prejudice and a keen knowledge of human nature swayed the men in the jury-box; before such a tribunal Edwin L. Stanton would have been a pigmy in the hands of Lincoln, the giant ; but when Stanton saw that his clients in a case before the Supreme Court of the United States had sent Lincoln 1 o Washington as associate counsel, he glared for a moment at the Western attorney, and then snorted: ''If that giraffe appears in the case, I'll throw up my brief. ' ' In Great Britain, Gen. Oglethorpe was nothing more than a commonplace, most worthy gentleman, differing but slightly from thousands of other commonplace, most worthy gentlemen; in the colony of Georgia he was a magnificent combination of philanthropist, diplomatist, military chieftain, law-giver and empire builder ; and few men that evi;r lived deserve more highly of the human race than James Oglethorpe. LIFE AND TIMES OF JACKSON. 43 If Warren Hastings, and the English boy who is known to history as Lord Olive, had stayed in Great Britain they would never have achieved greatness — never would have become the illustrious criminals, the ruthless conquerors who won India for the English Crown. In Hindustan their genius expanded to the op- portunity, and they were great; in England they were nothing more than two respectables amid ten thousand other respectables. To land upon one's feet, on the right side of the If — that's the secret of success, and Jackson was one of the men who took the right road at the right time. 44 LIFE AND TIMES OF JACKSON. CHAPTER IV. In the biography of Jackson recently published by Col. A. S. Colyar, there appears a letter, written by Judge John McNairy, in which this statement is made: "We (Andrew Jackson and McNairy himself) moved together from North Carolina to this state (Tennessee) and ar- rived at Nashville in October, 1788." Colonel Colyar regards this letter as sufficiently con- vincing to overthrow all the evidence which supports the conclusion that Andrew Jackson lived for a year or more at Jonesboro befote going to Nashville. In Parton's voluminous "Life of Jackson," a book which Colonel Colyar says "ought not to have been writ- ten," the industrious authoY produces what purports to be a copy of an original advertisement in the State Ga- zette, of North Carolina, of November 28, 1788, and which reads as follows : "Notice is hereby given that the new road from Campbell's Station to Nashville was opened on the 25th of September, and the guard attended at that time to escort such persons as were ready to proceed to Nash- ville; that about sixty families went on, amongst whom were the widow and family of the late General Davidson and John McNairy, judge of the Superior Court; and that on the 1st day of October next the guard will attend at the same place for the same purpose." This advertisement convinced Parton that Andrew Jackson stopped no longer than "several weeks" in Jonesboro, "waiting for the assembling of a sufficient number of emigrants, and for the arrival of a guard from Nashville to escort them." The evidence at least cor- roborates Judge McNairy 's statement as to the date of his arrival in Nashville. It by no means excludes the possibility that Jackson himself lived in Jonesboro a year or more previous to October, 1788. So many of the episodes in the long career of Andrew Jackson depend upon mere hearsay, the recollections of LIFE AND TIMES OF JACKSON. 45 old peo'ple, neigrborhood traditions and other testimony of that most untrustworthy character, that we find our- selves groping amid uncertainties at every turn. Assured of the fact that Jackson moved from Mor- ganton directly to Nashville, Mr. Parton, a painstaking biographer, did not visit East Tennessee while making the local researches upoli which he based his elaborate work. If, as Mr. Parton states, Andrew Jackson and John McNairy stopped m Jonesboro for no other purpose than to await the assembling of emigrants and the com- ing of the guard froni Nashville, why did they go into court at Jonesboro during the May term, 1788, produce their licenses, and take the oaths necessary to qualify' them to practice law in that court? The technical name of the tribunal referred to was the ''Court of Pleas and Quarter Sessions." Furthermore, the minutes of the "Superior Court of Law and Equity," kept at Jonesboro, disclose the fact that at the August term, 1788, John McNairy produced his license and took the necessary oath to qualify him to practice "in the several courts of this state." These old court-house records, copied into Judge Al- lison's ''Dropped Stitches in Tennessee History," upset Parton 's assertion that Jackson and McNairy "rendez- voused at Morganton in the spring or summer of 1788," and then went on to Nashville, after a halt of but a few weeks at Jonesboto. In the little log-cabin, twenty-four feet square, which served as a court-house at Jonesboro, Andrew Jackson presented his license and was duly enrolled upon the minutes as an attorney entitled to practice "in this County Court," on the 12th day of May, 1788. It was at the November term, 1788, of "this County Court," at Jonesboro, that Jackson produced a "Bill of Sale from Micajah Crews to Andrew Jackson, Esquire, for a negro woman named Nancy, about eighteen or twenty years of age," and proved the same by the oath of David Allison, a subscribing witness — whereupon the paper was "ordered to be recorded." 46 LIFE AND TIMES OF JACKSON. "Ordered to be Eecorded" was indicated upon legal documents in those days by the clerk's memorandum "0. E."; and with that proneness to error which is one of the most interesting and attractive features in human nature, the letters of the clerk's memorandum were taken to be ''0. K.," and the stubborn pertinacity and success with which the senseless "0. K." has held its ground against the lucid and righteous "0. R.", demonstrates how ridiculous a figure the truth can sometimes cut in contest with a falsehood which got the running start. What use Andrew Jackson had for the young negro woman, named Nancy, is not apparent. Being a boarder at the house of Christopher Taylor, he did not need her as a house- servant ; he was not running a farm anywhere, and, consequently, he did not need her as a field-hand. Reasoning by the process of exclusion, we land firmly upon the conviction that Nancy was bought on specula- tion. In political campaigns it was natural that, in the North, the partisans of Old Hickory should vehemently deny that he had ever been a negro trader; but in the days of Andrew Jackson the business men of the South thought no more of buying and selling negroes than they did of buying and selling any other merchantable com- modity. The business instinct was strong in Andrew Jackson, as it was in George Washington, and Nancy was the first of the many negroes that he bought to re- sell at a profit. In that interesting little volume, "Dropped Stitches in Tennessee History," the author, Judge John Allison, presents a picture of the house in which Jackson boarded while he lived at Jonesboro. The photograph from which the illustration was made was taken in 1897, and the house, which was built of hewn logs, presents the sturdy appearance of a building which might survive many other years. There are portholes at convenient distances for the riflemen who might be compelled to defend the home from Indian attack, and these portholes grimly remind one of the stern, bloody days in which the encroaching settler made his clearing and built his house. LIFE AND TIMES OF JACKSON. 47 "When Andrew Jackson came to Jonesboro (then spelt Jonesborongh) to live it was a thriving town, equal, at least, to Nashville. It was surrounded and supported by one of the finest farming sections of the South. Public officials, merchants and others, traveling from the lower Southern States to Washington and points farther east made Jonesboro a stopping-place on the route. Droves of horses, mules and cattle from the regions round about were collected at Jonesboro, and from there driven to Georgia and the Carolinas for sale. From Baltimore and Philadelphia came all sorts of merchandise by wagon, and these goods were distributed by the merchants of Jonesboro to the smaller dealers in Tennessee and West- ern North Carolina. Yes, indeed, Jonesborc^ was quite a large and flourish- ing town in those days, but it is one of those which has had to witness the growth of younger, stronger rivals as the invincible railroad came along and gave its advan- tages to Johnson City and Bristol. The population of Jonesboro is not greater now than it was in the days of Andrew Jackson. "In going from Jonesboro to the courts in Greene, Hawkins and Sullivan counties, Jackson always took with him his shot-gun, hostlers and saddle-bags, and very often his hounds, so that he was always ready to join in a deer-chase or a fox-hunt. He was an unerring marks- man, and was always the centre of attraction at the shoot- ing matches at which the prizes were quarters of beef, turkeys and deer." So says Judge Allison in ''Dropped Stitches." We can well believe it. Jackson loved life, action, contact and contest with his fellow-man. Neither at that time, nor at any other time, did he have any fondness for books. While at Jonesboro he burned no midnight oil poring over Coke or Blackstone or Chitty — nor did he do so anywhere else. Just enough law to get his case to the jury was about as much as he ever knew; and he relied upon his energy in hunting up evidence, and his strong common sense in talking to the jury, to carry him through. 48 LIFE AND TIMES OF JACKSON. To speak of Andrew Jackson as having lived a year or more at Jonesboro without having had a fight with somebody would bring the story under suspicion ; there- fore we must chronicle the fact that he did have ' ' a per- sonal difficulty" while at Jonesboro. One of the residents of Jonesboro was Samuel Jack- son, a Scotch-Irish Presbyterian, who had come from Philadelphia and established himself in a successful busi- ness. A most worthy gentleman he was, by all accounts ; and his descendants, to this day, are worthy people in East Tennessee. It seems that Andrew Jackson, being a fighting man, carried a sword-cane — a habit common to the fighting men of that period. When the writer of this sketch was a small boy he remembers having seen one of these formidable weapons. To outward appearance the sword- cane differed from no other ''walking stick." It looked as innocent as the handle of a wagon whip. But the cane was, in reality, a concealed weapon, for it was nothing more than the wooden scabbard of a long, keen blade of steel which was ready to flash into the light and drink blood the moment the handle of the cane was pulled. In other words, the sword-cane was made upon the prin- ciple of the sword, with the difference that all men knew a sword to be a sword, while no one could tell a sword- cane from any other kind of "walking stick." Andrew Jackson had a quarrel with Samuel Jackson, and before the matter ended Andrew had pierced the thigh of Samuel with the spear of his sword-cane. It does not appear that Samuel Jackson was armed, or that Andrew Jackson was justifiable in the use of the weapon. A daughter of Samuel Jackson, relating the circum- stances to Col. John Brownlow, some forty years ago, spoke with deep feeling of the matter, denouncing the conduct of Andrew Jackson. Making allowances for the natural bias of a daughter, the impression remains that the assault was due to the violent temper of Andrew, rather than to any adequate provocation. The famous Parson Brownlow lives in Southern his- LIFE AND TIMES OF JACKSON. 49 tory as one of its most striking figures. From his son, John B. Brownlow, I have received many valuable sug- gestions in the studies for this sketch of Andrew Jack- son; and the following letter from him is inserted here because of its bearing upon this part of Jackson's career : Knoxville, Tenn., August 16, 1906. There is no doubt whatever that Jackson resided at Jonesboro at least one year, and probably longer. While writing his book, Parton spent several weeks at Nashville, but he never came to East Tennessee, and never communicated by letter or otherwise with any citizen of this section of the state about Jonesboro, so far as I have ever heard. Immediately after receiving your letter this morning, I' called to see Judge O. P. Temple, who had been a citizen of Knoxville since 1848. He was born in Greene County, the county adjoining Washington, of which Jonesboro is the capital town. Before re- moving here in 184 8 he practiced law at Jonesboro, residing at Greenville, twenty-five miles distant. In 1847 Judge Temple was the Whig candidate for Congress against Andrew Johnson, Johnson defeating him by three hundred votes. In 1849 he held a diplo- matic position under President Taylor's administration. For six- teen years he was Judge of the Court here. His memory and mental faculties seem unimpaired, and until he retired from the bar, he was one of the most successful lawyers we have had in East Ten- nessee. He is now eighty-seven. I asked him bluntly: "Did An- drew Jackson ever make Jonesboro his home?" He replied: "Certainly; he opened a law office there and lived there for at last a year, and I think two years; and when I was a young man visiting Jonesboro I heard the name of the widow with whom he boarded while there, but I have forgotten it. I also remember to have heard of his horse-racing there." From Judge Temple's home I called at my mother's. I' asked her the very same question. She replied: "Didn't you know that General Jackson lived at Jonesboro before going to Nashville?" I told her that had always been my understanding, but I wanted her recollection on the subject. She added that when a young woman she was in Jonesboro, and that the house he, Jackson, lived in, where he boarded, was pointed out to her. From 1839 to 1849 my father resided in Jonesboro, editing a Whig newspaper. During this period my mother heard several of the old people of the town speak of Jackson, who knew him personally while he practiced law there. My mother is eighty-seven. In the "History of the Bench and Bar of Tennessee" it is stated that Jackson never wrote an opinion as Judge. The author of that work, Hon. Joshua W. Caldwell, resided in this city. He recently told me that since his book was published he had heard that in the court-house at Elizabeth, Carter County, East Tennessee, there was among the records a Judicial opinion of Jackson's in his own writ- ing. It is worth investigating this matter, as, if true, it is new matter in that no Judicial opinion of Andrew Jackson has ever been published in book or newspaper. Carter is a mountain county, bordering on Washington. I may go there before the November election, and if so I will investigate. 50 LIFE AND TIMES OF JACKSON. The county (Washington) it is in is the first county in the United States, not excepting Washington County, Virginia, which was named in honor of the immortal George. It was named for him while he was a Colonel of Virginia militia wearing the British colors, and while Tennessee was a part of North Carolina. Until within recent years Jonesboro was spelled Jonesborough. That not one of the numerous biographers of Jackson has ever visited East Tennessee is one reason why you should do so. There are many spots of interest here in connection with his career which would interest you. On the street where I am writing this letter Jackson, while a Judge of our highest court, made a personal assault on John Sevier, the Governor, because of slighting remarks the latter was alleged to have made, that he (Jackson) "had stolen another man's wife." When we bear in mind that Andrew Jackson was ad- mitted to practice law in the ''Connty Court" at Jones- boro in May, 1788, was still there in August, 1788, and was putting upon the records of that court his Bill of Sale to Nancy in November of the same year, it will be difficult to escape the conviction that the young lawyer was living there. Nashville was one hundred and eighty-three miles farther on in the wilderness, and no one could travel the road from the one place to the other without a guard to protect him from the Indians; consequently we cannot explain away the facts by supposing that Jackson was living in Nashville and attending to law business in Jonesboro. The nature of the country, the distance be- tween the two places, and the perilous condition of the roads, made this a physical impossibility in the year 1788. Later, conditions changed for the better, but in 1788, when emigrants to the number of "sixty families" dared not move from Jonesboro to Nashville without military escort, no lawyer could have lived in the one town and practiced in the other. To be convinced that Andrew Jackson could not have lived in Nashville in 1788, while practicing law in Jones- boro, we have only to study the narrative of Parton him- self. We learn from him, and from others, that the road was not to be traveled without military escort. We learn that, even in the year 1789, Judge John McNairy and his party were attacked by Indians while the Judge was on his way to hold the Superior Court at Jonesboro. Three LIFE AND TIMES OF JACKSON. 51 men of McNairy's party were killed, and the rest dis- persed. Their horses, camp equipage and clothing were left behind, while they saved their lives by swimming to the other side of the river upon which they had been encamped. Mr. James Parton was a most industrious biog- rapher, a most entertaining writer, and a most amusingly credulous man. If a story about one of his heroes tickled his fancy, he couldn't help believing it to save his life. Therefore he straight way put it into his book. That Andrew Jackson could travel one hundred and eighty-three miles in the wilderness without having "ad- ventures" appeared unnatural to biographical and his- torical writers of the Peter Parley school, and therefore we learn from Parton 's "Life of Andrew Jackson" that the guard which had been sent from Nashville to watch over the lives of the emigrants was totally unfit for the business, and that had not Andrew Jackson and his cob pipe been along, the Indians would have surprised and butchered the whites. Remember that we have been told by Parton that Jackson and McNairy waited several weeks at Jonesboro for the assembling emigrants and for the guard from Nashville. Remember that the emigrants did assemble in due course and that the guard from Nashville did ar- rive. Remember that the party numbered about one hun- dred, and that the military escort must have consisted of backwoodsmen familiar with Indian ways, Indian fight- ing and all necessary woodcraft. Remember that this guard from Nashville came from the dark and bloody ground of constant and deadly antagonism between the white intruders and the Red Men who believed that the Great Spirit had given them the land. Remember that it was the special duty of this Indian-fighting escort to pro- tect the men, women and children of the emigrant train from surprise, ambuscade and attack. Remember that at night, in the midst of the unbroken forest, the danger would be greatest and the guard most vigilant. Remem- ber all these things and then smile as you read the story. 52 LIFE AND TIMES OF JACKSON. which Parton repeats, of the childlike manner in which the trained and trusted backwoodsmen from Nashville had all become negligent, and how the young lawyer, An- drew Jackson, who happened to be ' ' sitting with his back against a tree smoking a corncob pipe, an hour after his companions had gone to sleep," called the attention of the young clerk of the court, Thomas Searcy, to the sus- picious hoots of the owls — which hoots the young lawyer from old North Carolina knew must be made by Indians and not by owls! The trained and trusted backwoods Indian fighters had not suspected that these owls were other than owls ! How mean and cheap those trained and trusted Indian fighters from Nashville must have felt as the young lawyer from old North Carolina roused them to a sense of the perils by which they were encompassed ! According to this marvelous yarn, which Parton swal- lows without a wink of the eye, the Andrew Jackson band rose up and marched away from there, unmolested, whereas a party of hunters who came up to the same camp, during the same night, and laid them down to sleep in the same place, were remorselessly butchered by the same Indians who had been hooting those owl-hoots at the Jackson band! What an extensively credulous Par- ton! In such haste was he to make a wonderful figure otit of the raw young lawyer from Salisbury, N. C, that the best borderers whom Tennessee could select were made to neglect the simplest duties, and get caught nap- ping in the stupidest fashion, at the very time when such a thing was the least likely to have happened. That there may have been a narrow escape for the emigrants from some night-attack of Indians is probable enough; but it is simply incredible that a guard, picked by pioneers of the times of Eobertson and Donelson and Sevier, for the very purpose of watching over the safety of the inexperienced and helpless emigrants, should have gone to sleep in the depths of the wilderness with Eed Men all about them, or should have been so unskilled as not to detect so common an Indian signal as the imitation of the owl-hoot. The unsuspicious, indiscriminate and LIFE AND TIMES OF JACKSON. 53 comprehensively credulous Parton is so sure of his ground that he actually gives his readers the exact time which elapsed between the flight of the Jackson band and the coming of the hunters who were butchered. It was one hour. Thus we have one band of white borderers who wait to be led out of the Indian ambuscade by a young attor- ney, and a second band of white borderers who come upon th deserted camp-fires, one hour later, and who see no ''signs" which are sufficient to arouse suspicion and excite watchfulness. The second band of white borderers — men who live amid continual dangers, who carry their lives in their hands, and to whom the reading of the "signs" in the woods is the necessary condition of life in the savage wilds — lie down around the abandoned camp-fires of Jackson's band, and without so much as posting a picket, fall into the arms of sleep and of death. The credulous Parton! Of all things which would have put the second band of white borderers upon in- stant notice that danger lurked on the trail, it was the abandoned camp which must have shown, even to the un- trained eye of an emigrant, that it had been suddenly and recently deserted by those who had intended to remain there for the night. 54 LIFE AND TIMES OF JACKSON. CHAPTER V We are told that when the Jew, menaced by foes, came to rebuild the wall of Jerusalem, he worked with a trowel in one hand and a sword in the other. Our American State and its Institutions were built in the same way. No early settler went to any work with- out his gun. The rifle leaned against the tree while the pioneer was cutting it down; it was strapped to his shoulders as he plowed, it rested against the pulpit when he prayed. The Indian, the war-whoop, the scalping knife, the hidden red man lurking in the bush, the swift arrow and its death-song, the midnight assault and the blazing home — these were the terrors which best the American Pioneer ; and they made of him one of the most alert, self-reliant, resourceful, indomitable, unconquer- able and ruthless characters that ever laid the broad foundation of a masterful State. At the time when Andrew Jackson came from Jones- boro to Nashville, everything there in the way of society and government was primitive and unsettled. A nucleus had been formed, but the extent to which its power would wax in importance depended upon whether the whites could break the Indians and thus be left free to make use of natural advantages such as Nature gave to few spots on this globe. Jackson had an eye for actual conditions, and he could not have doubted for a moment that Nashville had within her, and surrounding her, everything necessary to the greatest material progress. One has but to see that region to understand the pathetic earnestness and heroic valor with which the Indian fought to hold it, as well as the ferocious determination with which the White Man fought to win it. The widow Donelson was living in Nashville, 1790, and she appears to have been in better worldly circum- stances than any other inhabitant of the place. Her hus- band had been one of the hardiest, most enterprising and LIFE AND TIMES OF JACKSON. 55 successful of the pioneer settlers. A trip that he made, under almost impossible conditions, from the settlements on the Holston river, down that stream to the Tennessee, down the Tennessee to the Ohio, up the Ohio to the Cum- berland, and up the Cumberland to the new settlement which he and Capt. Eobertson were planting — is one of the most remarkable on record. But Donelson had been murdered, in the woods near his home, and his widow, left without her natural protec- tor, was glad to take into her home newcomers to Nash- ville who were in need of a place to board. In this way, Andrew Jackson entered the family of Mrs. Donelson, taking his meals at her table, while using a near-by cabin as a sleeping room. This was in 1789 or 1790, according to Judge John Overton. The widow Donelson had a daughter — a pretty daugh- ter, a buxom lass, who in those days, dearly loved fun and frolic, a dance and a horse-back ride. Rachel was her name — and young Andrew Jackson soon made up his mind that she was just the girl he- wanted — and he hadn't the slightest idea of serving any Laban seven years for her, either. Headstrong Andrew, hot-blooded Andrew, iron-willed Andrew — meant to have this lovely, fascinating back- woods Rachel, and it was his way not to lose time when his mind was made up. But Rachel already had a husband ! So much the worse for the husband. Singing of another man of that name, some seventy years later, the poet said: ''The foe had better ne'er been born Than get in Stonewall's way." This was true of Andrew also. Nobody that ever got in his way seemed to prosper. He had a habit of going over other men that stopped at nothing, — and which finally landed him on top of the prostrate, puzzled and helpless Trio, Webster, Clay and Calhoun. 56 LIFE AND TIMES OF JACKSON. Therefore, when you learn that Andrew Jackson fell madly in love with Rachel and that Rachel fell madly in love with Andrew — you feel that Rachel's husband Had better be going. If he doesn't go of his own accord, — something un- pleasant will happen to him. The name of the husband in question was Lewis Rob- ards. He is alluded to as "Captain," but this may have been a courtesy title. He came of one of the respectable families of Kentucky, and there is absolutely no proof against him of any discreditable act. His only fault, so far as the record shows with clearness, is that the Imp of the Perverse gave him for wife a woman that Andrew Jackson would have taken for himself if it had been necessary for him to fight every man in the settlement. During Presidential Campaigns, the partisans of Jackson had a strenuous time of it defending their hero from sundry accusations based upon various doubtful episodes in his stormy career; and none bothered them much more than this about "Stealing another man's wife." As a natural result, the campaign liar had to ^ork manfully for Jackson. A part of the job of clearing Jackson was to defame the unfortunate Lewis Robards. The partisans of Jack- son represented him as meanly jealous and a most unat- tractive character. The time has passed for fulsome flatterers of Jackson to besmirch the name and memory of Capt. Lewis Rob- ards. It is but right that he should be treated justly. After his trouble with Jackson was all over, Capt. Robards married again, had a happy home of his own, was blessed with a family of children, and his descena- ants are to be found to-day in Kentucky, where their standing is that of respectable, middle-class people. In Parton's "Life of Jackson" appears Judge Over- ton's statement of the manner in which Andrew came to marry Rachel. The Judge was the room-mate of Jackson while the two young lawyers boarded with the widow Donelson. LIFE AND TIMES OF JACKSON. 57 Eoom-mates, they became friends, and friends they re- mained as long as they lived. Loyal to his friend Jack- son, Judge Overton shaped-up a written account of how his friend Andrew drove off Lewis Robards and married Lewis ' wife, that is one of the most interesting specimens of unconscious humor that it was ever my good fortune to read. Parton was no lawyer, and was, besides, a most credu- lous biographer : had he been a lawyer accustomed to the sifting of testimony, he would have smiled as he picked to pieces that ingenious narrative in which Judge Over- ton makes it clear that Lewis Robards compelled Andrew Jackson to take Rachel, Lewis' wife, and marry her him- self. As a bit of special pleading, no lawyer could fail to enjoy the reading of the Overton paper which Parton swallowed without a wink. Condensed,the real facts would seem to be: That Captain Lewis Robards had married Rachel Donelson while her mother was temporarily staying at the Robards home in Kentucky. Here she appears to have carried on some sort of a flirtation, in her gay, innocent way, with a man of the name of Short. Captain Robards fretted over the flirtation and took the high-spirited Rachel to task about it. The upshot of the matter was that Mrs. Donelson was written to and asked to take her daughter to her new home in Nashville. This was done. Captain Robards, it appears, wrote the letter, and Rachel's brother, Sam Donelson, went after her and took her to Tennessee. It would seem that it was at this particular juncture that Andrew Jackson became an inmate of the Donelson home. Capt. Robards remained in Kentucky. Consequently, Andrew and Rachael were thrown together, day after day, as members of the same house- hold. It is quite clear from all the accounts we have of the matter, that Rachel Donelson did not love Lewis Robards. It is reasonably clear that with her, as with Andrew Jackson, it was a case of "love at first sight." 5 a j 58 LIFE AND TIMES OF JACKSON. Therefore, when Capt. Eobards at length came from his home in Kentucky to make another attempt to live with his wife, he was what the French would call de trop — he was one too many. Hs presence was welcome to neither Andrew nor Eachel. Now Judge Overton's statement gives a ludicrous account of the patience of Andrew Jackson under the provocations of Lewis Eobards; of Lewis' violent dem- onstrations against Andrew and the meek forbearance and Christian "love thine enemy" attitude of Andrew. Finally, Lewis quits the stage of his own accord and returns to Kentucky, while Eachel goes down the river to Natchez on a visit which she seems to have had in con- templation for quite a while. When Judge Overton cas- ually mentions the fact that Andrew went along with Eachel "to keep the Indians off," we find ourselves on the point of overlooking the fact that, to all intents and purposes, the defeated Lewis Eobards has been driven off the stage, and that here is the triumphant Andrew running away with the prize. Says the Judge, — relating how hard were Andrew Jackson's efforts to help Lewis Eobards keep his wife for himself: — "Mr. Jackson met Captain Eobards near the orchard fence and began mildly to remonstrate with him respect- ing the injustice he had done his wife as well as himself." I have a somewhat fertile imagination, myself, and I paint a good many varieties of fancy pictures without much difficulty, but somehow the imaginary scene which I draw, representing Andrew Jackson as mildly demon- strating with a husband who had wrongfully accused him concerning that husband's wife, doesn't seem to me to be a speaking likeness of Andrew Jackson. Nature's nobleman in his relations to women — chiv- alrous, gallant and winning — he was one of the purest men of his time. Throughout his career, Andrew Jackson was assailed by almost every weapon known to political and personal LIFE AND TIMES OF JACKSON. 59 malice, but nobody ever accused him of dishonoring a woman ! Now it is perfectly plain that he loved Rachel Donel- son with all the ardor of his fiery nature — can you pic- ture him "mildly remonstrating" with anyone who had accused him of improper relations with her? You feel, instinctively, that Jackson's blood boiled the moment he heard the foul slander, and that his voice, in talking to Lewis Robards, must have trembled with rage. Judge Overton continues: "In a little time Robards became violently angry and abusive and threatened to whip Jackson, and made a show of doing so." Now, surely, something will happen: Robards has not only brought a false charge of worst kind against Jackson, but has actually threatened to whip him, and made a show of doing so. But nothing happens. I wonder what sort of a "show of doing so," Robards made. When I was a boy, it sometimes chanced that I was a scared looker-on when angry men "made a show of doing so." "D — ^n you! I'm going to whip you!" Off would go the coat, up would go the clenched fist, and, perhaps, instead of a blow there would be the men- ace which was called ' ' shaking the fist in a man 's face. ' ' It was considered an eternal disgrace to let another man shake his list in your face. You must hit him, right then, or your best friends would leave you — your own wife would be ashamed of you. My young reader, ask your father or grandfather how it used to be, out at the cross-roads store and in the country village. Now, Mr. Parton, who adopted the story which Judge Overton did not vouch for, wants you to believe that Andrew Jackson accepted meekly an insult which you know it was not in his nature to have endured. Given 60 LIFE AND TIMES OF JACKSON. Jackson's known traits of character, you know that the statement is absurd. Take another sentence from the story which Judge Overton relates as having been told to him : ** Jackson told him (Eobards) that he had not bodily strength to fight him, nor would he do so, feeling con- scious of his innocence." Heavens, what a tale ! Another storj^^ of how Jackson persuaded Lewis Eob- ards to go back to his Old Kentucky Home strikes me as being pretty near the truth. It represents Jackson as promising his friends, in Kobard's hearing, not to kill Robards, — but at the same time fingering a big knife, and, at the same time, eyeing Robards in a most hungry, suggestive way. Robards attached less importance to Jackson's words of peace than he did to Jackson's little preparations for war^ — so he went away and did not come back. According to the statement of Gen. George L. David- son, Robards broke into a run as he retired, for the rea- son that Jackson was after him with that butcher knife. Robards plunged into a cane-brake, and there Jackson gave up the chase. .According to Davidson's version of the affair, Rob- ards had sworn out a peace warrant against Jackson, and the latter got rid of the case in the manner above stated, for the non-appearance of the prosecutor in court the warrant had to be dismissed. Gen. Davidson must have known the facts as well as anybody, for he was boarding with Mrs. Donelson at the time, just as Jackson was. The conclusion of the Judge Overton's narrative is equally entertaining. Remember that Robards has gone to Kentucky and that Rachel is to go to Natchez. We have seen that Jackson went along too, but now you must be told how hard it was to persuade him to escort Rachel on this river-journey. Quoth Judge Overton: LIFE AND TIMES OF JACKSON. 61 '*It was not without the urgent entreaties of Colonel Stark, who wanted protection from the Indians, that Jackson consented to accompany them." Timorous Colonel Stark! Endangered Eachel! Re- luctant Andrew Jackson! What a funny mix up, to be sure. Who was Colonel Stark, anyway? How does he happen to crowd in upon the stage with such abrupt intrusiveness? What's the matter with Rachel's brother Sam, who had gone to Kentucky to fetch his sister home? With delightful naivete. Judge Overton offers the ex- planation that the Indians were "exceedingly trouble- some" at that time. Of course they were. But was it expected that Andrew Jackson should whip,. scatter, and destroy all those ''exceedingly trouble- some Indians" by himself? Col. Stark, as you must understand, could not be de- pended on in case of a battle with those Indians, for Judge Overton takes the pains to tell us that Col. Stark was a "venerable and highly esteemed old man." Consequently it was Jackson going up, single-handed and alone, against "the Indians, then in a state of w^r and exceedingly troublesome." Even brother Sam is not needed, — Andrew will do it all by himself. Reader, use your own intelligence, and you will reject biographies written after that fashion. It is my purpose to tell you the truth about this great man Andrew Jackson ; and to show him to you as a man. I have no patience with writers who try to make Saints, or marble statuary, out of the subjects they handle. By the time I get through with Jackson, you will ap- preciate his real strength and greatness quite as much as you need to do ; and you will also become acquainted with him as a man. It is not certain how long Rachel Robards remained with her friends in Natchez after Andrew Jackson had taken her there, but she is soon found at the home of 62 LIFE AND TIMES OF JACKSON. Thomas M. Green, a planter who lived near the mouth of Cowles Creek, near Bruinsburgh. The biographers of Andrew Jackson strain and strive mightily to ignore the fact that their hero was a negro trader in his early days, but it is a fact nevertheless : and at Bruinsburgh he had a small store, or trading post, where the slaves, bought in Tennessee or the Carolinas, were sold to the planters of Mississippi and Louisiana. It was in this way that Jackson came to know Thomas and Abner Green, men of wealth, whose first dealings with him had consisted in the purchase of negroes for their plantations. The store of Jackson stood immediately upon the bank of the Mississippi ; there was a race-track for quar- ter-races, and local tradition represents Jackson himself as sometimes riding the horse that he had entered for the race, just as it represents him pitting his own birds in cock-fights. Parton states that Jackson lived in this hut on the Mississippi after his marriage to Rachel Robards. This must be a mistake, for Judge Overton states positively that after the marriage the couple returned to Nashville. It must be, as Sparks relates in his "Memories of Fifty Years," that Jackson lived at Bruinsburgh before the marriage. Ordinarily, the ''Memories of Fifty Years" is to be rejected as an authority : the book was written in the ex- treme old age of the author and is full of fable. But William H. Sparks himself married into the Green fam- ily, lived in the Bruinsburgh neighborhood, and must be presumed to have known what the Greens had to say concerning their great friend and his beloved wife. It would seem that it was Jackson himself who found the refuge for his Rachel in the time of her sorest need ; and that it was doing a personal favor to Jackson when the brothers, Thomas and Abner Green, received Rachel as an honored inmate in their homes. Sparks married the youngest daughter of Abner LIFE AND TIMES OF JACKSON. 63 Green, and he mentions a visit of himself and wife to the White House to pay their respects to the aged President,, Andrew Jackson. ''We called," writes Sparks, "to see the President, and when my lady was introduced to the General, he was informed that she was the daughter of his old friend, Abner Green. "He did not speak, but held her hand for some mo- ments, gazing intently into her face. His feelings over- came him, and clasping her to his bosom, he said : " 'I must kiss you, my child, for your sainted moth- er's sake;' then holding her from him, he looked again, *0h! how like your mother you are — she was the friend of my poor Rachel when she so much needed a friend. ' ' ^ Poor Rachel was then (1835) dead, and the sight of the sweet young face that reminded the bereaved hus- band-lover of the days when his bride-to-be was waiting for him there in the home of his friends, on the Missis- sippi — young, lovely, devoted — melted into weeping the tough warrior whom the hardened borderers had nick- named Old Hickory. As already related, Lewis Robards did not relish the look which Andrew Jackson fastened upon him as he tried the edge and point of that big hunting-knife and pledged himself not to kill the said Robards. Owing to this circumstance and others over which he had no control. Captain Robards went back to Ken- tucky ; and in the winter of 1790-1 he applied to the Leg- islature for relief, alleging that his wife was living in adultery with Andrew Jackson. Parton struggled heroically to confuse the story at this critical period. Apparently, he wished to hide the fact that Capt. Lewis Robards accused Andrew and Rachel of living together in adultery, prior to that first and wholly illegal marriage of theirs. The true statement is that Captain Robards honestly believed that his wife had betrayed him, and that illicit relations existed between her and her lover. In this he was most certainly wrong ; but the man is entitled to fair 64 LIFE AND TIMES OF JACKSON. treatment and the case must be considered from his point of view as well as from that of the wife and her lover. Eobards acted precisely as the average man would have done under similar circumstances. "He appealed to the proper authorities for redress." He asked for a divorce upon the highest and best ground. The Legislature of Virginia, — which then had juris- diction over Kentucky — passed an act authorizing Lewis Robards to proceed in the Supreme Court of Kentucky to make good, before a jury, the truth of the allegations brought by him against Rachel Robards. In the event that he proved her guilt, and the jury should return a verdict to that effect, then "the marriage between the said Lewis Robards and the said Rachel shall be totally dissolved." Now a strange thing happened — a blunder which made Jackson sore on that point during the remainder of his life. Without any investigation of the kind of Act the Legislature of Virginia had passed, this most impetuous of men accepted the mere rumor that a divorce had been granted, and he rushed headlong into a marriage with Rachel — who was still the wife of another man. It is almost incredible that a lawyer, the District Attorney whose business it was, constantly, to be examining just such matters, should never have thought it necessary to send for a copy of the Act which so vitally concerned himself and that human being whom he loved above all others. Blissfully unconscious of crime, the lovers began to live together as man and wife ! It was not until Sept. 1793, that a Kentucky jury found by their verdict that Lewis Robards was entitled to a divorce ; whereupon, the Court dissolved the marital tie which until that day had bound Rachel to Robards. There seems to be no record of what were the details of the evidence put before the jury, nOr as to what time the witnesses fixed in testifying. No court conducting LIFE AND TIMES OF JACKSON. 65 itself according to legal rules, would hold that evidence of acts occurring after the filing of the complaint are suf- ficient to warrant a verdict. Therefore, Robards was probably compelled to con- fine his evidence chiefly to acts antedating his formal complaint to the Legislature. In that event, the ugly fact would stare us in the face that Lewis Robards, after publication in the newspapers of his intention to do so— as the Act of the Legislature required— satisfied a Court and jury that Rachel "hath deserted the Plaintiff, Lewis Robards, and hath, and doth still live in adultery with another man. ' ' The marvel is that Jackson never, so far as we have been told, made any effort to secure a repeal of the Act of the Virginia Legislature, or any effort to keep up with the proceedings of Robards afterwards. When informed late in 1793 that Robards had at length obtained a divorce, he took out a license in Nash- ville and another marriage ceremony was performed uniting him and Rachel, once more, in the holy bonds of wedlock. This time he felt sure that Rachel was his lawful wife, but according to a recent decision of the Supreme Court of the United States, she was still "living in adultery with another man." Neither the Virginia Legislature nor the Kentucky courts had any jurisdiction over Rachel; and according to the aforesaid decision, there never was a legal divorce from her first husband. The irregularities attending this historic marriage of Andrew Jackson were a source of endless trouble to him and to others. "He took another man's wife away from him" — was a taunt which followed him for many years. After all, it amounted to about that. Calmly sifting such evidence as we can get, carefully weighing such circumstances as are free from doubt, making due allowance for the lack of scruple which Jack- son always manifested when he was intensely in earnest^ 66 LIFE AND TIMES OF JACKSON. one is forced to admit that it was substantially as Se- vier's rough statement put it. Jackson did take Rachel away from Robards, — she being most willing and co-operative. But who will much blame Andrew Jackson? Who will say that a loveless connection with Robards should have kept these great loving souls apart? As the lion beats off the weaker rival and takes to his royal self the mate of his choice, so Andrew Jackson took Rachel. Only the man of intense, volcanic passions — he who loves and hates with blind, unreasoning fury, — knows how impossible it was for Jackson to have acted other- wise. Robards was the victim of the unwritten but univer- •. sal law which gives Right of Way to the Stronger Will. ^ In the clash between himself and Jackson, the King- lier man won the victory and bore off the prize. Robards, indeed, was not deeply attached to Rachel. She was a barren woman, and in those days, more than now, children were desired, and large families were a source of strength and pride. / As in Scriptural times, the barren woman was some- /what of a reproach both to herself and her husband. Consequently, while Robards resented the conduct of Jackson, it caused him no lasting affliction to lose Rachel. Some 30 years ago there was published in the St. Louis Post Dispatch a most interesting and valuable article on the elopement of Mrs. Robards with Andrew Jockson. It is based upon authentic documents, and its tone is eminently judicial. After all, there is nO satisfactory answer to the ques- tion which one of the female descendents of Robards put to a newspaper reporter. Her question was this : "If Andrew Jackson did not court Rachel Donaldson while she was the wife of Lewis Robards, when did he court her?" Governor John Sevier, who was familiar with all the LIFE AND TIMES OF JACKSON. 67 facts, plumply said that Jackson had "run off with an- other man's wife." The Post Dispatch article is so well worth preserving that I give it place in the Appendix to this chapter. Jackson's Wife. From all over the country come the echoes of the annual cele- bration of the Battle of New Orleans, of which Gen. Andrew Jack- son was the hero. This year more than ever before have the praises of. the old warrior been sung, because of the political exi- gencies of the times, no doubt, for politicians great and small have not neglected the opportunity to call attention to the fearlessness and honesty of his administration, which no party can deny. To his natural traits of character, his boldness, self-confidence, and determination, must be attributed the enduring features of his ad- ministration, for if his master strokes of diplomacy, endowed with his strong personality, had not been crowned with success, they would have been handed down as great blunders. His whole public life, like his private life, was marked by a strong purpose to follow his own bent, regardless of the consequences, and he carried his points by the sheer force of his character. It was in this same spirit that he invaded another man's home and carried away his wife, paying no heed then to how the world might look upon it. He fell in love with her, he wanted her for himself, she recipro- cated and he took her boldly away. This, however, was a blunder, and left upon his escutcheon a moral stain, which all of the sophistry and juggling with facts by his friends can never efface or conceal. His marriage to Rachael Donaldson, like Napoleon's repudiation of Josephine, was the fatal error of his life, and left a scar which never can be healed. It is the sensitiveness of this sore, no doubt, which compels his admirers at ever recurring intervals to tear away the bandages and probe it and make fresh efforts to cure it by denials and explanations and extenuations of the circumstances which can never be denied or explained away so long as the records of the courts stand, to show the falsity of their statements and reasoning. Just one hundred years have elapsed since this fatal mistake was made, and curiously enough General Butler, in his speech before the Butler Club, of Boston, January 8, recalled this circumstance in Jackson's life, ex- plaining it away in such terms as challenged the criticism of all students of history, and which were calculated to leave the impres- sion, which Jackson's defenders have always sought to make, that Mrs. Jackson was the injured wife of an unworthy spouse, from which a divorce was a matter of necessity. In his address, speak- ing of Jackson, General Butler said: "He went into the White House with an unsullied character. In every relation of life, with his family and society, his name and fame were untarnished." And again: "Against his private life nothing was ever breathed. The worst things the Whig party could ever say of him was that he had married a woman who had been legally divorced by the Legislature of Virginia, but there were doubts whether State rights would allow such a divorce, because it might destroy the contract as against the objections of the Constitution. "For her sake, he appealed to the State of Kentucky, where they 68 LIFE AND TIMES OF JACKSON. lived, and obtained a divorce without a contest, and married again, so that nothing should appear against that lovely and loved woman; lovely, not in person, as we say women are beautiful, but lovely because she was as near good as is permitted for mortal man or woman to be. That was her character." Since the Jackson presidential campaign, the true history of this affair has never been published. It was hushed up on the election of Jackson to fill the chief office of the nation, but now that a cen- tury has passed, and the affair can be talked of dispassionately, there seems to be no reason why the true facts of the case can not be published, and justice done to the man who was wronged. Sojourning, a good many years ago, for a time in Central Ken- tucky, I was located in the oldest town in the State, where I soon found much to interest me in the village gossip of noted people about generations dead and gone. I was surprised to find that in the old clerk's office was recorded the papers concerning the Jack- son-Donaldson scandal, and that the old Robards homestead had stood within easy distance of the town, though only a pile of stones and a huge square chimney then remained to mark the spot where dwelt the widow of Robards, from whose fireside Andrew Jackson stole her son's wife away. Recognizing the fact that I had stumbled upon a bit of impor- tant history, I proceeded at once to the task of gathering up the threads of the tangled skein, not difficult then (some thirty years ago), for I found many people still alive who were perfectly familiar with the facts, which had been impressed upon their mem- ories by the bitter crimination and recrimination of the Jackson campaign. There are living at the present day five generations of the Robards family, the oldest of whom remember the events as detailed to them by their parents sixty or seventy years ago. And there are the records of the courts, which prove all the essential points of the case. The story, as heard direct from these people, is given to the readers of the Sunday Post-Dispatch, with full details concerning the family of Capt. Lewis Robards, husband of Rachael Donaldson, whom history has been kind enough to hand down by that name, though, as will be seen, she was the legal wife of Rob- ards for two years after eloping with Jackson. A detailed history of the Robards family is given here for two reasons, first to prove the credibility of the narrative, and secondly by way of refutation of the assertion often made in palliation of her fault, that Rachael Donaldson after her marriage found herself so superior to her surroundings, and her lawful husband and his family so unappreciative of her worth, that she was more readily captivated by attentions shown her from such a man as Jackson. About the middle of the eighteenth century, William Robards, a Welshman, came to the United States and settled in Goochland County, Virginia. Here he met and married Miss Sallie Hill, of the well-known Hill, Imboden, and Mosby families of Virginia and North Carolina. From this union there sprung a goodly number of sons and daughters, of whom Capt. Lewis Robards, husband of Rachel Donaldson, was the second son. When the Colonial War was declared between the United States and Great Britain, George Robards, and his youngest brother, Lewis, enlisted in the Colonial army as privates, and when the war was over returned to their liome in Virginia, with the rank of captains, which titles they bore ever afterward. Not many years later they started out Westward through the wilderness, taking with them their land scrip, which was the only pay they ever received from the Government, and with LIFE AND TIMES OF JACKSON. 69 their guns upon their shoulders they made their way to Kentucky, where they concluded to settle, and located a large area of land in the richest part of the now famous bluegrass region, at a point known as Cane Run, in Mercer county, about the center of the State. After spending two or three years in the wilderness, clearing their land for cultivation, and helping to rid the country of the Indians, they returned to Virginia, where their father had died, and, after settling up his estate, they went back to Kentucky, taking with them their mother and her large family of younger sons and daugh- ters, and carried with them also a large number of slaves which belonged to the estate. By the women of a family its social status may be determined; a man may sink below, or rise above the level, set by the world. That the Robards women were distinguished more than most others of that early day for their beauty and culture may be inferred from the brilliant marriages made by them and the marked traits of their descendants. The oldest daughter of the Widow Robards married Hon. Thomas Davis, the first Congressman from Kentucky, and the second daughter married his brother. After the death of Thomas Davis his widow married the Hon. Floyd, Territorial Governor of one of the Western Territories. The third sister mar- ried Col. John Jouett, whose career covers several pages of the con- densed history of Kentucky, and who for gallantry upon the field of battle received a sword from the Old Dominion, which is still in the possession of the family. Of her descendants, renowned in history, was her son. Matt Jouett, the distinguished artist, and his son, Admiral Jouett, now prominent in the United States Navy. The youngest daughter of the Robards' house married Capt. William Buckner, Surveyor-General of the State of Kentucky, when it was yet a colony, a nephew of President Madison, and raised in his house. She was the grandmother of a distinguished line. Gen. Simon B. Buckner and Hon. Richard A. Buckner, a distinguished lawyer, and several descendants who were members of Congress. Meanwhile, Capt. George Robards, the oldest son and executor of his father's estate, had in 1785 married in the Mother State, Virginia, and brought home with him a lovely young bride. Miss Elizabeth B. Sampson, a granddaughter of the Dutois, French Huguenots, who emigrated from France with a number of others, who settled the "Manuiken Town," on the James river. From this union sprang another stock of famous men and women. Their grandson, Hon. John B. Thompson, represented Kentucky in Con- gress and the United States Senate for over twenty years, and his seat in Congress was filled after his death by his nephew, the great- gandson of George Robards. Several eminent lawyers and jurists are also numbered among his descendants. And here again the women of the family shine pre-eminent, for his grand-daughters, famed for their beauty and accomplishments, were married to prominent men from various parts of the country, statesmen and lawyers chiefly, whose names may be found upon the roll of honor. Judging from all this, it must be inferred that "Widow Robards," as she was called, must surely have been herself a remarkable woman for that day and generation. It was into this house that Rachael Donaldson was introduced by her marriage to the second son of the widow, Capt. Lewis Robards. It happened in this wise: Several years after Mrs. Robards emigrated with her family from Virginia, she found that the log house which had been built for them, and served their necessities 70 LIFE AND TIMES OF JACKSON. when they first reached Kentucky, had grown too small for their further occupancy. So she had built near a famous spring of clear water, the first stone house ever erected in Central Kentucky, and around her hearthstone were gathered her sons, and daughters, and the wife of the oldest son. Soon after the removal of the family into the new stone house winter came on, and a Mrs. Donaldson, also a widow, moving from North Carolina by wagons to the West, was caught by its storms in the Cane Run neighborhood, and, being unable to proceed further, petitioned Mrs. Robards to allow her to occupy the deserted log cabin, which petition was readily granted, and thus the widow Donaldson and family were installed within a stone's throw of the Robards homestead. Of her family, was the fair Rachael, whom history credits with great beauty and winsome ways, though lacking in refinement. Sumner says of her: "She was not at all fitted to share the destiny which befell Jackson." However that may be, she soon ensnared the heart of Widow Rob- ards' second son, Capt. Lewis Robards, whom tradition credits with having been a handsome cavalier, fond of his horses and his hounds, and history makes no specific charges against him, other than the possession of a high temper, and jealous disposition, which, if true, after events fully justified. A short courtship was soon followed by marriage and thus Rachael Donaldson was trans- ferred to his mother's household, without objection on the part of any member of his family. At that time Kentucky was a perfect mine of litigation, owing to the insecure tenure of the land titles, some of the claims being held from the Indians, some from Virginia, or from the Government, either by purchase, or pre-emption, or scrip, causing an everlasting conflict from many directions. It is presumed that in the prose- cution of some such law business Andrew Jackson, a prominent young lawyer, came from Tennessee, and was introduced into the family by Colonel Overton, who was a distant relative of Hon. Thomas Davis, who married afterward the eldest daughter of the house. As there were no inns in those days and every man's latch-string hung outside, Jackson became a member of the Robards household and came and went at his pleasure so long as his busi- ness detained him in that part of the country, no one observing that he showed any particular partiality for the society of Lewis Rob- ards' wife. It was true, as stated by various historians, that her disposition to find pleasure in the society of other men than her husband had been noted and that her levity of conduct with a Mr. Peyton Short had occasioned considerable gossip and did afterward create so great a disturbance as to occasion her husband to appeal to her mother, who had then moved to Nashville, Tenn., to send for her, which she did, Mrs. Robards' uncle. Mr. Donaldson, coming for her. It was not, however, thought by the family or her hus- band that it was anything more grave than a lightness of deport- ment incompatible with her position; but these people were very ■proud, and set great store by their untarnished name. That she was considered simply willful and imprudent is proven by the fact that her uncle came for her and took her away peaceably, which could scarcely have happened if any serious or false charges had been made against her. As Jackson had returned to Tennessee before this without hav- ing betrayed any weakness for her, it is possible that his love affair with her did not commence until she went to her mother's home in Tennessee, where she either found him domiciled already, or he •became a member of her mother's family soon afterward. Mean- LIFE AND TIMES OF JACKSON. 71 while Lewis Robards loved his wife devotedly, and after some friendly Intervention agreed to a reconciliation and went to Ten- nessee to join her at her mother's home. It has been stated that he purchased a farm there, intending to reside near her mother. It was not long, however, after he went to Tennessee, before he found Jackson paying her such attentions as she should not have received. Colonel Overton, who was also residing in the house, in his memoirs of Jackson, states that he remonstrated with Jackson, and urged him to leave the house, as he was causing fresh trouble between the husband and the wife. He also stated that Robards had a stormy Interview with Jackson concerning the matter, and that Jackson retreated into the house, saying that he was not so strong a man as Robards, and therefore could not fight him. That is not at all probable; considering the natures of these two men and the cause of quarrel, they would not have had a bloodless interview in those days. Neither is it probable, as stated by Colonel Overton, that Robards left the house in anger and returned to Kentucky, leaving his wife behind him. It is far more probable that he took her back with him and installed her once more in his mother's home without even mentioning to them the reason for bringing her back; there is no tradition in the family of the episode at Nashville. The elope- ment with Jackson from her husband's home seemed to have fallen like a thunderbolt upon them, for, as stated before, they had not up to that time credited her with anything more serious than impru- dence of behavior. Colonel Overton was Jackson's life-long friend, and his account of the affair was written to vindicate him. Up to the point of the elopement it is fair enough, but there he was obliged to diverge, hence made so lame a statement that one can easily read between the lines and draw their own inferences. According to Overton, Robards, in anger, left his wife in Nashville with her mother, some time in the fall of 1790. Early in 1791, having heard that her hus- band was going to return for her, she decided to go with some friends, Mr. Stark and wife, to Natchez, Jackson going along with them to protect them from the Indians. He remained there until time for the May court, when he returned to Nashville. On his arrival in Nashville he heard that Robards had applied to the Legis- lature of Virginia for a divorce from his wife, and supposing that it had been granted, Jackson went back to Natchez in July, where he married her privately. That the affair was not quite so genteelly and quietly conducted will be shown hereafter by the records of the court, which also prove that she was not at her mother's, abandoned by her husband in jealous anger as stated, but that she "eloped" from her hus- band's home, which tallies also with the family history. There is no certain knowledge as to the exact facts of the elope- ment. It is only known that in Captain Robards' absence from home Jackson carried his wife away. One historian says: "He rode off one fine day, carrying her upon his horse behind him." This can hardly be true. The tradition runs, however, that when Rob- ards returned home and found that his wife had gone with Jackson, he followed in hot pursuit with his body servant, until they reached a stream near the Tennessee border, called Bear Wallow. Here he found that they had crossed the river by the ferry, which was de- tained on the other side, cutting off his further progress. His servant, to the day of his death, gave graphic accounts of the chase, and stated that Robards and Jackson exchanged shots from the op- posite sides of the river, and Jackson fearing for the safety of the 72 LIFE AND TIMES OF JACKSON. woman, hastened on his journey, while Robards returned home, to consider his future course. The people living in the vicinity of Bear Wallow used to point out to strangers a tree upon the bank of the river, scarred they said by the shots. When Robards reached home, before deciding what his next step should be, he examined the effects left behind by his fugitive wife and found letters so damaging to her character that he decided by the advice of his friends that a decree of divorce, and not his wife, was what he wanted. In accordance, therefore, with his de- termination he took immediate steps, according to the methods pre- scribed by law, which were necessarily tedious, since Kentucky was still a part of Virginia. From Parton's "History of Jackson" I make the following extract and append the copies of the records procured from the clerk's office. By the early laws of Virginia if a man convinced of his wife's infidelity desired to be divorced from her, he was obliged to pro- cure an act of the Legislature, authorizing an investigation of the charge before a jury, and pronouncing the marriage bond dissolved, provided that jury found her guilty. In the winter of 1799-91,, Lewis Robards, of Kentucky, originally part of Virginia, the hus- band of the beautiful and vivacious Rachael Donaldson, appeared before the Legislature of Virginia with a declaration to the effect that his wife, Rachael, had deserted him, and had lived in adultery with another man, to-wit, Andrew Jackson, attorney-at-law. Where- upon the Legislature of Virginia passed an act entitled, "An act concerning the marriage of Lewis Robards," of which the following is a copy: Section l. Be it enacted by the General Assembly, That it shall and may be lawful for Lewis Robards to sue out of the office of the Supreme Court of the District of Kentucky a writ against Rachael Robards, which writ shall be framed by the clerk, and express the nature of the case, and shall be placed for eight weeks successively in the Kentucky Gazette; whereupon the plaintiff may file his dec- laration in the same cause, and the defendant may appear and plead to issue, in which case, or if she does not appear within two months after such publication, it may be set for trial by the clerk on some day in the succeeding court, but may, for good cause shown in the court, be continued until the term succeeding. Sec. 2. Commissions to take depositions and subpoenas to sum- mon witnesses shall issue as in other cases. Sec. 3. Notice of taking of depositions, published in the Ken- tucky Gazette, shall be sufficient. Sec. 4. A jury shall be summoned who shall be sworn, well and truly to inquire into the allegations contained in the declaration, or to try the issue joined, as the case may be, and shall find a verdict according to the usual mode; and if the jury, in case of issue joined, shall find for the plaintiff or in case of inquiry into the truth of the allegations contained in the declaration, shall find in sub- stance that the defendant hath deserted the plaintiff, and that she hath lived in adultery with another man since that desertion, the said verdict shall be recorded, and, thereupon, the marriage between the said Lewis Robards and Rachael shall be totally dissolved. This application to the Legislature of Virginia was not made, it seems, without Jackson's knowledge, and as a lawyer, practicing in the courts of Kentucky and Virginia, he knew the natural process of the law. If the charges were not true, ready, as he afterward proved himself to be, to resent any insult to her, he certainly would have come forward and done her the justice to disprove the charge. LIFE AND TIMES OF JACKSON. 73 His partisans do not claim that he did not know of it, but, on the contrary, Jackson, supposing that the divorce had been granted (upon what ground, if the charge was not true?), "married Rachael Donaldson in July, 1791." Meanwhile the Virginia Legislature passed the act as before mentioned (copied from their records). It required then some time, the country being a wilderness with no mails established to convey the official notice to Kentucky and await the convening of the Supreme Court, to take depositions and serve notices, etc., all of which Jackson knew and had abundant time to defend the woman, for it was not until 1793, the April term of the Mercer Cir- cuit Court, that the case was called and set for hearing in the June court. This is a copy: "-The first notice which appears on the Mercer clerk's records, Lewis Robards, complains of Rachael Robards in custody, etc., of a plea of adultery "for this to-wit: -"That whereas the said Rachael Robards on the day of in the year was in due form, according to law, united in the holy bonds of matrimony with the said Lewis Robards, never- theless the said Rachael, in violation of her most solemn promise did, on the day of July, in the year 1790, elope from her hus- band, said Lewis, and live in adultery with another man, and still continues with the adulterer. Therefore, the said Lewis prays that the said marriage between said Rachael and Lewis may be dis- solved according to an act of the Assembly in that case made and provided. J- BROWN." ' (This John Brown Robards' attorney, was at that time a distin- guished lawyer, and was aftterward the first representative of Ken- tucky in the United States Senate.) Right here is a discrepancy in Overton's story, and the court records, which show that she "eloped from her husband" in July, 1790, while Overton represents her as living with her husband at her mother's in Nashville, in the fall of 1790, and early in 1791, as going to Natchez with Jackson and the Starks, while in point of fact she had eloped in July, 1790. This record also settles the manner of her leaving. For some reason, probably on account of the absence of impor- tant witnesses, the suit was laid over until the September court, third day, as the following paper copied from the records shows: "The Commonwealth of Kentucky to the Sheriff of Mercer County, greeting: lou are hereby commanded to summon Hugh McGarey and John Cowan to appear before the Justices of our court of Quarter Sessions at the Court-house on the third day of September court next, to testify and the truth to say in behalf of Lewis Robards in a certain matter of controversy in our said court, depending and undetermined between the said Lewis, plaintiff, and Rachael Robards, defendant. And this they shall in nowise omit under the penalty of $100 each, and have then and there these wit- nesses. THOMAS ALLEN, "Clerk of said court, at the Court-house, August 6, 1793." This Hugh McGarey was the well-known Kentucky pioneer, whose deeds of intrepid valor may be found detailed at length in any history of Kentucky. His testimony was indisputable. John 6 a j 74 LIFE AND TIMES OF JACKSON. Cowen, though not so marked a character in history, was equally credible as a witness. As the law required the due notification of Rachael Robards and she made no answer, the divorce was granted, the jury bringing in the verdict, of which the following is a copy: "We, the jury, do find that the defendant, Rachael Robards, hath deserted her husband, the plaintiff, Lewis Robards, and hath and doth still live in adultery with another man. "JOHN LIGHTFOOT." The following transcript from the records of Mercer County, Kentucky, shows the final result of this proceding: "At a court of Quarter Sessions held for Mercer County at the Court-house in Harrodsburg on the 27th day of September, 1793, this day came the plaintiff by his attorney, and thereupon came also a jury, to-wit: James Bradbury, Thomas Smith, Gabriel Slaughter, John Lightfoot, Samuel Work, Harrison Davis, John Ray, Obediah Wright, John Mills, John Means, Joseph Thomas and Benjamin Sanders, who, being elected, tried and sworn, well and truly to in- quire into the allegation in the plaintiff's declaration, specified upon oath, do say that the defendant, Rachael Robards, hath and doth still live in adultery with another man. It is therefore considered by the court that the marriage between the plaintiff and the de- fendant is dissolved." Thus ended this celebrated case. Jackson had been living with her as his wife for over two years when it was closed. They never were heard from in regard to it while it was pending, and never would have been heard from again if he had never become a great man with the eyes of the nation upon him. That Jackson, a lawyer, did not know of or keep track of the proceedings is preposterous, yet Overton states that at the end of two years Jackson was sur- prised to learn that it had just been decided, and, upon his sugges- tion, was again married to her publicly. It is not known whether there is any record of this marriage. Near Natchez, Miss., there used to stand a ruined log hut, which was pointed out to strangers as the spot where they had passed their honeymoon. This was, no doubt, the spot to which he carried her when they first ran away, for she was kept "in a place of safety," says one historian, until after Robards applied for a divorce. Over thirty years they lived together quietly and without question, and perfectly unconcerned about the irregularity of their union, so far as any one knew, until he was put forward as the candidate of the Democratic party for President, when this episode of his private life was brought forward by the Whigs, and it became necessary for his friends to put as good a face upon the matter as could be made. Then disregarding the well known facts of the case, and the records of the courts, they proceeded to justify Jackson's conduct and his wife's by villifying her wronged husband. Here was an incomprehensible phase in Jackson's character, the injustice which he tacitly acknowledged to be done this man, whose home he destroyed. For the alienation of the affection of his wife, and robbing him of her, might be urged the excuse of unbridled and overmastering passion, which brooked no control, for he was young then — only twenty-four years of age — with no signs of his future greatness, but that he should have allowed this man whom he had LIFE AND TIMES OF JACKSON. 75 wronged to go down to his grave under a cloud of misrepresentation was unworthy of the Jackson in his maturer years. It was a species of natural cowardice, not in keeping with his character, and can only be accounted for by the great love which he bore the woman, and the great necessity which was upon him to shield her from the consequence of the avowal of the facts in the case. Having put her in a false condition, against which as a man and a lawyer he should have protected her, he was bound to remain silent or answer any charges against her with a pistol shot. His own sensitiveness concerning the good name of his wife^ is the strongest proof which can be brought to the weakness of his cause. He was well aware of the inconsistencies of the explanation concerning their marriage and by way of strengthening it kept his pistol ready for any person who questioned it. His readiness to defend her was chivalrous and heroic, but painful in its results. Dickinson, a prominent young lawyer, was killed by him, his friends freely admit, because he committed the unpardonable sm of speaking disrespectfully of Mrs. Jackson's past life. His beautiful young wife to whom he had bid a fond goodbye in the early dawn, promising to return soon, was widowed a few hours later, by a pistol shot from Andrew Jackson for this cause. It is said that he regretted this more than any act of his life, and well he might, for in his heart of hearts he knew that Dickinson was justified in criti- cising this indiscretion of their youth. Mrs. Jackson died before the inauguration, only a few days, of a broken heart, it was said — certainly of heart disease. It was fortunate for her, and the nation, for she could not have presided at the White House without serious social complications. Luckily, also, there were no descendants of this ill-starred union. Capt. Lewis Robards, several years after obtaining the divorce, was married to a very handsome and estimable lady of Jefferson County, Kentucky, with whom he lived happily to a good old age, and their descendants may be found occupying positions of honor and trust in various parts of the country, in Kentucky and Mis- souri, chiefly. 76 LIFE AND TIMES OF JACKSON. CHAPTER VI. DuEiNG the four or five years, next following his mar- riage, Jackson laid the foundations of a handsome for- tune. There was only one other lawyer in Nashville — consequently one side of every case naturally came to him. The records show that he did a brisk business from the very start. If the other attorney took a claim to col- lect, Jackson was necessarily employed to defend, pro- vided there was any defense to make. If, on the con- trary, the other lawyer accepted employment from a de- fendant, the plaintiff went to Jackson. There was noth- ing else he could do. The North Carolina bar practiced as far West as Jonesboro, but at that time they went no farther. Nashville being two hundred and eighty-three miles beyond Jonesboro, — as the road then ran, — North Carolina lawyers could not do a regular law business in Nashville. By virtue of his position as State Attorney, and of the fact that only one other lawyer was then in the field, Andrew Jackson reaped a rich harvest in fees, although he knew but little law. The strength of his position was that no one else had much the advantage of him. Com- mon sense, industry, courage, and a natural spirit of justice had more to do with decisions and verdicts than anything contained in the books. There were probably not a dozen law books in the library of either Jackson or his rival, and the illiterate jurors, as well as the inferior magistrates, cared nothing for English precedents or technical quibbles. In the court-house trials of our own day, one is too often reminded of the answer which the raw law-student made to his examiner, in response to the request that he explain the difference between Law and Equity. ''Law is law, and Equity is Jestis'; and a man may get a blamed sight of law without gittin' any Jestis'." In the rude, informal times of Territorial Tennessee, the courts no doubt paid much greater heed to the die- LIFE AND TIMES OF JACKSON. 77 tates of natural justice than to the letter of statutes and the text of authorities. At Jonesboro, it is true, Jackson had to meet oppos- ing counsel who were fairly well learned in legal lore. To such attorneys, Jackson's lack of professional knowl- edge might appear so plainly that they would indulge the inclination to become sarcastic at his expense. In such a case, Jackson's line of action was characteristic, and, as usual, effective. When Col. Waightsill Avery, of North Carolina, pitted against Jackson in a legal battle in Jonesboro, let his inner convictions concerning Jackson's knowledge of the law crop out in sarcasms, Jackson immediately wrote out, on the blank leaf of a law-book, a challenge to fight, and handed the note to Avery on the spot. The challenge had to be accepted, of course, and on the evening of the same day Jacksoli and Avery were blazing away at one another with pistols. Fortunately, neither of these temporarily demented citizens was hit, and their friends succeeded in bringing about a treaty of peace. After this duel, it is not recorded that opposing coun- sel, in any case, ever made fun of Jackson's statements concerning the law. In a paper read by Albert Goodpasture before the Tennessee Historical Society, in 1895, is this statement: "With a bankrupt treasury and an impoverished peo- ple, it was the policy of North Carolina to constitute her Western territory a fund to reward the 'signal and per- severing zeal' of her officers and soldiers in the Revolu- tionary war. The act of Cession provided that the land laid off to the officers and soldiers of her continental line should still enure to their benefit; and if it should prove insufficient to make good the several provisions for them, the deficiency might be supplied out of any other part of the territory. And so liberally did she compen- sate her war-worn veterans out of this 'fund,' that more than 12,000,000 acres of the choice lands of the State were consumed in their payment. Not only was the mili- 78 LIFE AND TIMES OF JACKSON. tary reservation exhausted, but practically all her other lands supposed to be fit for cultivation that had not al- ready been taken up on the occupancy and pre-emption claims of the hardy pioneers, whose rights were equally protected by the act of Cession, were likewise consumed in satisfying warrants issued for military services. The result was that the great body of the land in Tennessee was originally granted, either under the occupancy claim of the pioneer settler, or upon the military warrant of the Revolutionary soldier." In view of the facts set forth in the above, one is not surprised to learn that land-warrants became the medium of exchange in Territorial Tennessee. Land, in fact, was used as money — just as men are sometimes used in Af- rica, and women constantly in Asia. Very little gold and silver was in circulation. Trading was done on the plan of bartering cows for land, of swapping a horse for an axe, of giving buffalo hides for sugar and coffee. The historian, A. W. Putnam, states that "horses and cows, axes and cowbells, constituted the ready circulat- ing medium." To these were added the military war- rants for land, and, as small change, the Guard cer- tificates. The value and the importance of the axe to the pio- neer needs no explanation ; that of the cowbell will be un- derstood when we remember that the cow was turned out in the unfenced wilderness and got her living chiefly in the cane-brakes. When Andrew Jackson, or some other lawyer, had managed a piece of litigation which justified a reason- ably liberal fee, his client would pay him off with a "six forty." This meant that a land warrant for six hundred and forty acres was transferred by the client to the at- torney. In this manner, Jackson became the owner of thousands of acres of the finest land in Tennessee. To give yoti an idea of the comparative value of things at that time, a few of these bargains may prop- erly be mentioned. Jackson and his boat-load of negro slaves LIFE AND TIMES OF JACKSON. 79 The hill upon which the Capitol of Tennessee was aft- erwards built was sold for a cow and calf. A large portion of the ground upon which one of the largest cities of the State now stands was sold for a rifle, a mare and a pair of leather breeches. For three axes and two cowbells, the owner of a 640 acre tract, near Nashville, sold it ; and the owner of an- other ''six forty" swapped it for "a faithful rifle and a clear-toned bell." In the year 1795, Andrew Jackson, himself, in part- nership with his bosom friend, John Overtoil, bought the land whereon the great city of Memphis now stands, pay- ing $2,501.67. A fac-simile of the draft which supplied the money for the purchase, lies before me as I write. It bears date May 13, 1795, is drawn by David Allison on Col. James King, and is made payable to Andrew Jack- son or order. This interesting relic was kindly furnished me by Samuel L. King of Bristol, Tenn., a direct descend- ant of the drawee of the draft. It must not be forgotten that during these years of law business, land trading, and wealth getting, Jackson also dealt largely in negro slaves. During the Presidency of Jackson, General Edmund Pendleton Gaines, of the regular army, was in command of the Southern Department, with his headquarters at Memphis, Tenn. One night, Jesse Benton was the guest of General Gaines, and in the course of conversation during the evening, Benton said to Gaines: ''General, there is a little chapter in my private his- tory which has never been made public. "Andrew Jackson, now President of the United States, Thos. H. Benton, now Senator from Missouri, John H. Eaton, now Governor of Florida, and I went down the river negro trading. As to Eaton, he was but a poor devil of a trader, selling but two, and one of these on commission; but Jackson made out pretty well; but whenever he made out a bill of sale of the negro he had sold he always spelled it ' Nigger. ' ' ' 80 LIFE AND TIMES OF JACKSON. This statement was related by Edmimd P. Gaines, who was present and heard the conversation, to Col. John Bell Brownlo'w, about twelve years ago. To these years, just before and just after his mar- riage, belong many of the stories which explain how An- drew Jackson made his mark upon the times in which he lived and split the country into two sharply separated groups — those who admired him blindly and those who hated him without stint. He had street fights, he had fought at least one duel, he had chased Lewis Robards into the cane-brake with a butcher knife and had taken unto himself the woman that Robards left behind him as he stole from the cane-brake and made tracks for his Old Kentucky Home. He had saved a town from a fire that would have de- stroyed it, by his mastery of men around him and his quick decision of forming a bucket brigade. He had cowed bullies in the court-room by his readi- ness with his pistol. He had made himself feared and respected as an hon- est, unflinching officer of the law. He had made himself the leader of the younger men. What he did was the fashion. We shall find him always followed by ardent friends who are ready to swear by him, work for him, fight for him — die with him if need be — with a devotion such as few men have ever inspired. It must not be supposed, however, that Andrew Jack- son never "met his match." It must not be claimed that he always came off triumphant. Such is never the case. From ''Dropped Stitches in Tennessee History" is taken the following story, which proves that even An- drew Jackson sometimes tackled the wrong man. The episode relates to a horse race which was run while Jackson lived at Kit Taylor's, near Jonesboro. ''Jackson had been training his horse for months in advance in 'Kit' Taylor's neighborhood, and the racer knew his master's imperious will perfectly. He 'smelt the battle afar off,' and perhaps at the same time, 'dan- LIFE AND TIMES OF JACKSON. 81 ger in the tainted air;' but when the test came, the de- termination to be first under the string thrilled every fibre and sinew in his lithe and wiry body. **The betting was fast and furious, and the reckless readiness of the gamblers, followed the example of the contestants, to risk all on their favorite steed, would have taken away the breath of even the 'plunger' of to- day. Guns, furs, iron, clothing, cattle, horses, negroes, crops, lands and all the money procurable were staked on the result. No 'boom' period in that section saw so much property change hands in so short a time, "A week or ten days before the race, Jackson was overtaken by a serious disappointment. His jockey, a negro boy belonging to Taylor, was taken down with a violent fever. Jackson announced his determination to ride the race himself, and Love readily agreed to the proposition. When the arrangement became known, the throng became delirious with enthusiasm and delight. The judges, who had been selected after a good deal of finesse and some wrangling, were stationed half and half at each end of the semi-circular track. Jackson appeared on his restless and impatient flyer, with a haughty air of confidence and self-possession, the rival steed prancing at his side, under the control of a born jockey, who' well knew the responsibility resting upon him, and how to act his part on the momentous occasion. They were started with a shock that shook the azure vault above and rever- berated in answering echoes from the surrounding moun- tains. The horses were marvels of symmetry and beauty, and in fine condition for speed and endurance. At the word " Go ! " they shot out on the smooth track as if they had been hurled from two monster mortars. On they sped, neck and neck. The jockey was the hazy outline of a boy printed on the air. Jackson rode as if he were a part of his spectral horse. The yells of the onlookers packed around the cresent course would have drowned the blending screams of a hundred steam-whistles. All at once, the Love horse spurted ahead. The partisans of Jackson got their breath in gasps. The victor whizzed 82 LIFE AND TIMES OF JACKSON. under the string like an arrow, leaving Old Hickory to make the goal at his leisure. If Jackson's horse was a wind-splitter that left a blue line behind them, Love's was the same as a belated streak of lightning chasing a hurricane that had outrun it. Just for a moment there was a deep, ominous hush that precedes the crash of the tempest; then a pendemonium of noise and tumult that might have been heard in the two neighboring states broke loose. It awoke the black bear from his siesta, and the frightened red deer "sprung from his heathery couch in haste," and sought the distant heights. The loud, long and deep profanity would have discounted the "army in Flanders." Jackson was a star actor in this riot of pas- sion and frenzy. His brow was corrugated with wrath. His tall, sinewy form shook like an aspen leaf. His face was the livid color of the storm-cloud when it is hurling its bolts of thunder. His Irish blood was up to the boil- ing point, and his eyes flashed with the fire of war. He was an overflowing Vesuvius of rage, pouring the hot lava of denunciation on the Love family in general and his victorious rival in particular. Col. Love stood before this storm unblanched and unappalled — for he, too, had plenty of "sand," and as lightly esteemed the value of life — and answered burning invective with invective, hissing with the same degree of heat and exasperation. Jackson denounced the Loves as a "band of land pirates," because they held the ownership of nearly all the choice lands in that section. Love retorted by calling Jackson "a damned long, gangling, sorrel-topped soap-stick." The exasperating offensiveness of this retort may be bet- ter understood when it is explained that in those days women "conjured" their soap by stirring it with a long sassafras stick. The dangerous character of both men was well known, and it was ended by interference of mutual friends, who led the enraged rivals from the grounds in different directions.' ' But while Col. Love and perhaps many others stood their ground against Jackson, he generally whipped his man. LIFE AND TIMES OF JACKSON. 83 He himself while President related one of his experi- ences as follows: "Now, Mr. B.," said the General, "if any one attacks you, I know how you'll fight with that big black stick of yours. You'll aim right for his head. Well, sir, ten chances to one he'll ward it off; and if you do hit him, you won't bring him down. No, sir," (taking the stick into his own hands), "you hold the stick so, and punch him in the stomach, and you'll drop him. I'll tell you how I found that out. When I was a young man prac- ticing law in Tennessee, there was a big bullying fellow that wanted to pick a quarrel with me, and so trod on my toes. Supposing it accidental, I said nothing. Soon after, he did it again, and I began to suspect his object. In a few minutes he came by a third time, pushing against me violently, and evidently meaning fight. He was a man of immense size, one of the very biggest men I ever saw. As quick as a flash, I snatched a small rail from the top of the fence, and gave him the point of it full in his stomach. Sir, it doubled him up. He fell at my feet, and I stamped on him. Soon he got up savage, and was about to fly at me like a tiger. The bystanders made as though they would interfere. Says I, ' Gentlemen, stand back, give me room, that's all I ask, and I'll manage him.' With that I stood ready with the rail pointed. He gave me one look, and turned away, a whipped man, sir, and feeling like one. So, sir, I say to you, if any villain as- saults you, give him the pint in his belly. '' In those days when every man had to look out for himself and be on his guard against the prowling In- dians, the brawling borderer, the ravenous land grabber, and the lawless rough, it was no common thing for a criminal to defy the officers of the law and make the de- fiance good. To "cuss out" the lawyers, the judge and the jury is a luxury not allowed in our own day no matter how strongly one may feel tempted thereto, and no mat- ter how richly such a general "cussing out" is deserved. But in the early days of Tennessee it was different. It sometimes happened that a magistrate would indignantly 84 LIFE AND TIMES OF JACKSON. say to a remonstrant suitor, 'Yon must think the Court are a d — d fool!'' and would be greeted with the candid response, *'I do!" Whereupon, if the magistrate were spunky and con- sidered himself the "best man" of the two, he would cry out, "Adjourn the court for ten minutes, Mr. Bailiff!" and throw off his coat, roll up his sleeves and pitch into the ready and willing suitor. Having either whipped his man, or got whipped, as the case might be, the judge would put on his coat, order the Bailiff to re-open the court and would call the next case on the docket. It sometimes happened that the two parties to a law suit would agree to fight it out, fist and skull. In this case the two men would go into a ring and, with a crowd of hugely interested spectators looking on, proceed to play the brutal drama of a physical combat which would probably not end until both fighters were covered with bruises and blood, and one or the other gouged, or choked or beaten until he could no longer stand. The victor would be, of course, the hero of the hour. Now it was with just such conditions that young Jack- son was peculiarly fitted to cope. With law and order his allies, there was never the least doubt that he would conquer the turbulent men around him. That he did con- quer them completely, the facts conclusively prove. After he entered upon his duties as State's Attorney no crim- inal ever successfully defied the officers of the law. In Sumner County there was a brace of bullies named Kirkendall. They defied the Sheriff, and swore that they did not intend to be tried. This challenge of the Court's authority was made in the little log hut where the Judge was presiding. Jackson took charge of the matter and the fight was on, at once. In some way the Kirkendall s got him out of the house, and rolled him over and over until the struggling men all fell into the creek. This freed Jackson, who ran back to the house, got his pistols, cov- ered the bullies, and thus conquered them. The Judge was so appreciative of this vindication of the law that the records of Sumner County bear to this day the quaint LIFE AND TIMES OF JACKSON. 85 entry: ''The Court thanks Andrew Jackson for his efficient conduct." These anecdotes would be quite enough to explain why people feared or respected and admired Andrew Jackson, but they do not reveal those traits which caused him to be loved. We shall understand the devotion of his friends before we go much further with this story. For the pres- ent, let us read the unvarnished and truthful account of an incident which throws a flash-light upon his inborn nobility of character. In Rogersville, the County Seat of Hawkins County, sixty-six miles east of Knoxville, there resided about a Presbyterian Scotch-Irish emigrant from the north of Ireland by the name of Joseph Rogers. The town was named after him. It now has only about one thousand inhabitants. In JacksoD 's day it had but three or four hundred or less. Rogers kept the only hotel in the village. While court was in session the hotel was crowded with lawyers, litigants and others. Among the guests was Jackson. Hotels in those days had larger rooms than now and not so many of them, and it was common for several beds to be put in one room. Such was. the condition when a well-dressed stranger arrived. He was shown to a room with two beds where he had a stran- ger for his room-mate. He returned to the office and rudely, insultingly demanded a room to himself. After the worthy boniface and his worthy wife explained to him the situation, told him how crowded the hotel was, he, in insulting terms, spoke of the one-horse house and how he would tell the public to avoid it, etc. Jackson overheard the conversation and at once said to him (he didn't know Jackson): "You, sir, shall have a room to yourself." This surprised the worthy host and hostess and they be- gan to protest that they could not accommodate the gen- tleman with a room to himself without turning the other people out. Jackson waved them off by an imperious gesture with the remark that, ' ' Not now, but at bed-time I will see that this man gets a room to himself." The stranger walked off satisfied. Jackson had noted a log 86 LIFE AND TIMES OF JACKSON. house in the rear of the hotel used as a corn-crib, with open cracks between the logs and this in winter. He directed the host to go with him to it. He ordered the corn pushed back so there would be room for a pallet. He had some bed clothes put on the ground floor and when the stranger signified he was ready to retire Jackson made the host (against his wish) accompany the stranger to his room in the corn-crib with a tallow dip. Jackson followed behind after assuring Mr, Rogers that if there was any fighting to do as a result he, Jackson, would do it. When the fellow got to the door of the crib and saw his ''room" he swore he would not go in. Jackson told him by the Eternal God he should and forced him in. He then turned the key to the padlock and the next morning unlocked the door and turned him out, telling him he had acted the part of a coward and ruffian and that it should admonish him for the future not to be discourteous to a lady, as he had been to Mrs. Rogers. This story was related to me by Mr. Sam King, of Bristol, and also by Mr. John B. Brownlow, of Knoxville. It is as well authenticated as any Jackson anecdote in the published biographies. In that interesting volume, "Old Times in Tennes- see," the author. Judge Jos. C. Guild, gives a graphic de- scription of one of Andrew Jackson's race-track rows. Judge Guild was but a small boy when the incident oc- curred. Says he : "The occasion was this: Grey Hound, a Kentucky horse, had beaten Double Head, a Tennessee horse, and they were afterward matched for five thousand dollars a side, to be run on the Clover Bottom Course. My uncle, Josephus H. Conn — who, by the death of my parents, be- came a father to me, giving me such education as I re- ceived — carried me on horseback behind him to see the race. He set me on the cedar fence and told me to remain till he returned. In those days not only counties, but States, in full feather, attended the race course as a great national amusement, and the same is still kept up in France and England under the fostering care of each LIFE AND TIMES OF JACKSON. 87 government. There must have been twenty thousand per- sons present. I never witnessed such fierce betting be- tween the States. Horses and negroes were put up. A large pound was filled with horses and negroes bet on the result of this race. The time had now arrived for the competitors to appear on the track. I heard some loud talking, and looking down the track saw, for the first time. General Jackson, riding slowly on a gray horse, with long pistols in each hand. I think they were as long as my arm, and had a mouth that a ground squirrel could enter. In his wake followed my uncle, Conn, Stokely Donelson, Patton Anderson, and several others, as fierce as bull dogs. As General Jackson led the van and approached the judges' stand, he was rapidly talking and gesticulat- ing. As he came by me he said that he had irrefragable proof that this was to be a jockey race ; that Grey Hound was seen in the wheat field the night before, which dis- qualified him for the race, and that his rider was to re- ceive five hundred dollars to throw it off, and 'by the Eternal God,' he would shoot the first man who brought his horse upon the track; that the people's money should not be stolen from them in this manner. He talked inces- santly, while the spittle rolled from his mouth and the fire from his eyes. I have seen bears and wolves put at bay, but he was certainly the most ferocious looking ani- mal that I have ever seen. His appearance and manner struck terror into the hearts of twenty thousand people. If they felt as I did, every one expected to be slain. He announced to the parties if they wanted some lead in their hides, to just bring their horses on the track, for 'by the Eternal, ' he would kill the first man that attempted to do so. There was no response to this challenge, and after waiting some time, and they failing to appear. General Jackson said it was a great mistake in the opinion of some that he acted hastily and without consideration. He would give the scoundrels a fair trial, and to that end he would constitute a court to investigate this matter, who would hear the proof, and do justice to all parties. There- upon he appointed a sheriff to keep order, and five judges 88 LIFE AND TIMES OF JACKSON. to hear the case. Proclaraation was made that the court was open, and was ready to proceed to business, and for the parties to appear and defend themselves. No one ap- pearing, General Jackson introduced the witnesses, prov- ing the bribery of Grey Hound's rider, who was to receive five hundred dollars to throw off the race, having re- ceived two hundred and fifty dollars in advance, and that Grey Hound had been turned into the wheat field the night before. He again called on the parties to appear and contradict this proof, and vindicate their innocence. They failing to appear. General Jackson told the court that the proof was closed, and for them to render their judgment in the premises, which, in a few moments, was done in accordance with the facts proved. I was still on the fence forming one line of the large pound containing the property bet on the race. Each man was anxious to get back his property. General Jackson waved his hand and announced the decision, and said, 'Now, gentlemen, go calmly and in order, and each man take his own prop- erty. ' When the word was given the people came with a rush. It was more terrible than an army with banners. They came bulging against the fence, and in the struggle to get over they knocked it down for hundreds of yards. I was overturned, and was nearly trampled to death. Each man got his property, and thus the fraudulent race was broken up by an exhibition of the most extraordinary courage." LIFE AND TIMES OF JACKSON. 89 CHAPTER VII. Over the next few years of Andrew Jackson's life we may pass rapidly, on our way to the period of his real development. Not until the War of 1812 gave him the opportunity to show what was in him did he rise above the standard of the average leading American pioneer. Previous to that decisive step upward, he merely ranked with the best of the intrepid frontiersmen among whom he lived, ever ready to fight, eager in the buying up of choice land, trading extensively at two or three different establishments, owning many slaves and using them to advantage on his home-farm, successfully breeding fine horses and filling with credit, in a perfunctory way, the offices which fell to his lot in the meanwhile. Andrew Jackson would probably have raised a tre- mendous row with anybody who dared to class him among chronic office-seekers, and his friends would doubtless have rallied around him on that issue, as upon all others — drowning the impertinences of fact with the cry of • ' Hurrah for Jackson ! ' ' Nevertheless, the record shows that Jackson almost always held an office. Sometimes he held two. From the date of his arrival in Tennessee until that of his retire- ment from the Presidency at the end of his second term, — declining to run again more on account of broken health than because of any squeamishness about a Third Term, — we shall find that he was never without an office of some kind. This is not stated as a reproach to his memory, but as a fact material to a sane comprehension of the subject in hand. The reader will remember that the friend under whom Jackson studied law in North Carolina had secured for him the presidential appointment to the office of District Attorney for the Mero District of Tennessee. This posi- tion he filled as long as Tennessee remained a territory. In 1795 a census taken for the purpose proved that the Territory had a population sufficient to entitle it to 7 ai 90 LIFE AND TIMES OF JACKSON. admission to the Union as a State; therefore, the Gov- ernor ordered the election of delegates to a Convention to frame a State Constitution. Among the five delegates chosen by the county of Davidson were the Judge, John McNairy, and the Dis- trict Attorney, Andrew Jackson. The convention met in Knoxville, January 11, 1796. Two members from each county were appointed to draft a Constitution, — the various county delegations being given the right to select the county's representative upon the Committee. The Davidson county delegation quite naturally selected their least illiterate members, — to wit, the Judge and the District Attorney, — John McNairy and Andrew Jackson. The Constitution framed and adopted was at that time considered extremely democratic. The Hamilton- ians of the country condemned it; the Jeffersonians en- dorsed it; yet the discriminations against the Have-nots were conspicuous. A property qualification was established which re- quired that a Governor must own five hundred acres of land, and a member of the Legislature two hundred. Landowners were given a vote in each county in which they owned land. A State Government was immediately organized un- der this Constitution, John Sevier being elected Gov- ernor. On the 1st of June, 1796, Tennessee was admitted into the Union — the Sixteenth State, — entitled to two Sena- tors and one Eepresentative. William Blount passed from the territorial office of Governor to one of the U. S. Senatorships of the new State of Tennessee ; and the District Attorney, whose of- fice disappeared with the admission of the territory into the Union, was taken care of by being sent to Congress. Thus Andrew Jackson became the first Representative of Tennessee in the Lower House of Congress. The first notable vote of Andrew Jackson in Congress was against The Father of his Country. Thomas Jefferson LIFE AND TIMES OF JACKSON. 91 The final departure of George Washington from the public stage was at hand. He had been more severely tried by the years which followed the Kevolutionary War than by the war itself. It is one thing to combat one 's enemy; it is quite another to contend with one's friends. Through both ordeals, fate took George Washington. That he was magnificently successful in dealing with the complexities of the struggle for independence, devel- ' oping a strength that met every demand of that fearful period of strain and strife, history proudly proclaims. But whether he did equally well as Chief Executive of the young Republic will always remain a subject of debate. To the disciples of the School of Hamilton, the admin- istration of Washington seems phenomenally wise, firm and patriotic. To the Jeffersonians it was, and is, altogether unsat- isfactory and in some respects abominable. The Jay Treaty was a sell-out of Southern commerce and agriculture to Northern navigation and manufactur- ers, and the South detested it. The Jeffersonians throughout the Union were shocked at the cold blooded way in which France, our ally in the long, soul-trying years of the war, was thrown over for England, our late oppressor and ruthless foe. It re- quired all the authority and influence of Washington, re- inforced by all the diplomacy of Hamilton and the finan- cial resources of the English party, to keep down popular resistance to the Federal Administration when it turned from the gallant friends who had so recently stood with the American soldier in line of battle, and bought, upon humiliating terms, a hollow truce with Great Britain. The facts soon demonstrated that the Mother Country was not yet willing to accept in good faith the results of the Revolutionary War. Her pride was ruffled and her temper unsubdued. The War of 1812 was nothing in the world but the final skirmish of the long struggle for Co- lonial Independence. England had to have certain things made clear to her before she could gain her own consent to let the Colonies go. 92 LIFE AND TIMES OF JACKSON. When our sailors proved themselves a match for hers ; when our volunteer militiamen knocked her veteran regiments to pieces — then at length she realized that the young Republic could stand alone. Had President Washington turned a deaf ear to the crafty promptings of Alexander Hamilton, France and the United States would have remained allies, to the vast advantage of each other and of the world. Had we kept faith with France — as in honor and com- mon gratitude we should have done, — the two young Re- publics could have successfully defied the combined kings, potentates and aristocracies of Europe. Democ- racy would have triumphed, not only in Great Britain but throughout Continental Europe. Liberal institutions would have replaced feudalism, from the Russian fron- tier to the Pyrines. The time was at hand, the people ready. It required the utmost efforts of all the kings to check the growth of Republican principles. Millions of misled soldiers had to be thrown against revolutionary France before the onward march of her glorious creed of ''Liberty, Equality, Fraternity" could be halted. Halted it was — by bayonet and ball. The shouts of European Democrats were choked with blood. Priest- hoods and aristocracies once more united and prevailed. The hands on the clock of progress were turned back fifty years. The subdued millions of Europe again turned themselves obediently into kissers of the King's hand and of the Pope's foot. The priest was heaven's authorized broker and he, alone, could arrange, — for a consideration, of course, — terms for the admission of the penitent sinner into Paradise : the King ruled by Divine Right and as Francis of Austria told his college profes- sors: "What we want is Obedience." Had George Washington heeded Jefferson, rather than Hamilton, the history of the world would have been different. Another measure of Washington's administration had deeply dissatisfied the Jeffersonians. This was the Hamilton doctrine of Implied Powers. In addition to LIFE AND TIMES OF JACKSON. 93 the authority expressly granted by the States to the Fed- eral Government, Hamilton contended that others were implied. Under this construction of the Constitution, Hamilton had proposed the* establishment of a National Bank. Mr. Jefferson and Edmund Randolph, both mem- bers of Washington's Cabinet, had strongly combated Mr. Hamilton's views, but Washington— a Federalist- followed his natural inclinations and sanctioned the Bank. "Resist the Beginnings," was one of the wise maxims of Thomas Jefferson. A far-sighted statesman, he real- ized that Hamilton was utilizing Washington's popu- larity and power to lay the foundations of an Aristocracy of Wealth, supported lof Special Privilege, which would at length change the whole nature of our Republic. For the same reasons, the Jeffersonians bitterly an- tagonized the Funding System of Hamilton which brought about a partnership between Northern capital- ists and the National Treasury. Therefore, when the venerable first President had read his last message to Congress, and the customary address of Congress in reply was proposed, the movers of the latter had great difficulty in securing its passage in the language which they preferred. The formal address to the retiring President con- gratulated him upon his "wise, firm and patriotic admin- istration." A member from the native State of the President led the opposition. Hon. Wm. B. Giles, of Vir.ginia, objected to these flat- tering expressions. In the opinion of Mr. Giles, the ad- ministration of General Washington had been neither wise nor firm. "I believe, sir, that a want of wisdom and firmness has brought this country into its present alarming crisis," said the Representative from Virginia. The alarming crisis referred to by Mr. Giles was the threatened war with France, and the disordered finances consequent upon the issues of paper money by the bank. 94 LIFE AND TIMES OF JACKSON. After a long and heated discussion, the Address was adopted by a vote of sixty-seven to twelve. Among the twelve who went on record against it were Wm. B. Giles, Edward Livingston, Nathaniel Macon and Andrew Jackson. Another vote of the sole Representative of Tennessee in the Lower House of Congress proves how impartial were the Jeffersonians of that day. The city of Savannah, Georgia, having been almost entirely destroyed by fire, Congress was appealed to for an appropriation out of the National Treasury for the relief of the stricken people ; Congress refused, — rightly. Among the votes recorded against the proposition to take public funds for charitable purposes was that of Andrew Jackson. How differently does Congress construe the Consti- tution these latter days' There was an earthquake, a few years ago, in the French island of Martinique, and the eruption of a volcano. With spasmodic and hysterical speed, the Congress of the United States rushed an appropriation through both Houses, and the "relief" was hurried, in fast-going vessels, to Martinique. The French Government itself : did not appropriate a franc, and when the American ves- I sel drew alongside the wharf in Martinique, the first V_ native who came aboard offered food for sale' Something practically similar happened in 1906 when our charity thrust itself upon the English colony of Jamaica. We spent some thousands dollars relieving distress in Jamaica, the English Government did not spend a penny! Later still, during the second administration of Presi- dent Roosevelt, Congress appropriated $800,000 to re- lieve Italians who had been rendered homeless by the earthquakes of Sicily. Several thousands cottages were framed in New York, were transported across the ocean by our Navy, and were erected in Sicily by our marines — the Italians refusing to assist in the work. John Sevier LIFE AND TIMES OF JACKSON. 95 The people of Tennessee bore a grudge against the administration of Washington because the Federal Gov- ernment had never lifted a finger to protect them from the Indians. President Washington sent troops to protect the Northwest, but left the Southwest to protect itself. Thus it happened that in 1793 the Tennesseans, led by John Sevier, took the initiative against the Red Men who were alleged to be committing outrages. After a bloody campaign, the Indians were driven back and brought to terms. The U. S. Government had not authorized the war, and refused to pay the expenses. Andrew Jackson took hold of this claim for compensation, brought the facts before Congress, and succeeded in having these war- expenses paid. The sum was only twenty thousand eight hundred and sixteen dollars, but specie was scarce in the backwoods in those days, and the influx of that amount of hard cash in Tennessee was warmly appreciated. The popularity of Jackson, we are assured, was greatly increased by his management of the case. Strange to' say, Jackson did not attend the next ses- sion of Congresa at all. During the summer of 1797, a most important session was held — the French quarrel becoming a menace of war — but the sole Representative of Tennessee did not put in appearance. However, his own people found no fault with him, ap- parently, for during this year he was appointed Senator from Tennessee to fill a vacancy. In the autumn of 1797, he is once more in Philadel- phia, a member of the Senate. He remained there until April, 1798, when he went back to Tennessee and re- signed. The Legislature almost immediately elected him Judge of the Supreme Court. Just as we have but a meagre record of Jackson's doings while a member of Congress, so we have no au- thentic account of him as Supreme Court Judge. 96 LIFE AND TIMES OF JACKSON. Once upon a time when one in authority proposed to appoint to judicial position a man of fine natural sense but of no knowledge of the written law, the latter pleaded his own unfitness for the place. He was answered, '' Decide every case according to your own ideas of jus- tice, and give no reasons." The appointment was accepted, the advice followed, and satisfactory results given. Andrew Jackson, a man of fine common sense, may have acted upon the same principles. No decision of his has been produced. Anecdote represents him as at one time quitting the bench and adjourning court, temporarily, to assist the Sheriff in arresting an obstreperous law-breaker. Of course, the bully wilted the moment he looked into the Jacksonian eye, and into the muzzles of the ever-ready Jacksonian pistols. In 1801, while still on the Supreme Bench, Jackson was a candidate for major generalship of the militia. His opponent was John Sevier, the famous Indian fighter who had come off victorious in thirty-five combats with the Red Men. Although fifty years of age, he was still the handsomest man in Tennessee, and was easily the most popular with the people at large. Unluckily for Sevier, the men of the rank and file had no voice in the selection of the major general. The field-officers were the electors. Between him and Andrew Jackson there was a tie vote among these officers. In this emergency. Governor Roane came to the relief and cast the deciding vote for Jackson. Sevier was wounded to the quick by this rejection of himself — who had so long served the people in actual border warfare — in favor of a young lawyer who had never been in a battle, and had never even accompanied an expedition against the common enemy. The veteran's mortification was natural, and we can- not fail to sympathize with it. Jackson had at that time given no evidence of his ability as a military man, and the selection of the untried lawyer and judge over the LIFE AND TIMES OF JACKSON. 97 tried soldier who was in the very prime of life seemed a gross injustice. The people of Tennessee evidently felt this way about it for, at the next election, Governor Roane was thrown out and the gallant John Sevier was elected Governor. It was almost inevitable that Judge-General Jackson and Governor Sevier would have candid friends and Ransy Sniffle go-betweens who would never be satisfied until the two big men had been made to fight. Furious quarrels there were in which the Governor menaced the Judge and the Judge threatened the Gov- ernor, but the actual collision never took place. No sane man can question the courage of either party to the feud, and one's chief feeling is that of regret that two such essentially sound-hearted heroes could not have been friends. Sevier had always kept open house, had spent much of his time and resources in raids against the Indians, and was a poor man. Jackson owned tens of thousands of acres of fine land, was conducting profitable trading ventures, and was holding an office which, excepting the Governorship, was the best paying place in the State. To run for another office while holding that, seems somewhat selfish and grasping. To run for it against one who deserved so well of Tennessee as did John Sevier, certainly proves that Jackson set his own ambition far above anything like a chivalrous regard for others. ''What has this lawyer done that he should be put before me? Did I not ride at the head of the volunteer cavalry of the mountains when they crushed Ferguson in the turning-point battle of the Revolutionary War ? Was it not the Indian yell of the men who followed me that unnerved the British more than the whistle of the balls? Did we not rescue North Carolina on that fateful day when this North Carolina boy, Andrew Jackson, was still in his mother's leading strings? I don't know of any- thing particular that he has done except to run away with another man's wife." 98 LIFE AND TIMES OF JACKSON. So', in the bitterness of his heart, John Sevier may- have spoken ; and the latter portion of the outburst hav- ing been related to Andrew Jackson, fierce wrangles fol- lowed which did neither of them credit. Tennessee elected Sevier once more to the Governor- ship, and President Adams intended to make him one of the Brigadier-Generals if war should come with France ; but at the end of his gubernatorial term he sinks from historical view, dies while running the line of another Indian ''Concession," and thus the student of those old times sees no more of one of the most fascinating person- ages that ever appeared in American border life. While holding the two offices of Supreme Court Judge and Major-General of militia, Andrew Jackson sought presidential appointment to the position of Governor of the recently purchased Louisiana Territory. In April, 1804, we find the energetic Judge-Major-General in Washington giving his personal attention to the matter. But President Jefferson is at Monticello, sorely afflicted by the death of his beloved daughter, Mrs. John W. Eppes, and Jackson does not call at the White House at all, lest the call should be "construed as the call of a Courteor." Writing to his friend Geo. W. Campbell, Jackson nails his Democratic flag to the mast as follows, "Of all char- acters on earth my feelings despise a man capable of cringing to power for a benefit or office — and such char- acters that are capable of bending for the sake of an office are badly calculated for a representative system, when merit alone should lead to preferment — these being my sensations — and believing that a call upon him (the President) under the present existing circumstances might be construed as the act of a courteor, I traveled on enjoying my own feelings." A thoroughly Jacksonian deliverance! Holding two offices, reaching out for a better one, and finding that President Jefferson has virtually given the place to another, the stern Democrat from Tennessee, who had gone to Washington to apply for the appointment, wraps LIFE AND TIMES OF JACKSON. 99 the mantle of personal independence about Mm, and refuses to make a formal call at the Executive Mansion, for fear that this mark of respect paid to the Chief Magistrate should cause Andrew Jackson to be called "a courteor." While occupying a seat on the bench of the Supreme Court, the repeated affrays with Governor Sevier, the quarrel with his old friend Judge McNairy, and sonae business troubles which were the consequence of his astonishing ignorance of law, must have tried Jackson's fortitude severely. He was the aggressor in the feud with Sevier ; he was at fault in the quarrel with McNairy, and he had nobody but himself to blame for dealing in land-titles which any lawyer should have known were void. Andrew Jackson was one of the shrewdest of traders and was a successful man of affairs ; by profession, he was a lawyer ; by election, he was a judge of the Supreme Court. Yet he missed utter ruin by the skin of his teeth because he treated as valid the title to land sold at legal sale under foreclosure of a mortgage when the court had no jurisdiction of the case ! It was a striking evidence of Jackson's sound com- mon sense that when he found himself in this desperate plight, he sought the advice of a real lawyer. By follow- ing the advice given him by his lawyer, he managed to weather the storm. In the conduct of his business affairs, Jackson became involved in a considerable amount of litigation, as one would naturally suppose. Dogmatic in his opinions, uncompromising and somewhat overbearing, an occa- sional lawsuit with some other unyielding fellow-mortal sprang up, giving him more or less trouble. In these legal battles the day went against him, now and then. It appears that he gave his personal attention to his commercial ventures, and that when keeping store at Clover Bottom he rode over there every morning, and stayed all day. Mrs. Jackson superintended the farm while the General was away. In Philadelphia, where most of his supplies for his 100 LIFE AND TIMES OF JACKSON. stores were purchased, Jackson established the highest character for square dealing. His credit was first-class. It was known that he would sacrifice all he possessed rather than forfeit his bond or disholior his note. His pride, his keen sense of honor made it impossible for him to rest under the slightest cloud of deserved discredit. Undoubtedly, he was one of those men to whom life is worth nothing unless he can feel that he has the right to look the whole world in the face, and to bear himself as the equal of any other man whomsoever. But Andrew Jackson was not the man to shine "in the piping time o' peace.'' The clash of battle was neces- sary to rouse him to his best. There was a craving for excitement, a love of strife for the sake of strife, which he could not more help than he could help being red- headed and blue-eyed. Turbulence was his element, and turbulence of some kind he must have. If it wasn't to be had otherwise, he wotild create it. The race-track had its fascination for him, simply because it represented superb action, spirited contest, tumultuous crowds of excited people, sustained exhilara- tion, and the ever-present possibility of a free-for-all fight. The matching of game-chickens was a pastime which also brought him forward, keen for the contest, keen for victory. Just as he bred race-horses and ran them for big stakes against all comers, so he ''raised" game chick- ens and was their eager backer where they fought until they stabbed their antagonists to death with cruel gaffs, and were themselves stabbed to death. He would gather up his best roosters, put out for Nashville, take two or three drinks of whiskey and pit his own cocks against those of his friend, Patten Anderson, or those of any other citizen whom he considered a gentleman. He would join in the savage sports as though his whole soul was in them — as indeed, it was, for the time. He would not only enjoy the rough revel vastly, but would lead it. No man shouted more loudly as the game cocks were pitted for moi*tal combat. No man so eagerly LIFE AND TIMES OF JACKSON. 101 followed every cut and thrust of the long keen knives that had been corded on to the roosters' spurs. While his feathered favorites fought in the ring, he cheered on his "Bernadotte" or his "Dominica," as he afterwards cheered o^ the riflemen of the backwoods at Talladega and New Orleans. Noisy, profane, dominant, a born king of men, An- drew Jackson was the same, in all essential respects, when betting on and managing a cocking-main in Nash- ville, when bossing the race-course at Clover Bottom, when storming at and "running over" John Sevier, and when breaking forever the power of the Creek Nation. But Jackson drew the line sharply between "gentle- men gamblers" and professional blacklegs. With these latter he would have nothing to do. Once, in the excitement of a horse-race, Jackson's strident voice was heard ringing out the challenge: "I will bet any gentleman fifty dollars on the white mare. ' ' "I take the bet, General,'' cried a well-known gam- bler. Without noticing him, Jacksoli's challenge rang out again. "Why, General, I took that bet," urged the gambler. Without a change of feature, but with that steady look which must have been a nerve-test, Jackson ex- claimed : "I said 'any gentleman,' sir; and I do not recognize you as a gentleman!" The black-leg was wise in his generation, and let the matter go at that. Out of a horse-race wrangle, and nothing else, arose that wretched duel with Charles Dickinson, which sent a bright young lawyer to an untimely grave, widowed a lovely, devoted wife, and gave to Jackson himself a world of after trouble, besides a wound which finally hastened his death. With some care, I have studied what evidence is now 102 LIFE AND TIMES OF JACKSON. attainable concerning this deplorable episode in Jackson's career; and without hesitation I reject, as lacking in the support of a scintilla of evidence, the statement that Dickinson had made offensive allusions to Jackson's wife. There is no testimony of that sort. The correspond- ence which brought on the tragedy is as open to the world as that which led to Burr's killing of Hamilton. Absolutely there is no mystery in the case, and no room for doubt. The duel grew out of a horse-race quarrel, and out of nothing else. Jackson himself was too proud and brave a man to tell lies against the dead, and never by word, or deed, or intimation did he accuse Dickinson of speaking disrespectfully of Mrs. Jackson. Many years later, when Jackson's coterie of personal worshippers had undertaken, against his first inclina- tions, to elect him President of the United States, it be- came necessary to make a better showing for him in the matter of Dickinson's death than could be found in the contemporaneous correspondence. It was then that the story was put forward by Sam Houston and others to the effect that they ''had been told" that Dickinson spoke offensive words of Mrs. Jackson, not only once but re- peatedly; and that Jackson mildly remonstrated with Dickinson, not only in person, but through conciliatory messages, doing his utmost to avoid strife. Think of Andrew Jackson making such pathetic efforts to keep the peace, when an insolent young lawyer ''in a tavern in Nashville" had publicly and repeatedly "uttered offen- sive words respecting Mrs. Jackson ! '' One simply cannot believe anything of the kind. The statement is too much at variance with Jackson's known character and constant line of conduct. Besides, why the necessity of seeking hidden motives, when the evidence furnished by the correspondence itself proves conclu- sively that no hidden motive was wanting? The letters which passed, and the circumstances which led up to the correspondence; reveal the truth with absolute clearness. In the next chapter will be given the plain, simple story of the celebrated duel — a story founded upon a careful examination of such evidence as we can now find. Sam Houston LIFE AND TIMES OF JACKSON. 103 CHAPTER VIII. ''Foe the autumn races of 1805," says Biographer Parton, " a great race was arranged between General Jackson's Truxton and Captain Joseph Ervin's Plow Boy. The stakes were two thousand dollars, payable on the day of the race in notes, which notes were to be then due; forfeit eight hundred dollars." Patton Anderson had an interest in the race, on the Jackson side, and Charles Dickinson was interested on the side of his father-in-law, Capt. Ervin. Before the day set for the race, Capt. Ervin and his son-in-law, Charles Dickinson, decided to call off the race and pay the forfeit. This was done, and everything seemed to have been adjusted without ill feeling. Very soon, however, Captain Ervin and Dickinson heard of a rumor to the effect that the notes in which the forfeit was paid were claimed by Jackson to have been different from those stipulated in the bet. Such a report was cer- tainly of a character to deserve notice. Neither Capt. Ervin nor Dickinson could afford to treat it with indif- ference. There seems to be no denial of the fact that Patton Anderson, a party to the bet and a well-known close friend of Jackson, made the statement that the notes were different. This he did in the presence of Thomas Swann, Samuel Jackson and others. Samuel Jackson carried the story to Charles Dickin- son, naming Swann as one of those who were present when Anderson's statement was made. Dickinson called upon Swann for confirmation, and got it. There seems to be no denial of the fact that a few days after this, Swann saw Gen. Jackson at his own store, and asked him about the notes. Gen. Jackson, according to Swann, answered that Dickinson's notes were the same as those designated in the terms of the race, but that the notes offered by Capt. Ervin were different, in that they were not due. 104 LIFE AND TIMES OF JACKSON. Now the first thought which occurs to the impartial reader, is this : whatever difference there may have been between the notes staked and those tendered should have been pointed out by Jackson at the time they were of- fered; and after he had accepted satisfaction, he should have said nothing more about it. It is quite apparent that he did say something to his friend, Patton Anderson, about a difference in the notes — and the tragedy of Dickinson's death grew out of An- derson's repeating what Jackson said. The next step in the tragedy is the conversation be- tween Gapt. Ervin and Swann, in which Swann relates what Anderson had said and also what Jackson had stated. Capt. Ervin denied that any change had been made in the notes, and went into details to prove his contention. A few days later, there was a meeting of Gen. Jack- son, Capt. Ervin and Charles Dickinson in Nashville, and the matter of the notes was under discussion. In this conversation, it would seem that Jackson characterized as *'a damned liar" the author of the report that the notes in question were different from those which he had agreed to receive. This meeting was on Dec. 28, 1805, and Dickinson soon repeated to Swann what Jackson said. On Jan. 3, 1806, we find Swann writing to the General, quoting the words, "a damned liar," and seeming, in good faith, to take the words to himself. Considered coolly today, the note of Thomas Swann to Andrew Jackson does not appear extraordinary. The reply of Gen. Jackson to the note of Thomas Swann is an epistolary curiosity. Once upon a time, many years later, when the foxy Van Buren wrote his old Chief a letter that was meant to mystify. President Jackson, after puzzling over the mis- sive till his meager store of patience was exhausted, burst out: "I can't make heads or tails of it, and — by the Lord! — I don't believe Van Buren himself can!" Something like the same feeling comes over me as I LIFE AND TIMES OF JACKSON. 105 ponder upon the fateful missive which made the Dickin- son duel inevitable ! Jackson's reply to Swann is dated Jan. 7th, 1806. It is written from the Hermitage. In its broken sentences, its abrupt changes, its violent wrenchings of Swann 's meaning, its intolerably scornful allusions to Swann him- self, and its irrelevant, unprovoked and most insulting reference to Dickinson, Jackson's fury is manifest. Boiling with passion, he wrote a letter which seems to have been totally uncalled for, out of all reasonable lati- tude of self-defense, and full of provocation to a third party — Dickinson. Let us see : Thomas Swann had heard Patton Ander- son 's statement about the notes. He had not carried that statement to Dickinson, but when asked to verify the fact that Anderson had made it, did so. Further, he had conversed with General Jackson in the latter 's store at Clover Bottom, and the General had, in part at least, supported the statement of Ander- son. Then when Capt. Ervin had made inquiries con- cerning the rumor about the notes, Swann had related what he had understood Jackson to say at the store. Then comes the interview in Nashville between Cap- tain Ervin and Charles Dickinson, on the one part, and Andrew Jackson on the other. In this conversation General Jackson must have de- nounced the author of the report concerning the notes as "a damned liar," for he practically admits as much in his reply to Swann, dated March 7th, 1806. General Jackson's reply to Swann, closely read, not only shows that he denounced the author of the report in question, but that he meant the denunciation for Thomas Swann. True, he denies the use of the exact words quoted by Swann, but there can be no question that Jack- son had made such a disclaimer as satisfied both Captain Ervin and Dickinson, nor is there any doubt that he had harshly characterized the author of the report. General Jackson found fault with Dickinson for not quoting him correctly, but he himself did not state what 8 a j 106 LIFE AND TIMES OF JACKSON. the correct language was. But General Jackson's cMef grievance against Dickinson was that he did not imme- diately report to Swann — then in the same tavern — what Jackson had said, in order that an "explanation" might have taken place! Says the angry Jackson, in this fatal note : "There are certain traits that always accompany the gentleman and the man of truth. The moment he hears harsh expressions applied to a friend, he will immedi- ately communicate it, that explanation may take place; when the base poltroon and cowardly tale-bearer will al- ways act in the back-ground. You can apply the latter to Mr. Dickinson and see which best fits him. "I write it for his eye, and the latter I intend em- phatically for him. "When the corversation dropt between Mr. Dickinson and myself, I thought it was at an end. As he wishes to blow the coal, I am ready to light it to a blaze. ' ' Here, surely, was no pacific effort to keep down strife ! Here was nothing lacking, if the intent was to give insufferable affront. What had Dickinson done? He had told Swann that Jackson had denied the re- ported statement about the notes and had denounced the author as a liar. That Jackson had made a disclaimer which satisfied both Ervin and Dickinson, is clear froto his own letter: that he had spoken harshly of the author of the report, he admitted. But he was furious because Dickinson had not reported his words correctly; because he had not gone immediately to' his friend, Swann, and brought him, then, to confront Jackson, and because in relating the matter, subsequently, he had acted the base poltroon and cowardly tale-bearer. Lest Swann might by any chance head off a fight by keeping Jackson's passionate letter to himself, he is par- ticularly requested by the General to show the letter to Dickinson, and to tell him that the most unpardonably insulting lines in it are intended for his especial benefit. LIFE AND TIMES OF JACKSON. 107 And yet the ludicrously credulous Jacksonian biog- rapher, James Parton, solemnly brings forward Sam Houston to declare to posterity that, "I was told,'' Jack- son, — the conciliatory and pacific, — bore with the ag- gressive Dickinson until patience had become a burden to the flesh; and that after the most humane and consider- ate efforts to persuade Dickinson to quit villifying his wife, in public taverns, Jackson was reluctantly forced into the duel! In response to the letter of General Jackson, the youthful Swann, — a foolish fellow evidently — sent the General a formal challenge which was ignored. The next time Jackson met Swann, he struck his challenger with his cane, and then clapped his hand upon his pistol. Friends caught hold of both parties, there was no further blow, — and Thomas Sw?nn drops out of history. He was a weakling, probably a coward, but General Jackson was certainly wrong when he took up the idea that Swann was a tool being used by Dickinson to make trouble for Jackson. When Dickinson was shown the letter of General Jackson, he addressed him a note which was moderate, sarcastic and hard to answer. The General was again reminded that his friend Anderson had started the report about the notes, and that Swann 's name had only been mentioned when Dick- inson had told the General that there was ^'another witness." "Who is it?" the General had asked. ''Bring him forward!" demanded the General. *'No : that would look like throwing the burden off my shoulders on to him : ' ' — a manly reply ! Dickinson offered to prove by Captain Ervin and Samuel Jackson that General Jackson did denounce the author of the report as "a damned liar." Then he asks this question, which i-s a clincher: "Why should you have wished to have Mr. Swann called, had you not denied what he asserted?" Then Dickinson adds, very forcibly, it seems to the present writer: 108 LIFE AND TIMES OF JACKSON. ''And you pretend to call a man a tale-bearer for tell- ing that wliieh is truth and can be proved." Thankless is the task of the historian. Dispassionate and careful, he often sees clearly the awful blunders which were hidden to the living men who strutted their brief hour upon the stage and then passed onward into the night — into which the historian soon follows. General Andrew Jackson took up the notion that two young, educated lawyers, one of them rich, handsome, accomplished and well connected, were "making game of him,'' and that Dickinson, the more important of the two, was egging Thomas Swann on to badger him, Jack- son. This idea once in Jackson 's head, could not get out. He believed it then, and believed it to his dying hour ; yet nothing is more certain than that he was laboring throughout under a terrible mistake. The dispassionate reader can see at a glance that the whole dispute, at the latter stage where Dickinson and Jackson clashed, hinged upon this issue: — Whether in his conversation with Ervin and Dickin- son, the General had denounced as false the reported statement of Thomas Swann. Dickinson's question went straight to the bull's-eye: ''Why should you have wished to have Mr. Swann called, had you not denied what he asserted?" Remember reader, — Jackson himself says in his let- ter to Swann that he had asked Dickinson to call him in, and that Dickinson declined to do so. Therefore, Dickinson's question was a clincher. Jackson could not answer it, nor could any one else answer it, in a way that condemns Dickinson and acquits Jackson. Immediately after the sending of his letter, Dickin- son went, by flat-boat, to New Orleans, and while he was absent the feud thickened. General Jackson prepared a very lengthy and labored newspaper article in reply to Thomas Swann ; and the reading of it causes the impar- tial critic to soliloquise, "Happily for Jackson, his aim with a pistol was better than with a pen!" LIFE AND TIMES OF JACKSON. 109 The simple truth is that he does not appear to advan- tage in this controversy with Swann and Dickinson. He quibbles, he splits hairs, he muddies the water, he blus- ters and abuses, — he does everything rather than meet the issue. The General publishes as a part of his communica- tion, an affidavit of John Hutchins. Carefully analyzed, this affidavit proves that Jackson's friend, Patton An- derson, had originated the report about the Ervin notes ; that Anderson, on hearing Jackson's full explanation at his store, had admitted that he had taken up a mistaken idea about the matter ; and that Thomas Swann had told the literal truth when he said that Jackson claimed that Captain Ervin had offered notes different from those stipulated. James Parton, Jacksonian biographer, actually fur- nishes the evidence which excuses Patton Anderson, with- out seeming to be conscious of what he has done, — one instance out of many that might be cited where the hasty author did not digest his own materials. ^ According to the Hutchings affidavit, which General Jackson obtained for his own exoneration, Captain Ervin was accused by Jackson of the very thing reported by Anderson. He offered in payment of the forfeit, notes that were not due, and Jackson refused to receive them. Captain Ervin contended that the notes offered were the same as those listed on the schedule shown at Nashville. Jackson asked to see the list. Ervin felt in his pockets for it, but did not find it. He then said that Dickinson had the notes and schedule. Dickinson was called in, produced the notes and schedule, and the mat- ter was settled to the satisfaction of all concerned. Now, it is easy to understand how this transaction about the notes could have been misunderstood and mis- repsesented. Jackson himself brings John Hutchings forward to swear to the very thing that Swann had re- ported — the refusal of Jackson to accept notes which he claimed to be different from those staked. Then Jackson himself, as set forth in the Hutchings 110 LIFE AND TIMES OF JACKSON. affidavit, explains the settlement of the matter precisely as Swann reports Captain Ervin to have explained it — to-wit, Jackson was given the notes originally staked, ex- cepting one on Robert Thompson, for which Ervin gave his own order on King & Carson. How natural it was for some exasperation to grow ont of this little affair! Jackson making the point on the difference in the notes : Ervin appealing to the Nash- ville schedule : Jackson demanding the production of the paper: Ervin vainly going through his pockets to find it : Dickinson being called in and producing the schedule, and Jackson being shown to have been wrong! Yet the substitution of Ervin 's own note for that of Robert Thompson — a substitution which benefitted the holder of the note — gave some color to the original Pat- ton Anderson statement that different notes had been offered. A most unlucky muddle about a mighty small matter, — and yet what an awful tragedy grew out of it! Con- tinuing his lamentable publication, General Jackson fol- lows up the Hutchings affidavit with a long statement from his faithful friend, John Coffee. The faithful John relates the circumstances leading up to the blow which Jackson struck poor Swann. At this point enters upon the scene Nathaniel McNairy, who seemed inclined to take the part of the luckless Swann, whose challenge to honorable combat had been ignored, and who, in a public tavern, had been ignominiously hit with a stick. In the most gallant spirit. General Jackson yielded so far as to the remonstrances of McNairy as to authorize that gentleman to say to his friend, Swann, that while the General would not degrade himself by accepting Swann 's challenge, he would accommodate him to this extent: he would ride with Swann anywhere, on any ground he would name : he would meet Swann in any se- questered grove he would point out. Much more to the same effect is stated with tedious particularity by the faithful John Coffee. LIFE AND TIMES OF JACKSON. Ill General Jackson's handsome and liberal offer to "ride with'' Swann to some "sequestered grove," seems not to have tempted that young gentleman in the least. He digested his caning as best he could and, so far as I know, enjoyed life just as well ever after. It would seem that Thomas Swann had treated Samuel Jackson "very rascally." Item: In the course of a conversation between Thomas and Samuel, the former had voluntarily stated that in case the latter should need some money, the for- mer could lend him some. With prophetic accuracy, Samuel Jackson then and there informed Thomas Swann that it was possible he, Samuel, might want to borrow $100 before long. Sure enough, on the very next day, Samuel Jackson did want to borrow the identical sum of $100, and he ap- plied to Thomas Swann for it. Whereupon, the elusive Thomas declared that he had loaned the money out. Now, it is almost incredible, but literally true, that General Jackson, who spent nearly two weeks in the preparation of his article, went out and got two affi- davits setting forth the facts concerning this affair.. Eobert Hays and Robert Butler are lugged in by the ears to prove that they heard Samuel Jackson say that Thomas Swann had acted "very rascally" with him in not lending him the $100 after voluntarily saying the day before that he would do so. Think of Andrew Jackson stooping to pin-hook fish- ing of this sort! It must be confessed that the General cuts a very sorry figure in this controversy, — so long as it remained in the pen and ink stage of development. Next in order. General Jackson produces a statement signed by Robert Purdy. This statement of Purdy being brief and racy of the soil, is given in Purdy 's own lan- guage : "Some time since, Mr. Thomas Swann and myself had a conversation about Mr. Samuel Jackson. Mr. Swann asked me if I did not suppose Mr. Jackson was one of the damndest rascals on earth, and observed that he, Jackson, was a damned rascal." 112 LIFE AND TIMES OF JACKSON. Who could have supposed that the mind which was brewing such miserable pottage as the foregoing had also the capacity to expand into greatness? Of what consequence was it to prove that Samuel Jackson spoke of Thomas Swann as a rascal, and that Thomas Swann spoke of Samuel Jackson as "one of the damndest rascals on earth I" What did that have to do with it? The real issue was — did Jackson denounce Swann to Ervin and Dickinson as ''a damned liar," or in some equivalent terms, and had Swann, in fact, told any lie about those disputed notes? That was the real issue, and General Andrew Jackson did everything else but meet it. He muddied the water very successfully at the time; he shot his way out of the embarrassing position in which he had involved himself; but, to anyone who knows how to sift and analyze testimony, the facts are plain enough. Continuing at great length, General Jackson heaps scorn and ridicule upon Nathaniel McNairy who, as we have seen, showed some disposition to oppose Jackson's brutal treatment of Swann. The General virtually calls McNairy a liar and a coward. But the worst is kept for Dickinson. In so many words, the General says that he is a "worthless, drunken, blackguard scoundrel." Pursuing a false and fatal notion to which allusion has already been made, Jackson says of Swann, ' ' He has acted the puppet and lying valet'' for Charles Dickinson. "He has impertinently and inconsistently obtruded himself" into a dispute that did not concern him. Gen- eral Jackson believed this, else he would would not have said it, but he was utterly mistaken. Swann had not thrust himself into the dispute about the notes, but had only borne testimony, when called upon by Dickinson, to what Patton Anderson had said. Nor had he acted as anybody's puppet. When he was told by Dickinson that Jackson had denounced him as a liar, he had most naturally written to General Jackson LIFE AND TIMES OF JACKSON. 113 about it, upon his own motion. The longest affidavit produced by General Jackson was that of the faithful John Coffee. Few men have had such a strong, loyal, enduring friend as Andrew Jackson had in John Coffee, his part- ner in business, his backer on the race-track, his backer in street fights, his ablest lieutenant on the field of battle. In this Dickinson controversy, the faithful Coffee was on hand, of course, testifying in the most favorable man- ner possible for his partner and friend, Jackson. In the certificate of Coffee, Jackson's crown of glory is ad- justed with the nicest sense of propriety. In the certifi- cate of Coffee, Jackson first canes young Thomas Swann, and then lectures him in a paternal and encouraging manner, which is edifying in the highest degree. In the certificate of Coffee, it is not easy to decide which is the greater shuffler and coward, Swann or McNairy. When General Jackson's article appeared in the newspaper, carrying along with it that rare mosaic, the John Coffee certificate, McNairy went into action with much promptitude. He "came out in a card" which blistered both Jackson and Coffee. For reasons not difficult to guess, Jackson took no notice of McNairy 's card. Jackson was waiting for Dick- inson; Partner John Coffee must take care of McNairy. The loyal and gallant Coffee did not hesitate an in- stant. He challenged McNairy; they met "on the field of honor, ' ' and Coffee was severely wounded in the thigh. McNairy had fired too quickly, before the word was given. He had done the same thing once before in a duel. It seems to have been an exasperating habit of his. To repair his fault, as far as was in his power, Mc- Nairy offered to stand up, unarmed, and give Coffee a shot at him. This offer was declined, and so the matter ended between these two. But Jackson's wrath must have burned the more fiercely because of this worsting of his friend and part- ner. Coffee, by McNairy, the friend of Swann and Dickinson. 114 LIFE AND TIMES OF JACKSON. It was not until after the middle of May, 1806, that Dickinson returned to Nashville. When he read the letter in which General Jackson had published him as " a worth- less, drunken, blackguard scoundrel,'' he at once rushed into print with a card which was flippant and undignified in its tone, but which went no further than to retort upon Jackson the terms ''worthless scoundrel, poltroon and coward. ' ' General Jackson had twice flung those intolerably of- fensive epithets at Dickinson ; when the latter flung them back at him, Jackson immediately sent a challenge. On the same day it was accepted. On Friday, May 30, 1806, the duel was fought, at Harrison's Mills, Logan County, Kentucky, on Red River. The tragedy there enacted will be described in the words of James Parton, whose account is as nearly accurate, no doubt,, as can be written. In justice to the victim of this barbarous duel, it should be said that there isn't a particle of evidence that he was a practised duellist, that he had killed his man, that he amused himself by showing his skill with a pistol on the way to the ground, or that he indulged in any un- seemly bravado whatever. So far as the record dis- closes, Dickinson acted the brave gentleman throughout. The fight was not of his seeking. It was forced upon him. He but accepted the inevitable. He twice allowed Jackson to denounce him as a base poltroon, without sending a challenge. When he accepted the challenge, he must have realized the danger. General Jackson was well known as a man of iron nerve, and as a dead shot with a pistol. Brave I Of course Andrew Jackson was brave, but was he a coward who stood there unarmed, uncovered, within twenty feet of a dead shot, and never quivering a muscle while the ruthless Jackson snapped his pistol at him, recocked it deliberately, and shot him down? Did any man ever stand face to face with death and meet it more manfully than poor Charles Dickinson? The Jackson-Dickinson duel LIFE AND TIMES OF JACKSON. 115 But let us read Parton's graphic story of the fight, and then leave the gruesome episode behind us, as we travel onward with the narrative of Jackson's eventful career : Dickinson's second won the choice of position, and Jackson 's the office of giving the word. The astute Over- ton considered this giving of the word a matter of great importance, and he had already determined how he would give it, if the lot fell to him. The eight paces were measured off, and the men placed. All the politenesses of such occasions were strictly and elegantly performed. Jackson was dressed in a loose frock-coat, buttoned care- lessly over his chest, and concealing in some degree the extreme slenderness of his figure. Dickinson was the younger and handsomer man of the two. But Jackson's tall, erect figure, and the still intensity of his demeanor, gave him a most superior and commanding air, as he stood under the poplars on this bright May morning, silently awaiting the moment of doom. ''Are you ready?" said Overton. "I am ready," replied Dickin- son. "I am ready," said Jackson, The words were no sooner pronounced than Overton, with a sudden shout, cried, using his old-country pronunciation, "Fere!'' Dickinson raised his pistol quickly and fired. Overton, who was looking with anxiety and dread at Jackson, saw a puff of dust fly from the breast of his coat, and saw him raise his left arm and place it tightly across his chest. He surely is hit, thought Overton, and in a bad place, too ; but no ; he does not fall. Erect and grim as Fate he stood, his teeth clenched, raising his pistol. Overton glanced at Dickinson. Amazed at the unwonted failure of his aim, and apparently appalled at the awful figure and face before him, Dickinson had unconsciously re- coiled a pace or two. "Great God!" he faltered, "have I missed him?" "Back to the mark, sir!" shrieked Over- ton, with his hand upon his pistol. Dickinson recovered his composure, stepped forward to the peg, and stood with .-r 116 LIFE AND TIMES OF JACKSON. his eyes averted from his antagonist. Air this was the work of a moment, though it requires many words to tell it. General Jackson took deliberate air, and pulled the trigger. The pistol neither snapped nor went off. He looked at the trigger, and discovered that it had stopped at half cock. He drew it back to its place, and took aim a second time. He fired. Dickinson 's face blanched ; he reeled; his friends rushed towards him, caught him in their arms, and gently seated him on the ground, leaning against a bush. His trousers reddenen. They stripped him of his clothes. The blood was gushing from his side in a torrent. And, alas! here is the ball, not near the wound, but above the opposite hip, just under the skin. The ball had passed through the body, below the ribs. Such a wound could not but be fatal. Overton went for- ward and learned the condition of the wounded man. Eejoining his principal, he said, "He won't want any- thing more of you, General," and conducted him from the ground. They had gone a hundred yards, Overton walking on one side of Jackson, the surgeon on the other, and neither speaking a word, when the surgeon observed that one of Jackson's shoes was full of blood. "My God! General Jackson, are you hit ? " he exclaimed, pointing to the blood. "Oh! I believe," replied Jackson, "that he has pinked me a little. Let 's look at it. But say nothing about it there," pointing to the house. He opened his coat. Dickinson's aim had been perfect. He had sent the ball precisely where he supposed Jackson's heart was beating. But the thinness of his body and the loose- ness of his coat combining to deceive Dickinson,- the ball had only broken a rib or two, and raked the breast-bone. It was a somewhat painful, bad-looking wound, but neither severe nor dangerous, and he was able to ride to the tavern without much inconvenience. Upon approach- ing the house, he went up to one of the negro women who was churning, and asked her if the butter had come. She said it was just coming. He asked her for some butter- milk. While she was getting it for him, she observed him furtively open his coat and look within. She saw that his The spring-house where Jackson drank the buttermilk LIFE AND TIMES OF JACKSON. 117 shirt was soaked with blood, and she stood gazing in blank horror at the sight, dipper in hand. He caught her eye, and hastily buttoned his coat again. She dipped out a quart measure full of buttermilk, and gave it to him. He drank it off at a draught ; then went in, took off his coat, and had his wound carefully examined and dressed. This done, he dispatched one of his retinue to Dr. Catlett, to inquire respecting the condition of Dickinson, and to say that the surgeon attending himself would be glad to contribute his aid towards Mr. Dickinson's relief. Polite reply was returned that Mr. Dickinson's case was past surgery. In the course of the day, General Jackson sent a bottle of wine to Dr. Catlett for the use of his patient. But there was one gratification which Jackson could not, even in such circumstances, grant him. A very old friend of Jackson writes to me thus: "Although the General had been wounded, he did not desire it should be known until he had left the neighborhood, and had therefore concealed it at first from his own friends. His reason for this, as he once stated to me, that as Dickinson con- sidered himself the best shot in the world, and was cer- tain of killing him at the first fire, he did not want him to have the gratification even of knowing that he had touched him. Poor Dickinson bled to death. The flowing of blood was stanched, but could not be stopped. He was conveyed to the house in which he had passed the night, and placed upon a mattress, which was soon drenched with blood. He suffered extreme agony, and uttered horrible cries all that long day. At nine o'clock in the evening he sud- denly asked why they had put out the lights. The doc- tors knew then that the end was at hand : that the wife, who' had been sent for in the morning, would not arrive in time to close her husband's eyes. He died five minutes after, cursing, it is said, with his last breath, the ball that had entered his body. The poor wife hurried away on hearing that her husband was "dangerously wound- ed, ' ' and met, as she rode towards the scene of the- duel, 118 LIFE AND TIMES OF JACKSON. the procession of silent horsemen escorting a rough emi- grant wagoti that contained her husband's remains." Dickinson was buried from the Ervin home in Nash- ville, and on the old Ervin farm in the outskirts of the City. His solitary" tomb is almost forgotten and few know where it is to be found. The house in which Dickinson died LIFE AND TIMES OF JACKSON. 119 CHAPTER IX. And it came to pass that Aaron, the Prodigal Sol the Rev. Aaron Burr, — perfect Puritan, — and grandso of the Rev. Jonathan Edwards, — perfect Evangelical Christian, — was, during these years, (1805- '06) passing up and down the earth seeking for himself an empire. More specifically, he was busy in the Mississippi Valley, pivoting his projects on New Orleans, and holding in view the purpose of dismembering the Spanish posses- sions, to erect thereon some sort of Supremacy of his own. The Western country was full of adventurous in- dividuals who were eager for almost any kind of enter- prise that promised excitement and profit. Against Spain, particularly, it would have been the easiest mat- ter to array the frontiersmen. The settlers of the South and West not only hated the Spaniards for their efforts to close the Mississippi against the Americans, but because of the constant encouragement and support given to warlike Indians by Spanish officials. Therefore, when Aaron Burr came West on his doubt- ful mission, we are not surprised to find him visiting Tennessee. Its geographical location made it compara- tively certain that he would be able to recruit from the ranks of its people many a volunteer for service against Spain. Besides, Burr was popular in Tennessee. As Senator from New York, he had been her friend when she sought admission into the Union. The young State had voted for Jefferson and Burr in 1800, and while Burr's sup- posed treachery to Jefferson had cast a temporary dam- per over his popularity in the West, his duel with Hamil- ton had removed it. He had killed his man, and the North cast him out ; he had killed his man, and the South took him in. At Nashville, the ex- Vice-President was given an ovation. Flags were paraded, cannon fired, and "martial music" let loose on the community. There was a ban- 120 LIFE AND TIMES OF JACKSON. quet, of course ; and Col. Burr, of course, had to make a ^eeeli. *Teneral Jackson, chief of the Tennessee Militia, was a essary personage on such an occasion, and he was iiere. In the course of the dinner, he gave the patriotic toast: ''Millions for defense, but not one cent for trib- ute." In 1806 this sentiment applied to nothing in par- ticular, least of all to the designs which Aaron Burr had in mind, but it was applauded, nevertheless. After the feast. Burr went home with Jackson, riding the milk-white mare which Jackson's servant had led into Nashville that morning. Previous to 1804, the home of General Jackson had been on a farm known as Hunter's Hill; but in that year, or about that date, he removed to the adjoining estate which became world-famous as the Hermitage. When ex- Vice-President Burr, an elegant New Yorker, alighted from the milk-white mare, that evening in 1805, and entered the home of Andrew Jackson as guest, he must have needed all of his tact and social grace to keep up the appearance of "feeling at home." The hospitable Spaniard receives you with a courtly flourish at his door and ushers you in with a gracious, "The house is yours, Senor." Of course the house isn't yours, but you feel that you have been heartily welcomed. In the South, the host says to the welcome guest, "Make yourself at home," — his meaning being practi- cally the same as that of our Spaniard. You may be sure that Andrew Jackson said to Aaron Burr, "Walk in, and make yourself at home," and you may be sure that Colonel Burr acted as easily as though he had been camping out in log houses all his life — for in the externals, at least. Colonel Burr was a finished gen- tleman. The dwelling in which Jackson lived in 1805, and until 1819, consisted mainly of a substantial log house, built of squared logs, unceiled on the inside, and containing one large room, with a huge fire-place. Over this one room was a loft, or second story, divided into two rooms. LIFE AND TIMES OF JACKSON. 121 Connected with this bloek-honse was a smaller log cabin, and the connecting link between the two seems to have been a third log cabin which served both as a cov- ered "passage," and as a bed-room in emergencies. The General and good Aunt Eachel appear to have used the large room of the main building as bed room, living-room, reception hall and parlor. Such was the custom in those days, necessity making it so. Imagine a large, smoke-blackened room, with an old- fashioned bedstead, placed on one side of the fire-place, perhaps; candles flickering on mantel or table, a pine knot blazing on the hearth. General Jackson puffing away at a reed-stem cob-pipe on one side of the fire-place, and Aunt Eachel puffing away at a reed- stem cob-pipe on the other side of the fire-place; and Aaron Burr serenely seated somewhere in the middle space, looking for all the world as if he had been used to that kind of thing from his youth up, — and you will have a fairly faithful, after-supper picture of the inside of the Hermit- age in May 1805. Whatever the Burr projects may have been, Jackson was one of the main cogs in the wheel, and there is every reason to believe that the conclusion reached by Chief Justice Marshall after a careful sifting of the legal testi- mony was correct. Burr's design was to wrest from Spain a portion of her North American dominions. The scheme involved a crime, unless the United States declared war against Spain, but it seemed to be well within the range of possibilities that such an event would happen. Jackson was ready to sympathize with anything in that direction, and he was not the man to scruple much about the letter of the law. His intense feeling against Spain was shown throughout his own military career, and history must take notice of the fact that Sam Hous- ton, in going to Texas to lead the heroes of the war for Texan independence, was little more than the agent of President Jackson. And it must also be remembered that when the news of the Texas revolution came to the deathbed of Aaron Burr, in 1836, the unconquerable stoic 9 a j 122 LIFE AND TIMES OF JACKSON. who had never "winced nor cried aloud" during all the years when his head was bloody "beneath the bludgeon- ings of fate," exclaimed to the faithful few who minis- tered to him in his last hours, "There, you see! I was only thirty years too soon. What was treason in me, then, is patriotism now!" For five days. Colonel Burr prolonged his first visit to General Jackson ; and then, in a boat provided by Jack- son, he dropped down the Cumberland on his way to New Orleans. In August of the same year, 1805, Colonel Burr was back at the Hermitage, this time remaining even longer than before. After this there was important cor- respondence between the two, the gist of it being: "Have troops ready." Then, in September, 1806, Colonel Burr is again at the Hermitage, and this time it is Jackson who suggests to his friends the propriety of showing some public "mark of respect to this worthy visitant." It was determined that such "a mark of respect" should take the form of a public ball in Nashville. Shrewd, practical Andrew Jackson ! He was suffering at that time from a considerable decline in popularity. His Dickinsoli duel had hurt him in public opinion. None but his personal partisans had approved his course in that deplorable row. Throughout the State of Tennessee there was beginning to be a general opinion that Andrew Jackson was entirely too fractious, violent, and unscru- pulous, — even for a border State. Jackson was conscious of this loss of popularity and was stung by it. Reading between the lines, one can see a certain strategy in the use he now makes of "the hero of the hour," ex- Vice-President Burr. Since the duel, Jackson has made no public appear- ance. There is doubt as to how he will be received. Let us write letters to the Jackson partisans, let us invite certain local celebrities to come out to the Hermitage to pay their respects to" Colonel Burr, Tennessee's friend; above all, let Gen. James Robertson be urged to come. James Robertson is known as "the father of Tennessee," LIFE AND TIMES OF JACKSON. 123 and if he will comp the ice will be broken, indeed. Then let us give a public ball. Of all functions, it is the easiest to steer to success. Everybody will go to the ball. The lights, the music, the dance, the gayety, the opportunity for yolithful vanity to make its display, while the elders talk of old times and encourage the revelry of the young, — these will make a success of a public ball, when any other social function would be a dismal failure. ''The mark of respect" therefore takes the shape of a ball; and all the regions round about send their fair women and brave men ; and there is a prodigious amount of that old-fashioned muscular dancing which used to shake the house from top to bottom, and which bore no earthly resemblance to that effiminate performance called "tripping the light fantastic toe." Whether "the psychological moment" had been dis- covered in 1806 we really do not know, but good judges of human nature then knew when to do things, just as well as they know it now, — and Jackson was a good judge of human nature. Choosing the right moment, he entered the ball-room, and in the full uniform of a Major- General, with the distinguished visitor and guest of honor, Colonel Burr, on his arm. Going the rounds of the room, General Jackson, with that stately courtesy which was natural to him, introduced his distinguished friend and visitor, who charmed all hearts with his won- derful grace of manner and speech. Consider the epi- sode! Aaron Burr had killed Alexander Hamilton in a duel, a fair fight, according to the "Code of Honor." Tennessee has already shown, by the enthusiastic ova- tion of 1805, that she did not blame Colonel Burr for Hamilton's death. Now, in 1806, Andrew Jackson is laboring under some odium for the killing of Dickinson. What could more effectually remove that odium than that the two eminent duellists should appear, arm in arm, in a public ball-room, where people are naturally dis- posed to be lighthearted, and where any coolness to Jackson will be out of place, and an offense to the guest of honor. Colonel Burr? 124 LIFE AND TIMES OF JACKSON. Verily, those letters which Jackson wrote from the Hermitage to his friends in Nashville appear to have been shrewdly conceived. During November of the same year, 1806, Colonel Burr sent to General Jackson a large sum of money, ($3,500) and orders for the building of boats and the purchase of provisions. Jackson's partner, John Coffee, begins the work of building the boats, and Jackson's man Friday, Patton Anderson, begins to *' raise a company of young men" to serve with Burr, — Anderson getting seven hundred dollars of the Burr money for his "expen- ses." Soon afterwards came the ugly rumors that Burr's design was against the United States. Jackson took alarm, and wrote a letter of warning to Governor Clai- borne, of the Orleans territory. In that letter there is this significant statement: "I hate the Dons ; I would delight to see Mexico reduced ; but I will die in the last ditch before I would yield a foot to the Dons, or see the Union disunited." This sentence would seem to unlock the mystery. In the light of all the known facts, it warrants the conclu- sion that Jackson had confederated with Burr in the belief that the Dons (the Spaniards) were to be attacked and Mexico reduced; but that if Burr meant to attempt the disruption of the Union, he would find a determined opponent in Jackson. There can be no reasonable doubt that Burr had told Jackson he meant to attack the Dons and reduce Mexico ; to this extent Jackson was heartily willing to go; his bosom friend, Patton Anderson, was enlisting volunteers for that very purpose; and his wife's nephew, Stokely Hays, was one of the young men who was to go with Burr. Jackson himself had made up the skeleton organ- ization of two regiments, in case a war was brought on between the United States and Spain. To say that Andrew Jackson went to these lengths in the belief that Burr contemplated nothing more than a settlement of a Spanish land grant on the Washita river, or an attack on the Dons if a war broke out between Aaron Burr LIFE AND TIMES OF JACKSON. 125 Spain and the United States, is absurd. Jackson was made to believe, apparently, that it was a part of the scheme that General Wilkinson should bring on the war ! Wilkinson was in position to do that very thing. No one else was; and it needed but the lifting of a finger for General Wilkinson to start the ball rolling. On the Sabine river, American soldiers confronted the Spanish camp, and the Americans were eager to attack. Evi- dently, it was here that Burr expected the decisive action to be taken. But Wilkinson failed him. Up to that time, Wilkinson, Commander-in-Chief of the United States Army, had been in the plot. Why he suddenly betrayed it, cannot be known. His nerve may have weakened at the last moment. Or Spanish gold may have bribed him then, as it is known to have bought him later. Whatever the cause, his desertion put an end to the project. He not only deserted Burr, but betrayed him. When we recall the facts that Colonel Burr never did find fault with Jackson, but praised him ; and that Jack- son neved did denounce Burr, but defended him ; and that both Jackson and Burr always displayed the utmost con- tempt for, and hatred of Wilkinson, the supposition that the trio were engaged in the conimon plot against Mexico, and that the treachery and the perjury of Wilkinson were the causes of the contempt and the hatred of Burr and Jackson, becomes the most reasonable explanation of the facts. Jackson attended the famous trial of Burr for trea- son, as a witness ; and on the streets of Richmond loudly and roundly denounced President Jefferson for his per- secution of Burr. Although summoned as a witness for the prosecution, the Government did not "put him up." General Jackson's curious and natural tendency to strut, crops out amusingly in a private letter written from Richmond to his friend, Patton Anderson. He has been in Richmond several weeks, and Mrs. Jackson, left at the Hermitage, is anxious for his return. The Gen- eral, writing to his friend Anderson, bids him see Mrs. Jackson and "tell her not to be uneasy. I will be home 126 LIFE AND TIMES OF JACKSON. as soon as my obedience to the precept of my country will permit." Most witnesses attend court because tliey are sub- poenaed; with Gen. Andrew Jackson the ceremony was not so simple. With him the answer to a court summons takes the stately form of "obedience to the precept of my country. ' ' During the brief flurry caused by the rumor that Aaron Burr was about to overturn the Government, or do other things equally irregular, Nashville fell into a panic. There was a rush to arms. General Jackson, as in duty bound, called out the militia; and the patriotic fever ran so high that the Revolutionary veterans, headed by noble old James Robertson, volunteered their services. In the address prepared for them they declared, "This is an important crisis when the limits of legal active exertion should not be sought with a microscopic eye. ' ' These fine old men sincerely believed that something desperate was about to happen, — yet no one could say that an armed force, of any kind, threatened the good order, peace and dignity of the Union. In fact, there was no such force in existence. Nevertheless, the blind panic of fear and hatred drove the Ohio militia to wanton, brutal outrage at Blenner- hassett's Island-home, and the same panic caused a deal of bombastic performance at Nashville. General Jackson, eager to make the most of the opportunity, published a formal reply to the address of the Revolutionary veterans. In this proclamation to "Gen. James RolDertson and the Corps of Invincibles, " the Jacksonian strut appears in all its glory. After reminding the Invincibles that the offer of their services at this serious crisis will be gratefully appreciated by the President of the United States, and noticed by future historians as an instance of patriotism to be found only in republics. General Jackson indulges in a strain of lofty moralizing which carries him into such expressions as these: LIFE AND TIMES OF JACKSON. 127 "Age in a Government of laws and freedom, is entitled to' a claim of patriotism, but it is usually entitled to the highest respect from the young. The frost of age is as necessary in the moral as in the physical world. The dissipated attention of men is collected, and the natural relaxation of youth invigorated." If you, gentle reader, can tell what that means, you haye the advantage of this biographer. So promptly had General Jackson written to the President, as well as to Governor Claiborne, and so energetic had been his preparations to smash whatever treasonable movement might show its head, that the sus- picions of his patriotism, aroused by his intimacy with Burr, passed away. Neither at home nor abroad was it doubted, thenceforth, that he was intensely loyal to his. country. The years between 1806 to 1812, are comparatively uneventful in the life of Andrew Jackson. By the Fed- eral administration he was regarded as a malcontent. Upon Mr. Jefferson, the Chief of his party, he had made the impression that he was a rash, quarrelsome, violent man. In Tennessee, the people were divided, but it is probable that during these years Jackson would have been rejected at the polls in any fair contest for public office. His private affairs were sufficient, however, to keep him busy. He owned one of the finest farms in the love- liest region that the sun shines on. He had one hundred and fifty slaves and managed them with perfect success. His home life was happy. Grieved because children had not come to bless his marriage with Rachel Donelson, he adopted as his son one of his nephews. Afterwards, another of her nephews became a member of the family, and was treated like a son. Fractious and hard to get along with everywhere else, Jackson was a model of patience, indulgenc and affectionate loyalty in his own home. A prince of hospitality, his door flew open to the peddler with his pack as readily as to generals, governors, and 128 LIFE AND TIMES OF JACKSON. senators. A more devoted husband never lived. As she grew older and her husband rose in the world, Aunt Rachel's appearance and accomplishments were not of the kind to show to advantage. She was short and stout, — a dumpy woman, — and it must be owned that she was illiterate. She dressed in the plain- est way, consulting her bodily comfort therein with a serene disregard of the latest Parisian agonies. She was apt to express herself in the homely fashion which had been in vogue in the backwoods when she was a girl, but which was not precisely suited to the improving taste of Nashville, or to the polite circles of New Orleans. Con- sequently, as Jackson's fame spread abroad, and social obligations called him and Aunt Rachel into companies where custom had laid down the unwritten laws of social propriety, it became necessary for the young ladies of Nashville, who were of the Jackson party, to chaperon Aunt Rachel and steer the good soul safely along the ceremonial channels, lest she cause distress to the Jack son party by going blindly on the reefs. But, to the immense credit of General Jackson, it is to be said that if ever he was in the slightest degree con- scious of the limitations of his wife, he was too much of a nobleman to show it. In public and in private, his bearing toward her was that of the loyal, devoted cava- lier. At balls, he led her out on the floor to dance the jump-up-and-kick-your-heels reel, with all the gravity of George Washington walking the minuet. Jackson was tall and his wife short ; he was lean and she was fat ; and when they threw themselves into the old-fashioned reel, bobbing back and forth, jumping up and down, heels and heads and hands flying about in the abandon that made the floor rock, the sight must have been grotesque. But there was nothing ludicrous in it to Jackson, and if any- body felt like laughing he was too prudent to do it. Living in a cattle-raising section which has no supe- rior in the world, Jackson made a specialty of fine stock. No man was fonder of a good horse, and nobody rode or drove better ones than himself. At the race-track he LIFE AND TIMES OF JACKSON. 129 continued to be a leading figure, always entering a horse of his own, and betting on it. It is not recorded that he ever made or lost any reckless wagers, though there is at least one well attested instance of Jackson's winning all the money and all the negroes that a fellow Tennessean had. Like most high-strung "gentleman-sports," he was sensitive to any disparagement of his horse. This irri- tability sometimes carried him too far. For instance: on one occasion, on the race course at Nashville, Jackson became enraged at some slighting re- mark made about his horse by Colonel Rutherford, a Revolutionary soldier a few years older than Jackson. Patton Anderson, the superserviceable man Friday whose unbridled tongue started the Dickinson affair, went to Colonel Rutherford, who was on the ground, and said to him: "General Jackson has heard that you have spoken disparagingly of his horse, and he told me to warn you that if there was a repetition of the same he would hold you personally responsible." There were brave men before Julius Caesar, or Aga- memnon either, and General Jackson was not by any means the only "dead game" man in Tennessee, — as some foolish romancers would have us believe. Colonel Rutherford's answer to the officious Ander- son was this : "You tell General Jackson for me that I will say what I d — n please about him and his horse, and that I have as good a pair of duelling pistols as he has, and am ready to meet him at any time." We have no record of the tale carried, this time, to General Jackson by the too zealous Patton Anderson, but we do know that when General Jackson, next morning met Colonel Rutherford, the General hailed the Revolu- tionary hero with a, ' ' Good morning. Colonel Rutherford ! I hope you are in good health, and I want to say to you that Patton An- derson is a liar. I did not say to him what he told you I said. I have always respected you, Sir. ' ' 130 LIFE AND TIMES OF JACKSON. And the present biographer considers that this manly disclaimer, made by the one brave man to the other, was infinitely more creditable to General Jackson than a foolish persistence in backing np with his pistol some petulant, race-track words which had no earthly impor- tance. Poor Patton Anderson lost his own life in a personal feud not long afterwards, and though General Jackson threw the full weight of his influence against the man who killed his friend, the slayer escaped with a slight sentence. Anderson's well known character for violence, which Jackson had to practically admit on the stand, and Jackson's own intemperate zeal for the prosecution were the salvation of the accused in what appears to have been a premeditated murder. (Thomas H. Benton was the leading lawyer of the defendant, and his cross-examination of Jackson turned the tide for his client.) Continuing his profitable business of negro-trader, in which he had a partnership with Coleman and Green, Jackson became involved in a row with Silas Dinsmore, the U. S. Agent to the Choctaw Indians. This squabble would not now be worth noticing, did it not throw a bright light over the subject we are studying — the character of Andrew Jackson. Dinsmore was stationed among the Choctaws as resi- dent agent of the Government. It was his duty to protect white settlers from Indian depredations, and the Indians from white encroachments. There is nothing to show that he was other than a faithful servant of the Govern- ment, honestly trying to discharge his duty. But his task was difficult, and luck was against him. His troubles arose out of a dispute over the road which ran through the Choctaw Nation from the Mississippi river. The treaty between the United States and the Choc- taws guaranteed a free public road, open to all. But a subsequent Act of Congress provided that travelers carrying negroes along the road should have a passport for the negroes. This act was, of course, intended to LIFE AND TIMES OF JACKSON. 131 stop ''the run-away nigger." Therefore the planters, who owned slaves highly approved the Act, and insisted that Dinsmore enforce it. The negro-traders, quite as naturally, objected to the Act, as in restraint of trade, and violently resented Dinsmore 's efforts to compel a compliance with the law. General Jackson, having occasion, as already stated, to carry a string of slaves through the Choctaw country not only did not get the papers required by the Act of Congress, but armed his negroes to make resistance to the Government, should the Agent try to prevent his pas- sage. Dinsmore happened to be away from the agency at the time, but Jackson rode up and delivered his defi- ance to some Indians who were lounging around — telling them to deliver his message of challenge and defiance to the Agent upon his return. To such a pitch of wrath did General Jackson work himself over the quarrel with Dinsmore, that he wrote a formal letter to Congressman Geo. W. Campbell, of the Nashville District, requesting him to inform the Secre- tary of War of certain things. Congressman Campbell was asked to inform the Sec- retary of War that, if the Government did not remove Dinsmore, the people of Tennessee would rise in wrath and indignation, "sweep the Agent from the earth, and burn the agency-house." General Jackson admits, in this letter, that both Col. Ben Hawkins, the trusted friend of George Washington, and James Eobertso'n, "the father of Tennessee," are against him on this issue, but never- theless the Congressman must inform the Secretary of War that unless Dinsmore is removed "the agent and his houses will be demolished." Yet it is clear that Jackson was wrong. The Act of Congress, putting a condition upon the transport of slaves along a highway guaranteed by Treaty, was no more an infringement upon higher law than the statute against concealed weapons which puts conditions upon the constitutional right to keep and bear arms. Not directly, but indirectly Jackson's war upon Dins- 132 LIFE AND TIMES OF JACKSON. more drove out of the public service, and condemned to an old age of poverty, a worthy citizen who had done Jackson no wrong, and whose conduct in the trying office of Indian Agent had been dictated by a sense of duty. But the significance of the episode is to be found in this: — Jackson was ready to throw the people of Ten- nessee into armed conflict with the authorities of the Federal Government, in a case where he thought the Union was tramping upon the rights of a State. LIFE AND TIMES OF JACKSON. 133 CHAPTER X. The casting vote of Governor Roane, which made Andrew Jackson Major-General of the Tennessee Militia, condemned him to defeat at the next election, but it was the making of Jackson. John Sevier was too much of a hero in the eyes of the voters of the State for them to sanction at the polls the slight which Governor Roane had put upon him, in appointing over his head the young law- yer from North Carolina, who had never taken part in any military expedition. As already stated, Sevier became a candidate for Governor against Roane, in 1803, and was elected. After this, Roane remained in private life until 1811, when he received an appointment as Judge of one of the Superior Courts, thus dropping into a secondary position. Whether Andrew Jackson felt grateful to Governor Roane we cannot say. There is no evidence anywhere that he went further in Roane 's behalf than to support him for re-election in 1803, when the popularity of John Sevier overcame the combined strength of Jackson and Roane. It is quite clear that to this office of Major-General of the Tennessee Militia, Jackson owes his subsequent success and importance. The two predominating traits in his character were fierce energy and almost abnormal cambativeness. Had he remained a private citizen, his strength would have been wasted in personal quarrels, race-track contests, with an occasional street fight, or des- perate duel. The passions born in such a man require an outlet. When the door of opportunity was opened to him to make the most of his strong qualities in their natural field, military activity, his triumph and his fame were assured. Before his genius for detail, his restless activity, and the impetuosity and fearlessness of his initiative, everything save the most extraordinary power of resistance, was bound to go down in defeat. He was to prove that in preparing for conflict he was as careful as Napoleon; that in dashing upon his enemies he had the resistless confidence of Alexander : and that in his ruth- 134 LIFE AND TIMES OF JACKSON. less following up of victory he has never been excelled by any of the great captains. Without the Major-Generalship, it is difficult to see how Jackson would have maintained himself and secured the opportunities which enabled him to show the great- ness that was in him. But for this appointment, he would not have been the military leader of Tennessee in the War of 1812. He would not have had the opportunity to become famous as the chieftain who broke the warlike and powerful Creeks, and who gave to Great Britain the bloodiest beating she ever got on the field of battle. Without this appointment, Jackson would have been com- pelled to go to the wars in some subordinate capacity and take his chances of being courtmartialed and shot for dis- obedience to his superior officers. It was in October, 1812, that the Secretary of War wrote to the Governor of Tennessee, calling out fifteen hundred militia for the defense of the lower country. As a matter of fact, the force so called for was intended for the conquest of those Spanish possessions known as the Two Floridas. This purpose was well understood in Tennessee. For such an object every man in Tennessee capable of bearing arms was ready to serve. Governor Blount having authorized Major-General Jackson to call out volunteers, the call was issued Decem- ber 14. The volunteers assembled at Nashville on Decem- ber 10th, and on January 7, 1813, the infantry descended the river in boats, while the mounted men rode through the country to Natchez. That the real purpose of the ex- pedition was thoroughly understood and approved by Jackson and his men is shown by the letter which the General wrote to the Secretary of War. Said he: "I am now at the head of 2,070 volunteers, the choicest of our citizens, who go at the call of their country to execute the will of the Government ; who have no constitutional scruples, and if the Government orders, will rejoice at the opportunity of placing the American Eagle on the ram- parts of Mobile, Pensacola, and Fort St. Augustine." It will be remembered that throughout the year 1812 LIFE AND TIMES OF JACKSON. 135 United States troops still occupied Amelia Island and the St. Mary's River, although Congress had refused to authorize this occupation. The President, however, expected that at the next session of Congress the plans which he and Mr. Jefferson had both favored would meet with Congressional approval, and that the Two Floridas would become territory of the United States. It was in anticipation of this action of Congress that the troops from Tennessee were moved to Natchez, which place they reached February 15th. There they went into camp to await orders from Washington, believing that they would be directed to advance against Mobile or Pensacola. In the second volume of a book recently published un- der the title "Holston Methodism, from Its Origin to the Present Time," the author, Rev. Richard N. Price, of Tennessee, relates that when Andrew Jackson was or- ganizing his division to descend the Mississippi, he offered the Chaplaincy to Learner Blackman, a Methodist preacher. The offer was accepted, and Mr. Blackman went with the boats down the river. The Chaplain was unremitting in his labors among the soldiers, going from boat to boat to preach and pray. The officers were not saints, and the soldiers were sinners ; but they were com- pelled to respect the intense earnestness of their Chap- lain. Mr. Blackman was honest and fearless in preach- ing the gospel to the soldiers, and when he found that one of the sick was likely to die, he did not hesitate to tell him, in moving terms, that death was near. It seems that Jackson heard this and disapproved of it. He thought that the spirits of the sick man should be kept up to the last moment, upon, I presume, the good old theory that "While there is life there is hope." Consequently, the General told the preacher to quit telling his men that they were going to die. The Chaplain was urged to keep that opinion to himself. But Jackson met his match in Blackman. The Chaplain told the General, politely, but firmly, that on a question of that sort he would do just as he thought best, acting independently of the wishes and instructions of the commanding General. Jackson 136 LIFE AND TIMES OF JACKSON. had too much common sense to raise a row with a consci- entious minister of the gospel on a question of such a delicate nature, and the intrepid preacher had his own way. The Senate refused to authorize the seizure of East Florida, and therefore Mr. Madison's plans were thrown into confusion. There being no further use for General Jackson 's troops, orders were sent to him, directing him to dismiss his force, "the causes of embodying and marching to New Orleans the corps under your com- mand having ceased to exist. ' ' Jackson himself could not know what were the condi- tions at Washington which caused this face-about of the administration, and he was naturally and intensely indignant at the curt manner in which he and his volun- teers were turned adrift, so far from home, to make their way back as best they could. Feeling that he owed it to the patriots of Tennessee who had volunteered to serve under him to take them back in a body to Nashville before disbanding them, he made himself responsible for their pay and rations, collected whatever means of trans- portation the country afforded, gave his own drafts right and left for sums which meant his bankruptcy, in case the Government should fail to recognize its obligations to meet them; and thus, by his splendid loyalty to his troops, laid that first firm foundation of general popu- larity in his State which was to steadily bear him up through all subsequent stages. The War Department had not meant to be discour- teous or unfair to the Tennessee troops, but the original order for the disbandonment had been issued upon the assumption that Jackson was still in the neighborhood of Nashville. When the Washington authorities learned the true circumstances, the Secretary, Armstrong, wrote, March 22d, a very friendly letter to General Jackson, thanking him for the important services his troops would have rendered, "had the executive policy of occu- pying the Two Floridas been adopted by the National Legislature. ' ' LIFE AND TIMES OF JACKSON. 137 In this connection it should be stated that immedi- ately upon receipt of the news that war had been declared against Great Britain, General Jackson had offered to the President, through Governor Blount, of Ten- nessee, June 25th, 1812, his own services and those of 2,500 volimteers of his division. While the Secretary of War assured Jackson that the President had received his tender of services with peculiar satisfaction and expressed himself as "accepting" their services, the summer and autumn passed away without any call hav- ing been made upon the Tennessee troops. It was, no doubt, a lively scene at Natchez on the day when Jackson received the brief note from the Secretary of War, ordering him to dismiss his corps and to deliver to Major-General Wilkinson of the regular army "all the articles of public property which may have been put into its possession." Relating the circumstance long afterwards, Thomas H. Benton, who was one of the officers accompanying Jackson on this expedition, said: "I well remember the day when the order came. The first I knew of it was a message from the General to come to him at his tent ; for, though as coloinel of a regi- ment I had ceased to be aide, yet my place had not been filled and I was sent for as much as ever. He showed me the order and also his character in his instant determi- nation not to obey it. He had sketched a severe answer to the Secretary of War, and gave it to me to copy and arrange the matter of it. It was very severe. I tried hard to get some parts softer, but impossible. He then called a council of field officers, as he called it, though there was but little of the council in it, the only object being to hear his determination and take measures for executing it. The officers were unanimous in their determination to support him." General Jackson was in such a towering rage that he not only wrote what Mr. Benton termed "a very severe letter" to the Secretary of War, but he also wrote to the President and to the Commander-in-Chief of the United States Army, General Wilkinson, and also to Governor 10 a j 138 LIFE AND TIMES OF JACKSON. Blount, of Tennessee, — letters which Mr. Parton, the Biographer, says were "explanatory and indignant." Gathering up what wagons he could for the transport of provisions, baggage, and the sick, the General put out through the woods to march about 500 miles, the distance between Natchez and home. It was on this return trip that he won the nickname of "Old Hickory." Giving up his three horses for the use of the sick who were able to ride, he trudged along on foot like any private of the ranks; not only preserving his own cheerfulness amid the trials of tramping over muddy roads and the discom- forts of camping in the wilderness, but contributing by his constant attentions to keep up the spirits of all the others. His powers of endurance excited admiration, and it began to be remarked that the General was tough ; then the use of a common backwoods simile began to be heard, and the men would say — "The General is as tough as hickory;" then again he was called "Hickory;" and lastly that term of endearment peculiar to our peo- ple was affixed, and he was called "Old Hickory," a name which stuck. Before reaching the borders of Tennessee, General Jackson again offered the services of himself and his men to the Government, asking to be employed on the Canadian frontier. He offered to increase his force, if that were considered necessary. But the opportunity was not given him to show whether or not he could have done something in the North to remove the disgrace which had there fallen upon our arms. It was on the 22d of May that the returning army of Tennesseans was drawn up on the public square in Nash- ville to hear the formal command to disperse to their homes. This act was elaborated into a ceremonial, in which a flag worked by the ladies of East Tennessee and bearing an appropriate inscription, was presented to the Volunteers, and accepted in a becoming reply by General Jackson. Always gallant. General Jackson expressed himself handsomely in these words: "While I admire the elegant workmanship of these colors, my veneration LIFE AND TIMES OF JACKSON. 139 is excited for the patriotic disposiiton that prompted the ladies to bestow them on the volunteers of West Ten- nessee. Although the patriotic corps under my com- mand have not had an opportunity of meeting an enemy, yet they have evinced their disposition to do so. This distinguished mark of respect will be long remembered, and this splendid present shall be kept as a memorial of of the generosity and patriotism of the ladies of East Tennessee." That General Jackson came off with flying colors from this abortive military expedition, is abundantly shown by all the circumstances which mark the final dis- bandment of the troops. The Nashville Whig probably did not exaggerate the literal facts when it said : ' * Long will their General live in the memory of the volunteers of West Tennessee, for his benevolent, humane and fath- erly treatment of his soldiers; if gratitude and love can reward him. General Jackson has them. It affords us pleasure to say that we believe there is not a man be- longing to the detachment but what loves him. His fel- low citizens at home are not less pleased with his con- duct. We fondly hope his merited worth will not be overlooked by the Government," As this episode marks the real beginning of Jack- son's unquestioned popularity in Tennessee, it may be worth noticing that it arose from his doing what he thought was right in spite of the positive orders of his superior officers. He defied the Government, stood by his own troops, risked bankruptcy, and became a hero. The sequel is well related by Colonel Benton, who says: "We all returned, were discharged, dispersed among our homes, and the fine chance on which we had so much counted was all gone. But now came a blow upon Jackson himself, the fruit of the moneyed respon- sibility which he had assumed. His transportation drafts were all protested — returned upon him for pay- ment, which was impossible, and directions to bring suit. This was the month of May. I was going to Washington on my own account, and cordially took charge of Jack- 140 LIFE AND TIMES OF JACKSON. son's case. Suits were delayed until the result of Ms application for relief could be heard." Colonel Benton then tells how he applied to the mem- bers of Congress from Tennessee, without results, how he then applied to the Secretary of War, with no better success. "Weeks had passed away, and the time for delay was expiring at Nashville. Ruin seemed to be hovering over the head of Jackson, and I felt the neces- sity of some decisive movement, I decided to make an appeal from the justice of the administration to its fears. I drew up a memoir addressed to the Secretary of War, representing to him that these volunteers were drawn from the bosoms of almost every substantial family in Tennessee — that the whole State stood by Jackson in bringing them home — and that the State would be lost to the administration if he was left to suffer. It was upon this last argument that I relied — all those founded in justice having failed." Colonel Benton then relates how the Secretary took the paper home with him for Sabbath cogitations, and how on Monday morning he came back to his office dis- posed to do whatever was in his power. The Secretary, however, did not see what authority he had in the prem- ises. Colonel Benton readily suggested that he had noth- ing to do except to write an order to General Wilkinson, Quartermaster-General of the Southern Department, to pay for so much transportation as General Jackson's command would have been entitled to, if it had returned under regular orders. The Secretary at once adopted the suggestion and the order was immediately sent. Jackson was relieved from threatened ruin, and Ten- nessee, in the words of Colonel Benton, "remained firm to the administration." In other words, by playing upon the political fears of a cabinet officer. Colonel Benton succeeded, in a round-about way, in doing that which should have been done without political threats. As Colonel Benton left Washington upon his return trip to Nashville, he must have felt pleasurable emotions as he pictured to himself the greetings with which LIFE AND TIMES OF JACKSON. 141 General Andrew Jackson would welcome him home. He had just rendered his chief a most important service. He had saved Jackson's credit and fortune. He had every right to expect the profoundest grati- tude from the man whom he had so signally aided. Instead of this, the first news from Tennessee that reached Col. Tom Benton on his homeward journey from Washington, was that his brother, Jesse Benton, had been engaged in a duel with Wm. Carroll, and that Gen- eral Jackson had acted as the friend and second of his brother's antagonist. Thus the strange spectacle was presented of one of the Benton brothers striving heroically to save Jack- son from ruin in Washington, while the other was risking his life in a combat with pistols, with Jackson on the other side. No wonder Colonel Benton was furiously angry. The nearer he came to Nashville the more he heard about the duel, — in which his brother had received a wound, — and these stories, like all such stories, were more or less exaggerated. The situation seemed to Col. Tom Benton so unnatural, so outrageous, so ungrateful, so tantalizing, and intoler- able, that he, being a man of fierce temper and fearless disposition himself, began to denounce Jackson's con- duct in unmeasured language. Alert friends of both parties, of course, carried reports to Jackson of this fiery Benton talk, and of course, in a very short while Jackson's tone was equally warlike. Finally, the stories concerning Benton's language were so provoking to Jackson, that, throwing to the winds all thought of gratitude and of forbearance, the irate General swore that he would horsewhip Tom Benton on sight. Colonel Benton had hardly reached Nashville before General Jackson and his faithful John Coffee were on hand, ready for the fray. The Benton brothers reached the city in the morning, and put up at a different hotel from that which had heretofore been frequented by them- selves and Jackson. They thus showed a disposition to avoid a chance meeting with Jackson, of whose threats 142 LIFE AND TIMES OF JACKSON. they had heard. That afternoon General Jackson and his faithful John Coffee rode into Nashville, took up their quarters at their accustomed hotel, the Nashville Inn, and not finding the Bentons at this place, where they were evi- dently expected, Jackson and Coffee deliberately sought out the Bentons at their hotel, where General Jackson^ seeing Colonel Benton standing in the door, suddenly turned toward him with his whip m his right hand, and rapidly approaching him said: ''Now, you d — 'd rascal, I am going to punish you. Defend yourself. ' ' The stories of what occurred after this, are so hope- lessly confused and contradictory that no man can safely say what happened. The faithful John Coffee put forth, as was his custom in such Jacksonian emergencies, a statement :vyjiich relieved his chief as far as stubborn facts would lalow ; but the substantial truth of the matter would seem to be that as General Jackson advanced upon Colonel Benton, the latter attempted to draw his pistol, but met with difficulty in doing so, the weapon apparently getting obstructed by his clothing. While Jackson was advancing and Col. Thds. Benton receding and still attempting to draw his pistol, Jesse Benton entered the hall passage behind the belligerents, and seeing his brother's danger, drew his pistol and fired at Jackson, inflicting a terrible wound, which splintered the bone of his arm and tore open his shoulder. Jackson fell across the entry bleeding profusely. Col. Thos. Benton always contended that General Jackson fired at him and missed, and that he fired at the General and missed; also that Colonel Coffee fired at him and missed. He claimed that one of the pistols fired at him was so close that the blaze burned the sleeve of his coat. He also claimed that dag- gers were used in the affray by Colonel Coffee and Mr. Alexander Donaldson, who gave him five slight wounds with these knives. After Colonel Coffee had fired at Col. Thos. Benton and missed, he clubbed his pistol — the large, single-barreled, heavy affair of those days — and was about to strike Benton, who continued to step backward, when getting to the head of the stairs, without LIFE AND TIMES OF JACKSON. 143 being aware of tliem, he fell headlong to the bottom. Colonel Coffee then gave his attention to General Jackson. The report of Jesse Benton's pistol attracted to the scene, Stokely Hayes, a nephew of Mrs. Jackson, the same young man who had joined the Aaron Burr expedi- tion. When he came into the hotel and found General Jackson lying on the floor, weltering in his blood, he drew the sword cane of his walking stick and made such a frantic lunge at Jesse Benton that the weapon, being slender and ha\dng struck a button on Jesse's coat, snapped in pieces. This young man, who is reported as having been of gigantic size and strength, then drew a dirk and threw himself upon Jesse Benton, got him down and held him with one hand, while he raised the knife to plunge into his breast. Jesse Benton held on to the coat cuff of Hayes with such desperate determination that, while he could not stop the descending arm, he diverted the direction of the blow and thus received only a flesh wound. By this time other bystanders had rushed in, and the brutal affair was stopped. Jackson, almost fainting from loss of blood and still bleeding fearfully, was borne to a room in the Nashville Inn, where it is said that two mattresses were soaked before the flow of blood could be checked. The doctors wanted to amputate the arm, but the indomitable Jackson refused to allow it, saying — ^'I will keep my arm." No attempt was made to extract the bullet, and it remaihed there for twenty years. After Jackson had been carried away to his bed, the Bentons kept possession of the field and indulged in some backwoods bravado. Colonel Benton went out into the public square, bellowed words of defiance and con- tempt in the loudest tones of his thundering voice, broke Jackson's sword across his knee, flung the fragments on the ground and thus gratified his own vanity with impunity, — for General Jackson's friends were too anx- iously concerned about his life at that moment to renew the fight. In the following days, however. Colonel Ben- 144 LIFE AND TIMES OF JACKSON. ton could have had quite as much warfare as he wanted, for he himself wrote — "I am literally in hell here, the meanest wretches under heaven to contend with — liars, affidavit makers, and shameless cowards. The scalping knife of Tecumseh is mercy compared with the affidavits of these villains. I am in the middle of hell, and see no alternative but to kill or be killed; for I will not crouch to Jackson, and the fact that I and my brother defeated him and his tribe, and broke his small-sword in the public square will forever rankle in his bosom and make him thirst for vengeance. My life is in danger." Shortly after this. Colonel Benton went to his home in Franklin, Tenn. Being appointed Lieutenant-Colonel in the regular army, he left the State to serve for the remainder of the war elsewhere. At the close of the war, he resigned his commission, emigrated to Missouri, and did not again meet General Jackson until 1823, when they were both members of the United States Senate. They became reconciled, Jackson, it is said, making the first advances. As to Jesse Benton, he could never forgive Jackson, nor forgive his brother for becoming reconciled to Jackson. To the day of his death, Jesse Benton never failed to denounce Jackson in the bitterest terms whenever he heard Jackson's name mentioned. Col. Tom Benton made many efforts to re-establish fraternal relations with his brother, explaining to Jesse that he was com- pelled to support Jackson in order to secure necessary aid in carrying out certain policies of the Government which he regarded as vital to the welfare of the people. Col. Tom Benton's well known vanity has often been illustrated by the quoting of his remark that "Jackson was of great service to me in my fight against the Bank. ' ' Jesse Benton, however, refused to be mollified, although Thomas H. named his only daughter after his brother. This daughter, Jessie Benton, as is well known, became the wife of "The Great Explorer," John C. Fremont. So implacable was Jesse Benton that, upon one occa- LIFE AND TIMES OF JACKSON. 145 sion when lie was the guest of Col. John Williams he hap- pened to see, through the window, his brother Tom Ben- ton riding up to the gate, some thirty or forty yards away. Colonel Williams, anxious to avoid an unpleasant scene and to be instrumental in bringing about a recon- ciliation between the two brothers, went to Jesse's room and, laying his hand on the shoulder of his guest, said in a persuasive voice, "Jesse, your brother Tom has just arrived, let me be the happy medium of reconciling you two brothers who have been too long estranged." But Jesse was unyielding. "No," he cried, "so help me God, Colonel Williams! I will never take the hand of my brother Tom because he has supported Andrew Jack- son." The pleadings of Colonel Williams were of no avail, and Jesse Benton, ordering his horse, rode away, swearing that the same roof could not shelter him and Tom Benton or any other friends of Andrew Jackson. As Jesse left the house, he passed Col. Tom Benton but did not speak to him. It may interest the reader to state that Jesse Benton continued to live within a few miles of Nashville and, al- though a bitter, outspoken enemy of Andrew Jackson, continued to be elected to the Tennessee Legislature. He died three or four years before the late Civil War began. Touching this affray with the Bentons, it is hardly necessary to emphasize the folly and rashness of the pre- posterous undertaking of General Jackson to "horse- whip" Colonel Benton. Jackson had a fight with Jesse Benton at the Old Bell Tavern in Memphis, and got the best of it; but the threat to publicly cow-hide Tom Ben- ton was mere madness, for Jackson must have known, that Colonel Benton was every bit as game a man as Gen- eral Jackson. The results were so disastrous to the rash assailants that neither Coffee nor Jackson ever mani- fested the slightest inclination to renew hostilities. Jesse continued to say and publish whatever he pleased about Jackson; and Colonel Tom made peace only when Jack- son sought it. Those biographers who hint that Thos. H. Ben- 146 LIFE AND TIMES OF JACKSON. ton left Tennessee because he was afraid of Andrew Jackson, show their lack of insight into character. Benton was as cool a man as ever faced danger; and Jackson was not the man to make a mistake of the same sort twice. He knew that in attempting to horse-whip Colonel Benton (as he had caned poor Swann) he had done a foolish thing; and for many years his friends knew better than to talk to him npon that impleasant subject. He had attempted an outrage upon a loyal friend who had just rendered him signal service, had got badly worsted in the attempt, and the only thing to do was to let the matter drop. Years afterwards, when the 'reconciliation with Colonel Benton had removed the sting of the old quarrel, one of Jackson's intimates reminded him of his apparent inconsistency in making friends with a man who had fought him. The brave old fellow laughed good-humoredly, and as the lawyers say "distinguished the case." ^Yhen our SujDreme Court Judges want to decide a case differently from the way in which they decided a former one that seemed exactly similar, they draw a distinction between the one case and the other. Sometimes these distinctions are so fine that only the judicial eye can see them. Gen. Andrew Jackson, in like spirit, drew a distinction be- tween the Benton case and other apparently similar cases. He said, referring to the bullets shot into him on that occasion, "But that was honest lead!" which prob- ably means that Jackson felt he had done wrong in at- tacking Benton. If Andrew Jackson ever came nearer than this to making the admission that he had been wrong, in anything, this biographer is not aware of it. Knoxville, Tenn., June 28, 1907. Dear Mr. Watson: Your letter of the 26th received. I have never read the account Buell gives of the fight between the Bentons and Jackson. I resided in Washington during nearly the whole period of Buell's career as a newspaper writer, and his reputation for unreliability was such that when I saw that he had written a "Life of Jackson" I had no curi- osity to read it. It would have been characteristic of Buell to write anything of the Benton, or any other, episode in Jackson's career that would be new, or startling, or different to that given by other writers and which would attract attention to him or his book. LIFE AND TIMES OF JACKSON. 147 I have often talked with the late Judge Jos. C. Guild (author of "Old Times in Tennessee'') and other enthusiastic admirers of Jack- son, as well as the leading men who were not his admirers, of the fight referred to, and the universal voice was tliat Jesse Benton shot Jackson. This is the tradition in Tennessee about this fight, and the reason given why Stokely Hayes, Mi-s. J.'s nephew, turned to Jesse, and tried to kill him, rather than Tom. Yesterday I dined fifteen miles in the country with a mentally well-preserved man of 90 who had often seen Jackson. He was at Nashville when Jackson, much bent and enfeebled, made his last appearance in public, the occasion being with Van Buren when that wily politician made his Southern electioneering tour in the hope of capturing the 1844 nomination. My informant described the enthu- siasm of the crowd as immense, and said in mingling with the people he often heard persons say to acquaintances when they met them, "so you have come all the way to Nashville to see Mr. Van Buren;" to which the invariable reply was, "I care nothing for Van Buren, I came to see Jackson," or "Damn Mr. Van Bm-en, I would not give a cent to see him, I want to see Old Hickory." This reminded me that Mrs. Mary B. Wilcox, daughter of Andrew J. Donelson, told me that "father,'' as she called Jackson, was very fond of appearing in parades, and that he loved to dress well. She emphasized his love of fine apparel, whether in military uniform of civilian dress, and that never, except when physically too feeble to ride horseback, would he ride in a carriage. In reply to a question I asked as to whether she could tell me any anecdotes about Jackson, she said, "only one." On a trip in his carriage to Washington with Mrs. J., he stayed over night at the residence of at Kingsport. He was a Jackson man, an emigrant from Ireland, and a Presbyterian. He had a quick-witted, well-educated daughter, Eliza, who told that at the break- fast table she expressed to Mrs. J. the hope that she felt well, and had had a refreshing sleep after the long drive of the day before over a bad road. Aunt Rachel replied, "she had caught cold because Glnral had kicked the klver off." Probably, from this originated the story, as published by Jackson's enemies, that the good old Aunt Rachel said she "Kotched cold because the Ginral kicked the kiver off." As told by Miss the word caught was employed, and not kotched. Until I got the story in authentic form, I had supposed the whole to be fiction, or "Whig lie.'' I do not suppose the little incident worth publishing. I remember to have seen about 3 years ago, in the "Cincinnati Daily Commercial," the statement (editorially) that the only auto- graph letter of General Jackson's wife known to be in existence was in the archives of the Historical Society of Ohio at Columbus. It would be interesting if you could have a photo-lithograph copy of that letter in your Life of Jackson. Yours truly, JNO. B. BROWNLOW. 148 LIFE AND TIMES OF JACKSON. CHAPTER XI. At midnight on the 30th of September, Buchanan's Station, only four miles south of Nashville, was attacked by a party of about seven hundred Indians, composed partly of Shawnees, and partly of Creeks and Cherokees. "In this fort the families of some twenty-five of the settlers had taken refuge, but it was manned at the time by only fifteen riflemen, and its four block-houses seemed poorly able to resist so overwhelming a force of assail- ants. But among its defenders were the scout, Castle- man, and others of equal skill and bravery. The first alarm was given by the frightened cattle, which rushed wildly past the fort on the approach of the savages. The night was very dark, and, not to waste their powder, the garrison withheld their fire till the Indians were within ten paces of the buildings. Then a simultaneous dis- charge burst from the fort, and was replied to by a heavy and constant fire, which the savages kept up for an hour, never falling back to a greater distance, though one unbroken sheet of flame streamed from the port- holes and mowed them down by dozens. "The Indians had supposed the fort weakly defended, but were soon convinced that it was crowded with rifle- men. Every second minute a hat would appear at a port-hole as if to fire, and an Indian would lodge a bullet in its crown, but in another minute another hat would appear at the same port-hole and still the constant fire of the fort would go on without a moment's flagging. This constant fire, and showing of hats, was subsequently explained. More than thirty women were in the fort and a still larger number of children. There were also three or four rifles to each of the garrison. These the women loaded and handed with great rapidity up to the men, who also were re-enforced by Mrs. Buchanan, and sev- eral other women, who fired from the port-holes like male defenders. The 'show of hats' — which, from this circumstance, has become a national phrase — was made B h •a O s o u 2 LIFE AND TIMES OF JACKSON. 149 by the children displaying all the head-gear in the fort at the port-holes not manned by the garrison. ''On several occasions the Indians attempted to set fire to the lower logs of the station, bnt every savage that ventured upon the rash act met a bullet from one of the bastions. At last a young brave, more bold than the rest, climbed to one of the roofs with a lighted torch in his hand, to fire a block-house. A well directed shot brought him instantly to the ground underneath one of the port- holes. As he lay there, mortally wounded, and his life blood fast flowing away, he applied his still burining brand to one of the lower logs, and, with his hard-return- ing breath, tried to fan it into a blaze to ignite the build- ing. Suddenly his head fell back, his torch dropped from his hand, and was extinguished in a pool of Tils own blood. But with his latest breath he urged on his fol- lowers. He was a young brave of the Running Water town of the Chicamaugas, named Chia-chatt-alla. ''Inspired by the desperate courage of this young- brave, a score of savages now rushed forward with lighted brands to fire the fort; but every one was shot down before he had ignited the lower logs of the build- ing. Then the savage fire grew fiercer, and it became certain death for one of the garrison to appear for an instant at any of the port-holes, the fire being mainly directed at those openings. From the space of the cir- cumference of a foot, in the roof above the port-hole in the over-jutting, whence had proceeded the shots that killed the savages who had attempted to approach the walls, thirty Indian bullets were on the following day extracted. "Thus the conflict continued for an hour, when the solitary sentinel at the Nashville fort shouted through the woods that rescue was coming. The Indians heard it, and knew that it meant that Eobertson and his minute men would be upon them by daybreak. Suddenly their fire slackened, and they drew off from the fort, bearing away as was their custom, their dead and wounded, except such as lay dangerously near to the walls of the station. As 150 LIFE AND TIMES OF JACKSON. they passed out of rifle-range, Captain Raines and five of his men rapidly approached the fort on horseback. He had heard the firing at his station two miles away and waiting for no re-enforrements, had hastened to the rescue with only the few who were with him at the moment. Soon others came in from Nashville and the nearby stations, and then the garrison ventured out and examined the ground around the buildings. Everywhere among the trodden bushes were trails showing where the dead had been dragged away, and scattered here and there were numerous pools of blood, where numbers had fallen, for, packed together as they were, the Indians had been a broad mark for the settlers' rifies. The slaughter had been terrible. Numbers of the wounded died on the retreat, and were buried in the forest, where their graves were subsequently discovered by the white people. ''The leader of the attacking force, a Shawnee chief, was killed by the first fire of the garrison, as was also the White-Man-Killer, a brother of the noted Dragging Canoe, formerly head chief of the Chickamaugas. Other prominent chiefs of the Creeks and Cherokees fell during the action, and John Watts, the principal chief of the 'lower towns' and the ablest man now among the Chero- kees, was so desperately wounded that he besought his warriors to end his sufferings by decapitation. Not one among the garrison was so much as wounded. And this successful defense against so overwhelming a force, was made by fifteen men and thirty women, battling behind weak walls for their own lives, and those of their chil- dren. Is it not true that we need to look no further than our own annals to find examples of the most exalted heroism?" The foregoing extract is made from "The Advance- Guard of Western Civilization," by James R. Gilmore. The author adds the following note in the appendix of his book : "My grandfather was in this fight, and he has fre- quently told me that Mrs. Sally Buchanan molded bullets LIFE AND TIMES OF JACKSON. 151 on that occasion until after midnight, and at the break of day on the following morning gave birth to a son. That son — Moses Buchanan — died only last year in Franklin, Tennessee." In the preface to his interesting work, "The Winning of the West," Mr. Eoosevelt utterly rejects Gil- more as an authority, but this condemnation is perhaps too sweeping. The story of the fight at Buchanan Sta- tion was related to Gilmore by his grandfather, and must be substantially correct. If those who took part in fron- tier battles are not competent witnesses, how are we going to know what happened? While the number of the attacking party of Indians is doubtless exaggerated, and the recklessness with which they are said to have exposed themselves to the fire from the fort does not correspond at all with cus- tomary Indian tactics, still there can be no reasonable doubt that a large band of warriors swooped down upon the station, thinking id find an easy prey; and that they were beaten off, with heavy loss, by a mere handful of brave men and heroic women. The extract is valuable because of the glimpse it gives of life on the frontier. The men had to fight, the women had to fight, the children had to fight. In no other way could the encroaching whites hold the land from which the Indians were being driven. Men tried in this ordeal of constant peril, either perished or came forth with the same fullness of dominant, unconquerable manhood which made the Vikings the terror of the world. Give an army of such men to a natural fighter like Andrew Jackson, — and where was the army that could whip it? The whole world might have been searched in vain for the match, man to man, of the riflemen who were led to conquest by John Coffee, William Carroll, John Sevier, William Robertson, and Andrew Jackson. In the kind of fighting to which they were accustomed, they were invincible. The quality of his troops and the number, as well as the quality of his enemy must be taken into considera- 152 LIFE AND TIMES OF JACKSON. tion when we yould measure the greatness of Jackson as a soldier. We should also have in mind, as a standard of comparison, the exploits of such other frontier leaders as George Rogers Clark, William Henry Harrison, Andrew Lewis, John Floyd and John Sevier. There is another thing which ought to he taken into consideration in weighing the relative merits of Jackson as an Indian fighter: he had the constant help of more Indians than any other man who ever fought Indians. Not only did friendly Indian scouts keep him constantly informed of the movements of the hostile bands, but he generally had so many of the friendly warriors in his army that they constituted about one-third of his force. It was his luck to begin war upon the Creeks at a time when the tribe was not only at bitter enmity with several other tribes, but when the Creek nation was divided against itself. Col. Benjamin Hawkins, the agent of the United States resident among the Creeks, was able to hold at least one-half of the nation to the policy of peace, and many of the Creek warriors fought with Jackson against their brethren. The following letter, for which I am indebted to my friend, Hon. J. E. D. Shipp, of Americus, Georgia, proves how much importance Jackson attached to this policy of hiring the Indians to fight the Indians: Saturday, Aug. 27, 1814. On Road to Mt. Vernon, Ala. Dear General: The enclosed will show you that we may count pretty well on our Choctaws. They say they are prepared to fight our red enemies. I have never asked them to fight the whites; when they have joined the army, they will fight alongside of your soldiers against white or red forces. Of this I have no doubt. Last evening I sent Capt. Dinkins, of the 3rd, who expressed a wish to be with us if the soldiers should be called out, and as cor- diality on such an occasion will be important, I wish heartily he may be sent for to conduct them, and I have ever since I knew him had a sincere friendship for him and I believe it is reciprocated. He is young, athletic, brave and enterprising. Respectfully and sincerely, Your obedient servant, JOHN M'KEE. P. S. — Money. Money. To Maj. Gen. Jackson. LIFE AND TIMES OF JACKSON. 153 When it is remembered that the Choctaws and Chero- kees also joined in with the troops of Georgia and Ten- nessee to fight the hostile parties of the Creek tribe, it will be seen how helpless were the odds against them. Still another fact should be borne in mind in estimat- ing the amount of credit to be awarded to Andrew Jack- son and other heroes of Indian wars. The red men had no commissariat and no means of organizing one. When a war-party was out, a certain number had to be detailed to make deer-drives, etc., to get the provisions for the rest. Indians had no supply trains, no wagons following with food for the warrior, no droves of beef cattle kept within easy reach; consequently, it was simply impos- sible for a large number of warriors to remain in the field any length of time. They had nothing to eat. Neces- sity compelled them to break up into small bands. And without any certainty as to food supply, military opera- tions of a systematic sort were out of the question. This controlling fact accounts for the irregularity of all Indian warfare. They bunched together to strike a sudden blow, and then, whether beaten or victorious, they had to break up, scattering to keep from starving. Poor creatures! What chance did they have to win the fight and keep their homes? None at all. Few of them had guns ; even these were inferior ; their supply of powder and balls was scant; they had no commissary; they were divided among themselves; three armies of the whites were about to take the field against them ; each of these three armies was larger than any force which they could bring together; their own plans were being betrayed by their own brethren ; and when they marched to battle they were met in the death-struggle by half their own tribe and by heavy contingents from the Choctaws and Cherokees. It was pitiful. General Claiborne, of Mississippi, was in the field with an army; General Floyd came across the Chatta- hoochee from Georgia with an army; and General Jack- son led so many Tennesseans and friendly Indians that his biggest difficulty during the whole Creek War was the feeding of his men. 11 a j 154 LIFE AND TIMES OF JACKSON. The hostile Indians, it would seem, never did muster more than a thousand warriors for any one battle, while Jackson's army alone — not counting friendly Indians — ranged from two to five thousand. The Creek "War began with what is called the Massa- cre of Fort Mims. It was given the bad name of Massa- cre because the Indians gained what would have been for white men '*a famous victory." Even when the Sioux whipped General Custer on the open plains, we felt it necessary to call the battle a massacre; but when white men, in the Philippines climbed to the top of Mt. Dajo, rested their rifles on the rim of the crater, and from the safe shelter of this natural parapet fired down upon the natives huddled in the pit below, the butchery of the men and women and the children which followed was hailed by us as a glorious feat of arms, and our impulsive Presi- dent sent a message of congratulation to the victors. "The honor of the Flag" had been sustained, and the slaughter of women and children was excused upon grounds which probably created much merriment in hell. Why did the Indians attack Fort Mims? It is the same old story of all the Indian wars. When the natives of any land on earth are being crowded out, need we bother about the details which lead up to the inevitable clash! The invaders are ever the aggressors, and it resolves itself into the question as to whether one people have the right to dispossess another. As we were the in- vaders, and are now in peaceable possession, we might afford to be honest enough to admit that we ourselves jDrovoked the Indian wars. Whether the end justified the means is another question. When the Revolutionary W^ar was in progress and the British Ministry proposed to make use of the Indians against the Americans, it gave a shock to the high- minded Earl of Chatham (the elder Pitt), just as it gave a shock to Abraham Lincoln when Benj. Butler, of Mas- sachusetts, first suggested that the negroes be used in LIFE AND TIMES OF JACKSON. 155 the Civil War against their former masters. The great English statesman and orator flamed out into an impas- sioned appeal to the House of Lords not to do the thing. With words that burn, with a hot indignation that even now makes the pulse leap, Lord Chatham implored the lay peers to condemn the unnatural and barbarous prop- osition of the Ministry. He called upon the peers spir- itual, the Bishops, '4o interpose the unsullied sanctity of their lawn; upon the learned judges to interpose the 'purity of their ermine to save us from this pollution.' " With a voice like the note of a bugle, the grand old man appealed to the Lords to save England from the dis- grace of hiring red savages to make war upon England's own children in America. In the entire range of the world's literature there is not a specimen of impromptu eloquence that takes a loftier, nobler flight than this three-minute speech of the elder Pitt. In my own copy, the compiler adds a dry note which speaks volumes; ^'This speech had no effect." Not a lay Lord, not a Judge, not a Bishop lifted a finger, and the immortality of honor for having made the protest against Ministerial infamy remained the undi- vided glory of Chatham. So it happened that when the War of 1812 begTin, the British fell into their old habit of stirring the red men of the woods to wage war upon the white men of the set- tlements. Money, whiskey, cheap finery, the prospect of revenge, were used to the best advantage by British agents ; and it required but little urging to fan into flames that constantly smouldering heap of border irritation. The celebrated Indian, Tecumseh, had for some years been at work on a plan which aimed at binding the vari- ous tribes into a Confederacy, taking away from the chiefs the authority to sell tribal land, and thus, by regu- lating sales of territory belonging to all the red men, removing one of the causes of trouble. So far as can now be learned, Tecumseh 's plan was highly patriotic, and not at all antagonistic to law-abiding whites. Too often it had been the case that designing white men, hungry for 156 LIFE AND TIMES OF JACKSON. Indian land, had played a few drunken or venal chiefs against the whole nation. In this way, "treaties" had been obtained, in which a handfnl of red men, tempted by trifling gifts or debauched on mean whiskey, had yielded to the whites vast hunting grounds absolutely necessary to the subsistence of the tribe. Such abuses bore with terrible hardship upon the victims, and when the whites sought to take the possession of these lands, the Indians did not always vacate without a bloody contest. Tecumseh was the last of the Indians who rose to the dignity of a statesman. He had a general plan, embrac- ing the entire Indian race ; and if the War of 1812 had not come to check his work, divert his course and take his life, it is possible that the Indian Question might have been settled by the earlier setting apart of some larger Indian Territory, with a "Dawes Act" passed nearly a hundred years ago, at the instance of Tecumseh, instead of being enacted, in our own day, through the influence of "Bright Eyes" — the beautiful and intellectual daugh- ter of a Western Chief. The events leading up to the Massacre of Fort Mims were closely and logically connected. Tecumseh had come down from his home in the North-west to visit the Creeks of Alabama in 1811 ; and in the following year the Creeks sent a mission of half a dozen warriors into the North-west. The "talk" which Little Warrior and his brother messengers were sent to carry was duly deliv- ered to the Chickasaws, and the delegation should then have gone back to Alabama. Instead of this, the Little Warrior and his band joined Tecumseh at Maiden, and took part in bloody work on the River Raison. On their return home, Little Warrior and his band came upon a small settlement of the whites near the mouth of the Ohio, and wiped it out in a senseless, brutal, indiscrimi- nate massacre. From his own point of view. Little War- rior had done a deed to be proud of; and the remainder of his journey homeward was full of noisy boasting. The whites naturally clamored for the punishment of the murderers. Benjamin Hawkins, the United States LIFE AND TIMES OF JACKSON. 157 Agent to the Indians, put a formal demand on the chiefs to that effect, and the chiefs honored it at once. Every member of the Little Warrior band was condemned, exe- cutioners were set upon them, and within a few days the last one of the assassins had been tomahawked or shot. Then "hell broke loose" in the Creek nation. Furiously resenting the action of the chiefs in yielding to the de- mands of the whites, the younger warriors sprang to arms, the chiefs fled for their lives, and the war-whoop rang through the vast forests of Alabama. The great need of the Indians was guns and ammuni- tioli. They were badly supplied with the former ; of the latter they had almost none. But there was Pensacola and the friendly Spaniards — to Pensacola they would go for ammunition. Accordingly, a band of warriors was chosen, several hundred dollars were collected, and the expedition set out for Pensacola. The Spanish Governor dared not refuse the demand of these three liundred des- perate Indians ; and besides, they presented to him a let- ter which had been found upon the body of the Little Warrior. This letter was written by a British officer at Maiden to the Spanish officials at Pensacola. Partly from fear of the Indians, and partly because of this let- ter, the Spanish Governor gave the Creeks a small sup- ply of guns, powder and ball. News of the expedition to Pensacola spread. To the whites it seemed a matter of self-preservation to attack the band of Creeks on its return trip and to capture the ammunition. The white settlers in the country above Mobile hastily got together and, under the lead of two Creek half-breeds, Dixon Bailey and Daniel Beasley, made the attempt to cut off the Pensacola party as it passed through on its way homeward. The attack was made at a place known as Burnt Corn. At first, the In- dians broke and the whites captured the pack-mules car- rying the powder; but Peter McQueen, leader of the Indian band, rallied his men, put the whites to rout, and Te-captured the mules. Throughout the length and breadth of the Alabama 158 LIFE AND TIMES OF JACKSON. country, a panic of the white settlers ensued. Farms were abandoned, homes were deserted and every man, woman and child fled for dear life to the forts. In a short while these scattered stations, which were made up of block-houses enclosed in palisades, were packed full of refugees. AVild with rage and success, the hostile Creeks ravaged the country setting fire to everything that would burn, and slaughtering every white person that came within reach. Fort Mims was one of these stockade forts, and like all the others, it was soon crammed with its crowd of refugees. Over five hundred human beings, mostly whites, had fled into this little pen; and among these were two men who brought death upon the others. Dixon Bailey and Daniel Beasley, after their failure at Burnt Corn, had thrown themselves into Fort Mims; and, therefore, the vengeful Creeks had a special reason for marking Fort Mims for destruction. Strange to say, it does not appear to have occurred to the defenders of the Fort that the presence of Bailey and Beasley gave them particular cause to be watchful and ready. The general state of the country was enough to put a soldier of common prudence on notice that the gates of the Fort ought, at least, to be in a condition to be easily shut. Even a careless garrison would have gone through the form of posting pickets and sending out an occasional scout. But at Fort Mims they did not even come up to the measure of ordinary carelessness, much less that of common prudence. They allowed the big gate to stand open until the rains washed the sand against it, so that it required time and labor to shut it. They posted no pickets and they sent out no scouts. And when their negro cow-driver came running from the woods into the fort crying "Indians! Indians!" — they whipped the negro ! True, they had sent out a party at the first alarm to look for the enemy ; but inasmuch as this party saw no Indians, they voted the negro a liar, took no extra pre- cautions and let the gate stand as it was, with a sand- drift caked against it. And when the troublesome cow- LIFE AND TIMES OF JACKSON. 159 driver again came running in, crying ''Indians! Indians!" patience ceased to ve a virtue, and the negro was whipped for giving a false alarm. The next time the negro fled from Indians in the woods, he had better sense than to run into Fort Mims. He saw Indians in the woods again the very next day after he was flogged, and he ran as fast as on the day before, but he ran to Fort Pierce, two miles away. At noon, on a broiling day of August, 1812, the drums beat for dinner in Fort Mims. Five hundred white men and children heard the ever welcome summons; and throughout the paled-in enclosure where they had hud- dled for protection, went up those familiar and cheerful sounds that are heard when tired and hungry people pre- pare for the feast. But, alas ! they were to eat no dinner that day, nor any other day whatsoever. The drums called to diner, but the war-whoop which came pealing with its blood-curdling ferocity from the woods close by announced another feast, — the feast of Death. God! What a scene of horror it must have been as those ten hundred painted savages came bursting from the underbrush, on a dead run for the open gate ! What a sickening sense of their reckless folly must have weighed them down ! To the gate! To the gate! Shut the gate! For life and that which is dearer than life, SHUT THE GATE! Oh, how desperately the white leader, Beasley, runs to the gate, tugs at it, struggling to' lift it clear of the sand-drift that holds it fast. Too late! Even as he pulls and lifts at the gate, the Indians are upon him. He is beaten down, wounded unto death, crawls behind the gate, and dies. Through the opening, streams the yelling savage horde, and the outer enclosure of the Fort is lost. With musket and tomahawk and scalping knife, they kill as they go. But there is the inner entrance of the Fort, and the whites flee to' this. Through the holes in the line of pickets they can shoot down the enemy in the outer en- 160 LIFE AND TIMES OF JACKSON. closure. They can also break their way through the roofs of the buildings of the inner part of the Fort, and enfilade the savages below. This is bravely done. After the first panic, the defenders of the Fort rise to the crisis. The men die fighting. Even the boys and women fight, and die fighting. For three hours they hold the Fort. They have lost many lives, but they have strewed the ground with dead Indians. About three o'clock in the afternoon the red men draw off, tired of the bloody task ; but Weatherford comes from the forest, inspires them with fresh vigor, leads them in person to the attack, sets fire to the buildings, and soon the whole Fort is theirs. Then comes a "slaughter grim and great." The victory at Fort Mims was abused by the deliriously excited Indians, just as victory after a hard fight is almost always abused; but the battle itself was a fair fight, so far as I can see. The Indians lost almost as many as the whites, — so many, indeed, that they could not muster the energy to follow their custom of burying all their dead. Of the people within the Fort, all the women and children perished; some fifteen white men broke through and escaped ; the negroes were carried off to become slaves to the Indians. LIFE AND TIMES OF JACKSON. 161 CHAPTER XII. Far and wide, the news of the "Massacre of Fort Mims" blew the angry passions of the whites into the fiercest flames. Nobody stopped to consider the provo- cations which had been given the Indians by the whites, on the Northwestern frontier: the Americans saw the immediate cause, — only the evil promptings of General Proctor and other British officers. The whites did not see and allow for the remoter but truer cause, — the land-grabbing treaties by which Gen. William Henry Harrison had used a handful of Crees, Miamis, Wickapoos, Pottowatamies, (described by him- self as "the most depraved wretches on earth") to deprive the better class and larger number of Indians of the only hunting ground they had left — the valley of the Wabash. Not content with one so-called treaty which cut into the very heart of the Indian country for fifty miles. General Harrison negotiated another "treaty" which took three million acres more. And General Harrison knew perfectly well that the Indians whom he plied with mean whiskey, cheap gewgaws, and petty sums of money, had no authority to sell this land, which was absolutely necessary to the tribes as a source of living. When he took the Wabash valley, he knew that the Indians would have to fight for their hunting grounds, or die of starva- tion. Knowing this, he did not wait to be attacked by the red men, but marched into their own country, beyond the limits of the treaty land ; and thus brought on the shabby little skirmish which was shouted through a National Campaign, as the "Battle of Tippecanoe." Harrison had obligingly camped at a spot selected for him by some of the Indians whom he had come to kill; and just before daybreak the next morning the Indians attacked his camp, threw it into confusion, and would have stampeded Harrison's army, had it not been for Colonel Davies and his Kentucky regiment. The stand made by these trained Indian fighters saved the day. 162 LIFE AND TIMES OF JACKSON. Colonel Davies lost his life, and Harrison gained a mili- tary renown which he had done little to deserve. Just as bogus treaties, made by grasping white men with such chiefs as they could intimidate or debauch, were at the bottom of most of the Indian fights in the Northwest, so it was the bogus treaty which was ever the cause of Indian troubles in the South. The United States Government, as a rule, had little difficulty in securing from the red men, in a peaceable way, such territory as the Federal authorities considered necessary to the gradual expansion of the white people. But the Govern- ment could never move fast enough to satisfy the indi- vidual home-seekers, or land-grabbers; and the States, themselves, were often too slow to suit their own hungry citizens. Thus in Tennessee, the United States Government, at times, had to sternly eject the whites from Indian lands; and in the State of Georgia, the Governor had to oust the Squatter Colony of Gen. Elijah Clarke, which had crossed the Oconee, going Westward, a little too soon. Generally, however, the State authorities were willing to make good, by force, the aggressive advance of the white "borderers;" and these aggressive advances too often resembled mere predatory encroachments. But, as already stated, the whites lost no time consid- ering the underlying causes of the Indian outbreak, or in suggesting measures by which further bloodshed might be avoided. The "Massacre of Fort Mims" was a slogan which drowned all sounds save those of war. Georgians, Mis- sissippians and Tennesseans sprang to arms, burning for revenge. The latter State alone authorized the enlist- ment of an army of 3,500 men, — a force out of all propor- tion to the actual necessities of the case. Governor William Blount and Major-General William Cocke went out to the Hermitage to confer with the other Major-General, Andrew Jackson, who was still flat of his back from those Benton bullets. At his bedside, the sit- uation was talked over, and plans agreed upon. Jack- LIFE AND TIMES OF JACKSON. 163 son's wounds had begun to heal; and he thought that by the time the troops could be mustered into service he would be able to reach the place of rendezvous, and to take command. Consequently, everything necessary to the purpose was done, just as fast as circumstances would allow. Governor Blount lent all the power and resources of his position; General Cocke exerted every energy in East Tennessee to have men and munition ready ; John Coif ee, William Carroll, John Reid, William B. Lewis, were full of zeal and well-directed activity; and in due time the army which the Legislature of Tennessee had called for, was in camp on the Southern border of the State, ready for its plunge into the wilderness which lay between them and the Gulf of Mexico. This country was known as the Mississippi Territory, and it included the present State of Alabama. Within the boundaries of this immense domain, lay the home of the Creeks. Here were their corn lands, their bean patches, their orchards, their grazing grounds, their scattered cabins, their villages, and the vast stretches of unbroken forest in which they hunted. Col. Benjamin Hawkins, the friend of Washington, had lived among these people many years, and like many of the white men who knew the better class of Indians, he was fond of them, sympathized with them, and was earnest in his efforts to improve and protect them. He had intro- duced among the tribes many of the methods of the whites. In farming and in the simpler forms of manu- facturing, the red people had shown a readiness to learn. In a general way, it may be stated that the Creek Nation which Jackson invaded and destroyed, was not a nest of sangTiinary savages, but was a settled community, well ordered in many respects, governed by fixed customs which revealed fairly correct ideals of public and private morality, — sustaining itself in a legitimate manner by agricultural pursuits and by hunting on its own land. Many of the Creeks lived in good houses, owned superb farms, and had negro slaves. Numerous herds of cattle 164 LIFE AND TIMES OF JACKSON. grazed in the open glades of tlie forest, or fed in the swamps where the "maiden cane" kept them fat. Droves of hogs thrived on beech and pine mast, and upon the acorns of the oaks. There can be little doubt that had the Americans taken as much pains to keep up friendly relations with these people as Colonel Nicholls and other British emissaries took to ^^egg them on" into hostilities, both halves of the Creek Nation would have stayed at home, minding their own business, during the War of 1812. Menaced by three armies from three States, at prac- tically the same time, the war methods of the Indians were even more unsystematic than usual. They followed up no victory, and they made no use of the many advan- tages of position which nature gave them. After their great success at Fort Mims, they were expected to swoop down upon Mobile, but they did nothing. Instead of planting ambuscades for the advancing whites, as in the Braddock and St. Clair campaigns, they either fought in the open, or waited to be assaulted by overwhelming numbers. They fought like tigers, but without sense. In nearly every engagement, they gave to the whites the choice of time and place. With the utmost heroism, they battled with the Mississippians of General Claiborne at Holy Ground; with the Tennesseans at Tallushatches, Talladega, Emuckfau, Enatochopco, and Horse-Shoe Bend ; but in none of these conflicts excepting Camp Defi- ance, were they equal in numbers to the whites. In other respects, they were at a hopeless disadvantage, for their guns were few and inferior, and their supply of ammuni- tion scanty. As to commissary supplies, some idea of the disad- vantages under which the Indians labored may be gath- ered from the fact that Weatherford, the Indian Chief, evidently lost the golden opportunity of the decisive cam- paign by having to halt two days, while his warriors, turned hunters, were out in the distant woods, making *'deer drives" to get food for Weatherford 's "army." LIFE AND TIMES OF JACKSON. 165 After many preliminary troubles, growing out of questions of supply and discipline, the Tennessee forces struck the red men at Tallushatches. The Indians were surprised by General Coffee, who outnumbered them more than two to one, and were de- feated with great slaughter. This, the first fight of the campaign, was of incalculable value to General Jackson. It inspired his own troops with confidence, while it cor- respondingly discouraged the Creeks. Many years after- wards, in pronouncing a eulogy upon General Coffee, then dead, Gen. Wm. Carroll declared that he would rather have been the victor of Tallushatches than of any battle of the Creek War. Following Coffee 's success at Tallushatches came that of General Jackson himself, at Talladega. Outnumber- ing the red men two to one, fighting in the open with every advantage that soldiers could decently ask, the Tennesseans mowed down the Indians with sickening thoroughness. Five hundred red men, and only twenty whites, were slain on these two fields; and when it is remembered that both sides fought in the open, these figures tell the tale of Indian disadvantage. Indeed, the greater number of Jackson's men were wounded, not with bullets, but with arrows' By the side of one of the squaws shot down at Tallu- shatches, was found a living babe. The arms of the dead mother still embraced her child. Touched by this ghastly sight. General Jackson asked the Indian prisoners to take charge of the little one and rear it. They sullenly refused. ' ' You have killed all its kinsfolk ; kill it, too. " But the General would not listen to anything like that ; and, having the child taken to his own tent, he got a negro woman (one of the captives), to nurse it during the remainder of the campaign. Then the little Indian was taken to the Hermitage, where he grew to manhood. He died there of consumption, soon after being apprenticed to a harness-maker in Nashville. It is always interesting to hear the story of a battle, told by one of the privates. In these two actions of Tal- 166 LIFE AND TIMES OF JACKSON. lushatches and Talladega, the celebrated David Crockett took part. He had volunteered, at the first summons, and was serving as a common soldier. One of the bravest men that ever lived and one of nature's noblemen besides, his simple story of these two battles is in curious contrast to the vain-glorious accounts given by the hero-worship- pers. As you read his plain and unpretentious narrative, icmember that the writer was a soldier who might have been the lieutenant of Leonidas, — for he was one of the heroes of the Alamo. • "We had also a Cherokee colonel, Dick Brown, and some of his men with us. When we got near the town we divided ; one of our pilots going with each division. And so we passed on each side of the town, keeping near to it until our lines met on the far side. We then closed up at both ends, so as to surround it completely; and then we sent Captain Hammond's company of rangers to bring on the affray. He had advanced near the town, when the Indians saw him, and they raised a yell, and came run- ning at them like so many red devils. The main army was now formed in a hollow square around the town, and they pursued Hammond till they came in reach of us. We then gave them a fire and they returned it, and then ran back into their town. We began to close on the town by making our files closer and closer, and the Indians soon saw they were our property. So most of them wanted us to take them prisoners; and their squaws and all would run and take hold of any of us they could, and give them- selves up. I saw seven squaws take hold of one man which made me think of the Scriptures. So I hollered out the Scriptures were fulfilling; that there were seven women holding to one man's coat tail. But I believe it was a hunting shirt all the time. We took them all pris- oners that came out to us in this way; but I saw some warriors run into a house until I counted forty-six of them. "We pursued them until we got near the house, when we saw a squaw sitting in the door, and she placed her feet against the bow she had in her hand, and then LIFE AND TIMES OF JACKSON. 167 took an arrow, and raising to her feet, she drew with all her might and let fly at us, and she killed a man, whose name I believe was Moore. He was a lieutenant, and his death so enraged us all, that she was fired on, and had at least twenty balls blown through her. This was the first man I ever saw killed with a bow and arrow. We now shot them like dogs; and then set the house on fire, and burned it up with the forty-six warriors in it. ''I recollect seeing a boy who was shot down near the house. His arm and thigh were broken, and he was so near the burning house that the grease was stewing out of him. In this situation he was still trying to crawl along; but not a murmur escaped him, though he was only about twelve years old. So sullen is the Indian, when his dander is up, that he had sooner die than make a noise, or ask for quarters." That is Colonel Crockett's story of the ''Battle of Tallushatches" which General Carroll glorified as the most important victory of tjie ''Creek War." Colonel Crockett further relates : , ' ' The number that we took prisoners, being added to the number we killed, amounted to one hundred and eighty-six ; though I don 't remember the exact number of either. We had five of our men killed. We then returned to our camp at which our fort was erected, and known by the name of Fort Strother. No provisions had yet reached us, and we had now been for several days on half rations. However, we went back to our Indian town on the next day, when many of the carcasses of the In- dians were still to be seen. They looked very awful, for the burning had not entirely consumed them, but had given them a terrible appearance, at least what remained of them. ' "It was somehow or other found out that the house had a potato cellar under it, and immediate exami- nation was made, for we were all as hungry as wolves. We found a fine chance of potatoes in it, and hunger com- pelled us to eat them though I had a little rather not, if I could have helped it, for the oil of the Indians we had 168 LIFE AND TIMES OF JACKSON. burned up the day before, had run down on them and they looked like they had been stewed with fat meat. ' ' This picture of Tennessee Christians eating potatoes cooked in the flames of the red man's house, and stewed in the grease which had oozed from the red man's body, is one of the most ghastly incidents furnished by the records of ' ' glorious war. ' ' . Next comes Colonel Crockett's account of the Battle of Talladega: " In an hour we were all ready, and took up the line of march. We crossed the Coosa river, and went on in the direction of Fort Talladega. When we arrived near the place, we met eleven hundred painted warriors, the very choice of the Creek Nation. They encamped near the fort, and had informed the friendly Indians who were in it, that if they didn't come out, and fight with them against the whites, they would take their fort and all their ammunition and provision. The friendly party asked three days to consider it, and agreed that, if on the third day they didn't come out ready to fight with them, they might take their fort. Thus they put them off. Then they immediately started their runner to General Jack- son, and he and the army pushed over, as I have just before stated. "The camp of warriors had their spies out and dis- covered us coming some time before we got to the fort. They then went to the friendly Indians, and told them Captain Jackson was coming, and had a great many fine horses, and blankets, and gims, and everything else, and if they would come out and help to whip him and to take his plunder, it should all be divided with those in the fort. They promised that when Jackson came they would come out and help to whip him. "It was about an hour by the sun in the morning when we got near the fort. We pere piloted by friendly Indians and divided as we had done on a former occa- sion, so as to go to the right and left of the fort, and, consequently, of the warriors who were camped near it. Our lines marched on as before, till they met in LIFE AND TIMES OF JACKSON. 169 front, and then closed in the rear, forming again into a hollow square. We then sent on old Major Russell with his spy company, to bring on the battle ; Captain Evans ' company went also. • ' ' When they got near the fort, the top of it was lined with the friendly Indians, crying as loud as they could roar, 'How-dy-do, brother, how-dy-do!' They kept this up till Major Russell had passed by the fort, and was moving on towards the warriors. They were all painted as red as scarlet, and were just as naked as they were born. They had concealed themselves under the bank of a branch that ran partly around the fort, in the manner of a half-moon. Russell was going right into their circle, for he couldn't see them, while the Indians on the top of the fort were trying every plan to show him his danger. But he couldn't understand them. '*'At last, two of them jumped from it and ran and took his horse by the bridle, and pointing to where they were, told him there were thousands of them lying under the bank. This brought them to a halt, and about this moment the Indians fired on them, and came rushing forth like a cloud of Egyptian locusts, and screaming like all the young devils had been turned loose, with the old devil of all at their head. Russell's company quit their horses and took into the fort, and their horses ran up to our line, which was then in full view. The warriors then came yelling on, meeting us, and continued until they were within shot of us, when we fired and killed a consid- erable number of them. *'They fought with guns and also with bows and arrows; but at length they made their escape through a part of our line which was made up of drafted militia, which broke ranks and they passed. We lost fifteen of our men, as brave fellows as ever lived or died. We buried them all in one grave, and started back to our fort ; but before we got there, two more of our men died of wounds they had received, making our total loss seventeen good fellows in that battle. ' ' 12 a j 170 LIFE AND TIMES OF JACKSON. CHAPTER XIII. The effect of these victories was to greatly dis- courage the Indians and to incline them to submission. The Hillibees sued for peace. Their messenger was told that they "must furnish evidence of their sincerity by surrendering prisoners and property taken from the Whites and from the friendly Creeks; and the insti- gators of the War and those Indians who had slain white men, must be surrendered. The latter must and will be made to feel the force of our resentment. Long shall they remember Fort Mims in bitterness and tears." The messenger of the Hillibees departed from Jack- son's camp, but was never able to deliver his message. While he had been on his mission of peace, other Ten- nessee troops had fallen upon these Indians, who were totally unprepared to resist an attack, and had burned their villages, killed their warriors, and captured two hundred and fifty women and children. To the Indians, this seemed to be an act of the black- est perfidy and of the most savage ferocity. In effect, they were destroyed while asking to be permitted to sur- render. Waving the flag of truce, they were mercilessly shot down ; sitting peacefully in their homes awaiting an answer to their prayers for mercy, they saw their towns given to the flames, wives saw husbands weltering in blood, and dying husbands saw wives and children dragged off into captivity. Of course, General Jackson was in no manner respon- sible for this awful chapter in the Creek War. The vari- ous officers in command had not previously campaigned together; the troops were raw levies of undisciplined men; the difficulties of obtaining supplies were extremely great, and therefore, one of the natural results of the case was, that each commander was forced by his own necessities to act independently. While General Jack- son's command was almost starving at Fort Strother, the troops under General White and General Cocke were General Andrew Jackson LIFE AND TIMES OF JACKSON. 171 equally destitute in their camp on the Coosa. General Jackson, who was the senior in command, was eager to have General Cocke join him, believing that the latter could bring supplies sufficient for both detachments. But General Cocke, being in as sorry a plight as General Jackson, realized that his junction with Jackson simply meant an aggravation of the distress at Fort Strother. General White, who was a subordinate officer under the immediate command of General Cocke, was placed in a most embarrassing situation. By General Jackson, he was ordered to hasten to the protection of Fort Strother, from which General Jackson was about to move upon Talladega. But on the same day, there came to General "White, from General Cocke, his immediate superior, an order to join him in a march upon the Creek settlements on the Tallapoosa. General White disregarded the instructions of General Jackson, and obeyed those of General Cocke. The Tallapoosa towns were attacked and destroyed, and the Hillibees almost exterminated. Jackson was thrown into a furious rage with both White and Cocke, and the surviving Indians continued their desperate struggle with the energy of intense resentment. Upon General Cocke, and upon General White, fell the full weight of General Jackson 's wrath. Had he been able to have got his hands upon General White, there is much reason to believe that this officer would have been court-martialed and shot. As to General Cocke, no explanation could satisfy General Jackson, and before the Creek War was over. General Cocke was arrested at the Tiead of his troops, when he was in the very act of endeav- oring, by patriotic appeal, to arouse them to a sense of their duty. The humiliation was so great, and the arrest, itself, appears to have been so utterly unjust, that Gen- eral Cocke retired from the service. He demanded a trial by court-martial, and, although the court was composed of officers who were entirely friendly to General Jack- son, General Cocke was acquitted. Much is said, in all of the biographies of Jackson, of 172 LIFE AND TIMES OF JACKSON. the mutinies in his camp and of the disorderly conduct of his troops. It would seem but fair to the private soldiers to let their side of the case be known. Expeditions against the Indians had generally been conducted on the volunteer plan, and without any strict regard to regular military discipline. In open order, they marched and fought ; and until they were in sight of the enemy, very little restraint of the soldier was ever prac- tised. The victorious riders, who galloped with the gal- lant John Sevier, on a hundred raids, had never been sub- jected to the humiliations, privations, severities and rigidities of discipline. The men who had followed George Clark, those who followed General Lewis, those who fought with Daniel Boone, those who marched with Rob- ertson, those who won the victories of Elijah Clark — even those who made that famous ride to King's Mountain and turned the tide of the Revolutionary War — were men who rallied when the word was sent around in the back-woods settlements and towns. They were ready volunteers who came at the call of some popular leader. Through the scattered towns and through the woods to each solitary cabin went the galloping rider who carried the summons to battle and named the place of rendezvous. It was the quick raising of a volunteer force which responded to the call much as the Highlanders had leaped to arms when the fiery cross sped onward through hamlet to hut — a signal from the Chieftain to the clan. Now, General Jackson had the instincts of a born sol- dier for discipline. Perhaps, for those times, he might be called a martinet, for not only in the presence of the enemy, but on the march and in the camp, General Jack- son 's idea was that strict military discipline should be maintained. This being unusual, was, of course, irksome to the wild, free, independent characters who made up his army. Whether or not he gained a single advantage in the Creek War from all of his struggles to enforce his own ideas of strict discipline, may well be doubted. The kind of warfare in which he was engaged could probably have been carried on just as effectively under the earlier LIFE AND TIMES OF JACKSON. 173 methods of Sevier, Robertson, Lewis and Clark; at any rate, none of the Indian fighters ever had so much trouble with their own men as was experienced by Andrew Jack- son. The chief source of the troubles with the army was that his men were well-nigh famished; another was that he insisted on holding them in the wilderness, starving, after their terms of service, according to the letter of enlistment, had expired. One construction was placed upon the terms of enlistment by the General, and another by the private soldier. An impartial investigation of the Act of Congress and of the various conditions of enlistment will con- vince any intelligent reader that the soldiers were right, and that the General was wrong. Of course, his motive was noble and patriotic; but his purpose was to finish the job while he was at it. From his point of view, it was better for the soldier himself, as well as for the soldier's family, and for the soldier's neighbor and fellow-citizens that being already in the field and accum- tomed to the service, he should stay it out, and thus ren- der unnecessary another army and another campaign. Each being right from his own standpoint, there was a bitter struggle, prolonged and most demoralizing between the Chief and his men. The books give many anecdotes in illustration of Jackson's bull-dog tenacity of purpose and his desperate daring in checking the desertions, suppressing mutiny and holding his army together by main force. No one will doubt that in such an emergency General Jackson rose to the crisis and displayed every resource of inflex- ible resolution and intrepid courage. . Yet the upshot of the whole matter was that one brave man could not hold together several thousand brave men who were equally determined, and who were equally honest in their opinion that they had the right to go home. The net result was that they went home. At one time General Jackson was left in his camp almost alolie. Davy Crockett, who was one of the soldiers of Jackson 's army, gives the following account of what actually happened, and it seems to this 174 LIFE AND TIMES OF JACKSON. writer that Davy Crockett's word is good autliority for anything which he positively states, as a fact which he himself knows to be true. >'We now remained at the fort a few days, but no pro- vision came yet, and we were all likely to perish. The weather also began to get very cold ; and our clothes were nearly worn out, and horses getting very feeble and poor. Our officers proposed to General Jackson to let us return home and get fresh horses and fresh clothing, so as to be better prepared for another campaign, for our sixty days had long been out, and that was the time we entered for. ''But the General 'took the responsibility' on himself, and refused. We were, however, determined to go. With this, the General issued his orders against it. But we began to fix for a start, as ^.Tovisions were too scarce. The General went and placed his cannon on a bridge we had to cross, and ordered out his regulars and drafted men to keep us from crossing. But when the militia started to guard the bridge, they would hollow back to us to bring their knapsacks along when we came, for they wanted to go as bad as we did. "We got ready and moved on till we came near the bridge where the General's men were all strung along on both sides. But we all had our flints ready picked, and our guns ready primed, that if we were fired on we might fight our way through, or all die together. When we came still nearer the bridge we heard the guards cocking their guns, and we did the same. But, after all, we marched boldly on, and not a gun was fired nor a life lost. When we had passed, no further attempt was made to stop us; but the General said we were the ' damned 'st vol- unteers he had ever seen in his life ; that we would volun- teer and go out and fight, and then at our pleasure would volunteer to go home again in spite of the devil.' But we went on, and near Huntsville we met a reinforcement who were going on to join the army. It consisted of a regi- ment of volunteers, and was under the command of some one whose name I can't remember. They were sixty-day volunteers. ' ' LIFE AND TIMES OF JACKSON. 175 Yet, no incident in his career so thoroughly illustrates General Jackson's mastery over men and circumstances than does this contest with his mutinous troops, with famine, sickness, and with a reluctant Governor, who did not wish to call for another army. Jackson himself, it will be remembered, had arisen from a sick bed to go to the war. His unhealed wound would not allow him to put his arm through his coa^ sleeve when he mounted his horse to go to the front. At no time during the campaign was he a strong man. Frequently he was prostrated by weakness and suffering. Of course, his physical condi- tion had much to do with the irritability of his temper. It may be conceded that his clashes with his subordinate officers might have been avoided. Some of his troubles with his own men need not have occurred. His treatment of General Cocke seems peculiarly harsh and unfair, but above all of these faults of temper and management rises his sublime courage and his Spartan-like devotion to what he understood to be his duty. When the men whom he had led from the settlements into the wilderness turned their backs on him to go home, he virtually said, "I will stay in the woods alone and appeal to Tennessee to send other men to my sup- port!" When Governor Willie Blount shows reluctance to levy more troops, doubting his authority and ques- tioning the advisability of such a step, it is Jackson who writes a powerful letter from his camp in the wilderness which beats down the will of the Governor. Another proclamation is issued, another army is raised, and in a short time there goes marching toward Fort Strother an overwhelming force of new men. The new levies, however, would only consent to act for a short time. Therefore, General Jackson took these short-termers and made what is usually called his "raid," or "excursion," as the General himself called it, from Fort Strothers into the Indian country. There were some skirmishes of no great consequence. The Indians did not seriously contest the field; but it would seem that as Gen- eral Jackson was withdrawing toward his own camp at 176 LIFE AND TIMES OF JACKSON. Fort Strother, and was crossing Enotachopco Creek, the Indians fell upon him, threw his men into confusion, and for a while seemed to be on the point of winning a decided victory. The steadiness of Colonel Carroll saved the day, just as the firmness of General Coffee had contributed so much to the success won in the other skirmishes of the expedition. . Concerning the surprise attack at Enotachopco Creek, David Crockett has this to say : "In truth, I believe, ps firmly as I do that General Jackson is President, that if it hadn't been for Carroll we should have all been genteelly licked that time, for we were in a devil of a fix ; part of our men on one side of the creek, and part on the other, and the Indians all the time pouring it on us, as hot as fresh mustard to a sore shin. I will not say exactly that the old General was whipped ; but I will say that if we escaped it at all, it was like old Henry Snider going to heaven 'mit a dam tite squeeze.' I think he would confess, himself, that he was nearer whipp'd this time than he was at any other, for I know that all the world couldn't make him acknowledge that he was pointedly whipped. I know I was mighty glad when it was over, and the savages quit us, for I begun to think there was one behind every tree in the woods." While General Jackson was thus leading the army against the Indians on one side of the Tallapoosa, Gen- eral Floyd, of Georgia, was operating with the Georgia troo})s upon the other, and from the best accounts obtain- able it would seem that the whites outnumbered the In- dians, at least two to one. By the time this excursion was over, new levies for a longer term of service came pouring in from Tennessee. Just before this, Judge Hugh L. White, of East Ten- nessee, rendered to General Jackson a service which, per- haps, more than anything else, led to the brilliant termi- nation of the Creek War. Having heard of General Jack- son's danger. Judge White left th^ bench and hurried into the wilderness to learn for himself the actual condi- LIFE AND TIMES OF JACKSON. 177 tions of things at Fort Strother. He found Jackson almost alone, and he returned to East Tennessee impressed with the urgent necessity of doing something at once for his support. At this time the Thirty-ninth Eegiment of the regular army was in East Tennessee under the command of Col. John Williams, a brother- in-law of Judge White. To Colonel Williams Judge White made the most earnest appeal in behalf of General Jackson. Jackson himself had sent to Colonel Williams, through Judge White, an urgent, almost despairing request for assistance. It is stated that Judge White remained with Colonel Williams nearly all night, labor- ing to impress upon his mind the necessity of moving to Fort Strother, instead of marching to New Orleans, as he was under orders to do. Colonel Williams finally yielded, and the arrival at Fort Strother of his regiment of regulars was of inestimable benefit to General Jack- son during the remainder of the campaign. This episode is related graphically in a letter which a relative of Colonel John Williams wrote for my use, when the biography of Jackson was begun several years ago. The letter is addressed to Col. John B. Brownlow, to whom I am so much indebted for the large amount of new data contained in this "Life." June 7th, 1907. Col. Jno. B. Brownlow. My Dear Sir: As to what literature my family may have pre- served relating to Andrew Jackson, I am sure it is very limited, and any I might find would certainly be to his discredit, as I was raised to detest his name; yet all admitted that he was a very remarkable character. I have spent many pleasant hours looking through old historic papers, at home, in Greeneville, and all that I now remember find- ing, relating to Jackson, are some cartoons, which I now have here, but would not care to let them get out of sight, as they are, pos- sibly, the only ones in existence today. They could, however, be photographed, and would be very interesting to the political public. I think it a great pity historians never came to interview my father during his later life. I believe that you will agree with me, that his was a wonderful memory of past events and prominent political characters. I believe that he knew more unwritten history than any man living, and I have often heard him tell why our family were so unfriendly to Andrew Jackson, and I will try and repeat it, for I know it is true, and should be considered generally history. Senator John Williams was my father's uncle, and before being Senator he was Colonel of the 39th U. S. Infantry. He married 178 LIFE AND TIMES OF JACKSON. Malinda White, sister of Judge Hugh Lawson White. When, during the second war with Great Britain, New Orleans was threatened, the War Department at Washington ordered Colonel John Williams to proceed to that city, with all despatch, to meet the British, under Packenham, and he was on the march, but before proceeding very far he was overtaken by Judge White, and several distinguished gentlemen, and informed that news had come from Jackson, who was in the wilderness in Alabama, that he and his army were in bad condition, out of provisions, half the army down with fever, and surrounded by Creek Indians, and that squads of men were dropping out and straggling home, and the army on the eve of mutiny. Judge White and party came to explain the situation, which by now might be a great deal worse, and to beg Colonel Williams to hasten to Jackson, and that the whole State and country would stand to vindi- cate him with the War Department — as it would take weeks to get the news to Washington, and too late to succor Jackson. Colonel Williams told my father that he positively refused to disobey his orders — that he appreciated the terrible situation of affairs; but that his orders left him no alternative but to proceed and defend New Orleans, as much as he would like to relieve Jackson and the Tennessee boys, who were in such distress. My father said that they pleaded with Colonel Williams until long into the night without success, and even told him that to go was his duty, and that they knew, and he knew, that the War Department, could it know the real situation there, would change his orders, and send him to Jackson in all haste. Colonel Williams told my father that Judge White pleaded with him all night, and left his tent as the sun rose, and that he had finally but reluctantly agreed to go to Jackson. When the 39th proceeded, they met many soldiers returning home from Jackson's army. Some had thrown away their arms, some were sick and being carried by comrades or allowed to ride the miserable horses. All were ragged and half starved, and only a few turned back to re-join the army. When Colonel Williams met Jackson, he (Jackson) was over- joyed, and said: "To hell with the British; the red devils first. We will do all we can to secure you reward from Washington instead of reprimand. By the Eternal, we were about to go up bitter creek." Jackson's army was in wild delight over the arrival of that fresh, splendid regiment, the 39th, and the battle of Horse Shoe Bend soon followed. The Choctaw Indians now openly took sides with the whites and put themselves under the orders of General Jackson. Before the end of February, 1814, he was at the head of 5,000 men. The utmost possible force which the hostile Creeks could have mustered for battle could not far have exceeded 1,000. It was during this month of February that the execu- tion of John Woods took place. This is one of the most lamentable occurrences for which General Jackson is re- sponsible. What the exact facts were it may not be easy to say, but it is absolutely certain that the statement LIFE AND TIMES OF JACKSON. 179 which General Jackson himself put forth in explanation and defense of the shooting of this poor young man con- tains material statements that are absolutely untrue. The sum and substance of the matter would seem to be that a boy of 18 years of age, named John Woods, had agreed to serve as a substitute of a man who wished to escape the service. A few days after the Company reached Fort Strother, this young man, John Woods, was on guard. It was a raw, rainy morning of February, and the boy was cold and hungry. He had left his blanket in his tent and it was long after breakfast time, and he had eaten nothing that morning. The Officer of the Guard gave him permission to leave his post a few minutes so he could go to his tent and get his blanket. In the tent he found the breakfast which his comrade had left there for him, and, as any other hungry man would have done, he began to eat it. The Officer of the Day came along, and seeing on the ground around the tent some bones and scraps which the other soldiers had thrown about at breakfast, gave a sharp order to Woods, and such other soldiers as were present, to remove that offensive litter. Woods continued to eat, and the officer again ordered him to pick up the bones, speaking insultingly to him at the same time. Woods, of course, being an inexperienced country boy, who, perhaps, considered himself quite as good as the Officer of the Day, retorted angrily. The officer then, furious at being resisted, ordered Woods to drop his breakfast and return to his post. Woods re- fused to obey; and then there was a loud quarrel; and some one ran to General Jackson, saying that there was a mutiny in camp. Now, General Jackson had had so much trouble with insubordinate soldiers that he was too ready to jump at the conclusion that John Woods was entirely in the wrong, was a dangerous mutineer, and must be immedi- ately put to" death. Greatly excited, Jackson rushed out of his tent, shouting, ^' Which is the d— d rascal? Shoot him; shoot him; blow ten balls through the villain's body." 180 LIFE AND TIMES OF JACKSON. Poor Woods was put in irons, was tried by court- martial, was condemned to death and was shot. A cruel, unnecessary, military-murder. In General Jackson's labored explanation and de- fense, he states that John Woods had been a second time g-uilty of the offense of mutiny. "When you had been regularly mustered into the service of your country and to march to headquarters under the immediate command of Brigadier- General Roberts, you were one of those who, in violation of your enlistment, of all principles of honor and the order of your Commanding General, rose in mutiny and deserted." The fact here alleged, evidently bore heavily against John Woods in fixing in General Jackson's mind the in- flexible determination to have him put to death, — yet this statement is one of the most astonishing blunders that was ever made. Young John Woods had never before enrolled, had never before served, had never deserted, had never before been arraigned for a military offense. He was, as already stated, a young man of but 18 years of age. He was not bound to render any military service, because he was not old enough to be legally called into the ranks. He had simply allowed himself to be over- persuaded by some older man, who was sick of the service, and after having served but a few days as a substitute for this other soldier, he was put to death because he did not have sufficient conception of military duty to submit to cold and hunger and insult with the patience which ex- emplary discipline requires. The general impression is made in most of the Jack- son biographies that nobody in Tennessee ever dared to beard Andrew Jackson, after the killing of Dickinson. As a matter of fact, no man that ever lived in Tennessee had to submit to a greater number of rough proclamations, pamphlets, speeches, newspaper articles, — than General Jackson himself. As an evidence of the boldness with which he was attacked we give, at the end of this chapter, as a note, an extract from a publication made in Knox- ville, in 1828, by John R. Nelson. LIFE AND TIMES OF JACKSON. 181 The story of the John Woods tragedy is told with an attention to detail which commands considerable confi- dence. Note. — "The horrid murder of the helpless and inexperienced boy, John Woods. He was shot by the order of Gen. Jackson, it is true, but I say nevertheless it was murder, being contrary to all law and to all usage either civil or military. The circumstances were briefly these: — Woods was under eighteen and was the sole dependence of his aged parents. Being desirous of serving a campaign, and believ- ing that he could make more for them to live upon, he had substi- tuted to serve a tour of duty against the enemies of the country in place of one of his neighbors. The day he committed the offense, for the atonement of which General Jackson required his life, he was on guard. It commenced raining and he obtained leave of the Officer of the Guard to go to his tent to get his blanket. When he got to his tent his mess had just finished their breakfast and had left a little coarse food in a skillet. Woods having been on guard, tired and hungry, he thought he would snatch a hasty morsel of the humble fare that was lying before him. For this purpose he seated himself on the ground by the skillet, and had scarcely tasted his victuals, when a little whiffling officer, without any commission, it is believed, came along, and in the spirit of a tyrant ordered him to rise and go and carry off some stinking bones. Woods told him that he was on guard, and that he had got leave from his officer to come after his blanket and instantly return, and rose from his humble seat for that purpose. The officer ordered him to stop and lay down his gun. Woods refused and kept on to the guard fire. The little man who no doubt considered himself a Bonaparte, and not know- ing his duty, felt much offended at Woods, and bawled out that he had mutinied. General Jackson rushed out of his tent, swearing like an Algerine pirate, "Shoot the damned rascal!! BY THE ETERNAL GOD, blow ten balls through the damned rascal!!" Thus, like an infuriated demon, vociferated the commanding chief. Woods had no doubt been by the Officer of the Guard that very morning,^ and often before, cautioned against giving up his gun. I know that it was the practice to lecture all the soldiers when placed on guard, most particularly the young and inexperienced portion of the army, not to give up their guns. It was the general understanding in the army that a soldier on guard was liable to be shot for surrendering his gun. The order was to the soldier to know no man but those who could give the countersign, and he was not even to give up his gun then, but let them pass on. When Woods reached his guard fire he gave his gun to his officer and surrendered himself. General Jackson had him immediately taken under guard, and the little tyrant was permitted to thrust him repeatedly with the bayonet. He was loaded with chains — underwent a mock trial by a court- martial, some of the members of which had no commission. He had no counsel, no friend to aid or advise him. Word was spoken not in his defense. He was dumb as a lamb before her shearers, and although a petition to General Jackson for an unconditional pardon was signed by almost all of the officers of the army, yet his flinty heart and icy soul could not be reached even by the bitter weepings and heartrending sobs of this helpless victim of his wrath who stood bound at the stake supplicating for mercy. Instead of saying, 'go son to thy aged parents; and smooth the pillow of their 182 LIFE AND TIMES OF JACKSON. declining years;' he swore, by the eternal God he must die, and the volley of leaden death was poured into his aching bosom, and his sighs and his sobs were stopped forever. Alas! no tender mother shall he again behold, 'nor friends, nor sacred home.' He lies now a lifeless, a bleeding and mangled corpse. No friend to give him decent interment — he was thrown hastily aside by rude hands, and perhaps became a prey to the wolf and to the vulture. But the worst of this tale of woe and of blood is not yet told. General Jack- son, feeling conscious that this boy's death required some apology, he wound up the scene and emptied the very dregs of his iniquity upon the character of this devoted boy. In order to shield himself against public indignation he incorporated into Woods' sentence a malignant falsehood. He asserted that Woods had previously de- serted, and it is proved by men of unquestioned veracity that it was palpably false. I am sustained in these facts by documents in my possession." LIFE AND TIMES OF JACKSON. 183 CHAPTER XIV. By the middle of March, 1814, General Jackson had under his command the largest and best appointed army that ever marched against the Red Men in America. Five thousand soldiers, accustomed to hardships of every kind, skilled in the use of fire-arms until they were, perhaps, the best rifle shots on earth, and amply provisioned and supplied with every munition of war, were now prepared to hurl themselves against less than one thousand Creek warriors. With a mistaken idea of how to defend them- selves, the Indian Chiefs had made an elaborate trap and had then gone into it. In the great bend of the Talla- poosa River there was what appeared to them to be the best of places for a last stand against the invaders of their country. With the river at their back and on two sides, it seemed to them to require nothing more than a strong breastwork of logs across the mouth of this pen- insula, to made it an impregnable fortress. As a matter of fact, when they had thus thrown their breastwork of logs across the narrow passage which led from the open country into this narrow tongue of land, they had trapped themselves most effectually, for while the river was not fordable in their immediate vicinity, it was easy enough to find fords a few miles away. Thus, there was no diffi- culty in throwing troops across the river tO the rear and the flanks of the Indian camp, so that when the attacking force occupied a position in front of the land outlet, the Indians would be bottled up. If Jackson had simply invested the Indian fortress, surrounding it, entrenching his troops, simply feeding his own men, — as he was amply prepared to do, — the Indians, cut off from all supplies and absolutely helpless, would have been compelled to surrender at discretion in less than ten days. Not a shot need have been fired, no blood need have been spilt. Within that narrow tongue of land, — which is now a cul- tivated field of about one hundred acres, — the Indians could not have held out, for the simple reason that they 184 LIFE AND TIMES OF JACKSON. had no supplies, and no way to get any. It is doubtful if they had so much as five days' rations on hand at the time when they concentrated themselves in the Horse Shoe Bend. On the morning of the 27th of March, 1814, when General Jackson appeared before the Indian breastworks, those nine hundred Red Men were as com- pletely in his power as were the French at Sedan within the iron girdle of the Germans. Had General Jackson been content to surround the Indian camp and wait, what possible hope was there for nine hundred Indian warriors against five thousand of the crack riflemen of Tennessee? Jackson, however, was in no mood to wait. He was bent upon making an immediate assault With about one- half of his army he prepared to attack in front, while General Coffee, with a force of whites and Indians which was fully equal to that of the enemy, was sent to ford the river two miles below, to get in the rear of the enemy, to cut off his retreat. Had General Coffee been content with merely carrying out his orders, there would have been no retreat to cut off. Nothing is more certain than that Gen- eral Jackson would have failed on the direct attack upon the Indian breast-works had it not been that Coffee, with the eye of a soldier, saw that he could do vastly better for General Jackson than to carry out the orders which had been given him. Acting upon his own bold initiative, General Coffee sent the friendly Indians to swim across the river and bring away the canoes which the doomed red men, intrenched in the Bend, had, with amazing carelessness, left without a guard. The canoes were soon brought over and they were manned by the troops of General Coffee, who rowed across the river, landed on the bend, and thus an army equal to that of the entrapped warriors was on their rear, burning their huts, terroriz- ing their women and children, and pouring deadly volleys into their ranks at the same time that General Jackson was attacking their breastworks in front. Under such conditions the Greeks who stood and died at Thermopylae would have been unable to have done more than to have stood and died in the Horse Shoe Bend. LIFE AND TIMES OF JACKSON. 185 With a stoical heroism unsurpassed in the annals of warfare these red men, caught between the two armies, outnumbered more than five to one, encumbered by their women and children, badly armed and with a scant sup- ply of ammunition, — fought with undaunted courage until nightfall put an end to the butchery. Not one would beg for quarter; even the wounded fought desperately after they fell to the ground. Dying, they hurled their curses and defiance at the invaders of their homes. When night put an end to this awful and unnecessary massacre, nearly six hundred of the Indians were dead in their camp, and perhaps several hundred were beneath the waters of the Tallapoosa. This battle ended the Creek War. Not only that, but it utterly broke the power and spirit of the Creek Nation. It is true that many of the warriors sought a refuge and a new home in the Everglades of Florida, where, in later years, they re- sisted the whites with the same intrepid courage which they had shown in Alabama. It is true, also, that scat- tered bands intrenched in the swamps of Georgia, fought bloody skirmishes with the whites so late as 1836; but as a nation, capable of putting regular forces into the field to defend their nationality, the Creeks are known to' his- tory no more. The women and children who were captured in this last battle were sent North into the territory which had already been swept clear of the "Red Sticks." The wounded warriors who would accept mercy were spared and cared for. General Jackson personally interested himself in one of these wounded warriors, who begged that he might be killed. Assuring the young Indian "that he would be treated kindly thenceforth, Jackson con- tinued to be the friend of the young warrior, and after the war, took him to Nashville, where he married a negro woman, and lived the remainder of his life. It was in this battle of the Horse Shoe Bend that Gen. Sam Houston won his spurs. For a long while the fight- ing in front of the breastworks was ineffectual. The small cannon balls fired from General Jackson's little 13 a j 186 LIFE AND TIMES OF JACKSON. pieces, — a three-pounder and a six-pounder, — made no impression whatever on the large logs of which the breastworks were built. In the fury of the fight, it is said that the whites went right up to the breastworks on one side and the Indians on the other, and that in many cases the guns of the opposing men were almost in touch. The first man that sprang upon the breastworks to carry the assault into the Indian camp was Major L. P. Montgom- ery, of the Thirty-ninth. He was instantly shot dead. Next was Sam Houston. He had no sooner mounted the parapet than an arrow sank deep into his thigh. Calling to one of his men, Houston ordered him to pull the arrow out. It was so deeply imbedded in flesh and muscle that the soldier made two efforts, without success. Suffering horrible pain, Houston ripped out an oath at the soldier and swore he would kill him if he did not pull the arrow out. Giving his full strength to it, the soldier made another effort, and drew out the arrow, but fearfully mangled the limb. Fearing th^t he would bleed to death, Houston re-crossed the breastwork, in order that the blood might be staunched and the limb dressed. General Jackson was witness to the bravery and the suffering of young Houston, and ordered him not to enter the fight again. Later in the day, however, we find the irrepres- sible Houston leading the last assault which was made upon some desperate warriors who had taken refuge in a cavern under the river bank. In this assault, made against orders, Houston received two bullets in his shoulder, and was again put out of action. In fact, it seemed to be so certain that he was to be numbered with the dead, that the surgeons paid very little attention to him during the night ; and it was, perhaps, owing to this circumstance, that he survived. Strange to say, there has always been more or less willingness on the part of Houston's political opponents to accuse him of cowardice. For instance, in "Seven Decades of The Union," by Henry A. Wise, we find the statement that Gen. William Carroll denounced Houston on the streets of Nashville as a coward, declaring that at LIFE AND TIMES OF JACKSON. 187 the battle of the Horse Shoe, Houston was struck in the arm and ''blubbered so that General Jackson ordered the calf to be sent to the rear. ' ' What General Carroll may have said in the heat of a political contest is not a matter of much importance ; but Gen. Andrew Jackson was, perhaps, as good a judge of courage as ever lived ; and he certainly had quite as much confidence in the grit of Sam Houston as he ever had in that of William Carroll, after Carroll absented himself on the day of Jackson's fight with the Bentons. In the story of this Creek War, the reader will have noticed that I have tried to make it plain that up to this time General Jackson had shown no extraordinary genius as a leader of men. It would be unfair to other com- manders not to point out that it was Jackson's good for- tune to have advantages which other Indian fighters had never had, and that while he measured up to the full standard of courage, tenacity of purpose, inflexible de- termination to win, persistence in spite of difficulties, yet considering that he always outnumbered the enemy two or three to one, the results, while eminently satisfactory and creditable, were by no means marvelous. If I should be asked to name the hero of the Creek War, I should feel that truth and justice compelled me to mention the Indian Chief, Weatherford. This man's father was white, and he himself, in many respects, was a white man ; yet he was absolutely true to his own peo- ple, and the struggle which he made to preserve their homes and their liberty entitles him to a place among the heroes of nations. At the beginning of the Creek War he was a planter, in comfortable circumstances, owning slaves, living like a well-to-do white man, making a spe- cialty of raising fine horses, and considered by all who knew him an honorable man in the various relations of life. When Tecumseh first came down from the North- west to preach confederation to the Indian tribes of the South, Weatherford did not join the younger Creeks who were in favor of organizing to resist the encroachments of the whites. It was not until the white settlers of Ten- 188 LIFE AND TIMES OF JACKSON. nessee, Georgia and Mississippi continued to hew down the forests of the Indian territories, plow up their farm- ing lands, trespass upon their hunting grounds, muddy their beautiful streams with the scourings of soil from unprotected hillsides, — that Weatherford, fully aroused to the fact that he must make a stand against encroach- ments or see everything lost to his people, joined the war party and made ready for the fight of self-preservation. With such men as this, it would have been possible to negotiate, and to make a binding treaty. No attempt of the kind was made. When those hot-heads from the Mobile territory ambushed the Indians who had gone to Pensacola to buy ammunition, the war was on. With great energy Weatherford collected a few hundred of his warriors, invaded Fort Mims, led a dashing assault directly upon the gates, won a brilliant victory over the whites, and did his utmost to prevent the red men from abusing their victory. He threw himself between his enraged warriors and the women and children whom they were about to slay. Maddened with the lust of battle and of triumph, his own men turned upon him and lifted their tomahawks over his own head. Helpless and disgusted, he withdrew from a scene which he could no longer con- trol or endure. Knowing perfectly well that this slaughter of women and children would call for ven- geance, he made every effort to prepare for the evil day. As far as was in his power, he concentrated the women and the children and the warriors of his tribe at the "Holy Ground," the natural center of Indian resistance. Here he was attacked by the army of General Claiborne, of Mississippi. With great gallantry he resisted the attack, and the Mississippians were making no headway against him until his own men suddenly became panic- stricken and fled from him, when only about twenty-five on their side had fallen. With admirable prudence and fore- sight, Weatherford had withdrawn the women and chil- dren from the "Holy Ground," and they were out of reach of the whites when the stampede of the warriors left the great Chief alone. His death or capture seemed LIFE AND TIMES OF JACKSON. 189 certain, but, dashing down a ravine on his splendid gray horse, he reached the river bank at a place where the ravine had worn the bluffs down to about fifteen feet above the water line. Without a moment's hesitation he rushed his horse over the bank, and the horse and rider sank beneath the surface of the river below. As they came up, the Chief was clinging to the mane of his horse, and he once more got his seat in the saddle. Bullets struck the water on all sides but none struck him. Safely across the river, he gave a cry of defiance, and disap- peared in the wilderness. The place where this leap was made is known to this day as "Weatherford's Bluff." After this, Weatherford again got his warriors in hand. He fought a pitched battle with General Floyd and the Georgia troops. The whites were able to hold their ground, but they had been so roughly handled that Gen- eral Floyd thought it prudent to retire. While the Geor- gians were making this movement, Weatherford, with the instinct of a natural soldier, sprang upon the whites, and just did miss winning a complete victory. The unsteadi- ness of the Indians, their childish tendency to sudden fright, — was all that saved the day for the Georgians. It was about this time, also, that Jackson had such a narrow escape in crossing the Enotochopco. In fact, the Indians believed that they had routed the Tennesseans as well as the Georgians, and they boasted loudly of having ''made Captain Jackson run." If Weatherford had been a Scotchman, waging a defensive campaign to save native land, if he had been an Irishman, resisting British inva- sion; had he been a patriot of Hungary or of Poland, making a stand for home and hearth and the graves of ancestors, — his name today would be mentioned with ad- miration and sympathy by those who immortalize the heroism of O'Brien Boru, of Wallace, of Kossuth, of Koskiusko. With a pitiful force of twelve hundred warriors, half of them armed with bows and arrows, most of them hungry as they marched or fought, few national heroes have ever made a more heroic effort than Weatherford 190 LIFE AND TIMES OF JACKSON. made to save their countrymen in the hour of national peril. To make his situation more discouraging and des- perate, the very best spies in the service of three white armies were Indians; and under the leadership of these three white commanders there were always just as many Indians as Weatherford could at any time collect to- gether for battle. When it was all over, the one man who knew that he was doomed to the death which follows such a failure, was Weatherford. Had he been a man of common mould, he would have mounted his horse and sped away to Pen- sacola, or to the Everglades of Florida. The others were doing it; panic had sapped the strength of the strongest of his warriors ; dismay had broken their ranks and scat- tered their forces until within the old home of the Creeks nothing remained excepting terrified women and hungry children, and brave William Weatherford. He knew that the Indians who had followed the whites hungered and thirsted for vengeance. He knew that the Big Warrior, who stood at the head of the peace party, and who had reddened his knife in the life-blood of his own people, was fiercely intent upon taking the scalp of Weatherford. He knew that General Jackson's troops regarded him as the author of the butchery of the women and children at Fort Mims, and that Jackson had sworn to have his life. But the fearless Indian hero, with a magnanimity and a breadth of patriotism which deserves to be remembered as long as human annals are kept, — mounted his horse, rode alone to Jackson's tent, and said: "Here I am; kill me if you like; I fought you as long as I could ; I would fight you still longer if I could. My warriors are dead, or scattered; their bones are at the bottom of the river, or whitening on the battlefield; our homes are burned; our fields have been laid waste; our women and children are huddled in the wilderness, with no shelter over their heads, no food to stay their hunger. I cannot fight you longer, I surrender. Your men want me killed; kill me; but send food to the helpless women and children!" LIFE AND TIMES OF JACKSON. 191 To such an appeal there was but one answer which a manly man could give. Jackson was not a cold-blooded English prig, like the Lord Bathurst to whom Napoleon appealed ; the warm blood of Erin coursed through Jack- son 's veins, and when this fearless, high-minded Indian proposed to sacrifice himself for the salvation of the rem- nant of his race, Jackson was completely won. To the soldiers who came clamoring to the tent and crying *^Kill him! kill him!" the Commander sternly said, "Silence! He who would harm as brave a man as this, would rob the dead." In response to Weatherford's appeal, all of the hos- tiles who had come in and surrendered, as well as the women and children, were collected and sent North into the territory over which Jackson had already made his victorious march. Here, for many months, they were cared for by the whites, and about five thousand Indians were fed on rations furnished by the Government. After the war, Weatherford resumed his plantation life, was respected by his white neighbors, and died peace- fully, some years later, in his own home, from natural causes. Take him all in all, it is doubtful if the Indian race ever produced a more admirable character. It is related of him that after he had settled down to farming again, he witnessed the brutal, unprovoked mur- der of an old man by two white ruffians. The crime was committed in the presence of an aged magistrate, who in vain called on the white men present to arrest the mur- derers. At length Weatherford said to the magistrate, "If you will authorize me to arrest them, I will do it." The magistrate promptly requested him to act, and Weatherford, drawing his butcher knife, made the arrest of both murderers, without having to struggle with either. In drawing up his official report of the battle of To- hopeka, — or Horse Shoe Bend, — General Jackson was in something of a dilemma. He had not made the slightest headway in his attack on the breastwork until after Gen- eral Coffee, without orders, had sent his men across the river to the rear of the Indian line and was pouring 192 LIFE AND TIMES OF JACKSON. deadly volleys into them. It was after the confusion which this double attack naturally caused that there was a hope of successfully storming the breastwork. In mak- ing this decisive assault, Colonel Williams, in command of the 39th Regiment of Regulars, was the mainstay of the situation. So deeply indebted to Colonel Williams did General Jackson feel, that after the fight was won and the full glow of excitement and exultation was on him. General Jackson rode up to Colonel Williams and ex- claimed, "To you, Colonel Williams, I am indebted for this victory. You have placed me under everlasting obli gations, and you have put me, sir, on the high-road to military fame I ' ' Now, when it came to drawing up the official report, Jackson would have been more than human if he could have said to the public what he had said to Colonel Wil- liams on the battlefield ; nor could he very well admit that General Coffee's bold initiative in throwing a force across the river, on the Indian rear, had been the master stroke of the day. Therefore, while giving as much credit to Colonel Williams and General Coffee as he well could. General Jackson did not go to the extent which the facts justified. General Grant could hardly have been expected to admit that he owed his success in the Chattanooga campaign to the charge made up Lookout Mountain with- out his orders; — yet such is the truth of history. In like manner, Jackson could hardly be expected to admit that he owed his crowning triumph in the Creek War to his subordinates. General Coffee probably never gave a sec- ond thought to the matter of Jackson's official report, — but with Colonel Williams the case was different. He felt that in disregarding his instructions and carrying his regiment of Regulars to Jackson's relief in the wilder- ness, he had saved a desperate situation. He had given to Jackson himself that support - of disciplined troops which made it possible for Jackson to have poor John Woods shot, and to' over-awe the volunteers to such an extent that they thereafter submitted to Jackson's rigor- «.ous discipline. He also felt that he was due just about LIFE AND TIMES OF JACKSON. 193 the amount of credit for the victory of Tohopeka as Jack- son himself measured out on the battlefield; therefore, when Jackson's official report failed to allot to Colonel Williams that share of credit which he felt to be his due, the soldier who had done so much for Jackson was pro- foundly hurt and angered. After the Creek War, Colonel Williams was elected to the United States Senate. When a motion was made to investigate Jackson's high-handed conduct in Florida, Williams voted for the resolution. Soon after this vote, a man known to be very close to Jackson, called on the Senator, and said: ''I am afraid. Senator Williams, that the spirit of hostility you have manifested toward Gen- eral Jackson by your vote on the Florida matter will lead to a hostile meeting." Williams replied : '*If you are afraid of a meeting on the field of honor between Jackson and myself, I am not afraid of it. I suppose Jackson sent you to me to see what effect your implied threat would have on me. You go to him and tell him I am ready to meet him at any time. I am not to' be dictated to by him as to how I shall discharge my Senatorial duties. I think I am a better rifle shot than he is." Colonel Williams was every whit as game a man as Jackson himself, and would no doubt have promptly given Old Hickory ''satisfaction," had the General been hot-headed enough to carry matters to extremes. But no challenge was sent, and Jackson fought out the feud on another line. W^hen Colonel Williams became a candidate for re-election to the United States Senate, he would surely have been elected had not Jackson himself entered the race. In this he had the support of Colonel Williams' brother-in-law, Hugh L. White. The fact that General Jackson came into the Senatorial race, after Colonel Williams was committed to it, and after his election appeared to oe a foregone conclusion, — infuriated Colonel Williams beyond all bounds. Jackson won by a majority wr seven votes. 194 LIFE AND TIMES OF JACKSON. The following extract from a letter of Col. John B. Brownlow is interesting : Knoxville, April 27, '07. Dear Mr. Watson: After writing you yesterday, I met Mr. Jas. C. J. Williams, of Huntsville, East Tennessee, and asked him if there were any inci- dents in regard to the defeat of his grandfathr. Col. John Williams, by Jackson for the Senate in 1823 which had not been published. He told me the following as such: Judge John Overton hurried from Murfreesboro, where our Legislature then met, to the Hermit- age, arriving there at 7, while Jackson was at breakfast. He told the General, that "it was impossible to defeat Williams by any friend he had, that the election would take place that day, and unless you at once become a candidate, Williams' election is sure." Jackson immediately replied: "You go back to Murfreesboro immediately and announce me as a candidate. I do not want the office, will probably resign it in a short time, but, by the Eternal, John Williams shall not be elected." Jackson was that day elected by seven votes. The daughter-in-law of Judge Overton told this to my informant's father as she heard the Judge tell it. Williams then announced himself as a candidate for the State Senate, and he was elected, although the county was a strong Jackson county. During the campaign for the State Senate, Williams made speeches in which he denounced Jackson most bitterly. Colonel John Williams died at his home in Knoxville in 1837, from the sting of a spider. He had gone through all the dangers of the march and the battle, just as the great African traveler, Bruce, had gone through all the dangers of the savage wilderness in seeking to find the sources of the Nile; and at last the strong soldier was brought down by the sting of an insect, just as the great traveler, Bruce, was brought to his untimely end by mak- ing a misstep at his own door. Well might the old Tennessee warrior say: "I wish I had been killed at the head of my regiment ; there would have been honor in that; but it is the irony of fate that a man who has often imperilled his life on the field of battle should die by the sting of a d — d spider. ' ' With another of his officers Jackson had trouble after the Battle of Horse Shoe Bend. This was related to me LIFE AND TIMES OF JACKSON. 195 by Col. Sam King, descendant of the officer in question. His letter follows : William King, of Kings Meadows (now Bristol, Sullivan County, Tenn.), commanded the 4th U. S. Infantry in 1818. He took a creditable part in the War of 1812 and the subsequent Indian wars, and his men were particularly prominent in the Battle of the Horse Shoe and were not satisfied with General Jackson's report of the battle. After the battle, Colonel King sent a friend to request Gen- eral Jackson to "lay his stripes" (i. e., doff his rank) and fight a duel with King. General Jackson replied, "Go and tell Colonel King our country cannot afford to lose such men as he and I, therefore I will not fight him. I will correct my report in which I inadvertently failed to give him and his men the credit they deserve." Jackson and King were ever afterwards warm friends, and when Jackson captured Florida and Cuba, in 1818, he made King Military Governor and left his regiment (4th Infantry) as the garrison of Pensacola. History says that Jackson took an affectionate leave of Colonel King and started to Nashville. Colonel King was the son of Col. James King, who in 1795 fur- nished General Jackson 12,501.67 1-2 with which to join Colonel Overton in the purchase of the Chickasaw Bluffs, where Memphis now stands. 196 LIFE AND TIMES OF JACKSON. CHAPTER XIV. In his ludicrous "History of the American People," Dr. Woodrow Wilson disposes of the Battle of New Or- leans in one paragraph. The learned Doctor's work is in five pretentious volumes. Yet the most brilliant and astonishing triumph which "the American People" have ever gained over a foreign foe, is squeezed into eleven lines ! The learned Doctor had taken up so much of his space and energy glorifying New England riots and skir- mishes that, by the time he reached January 8th, 1815, he was out of breath and elbow room. One of these days, we shall have some broad-minded historian buckle down to the task of writing a real ' ' Story of the American People;" and then such books as Dr. Wilson's will go to the trash-pile, where they belong. The history of this natoin did not begin at Plymouth Rock, and does not consist solely of Puritan romance. The years 1813 and 1814 were doleful years. The Ship of State, storm-tossed and badly battered, had a weak pilot and a mutinous crew. New England was feeding the enemy and defying the President. New England was debating secession and a separate confederacy. New England was holding corres- pondence with Great Britain. Traitors on shore acted as spies for the British, giving them timely information of the sailing of our ships. To keep New England from dis- rupting the Union, as her Hartford Convention, her Josiah Quincy, her Pickering and her Cabot boldly threat- ened to ^o, Mr. Madison had been driven to' open negotia- tions for peace, under circumstances which made it cer- tain that we would have to accept humiliating conditions. The war was hurting business in New England; and New England had demonstrated, very plainly, that she would rather go out of the Union than have her business hurt. The Governor of Vermont ordered home the State militia which had been sent to the defense of New York ; and when Congress began to consider the conduct of LIFE AND TIMES OF JACKSON. 197 Vermont with a view to rebuking and punishing her Governor, the Massachusetts legislature made common cause with Vermont and declared her purpose of aiding Vermont in resisting the Federal Government. At the same time, Massachusetts openly defied the central authority by releasing every Federal prisoner confined in her jails. Here and there, in '^ Histories" written by scholars of the East and North, much contempt for James Mon- roe finds expression. Well, we can't all be men of tower- ing genius. No admirer of James Monroe has ever claimed that he was a Washington, or Webster, or Franklin, but it ill becomes any American historian to speak slightingly of this honest, true-hearted Virginian, who gave his whole life to the service of his country, — in war and in peace, at home and abroad — and who died poor. Englishmen are proud of the inscription on the monument of the younger Pitt, — an inscription which tells the world, and will tell future ages, that the disin- terested statesman who filled the highest office of the richest nation of the earth, served long and died poor ! Why may we not be, for the same reason, proud of James Monroe? More especially when we remember the origin of the financial embarrassments which beclouded his old age, and drove him from his home in Virginia, to die in New York. The story is one that does him everlasting credit, and it deserves a page in every history of our Republic. The national treasury was empty; the national credit was gone; the money-lenders refused to make a loan to the Government, save on one condition. And that was that James Monroe would give his per- sonal word of honor that the debt would be paid. The patriot gave the pledge, got the money which was sorely needed to feed and equip our troops, and thus kept the Government going. Why do Northern historians conceal such facts as 198 LIFE AND TIMES OF JACKSON. this? And why do Southern men, like Woodrow Wilson, omit such memorable deeds of unselfish devotion to country, when they come to publish five-volume histories of '*the American People?" At the very moment when the Pickerings, Cabots and Quincys were threatening to break up the Union because the war hurt business, Monroe was pledging his private fortune to raise funds for the support of the Govern- ment. In the same spirit spoke John Eager Howard, the old hero whose dash and daring had turned the tide of battle at the Cowpens. The "business men" of Baltimore, quaking in their boots, and thinking of dollars, wanted to surrender the city to the British, who had just come from the burning of Washington. Old Howard sprang up in the meeting and exclaimed : "I have as much property in Baltimore as any man here; I have five sons; rather than surrender without a fight, I will let my property go up in flames, and see every one of my sons meet a soldier's death!" Of such men as James Monroe and John Eager How- ard, is the glory of a nation. After the return of General Jackson to Mobile, his conduct was extremely imprudent. Although warned by James Monroe, Secretary of War, that the British were massing their forces for an attack on New Orleans, he scattered his troops, and lingered two weeks at Mobile, when every possible man should have been making a forced march on New Orleans. Sending a thousand of his troops on an expedition against the Indians, he ordered two thousand to Baton Rouge, left twelve hun- dred in Mobile, and despatched one regiment to the threatened city. It was not until the 2nd of December, 1814, he himself reached New Orleans, which he found totally unprepared for defence. Very fortunately, the General had, from first to last, the benefit of the invaluable aid of Edward Livingston — a LIFE AND TIMES OF JACKSON. 199 wise counsellor, an indefatigable co-worker, a man of resource, local influence, and the most ardent patriotism. This New Yorker was a tower of strength to Jackson during the trying weeks which followed, and to his ability and tireless energy the success of the defence was greatly indebted. Mr. Livingston, whose wife was a social leader in New Orleans and a full-blooded French Creole, invited General Jackson to dinner on the day he was made Jack- son 's military secretary. Mrs. Livingston was entertain- ing a party of Creole young ladies, that day, and she remonstrated with her husband for having asked ''that wild Indian fighter of Tennessee upon a dinner party of young ladies." But the invitation had been sent and accepted, and in due time the wild Indian fighter rode up, dismounted, and entered the Livingston home. We will give the remainder in Mr. Livingston's own language : "The General appeared in the full-dress uniform of his rank — that of major-general in the regular army. This was a blue frock-coat with buff facings and gold lace, white waistcoat and close-fitting breeches, also of white cloth, with morocco boots reaching above the knees. To my astonishment this uniform was new, spotlessly clean, and fitted his tall, slender form perfectly. I had before seen him only in the somewhat worn and careless fatigue uniform he wore on duty at headquarters. I had to confess to myself that the new and perfectly fitting full-dress uniform made almost another man of him. ''I also observed that he had two sets of manners: One for the headquarters, where he dealt with men and the problems of war; the other for the drawing-room, where he met the gentler sex, and was bound by the eti- quette of fair society. But he was equally at home in either. When we reached the middle of the room all the ladies rose. I said: 'Madame and Madamoiselles, I have the honor to present Major-General Jackson, of the United States Army.' 200 LIFE AND TIMES OF JACKSON. **The General bowed to Madame, and then right and left to the young ladies about her. Madame advanced to meet him, took his hand and then presented him to the young ladies severally, name by name. Unfortunately, of the twelve or more young ladies present — all of whom happened to be French — not more than three could speak English; and as the General understood not a word of French — except, perhaps, Sacre hleu — the general con- versation was restricted. ''However, we at once sought the table, where we placed the General between Madame Livingston and Mademoiselle Choutard, an excellent English scholar, and with their assistance as interpreters, he kept up a lively all-round chat with the entire company. Of our wines he seemed to fancy most a fine old Madeira, and remarked that he had not seen anything like it since Burr's dinner at Philadelphia in 1797, when he (Jack- son) was a Senator. I well remember that occasion, hav- ing been then a member of Congress from New York and one of Burr's guests. ** 'So you have known Mr. Livingston a very long time,' exclaimed Mile. Choutard. " 'Oh, yes. Miss Choutard,' he replied, 'I had the honor to know Mr. Livingston probably before the world was blessed by your existence!' "This was only one among a perfect fusillade of quick and apt compliments he bestowed with charming impartiality upon Madame Livingston and all her pretty guests. "When the dinner was ever he spent half an hour or so with me in my library ; and then returned to the draw- ing-room to take leave of the ladies, as he still had much work before him at headquarters that night. During the whole occasion the ladies, who thought of nothing but the impending invasion, wanted to talk about it almost exclu- sively. But he gently parried the subject. The only thing he said about it that I can remember was to assure Madame that while 'possibly British soldiers might get near enough to see the church-spires that pointed to LIFE AND TIMES OF JACKSON. 201 heaven from the sanctuaries of their religion, none should ever get a glimpse of the inner sanctuaries of their homes. ' I confess that I myself more than once marvelled at the unstudied elegance of his language, and even more at the apparently spontaneous promptings of his gal- lantry. "When he was gone, the young ladies no longer restrained their enthusiasm. 'Is this your savage Indian fighter!' they demanded, in a chorus of their own lan- guage. 'Is this your rough frontier General? Shame upon you, Mr. Livingston, to deceive us so! He is a veritable preux chevalier!' And I must confess that Madame was as voluble in her reproaches as any of the young ladies. I was glad to escape in a few minutes, when I went to join the General at headquarters, where we were busy until near two a. m. with the preliminary work of the campaign." Ever since the 26th of November, a fleet of fifty sail, the finest ships of the British navy, had been making across from Negrill Bay, Jamaica, to the Gulf Coast. Had they not been detained by two weeks of head-winds, they would have anchored within striking distance of New Orleans before Jackson could have brought a thou- sand men together for defense. The new levies from Tennessee were not in hand; the Kentuckians were far away; and Jackson himself had sent the greater number of his own men beyond supporting distance. Delayed by head-winds, it was not until December 5th that the British fleet was sighted off Pensacola. Some unknown patriot wrote to Commodore Patterson at New Orleans telling him of the approach of the enemy, but even then General Coffee was not ordered in. Slow in covering the distance between Jamaica and the Gulf Coast, the British were equally slow in deciding what to do after they arrived. These precious delays brought General Carroll and his Tennesseans nearer to the threatened city every day, and made it possible for the fine soldier and sterling patriot, General Adair, to bring to the field of battle the hurried levies from Kentucky. 14 aj 202 LIFE AND TIMES OF JACKSON. On December 14tli, the British, in overwhelming force, attacked the little squadron of gunboats which Lieuten- ant Ap Catesby Jones commanded on Lake Borgne. After a most gallant resistance, the Americans were killed or captured and their boats destroyed. It was not until the news of this disaster reached him that Jackson quit dawdling and posturing, and got down to his work. It was almost too late. Had the British pushed right ahead, it would have been too late. There was practically no force in the city at this time upon which Jackson could rely and the enemy could have gone to the Chef Mentour, or to the Villere planta- tion, and marched into New Orleans. Between the Villere house and the city, not an obstacle to the advance inter- vened. Carroll had not come; Adair had not come; and Coffee had not even been ordered to come! But the guns on Lake Borgne roused Jackson, at last, and from that moment he was the Jackson of the Creek "War. In all directions flew the orders that ought to have been issued two weeks earlier. General Coffee was ordered to make a forced march to New Orleans. The listless Creoles were told that every able-bodied man who did not appear with a gun in his hand, ready to fight for his home, would be treated as an enemy. The Legisla- ture was asked to suspend the writ of habeas corpus. When it dallied, Jackson put the city under martial law. The effect was electrical. The sleepy old town was gal- vanized into unheard-of activity. Rich men and poor men, native Americans and Americans of foreign descent, mechanics and cotton merchants — all were thrown promiscuously together, drilled, and made ready to fight. The women were ablaze with courageous enthu- siasm. Their ready hands did a thousand useful things ; their spirit was an inspiration to the men; and the roughly clad backwoodsmen who were to bear the brunt of the battle never forgot the kindnesses showered upon them by the noble women of New Orleans. General Carroll arrived with the fresh brigade from Tennessee. LaFitte and his alleged pirates spurned the LIFE AND TIMES OF JACKSON. 203 offers of the English and came to fight with the Ameri- icans. Creoles to the number of one thousand were enrolled. Two hundred free negroes volunteered. And fifty or sixty Choctaws were on hand, under their noted Captain, Jugeat, to do valuable service and to contribute one-third to the entire losses in the final battle of January 8th, 1815. It was not until the 18th and 19th of December, 1814, that any attempt to reconnoitre the American position was made by the enemy. Deciding to effect a landing at Bienvenue, instead of at Chef Mentour, the British advanced upon the Bienvenue road and were at the Villere plantation, six miles from New Orleans, before General Jackson knew anything of the movement. Major Villere was captured, and the British camped on his place, — had they marched straight on it is practically certain that they would have taken New Orleans. Major Villere realized the supreme importance of notifying Jackson of the landing of the British, and, by desperate effort, he made his escape, reached the city, and made known its immediate peril. Jackson rose to the occasion, and mastered the crisis. When Major Villere dashed into New Orleans with the tidings that the enemy had landed in force, and were only six miles away, the noon hour was past, and the easy going population were indoors, napping or eating. BOOM! Boom! It is the alarm gun! Thrillingly sounds the great bell of the cathedral — clang on clang, peal on peal — the drums beat the long roll; and the city springs to life as from an electric shock. To arms! The enemy is at hand! — and those who are to make the living rampart behind which the fair city shall be safe, rush to the Place of Arms, — the regulars, the Tennesseans, the Creoles, LaFitte's pirates, the free negroes, the Choctaw Indians. To do what? To march, on the instant, against the invader, and to fight him that very night! To the full stature of a national hero, Andrew Jack- son rises at a bound — for the unhesitating resolution to advance and fight is nothing less than sublime. And it is 204 LIFE AND TIMES OF JACKSON. the very wisest thing to do. His magnificent dash and bluff in making the night attack fills the British with the belief that he heavily outnumbers them, and to this false impression is due that delay which becomes the salvation of New Orleans. The enemy had gone into camp for the night, fires were lit, the soldiers were taking things comfortably, with no thought of being attacked, when the American schooner, the Carolina, dropped down the Mississippi, anchored within range, and blazed away — to the utter amazement of the British. In the meantime. General Jackson had marched by the levee, and General Coffee by the Cypress swamp; and before the British could recover from the consternation and confusion caused by the Carolina's fire, the Americans were pouring in a deadly fire, right and left. Had it not been for the darkness which caused the troops of Cogee to come into action before going far enough to take the enemy in flank, it is probable that this night attack of December 23rd would have resulted in a decisive victory for Jackson. As it was, the men lost their formation and the battle took on the appearance of a confused melee, in which squads fought squads, and individual soldiers "had it out" with their guns, swords, knives and tomahawks. The British gave ground, but their reinforcements were coming up, and Jackson decided to call off his men before daylight should reveal his numerical weakness. He drew back about two miles, to the old Kodriguez Canal, behind which he took position. From the cypress swamp to the river was about a mile. To throw up an embankment along the old Canal, taking the soil from the bottom and one side of the trench and throwing this mud up on the other side of the trench — thus deepening and widening the ditch as the breastwork rose higher, — is the easy task to which some 2,000 negroes, impressed for the purpose, can be put. Behind the breastwork, the level ground stretches away to New Orleans; in front, it is level all the way to the LIFE AND TIMES OF JACKSON. 205 British camp. The enemy must advance to the attack over the level ground of this narrow plain. The soil is so moist that water runs into a trench when one sinks it two feet. Consequently, the British cannot advance by parallels, zigzag, or other military methods laid down in the books. The British believe that the swamp is a morass ;the river is a mile wide ; to drive Jackson out of the path to New Orleans they must come up, in the open, and present their unshielded breasts to 4,000 of the best rifle shots in the world. These riflemen will be protected by substantial earthworks, and on the side up which the British must climb to get at the Americans, the ditch is so wide and deep, and the sloping embankment so steep and slippery that it would be a difficult task to reach the top, although nobody was there to shoot at the climber. As a matter of fact the water in the river at this time was so low that such a leader as George Rogers Clarke would have led his men through the swamp, out of range of Jackson's rifles, and come upon his rear! But the British never even made the attempt! Even a civilian can understand the advantage of Jackson's position. Inasmuch as the British finally dug a canal across the isthmus, got some boats on the river, and sent over a detachment of a thousand men, we can- not but marvel that the entire army did not pass to the other bank, and march upon New Orleans by that prac- tically undefended route. Staggered by the night attack, the English army lay in camp, while sailors from the fleet, with enormous toil and difficulty, dragged nine field pieces, two howitzers, and one mortar from the ships through the swamp to the Villere plantation. Then the Carolina was destroyed by red-hot shot, and the other American vessel, the Lou- isiana, compelled to go out of range. By January 1, 1815, the British sailors had managed to bring thirty cannon through the bog to the camp, and Sir Edward Packenham, the Commander-in-Chief, opened a cannonade on the American line. To the amaze- ment of the enemy, his gunners were no match for the 206 LIFE AND TIMES OF JACKSON. Americans. After four hours, the English guns were silenced. Several of them were dismounted. It was in this cannonade that each army discovered that it had made a mistake in the construction of its defensive works. The British had used hogsheads of sugar, upon the supposition that sugar would resist pro- jectiles, as sand does. Of course, it did not. General Jackson, on the other hand, had used bales of cotton. The cannon balls of the enemy knocked these out of place, and they were set on fire by the wadding of the American guns. Therefore, the bales had to be removed and carried to the rear, where the soldiers took them to pieces and used the lint for bedding. Appendix. Letter from Colonel Edward Nichols to LaFitte, the Commander of the Barratarian Smugglers: I have arrived in ttie Floridas for the purpose of annoying the only enemy Great Britain has in the world, as France and England are now friends. I call on you, with your brave followers, to enter into the service of Great Britain, in which you shall have the rank of captain; lands will be given to you all in proportion to your respective ranks, on a peace taking place, and I invite you on the fol- lowing terms: Your property shall be guaranteed to you, and your persons protected; in return for which I ask you to cease all hos- tilities against Spain, or the allies of Great Britain. Your ships and vessels to be placed under the orders of the commanding officer on this station, until the commander-in-chief's pleasure is known; but r guarantee their fair value at all events. I herewith inclose you a copy of my proclamation to the inhabitants of Louisiana, which will, I trust, point out to you the honorable intentions of my Government. You may be a useful assistant to me, in forwarding them; therefore, if you determine, lose no time. The bearer of this. Captain McWilliams, will satisfy you on any other point you may be anxious to learn, as will Captain Lockyear, of the Sophia, who brings him to you. We have a powerful reinforcement on its way here, and I hope to cut out some other work for the Americans than oppressing the inhabitants of Louisiana. Be expeditious in your resolves, and rely on the verity of your very humble servant. EDWARD NICHOLS. Dated, probably, Sept. 3, 1814. Letter from Mr. LaFitte to Mr. Blanque. Barataria, 4th September, 1814. Sir: Though proscribed by my adopted country, I will never let slip any occasion of serving her, or of proving that she has LIFE AND TIMES OF JACKSON. 207 never ceased to be dear to me. Of this you will here see a convinc- ing proof. Yesterday, the 3rd of September, there appeared here, under a flag of truce, a boat coming from an English brig, at anchor about two leagues from the pass. Mr. Nicholas Lockyer, a British officer of high rank, delivered me the following papers, two directed to me, a proclamation, and the admiral's instructions to that officer, all herewith enclosed. You will see from their contents the advantages I might have derived from that kind of association. I may have evaded the payment of duties to the custom house, but I have never ceased to be a good citizen; and all the offence I have committed, I was forced to by certain vices in our laws. In short, sir, I make you the depository of the secret on which perhaps de- pends the tranquility of our country; please to make such use of it as your judgment may direct. I might expatiate on this proof of patriotism, but I let the fact speak for itself. I presume, however, to hope that such proceedings may obtain amelioration of the situa- tion of my unhappy brother, with which I recommend him particu- larly to your influence. It is in the bosom of a just man, of a true American endowed with all other qualities that are honored in society, that I think I am depositing the interests of our common country, and what particularly concerns myself. Our enemy have endeavored to work on me by a motive which few men would have resisted. They represented to me a brother in irons, a brother who is to me very dear, whose deliverer I might become, and I declined the proposal. Well persuaded of his inno- cence, I am free from apprehension as to the issue of a trial; but he is sick and not In a place where he can receive the assistance his state requires. I recommend him to you, in the name of humanity. As to the flag of truce, 1' have done with regard to it, everything that prudence suggested to me at the time. I have asked fifteen days to determine, assigning such plausible pretexts that I hope the term will be granted. I am waiting for the British officer's answer, and for yours to this. Be so good as to assist me with your judi- cious counsel in so weighty an affair. I have the honor to salute you, J. LaFITTB. Letter from LaFitte to His Excellency, W. C. C. Clai- borne, Governor of Louisiana. Sir: In the Arm persuasion that the choice made of you to fill the office of first magistrate of this state, was dictated by the esteem of your fellow-citizens, and was conferred on merit, I confi- dently address you on an affair on which may depend the safety of this country. I offer to you to restore to this state several citizens, who per- haps in your eyes have lost that sacred title. I offer you them, however, such as you could wish to find them, ready to exert their utmost efforts in defense of the country. This point of Louisiana, which r occupy, is of great importance in the present crisis. I ten- der my services to defend it; and the only reward I ask is that a stop be put to the proscription against me and my adherents, by an act of oblivion for all that has been done hitherto. I am the sti-ay sheep, wishing to return to the sheepfold. If you were thoroughly acquainted with the nature of my offences, I should appear to you much less guilty, and still worthy to discharge the duties of a good 208 LIFE AND TIMES OF JACKSON. citizen. I have never sailed under any flag but that of the Republic of Carthagena, and my vessels are perfectly regular in that respect. If I could have brought my lawful prizes into the ports of this State, I should not have employed the illicit means that have caused me to be proscribed. I decline saying more on this subject, until I have the honour of your excellency's answer, which 1 am persuaded ■can be dictated only by wisdom. Should your answer not be favor- able to my ardent desires, I declare to you that I will instantly leave the country, to avoid the imputation of having co-operated towards an invasion on this point, which cannot fail to take place, and to rest secure in the acquittal of my own conscience. I have the honour to be. Your excellency's, etc., J. LaFITTE. LIFE AND TIMES OF JACKSON. 209 CHAPTER XVI. The British anny, on January 8tli, numbered about 10,000 fighting men. Excepting the two regiments of West Indian negroes (about 1,700,) they were the best soldiers, in the open, that could have been mustered any- where. There were not only picked men from Ireland and Scotland, but several thousands of veterans, who had become hardened to warfare in the stern school of Wellington. They had won nearly every pitched battle which they had fought in Spain, and stormed such strong- holds as Cindad Rodriga, Badajo's and San Sebastian, — taking them after desperate resistance and after sur- mounting obstacles which seemed invincible. They had so barbarously, inhumanly abused their triumphs that the atrocities of the Indians at Fort Mims and at Frenchtown appear as nothing, — for the cold-blooded murder of the helpless non-combatants of the Peninsula City was the milder form which English ferocity and lust took during those horrible days. Such are the men who have come to take New Orleans; and they are arrogantly confident of their ability to do it, — and then the wealth of the city and beautiful girls and matrons, whose only wall of defence is the heroic band under Jackson, are to be at the mercy of their beastly appetites, as were the Spanish and Portuguese women at San Sebastian. Some of these British soldiers had taken part in the burning and loot- ing of Washington; some in the burning and ravishing at Hampton. Once let these brutes break through the line that checks their advance, and New Orleans will be given to the torch, the robber and the rapist. Let us see how the army of General Jackson is made up. Of "Regulars" — troops of the U. S. Army, — he has less than a thousand. He has about 800 Louisiana militia, of whom 180 are free negroes — mostly refugees from San Domingo. He has Captain Jugeat and his 62 210 LIFE AND TIMES OF JACKSON. Choctaws. He has 36 Baratarian pirates, turned patriots. But the most effective force, — the trained marksmen who shoot rifles that will kill at 400 yards, — are the backwoodsmen of Tennessee, Kentucky, men who had won the day for Harrison on the Thames and for Jackson at Horse Shoe Bend. All told, there stood in the front line, 3,918 men ; but near at hand, in reserve were Hinds' Mississippi Rifles, 150 strong; Harrison's Battalion of Kentucky Militia, 306 men, and Ogden's 50 U. S. Dragoons. All through the night of Friday, January 6th, muffled sounds from the British camp reached the Americans. A vague bustle and rumble, as of preparation and prelimi- nary movement for general attack or retreat. Some of Jackson 's officers believed that the British were packing up to abandon the expedition. Jackson, however, had been closely watching them from the top of the MaCartie house — his headquarters, — and came to the conclusion that the enemy was putting itself in marching order to storm the American line. Throughout Saturday, the assault was expected. The riflemen of the South nursed their long, clumsy, but deadly rifles, their fierce, eager eyes sweeping the plain in front, their souls and bodies keyed up to the utmost tension, and their confidence unshaken. As General Coffee wrote his wife, "All we want is for the red-coats to come within fair buck range. ' ' Saturday passed without event, and Jackson felt cer- tain that with the dawn of Sunday morning the struggle would commence. Doubling the sentinels, connecting lines were thrown out, so that the first movement of the enemy would be known in the American camp. At midnight, Jackson rose and saying: "Gentlemen, we have slept long enough," made his way with his staff to the front. His troops, tired of the long delay, and of the cramped, uncomfortable life on the muddy plain behind their breastwork, were in the highest spirit at the thought of putting an end to their suspense and suffer- LIFE AND TIMES OF JACKSON. 211 ings. That they would be able to hold their position and to sweep off the face of the earth whatever attacking columns might be sent against them, they had not the slightest doubt. The feeling which animated the entire American army might have been summed up in the words, *'Let them come on. We are ready, willing and waiting. We'll show these heroes of Bladensburg the difference between raw militia, commanded by imbeciles, and the hardened backwoodsmen who won at Talladega and the Thames. We'll show these heroes of Badajo's and Cindad Rodrigo and San Sebastian a thing or two that they did not learn in Spain. Let them come on — those two-burners, those brutes who raped screaming girls at Hampton, and who have brought the same negro troops here in the belief that there will be raping in New Orleans! — These devils incarnate who in the Spanish and Portuguese cities — cities friendly to the British — practiced such enormities of atrocious cruelty and lust, as makes the blood run hot and cold with horror and indignation. Let them come on ! We are ready." At the hour of the clock which marked sunrise, there was so dense a mist hanging between swamp and river, enveloping the entire plain, that one could see but a few yards in front of him. Under this cover, the British might have made their attack to great advantage. They had only to march straight ahead, there being no danger of columns going the wrong road. Between river and swamp was the open plain a mile wide, level as a floor, and free from obstructions. In the mist, they could have marched to the very brink of the ditch behind which the Americans were posted without offering to the riflemen of Jackson any definite target. But British rules did not favor such fighting, and therefore they waited until the fog began to lift. ''My Choctaws, I suppose," said Jackson. So it was. Two of the red men, crawling along toward the enemy, had seen, under the fog, the legs of British sentinels and had fired at them. The sentinels ran in. The fog lifting, the Americans could at length see the 212 LIFE AND TIMES OF JACKSON. British column of attack, some 600 yards away. Generals Jackson, Carroll and Adair, and Major Latour, mounted the breastworks to watch the advance. Two rockets were fired by the enemy, — the signal for the battle. Jackson ordered off the parapet the officers who were with him, but stood there himself, scanning the British through his glasses. ''Pass the wotd down the line," he said to Carroll and Adair, "for the men to be ready; let them count the enemy's file down as closely as they can, and each look after his own file man in the enemy's ranks. The men are not to fire until told and then to aim above the cross- belt plates." As I shall show later by figures taken from official records, there has been much flambuoyant nonsense writ- ten about the devastation wrought upon the British by the cannon and "the regulars" at the Battle of New Orleans. Jackson's Batteries, Nos. 7 and 8, were on the rifle line. They smoked portentously as they bellowed away, and this smoke hung low, in front of the rifle line, throw- ing a screen between the riflemen and the enemy which would make it impossible for the backwoodsmen to take aim, when their turn should come to fire. General Adair, of Kentucky, noticed this and called General Carroll 's attention to it. They both agreed that those batteries had better be ordered to cease firing. They so advised General Jackson. He gave the order, and "Batteries Nos. 7 and 8" went out of action. The smoke lifted none too soon, for when it cleared away, there were the British, steadily advancing in mag- nificent array, not more than three hundred yards off. Jackson got down off the breastwork. "They're near enough now," he said to Carroll and Adair. In front of the centre of the British line rode an officer in brilliant uniform, on a splendid gray charger. General Adair stepped to where Morgan Ballard, a crack-shot, of the Kentucky force, was waiting with his thumb on the hammer of his rifle. LIFE AND TIMES OF JACKSON. 213 ''Morg," said Adair, ''see that officer on the gray horse?" "Yes, sir." ''Snuff his candle," said Adair. The rifle came up, cracked like a whip, and the British officer. Major Whittaker, toppled off his horse— stone dead — for the ball had nipped his ear and passed clean through from temple to temple. ''Fire! Fire!"— the word ran all along the Ameri- can line, and the rifles began to crack,— the noise blend- ing as the fire became more continuous, until an inde- scribable volume of keen, tearing, snarling, snapping sound, rang from one of the breastworks to the other. It was not a roar of battle which these rifles made. The rifle report in the old times was a keen, sharp crack, — a splitting sound peculiar to itself,— and when two thou- sand of these whip-cracker guns were snapping at the same time, the noise must have sounded unearthly in the ears of European veterans accustomed only to muskets and cannon. The Americans were formed in loose order, four deep, so that as the first line fired it might draw back to load, while the second line advanced to the breastwork to fire. By the time the fourth line had fired, the first had reloaded, and were ready to shoot. In this way, a con- tinuous sheet of flame was kept alive along the American line. On the night of January 7, Sir Edward Pakenham had called a council of war. The British officers were sorely puzzled by the problem which presented itself to them, and many had their misgivings. Sir Edward Pakenham was the brother-in-law of the Duke of Welling- ton, and had greatly distinguished himself in Spain ; yet his movements and his delays on the Mississippi, had shaken the confidence of his lieutenants. Apparently, he was at a loss what to do. His capacity as a general had not seemed equal to the emergency. "Oh for an hour of the old Duke!" cried one of the British generals. Nothing could more clearly prove what was thought of Pakenham. 214 LIFE AND TIMES OF JACKSON. At the Council of War it had been finally decided to storm the American works. In vain General Keane remonstrated. In vain Colonel Mullens declared: "Gen- tlemen, my regiment will have the head of the column tomorrow. You are sending it to execution." But General Gibbs, an officer of the Braddock type, exclaimed hotly: ''Gentlemen, I have no patience with anyone who argues that the men who stormed Cindad Rodrigo and Badajos can be halted by, much less repulsed from, a low log breastwork manned by a backwoods rabble." Thus almost by intimidation, the attack in the open, with breastworks bared, had been decided on. At the same time, they had determined to land a force of a thousand men on the right bank of the river, to advance upon New Orleans on that side. Colonel Thorn- ton, an able officer, was assigned to this command. It was about eight o'clock in the morning (the 8th), before the fog lifted sufficiently to satisfy the British that it was time to march. On they went, directing their advance upon Jackson's left. For the American cannon, they cared nothing. They were used to that kind of war- fare, were prepared for it, and braved it, — but after Major Whittaker fell, and that awful crackling of rifle- fire commenced, and rank after rank in the attacking column sank into the ground, — dismay took possession of the British. Every mounted officer had fallen at the first fire. The Forty-fourth foot appeared to have vanished. The storm then broke upon the Fourth foot and Seventh Fusiliers. General Gibbs, as brave a soldier as ever went into battle, vainly strove to hold his men to the work. They broke and fled, — far to the rear. General Pakenham in person came forward with the second column of attack. The Ninety-third Sutherland Highlanders, a thousand or more in number, were at its head. As he rode past their flank, General Packenham saluted them with lifted hat. LIFE AND TIMES OF JACKSON. 215 Spurring his horse to the front, Pakenham waved his hat and cried to Colonel Dale, commander of the Highlanders : ' ' Come on with the tartan ! ' ' The magnificent column got in motion. Before it did so, Colonel Dale had made his will. He had seen the fate of the first column, and guessed that of the second. But without a murmur he led his Highlanders to the slaughter. General Pakenham, with a brilliant staff, was con- spicuous in this advance of the second column. Barely had he come within range of the American line, before there was the crack of two' or three rifles. Pakenham reeled in his saddle, and was lifted to the ground, a dying man. Then the sheet of flame ran along the American breastwork, the angry crackle and crash of nearly two thousand rifles rang out, and the head of the British column disappeared. Their officers slain, their front files mCwn down, the leaden sleet beating upon them pitilessly, and cease- lessly, the Highlanders stopped, not knowing what to do. "What's the matter with the Sawnies?" impatiently exclaimed the undaunted General Gibbs, who had at length rallied a portion of the first column and was now leading it back to the assault. The Highlanders were directly in his front, and barring his way. ''What's the matter with the SawniesI Why don't they go ahead ? Tell them to get out of my way, or I will run over them. I'll wipe out that nest of Yankee hornets with the Fusilliers of the Forty-third." A brave, resolute officer as ever led a column, — this General Gibbs. But the Highlanders were in confusion, and did not get out of the way. Gibbs obliqued around their right flank — "left shoulder forward" — and swept on toward the breastwork. Riding a fine black stallion, Gibbs was a splendid picture of the fearless officer on the battle- field, as he led his men that Sunday morning, — bold, con- fident, unselfish, — taking for himself every risk which he made his men take. 216 LIFE AND TIMES OF JACKSON. Scarcely had he cleared the flank of the Highlanders, before horse and rider fell; and the rash General Gibbs, who had scorned the backwoods rabble, was borne to the rear, mortally wounded, cursing Pakenham and curs- ing fate. As Gibbs fell, General Lambert came up with the reserves. Lambert had seen enough to convince him of the hope- lessness of further assaults. Severely wounded himself, he drew off the wreck of the attacking columns. "While the more serious fighting was taking place in the centre, an attempt was made, by way of the swamp, to flank the American position. Captain Jugeat and his Choctaws, reinforced by Don- elson's Company of Tennesseans, drove the British back to the plain. Next to the riv^r. Colonel Eennie had led about 900 of the British against the redoubt held by the Seventh Eegulars, and a small battalion of Louisiana Militia, armed with smooth bore muskets. Colonel Rennie took this redoubt, but could not hold it because of the enfilading fire poured into it from other portions of the American line. Charging the main American breastwork, Rennie got up into the ditch, and might have gone over the parapet, had not General Carroll seen the danger of the regulars and sent two companies of Tennessee riflemen, at the double to their aid. When these two companies came within range of the British, they got up on the parapet to fire, and when the flame leaped from their rifle mouths, the "right flank column seemed to sink into the earth." Colonel Rennie and a few others got over the breast- works, but they were killed or captured. The British attack on the right flank was successful. General Morgan, in command of the Americans, com- mitted stupid blunders, and the Kentucky militia, armed with shot guns, could not stand before the British Regu- lars. The Kentucky troops on the right bank had no such breastworks as the troops on the left bank had, — LIFE AND TIMES OF JACKSON. 217 whereas the British were as well equipped on one side of the river as upon the other. Nevertheless, the militia of General Morgan inflicted a loss of 108 killed and wounded upon the British — losing but nineteen themselves, — which wasn 't so bad for shot guns. Jackson had made a capital mistake in providing so imperfectly for the defense of the right bank; and if Pakenham had been a soldier of original ability he might have deprived Jackson of all the advantages of his posi- tion behind the Rodriguez Canal. As it was, the loss of life among the officers of the British army had been so great, and the spirit of the troops was so much broken, that General Lambert was not prepared to follow up the British victory on the right bank. After a few days of hesitation, he abandoned the expedition against New Orleans, and Jackson returned to the city to enjoy the honors of a well-won triumph. Note. — The official report of the Medical Director of the, British army shows the following losses to the enemy, in the battle of January 8, 1815: Killed on the field 381 Died of wounds 477 — 858 Wounded and permanently disabled 1,251 Wounded and temporarily disabled 1,217 — 2,468 Total 3,326 Of this number, 3,000 were struck by rifle bullets. The cannon, and the muskets of the regulars, struck only 326. The American loss was, 8 killed, and 13 wounded. The Choctaws furnished 8 of the casualties, or more than a third. 15 aj 218 LIFE AND TIMES OF JACKSON. CHAPTER XVII. There was no electric telegraph in 1815 to flash the news of Jackson's great victory to the nations of the world; but, nevertheless, the tidings flew, almost on the wings of the wind. Throughout the United States, the Battle of New Orleans was soon on every tongue, and in almost every town and city there were illuminations and other public demonstrations of joy. The effect in America and in Europe was immense. At a bound, the national self-respect was restored. In Paris, Henry Clay, one of the Ghent Commissioners, exclaimed: "Now I can go to England without mortification. ' ' Even Napoleon, in the hurry and the trials of the Hundred Days, found time to inquire about New Orleans and the wonderful rifle which had destroyed the British. The Duke of Wellington, who was reinforced by Gen- eral Lambert, and the troops from New Orleans on the morning of Waterloo, could hardly credit the story of their utter defeat. A gruesome detail was the home- coming of the bodies of Generals Pakenham and Gibbs, inclosed in casks of rum. In New Orleans itself a formal and elaborate cere- monial was prepared, and Jackson, passing beneath a triumphal arch, where young girls gave him crowns of laurel, paused to receive and answer the address of con- gratulation from Father Dubourg, a Catholic priest, and entered the Cathedral, where he sat, crowned, while a Te Deum was celebrated. Soon after it was evident that the war was really over, Mrs. Jackson came down to New Orleans, bringing the General's adopted son, Andrew, then seven years old. All who describe her visit speak of her goodness, and leave the impression that she was much out of place in the elegant society into which events had thrown her. A coterie of Nashville ladies had come down the river with Aunt Eachel, and these adroit friends did the best they could in advising suitable dresses, etc. LIFE AND TIMES OF JACKSON. 219 Yet even the assiduous care of these Nashville chap- erones could not avail when General Jackson himself took it into his head that he, tall and gaunt, should dance a break-down with Aunt Rachel, short and fat, before the cream of New Orleans society, and in the presence of some British officers. The spectacle that Jackson and his wife presented in such a performance must have been a heavy draft on the prestige of the hero. The truth is that the glory of Jackson was not enhanced by his conduct after the battle. He blundered in many things; and these blunders ranged all the way from insignificant trifles to matters of supreme and last- ing moment. He held the city of New Orleans in the iron grip of martial law, after all necessity for it had ceased. He refused to listen to any remonstrance upon the subject. When a citizen of the State and member of the Legisla- ture published a respectful protest, in which Jackson himself was eulogized in the highest terms, he clapped the citizen into jail. When a writ of habeas corpus was sued out in behalf of the prisoner, Jackson arrested the Judge who had issued the writ, and banished him! Apparently in a punitive spirit, he kept the Kentucky Militia on the west bank of the Mississippi, weltering in the mire and suffering almost every form of privation and discomfort, when all the other troops had been sent to comfortable quarters. The truth is, Jackson had blundered heavily in his arrangements on the west bank, and had narrowly escaped disaster: hence he was very angry with General Morgan and his Kentucky Militia on account of those Jacksonian mistakes. That is human nature. But these errors^ grave as they are, pale into noth- ingness in comparison with Jackson's ruthless act in having six of his own men shot for alleged mutiny and desertion. It was the old story of the dispute between officers and men as to the length of the enlistment. 220 LIFE AND TIMES OF JACKSON. By Act of Congress, three months was the limit of military service for volunteers, during any one year. Under special circumstances, this general law might be varied, but these special circumstances did not exist in this case. Therefore, according to the plain letter of the highest law, the volunteers who answered the call of the Governor of Tennessee could not be required to serve more than three months. It is true that Jackson wanted six months' men, and had prevailed upon Governor Blount to call for six months' men; but there is no evidence that the men understood that the Governor and the General meant to override the law of the United States. It is doubtful whether a single volunteer closely read the terms of the proclamation. Be that as it may, it is certain that a considerable number of the men enlisted upon the belief that they were to serve but three months, as per Act of Congress. When this term was up, they refused to serve longer and went home. When General Jackson ordered them back to camp, they went. Then six of the "ringleaders" were courtmartialed and shot. One of these victims was Captain Strother, who, by the evidence of the fifteen witnesses, had done all in his power to keep the men from going away, and who had not himself left camp. Another of the six had returned upon the faith of a written pardon, signed by a general officer. Jackson had him shot, just the same. Another was an illiterate Baptist preacher, named Harris, who had left his wife and eight little children, to go to the army along with his son, that he might share his hardships and relieve them as far as he could. Before leaving camp at the expiration of the three months ' term for which he had enlisted, the poor, illiterate preacher had given up his gun to the proper officer, and gotten back his receipt for it. Harris went on home, but imme- diately returned to camp when he learned that General Jackson had so ordered. LIFE AND TIMES OF JACKSON. 221 To kill this man was murder, and a most atrocious murder, at that. No forms of law can hide, disfigure or excuse the act itself — it was cold-blooded, ruthless, indefensible murder. Parton makes much of the fact that some of these victims of military despotism had refused to do sentinel duty on the last day of the three months' term. He argues that even by their construction of the term of enlistment, they should have done duty on this last day. Not so. In law, where a duty is to be performed a cer- tain number of days, only the first or the last day is to be counted. Consequently, the volunteers were acting within their strict legal rights. When did General Jackson sign the death-warrant which doomed these six men who had marched so patiently and fought so bravely under him for three months? He signed it after the Battle of New Orleans: he signed it after the British had gone away: he signed it after he knew that the war was over; he signed it after that glorification of himself in the Catholic cathedral; he signed it after peace had been declared between Great Britain and the United States! If ever there was a time when a wave of softening emotions might have rolled over his soul, filling him with compassion and tenderness and magnanimity, surely it was during those days following his great victory, when all danger had passed, when children were strewing his path with flowers, and when the inspirina* strflins r>f melody within the House of God might have melted a heart of stone. Straight from these scenes,- cv..: jlh; relentless, — the victor went to writo iiis name to scroll of doom to six of his fellow-Christians, — men who had fought for their country as an act of voluntary patriot- ism, men who had no ambition for renown, men who believed that they had acted within their rights as citi- zens of Tennessee and the Union. 222 LIFE AND TIMES OF JACKSON. What possible good could come from the miltary execution of those six men? It was too late for the "example" to have any influence upon the troops. The war was ended. The other troops were going home. Hinds' Mississippi mounted men, Adair's Kentuckians, the Tennesseans of Carroll and Coffee, — all were about to leave for home. Why would it not have had the happiest effect to have given these six condemned men back to Tennesse, back to home, back to wife and child? What earthly good could it do to shoot them to death? None. And their barbarous murder is a huge black spot on the record of Andrew Jackson, which all the years that are to come will never wash away. Afterwards, when Jackson became a candidate for presidential office, the execution of the six militiamen became a source of great embarrassment to him and to his campaign managers. Statements were put forth, explaining and justifying the deed. General Jackson's own account of the matter is full of glaring and material falsehoods, — just as his state- ment concerning poor John Woods contains misstate- ments which altogether change the nature of the case. The execution of six of his soldiers was an outrage for which no punishment could be meted out to him, but in his arbitrary proceedings against Judge Hall, Jackson came to grief. No sooner was martial law at an end than Judge Hall returned to New Orleans, full of rage and full of a determination to try conclusions with the Hero of New Orleans. The Judge issued a Rule Nisi, requir- ing re General to show cause why he should not be punished for contempt of court for his disregard of the writ of habeas corpus, in the case mentioned. Jackson app-^ared, was summarily adjudged in con- tempt, and was perex^.ptorily ordered to pay into court a fine of $1,000 within four days. He paid it promptly — thus confessing that his conduct could not be legally justified. I have wondered why so pugnacious a man as Jackson made so complete and sudden a surrender to Judge Hall. LIFE AND TIMES OF JACKSON. 223 The case involved a great principle, and Jackson had his right of appeal to the higher court. But he hastily capitu- lated and paid his fine, — acting probably under the advice of Edward Livingston. Many years afterwards. Congress refunded the money to the General, with interest. On his way home from New Orleans, General Jackson was disagreeably reminded of his former intimate rela- tions with Aaron Burr. His baggage was attached at the instance of Herman Blennerhasset, who believed that Jackson still had in his hands certain funds of Burr, left over after the building of those boats at Clover Bottom. However, General Coffee and General Jackson both swore that there had been a full settlement with Burr, in December, 1806, and the garnishment (served by attach- ment) was dismissed. After this delay of a week, the General resumed his journey home. Our readers can readily imagine the scenes as the Conquering Hero neared Nashville. Tennessee was aglow with joy and pride, and the welcome given to the General was one which was full of spontaneous and enthusiastic admiration. Old feuds were forgotten; the execution of the six volunteers was not known: Jackson's personal enemies were silent; and the glory of his crowning triumph over the British was undimmed by a single cloud. The weeks which followed this return home from New Orleans were probably the happiest of the General's life. In October, 1815, military matters made it necessary for the General to set out for Washington. His journey, so far as he would permit it, was a triumphal progress. Everybody along the route wanted to see the Hero of New Orleans. At Lynchburg, there was a grand banquet in his honor, and Thomas Jefferson, then seventy-two years old, attended. He toasted Jackson and his men, while Jackson proposed "James Monroe, Secretary of War." In Washington, the General was lionized, — a number of receptions and banquets being given in his 224 LIFE AND TIME? OF JACKSON. honor. At these funtions he bore himself with tact and dignity, leaving a fine impression upon all who met him. The army now being reduced to a peace-footing of ten thousand men, two Major Generals were named for chief command, — General Brown for the Northern, and Gen- eral Jackson for the Southern Division. LIFE AND TIMES OF JACKSON. 225 CHAPTER XVIII. Had it not been for the South and the West, the War of 1812 would have carried the frontiers of Canada to the Gulf of Mexico. New England would, by treaty with Great Britain, have emerged from the struggle as a sep- arate Confederacy, or would have gone down in the general overturn. The Great West, from the Mississippi to the Pacific, would either have reverted to Spain or been seized by the British. However extravagant this statement may appear, one has but to weigh the facts of history to be convinced ot its truth. General Hull had invaded Canada, had made a miserable failure, had surrendered his army and Detroit, and all Michigan had fallen to the enemy. What hindered the entire Northwest from being won by the British and Indians? The Western troops who marched in ragged cotton clothes, over frozen ground, with bare and bleeding feet to stem the tide of Tecumseh's and Proctor's conquest by striking the enemy on the River Raisin, at Tippecanoe and on the Thames. What prevented the invading forces of General Ross and Admirals Cockburn and Cochrane from doing unto Baltimore, New York and Philadelphia what they had done to the city of Washington? The resolution of such heroic souls as John Eager Howard, who inspired Mary- land to fight, as she did fight when Ross was killed and the British fleet beaten off. What prevented the seasoned troops of Pakenham from seizing New Orleans, severing the West from the Union, and joining hands with the British of the North- west? The riflemen of the South who, having first destroyed Great Britain's Indian allies, beat off her crack regiments at New Orleans. Without the support of the Western troops, the vic- tories of Perry and McDonough on the Lakes would have been barren of results. Without the riflemen of the South, Pakenham 's veterans would not have encountered 226 LIFE AND TIMES OF JACKSON. anywhere in the Union a force able to oppose them. Had there been no Battle of New Orleans, it is practically certain that the war would have dragged on, with one American defeat following another, until the Battle of Waterloo, releasing the British in Europe, would have enabled Wellington to take chief command in America. Under such a captain. Great Britain, concentrating her energies for the purpose of subduing the United States, would almost certainly have beaten us into helpless pros- tration. Fortunate indeed would we have been had we escaped with the loss of the Northwest Territory, the Louisiana Purchase, the Floridas and the Great Lakes. If the Union at that crisis had depended upon the Federalists who controlled New England, the conquest of the United States would have been to the British a mili- tary parade. So well known was this spirit of disaffec- tion, that the Governor General of Canada sent a repre- sentative — Mr. John Henry — to Boston, to live there, communicate with the natives, and make reports, just as though Massachusetts were a separate, independent State, friendly to Great Britain and hostile to the Gov- ernment at Washington. Rhode Island, Connecticut and Massachusetts defied the President and Congress, refusing to furnish their quota of troops for the army. They demanded that a portion of the Federal taxes collected within their borders be turned over to the State authorities, in order that these States might provide for their separate defense. New England capitalists invested but slightly in the United States bonds, offered for the purpose of securing funds to prosecute the war. These patriots preferred to help the enemy by putting their money in English bills of credit. New England farmers and mer- chants kept the enemy supplied with clothing and provi- sions, at a time when the American troops were ill-clad and half-starved. Finally, the Federalists, in the midst of the war, held the Hartford Convention, made certain demands of the general government, and expressed the opinion that it was not only the right of each State to LIFE AND TIMES OF JACKSON. 227 nullify Acts of Congress, where the State considered such legislation unconstitutional, but to withdraw from the Union when the central authority violated the reserved rights of the State. The intention of these Federalists was to break up the Union, and form New England into a separate Con- federacy, unless their demands were conceded. Nothing but the back-down of Mr. Madison and the practical surrender of our Government of the principles for which it was fighting, kept the Hartford Convention from having a successor, — another Secession Conven- tion, — which would have taken the Puritan States out of the Union. Quite narrowly, therefore, we missed a national bless- ing of incalculable value. With New England out of the Union, we would have had no century of spoliation of the agricultural sections in the interest of Eastern capital- ists ; no Civil War, with its crushing legacies of class-law and unequal conditions; no enslavement of unprivileged millions of whites, and no sudden injection into the body politic of a horde of black savages to create, in the public service, the eternal "Nigger Question" and to over- shadow the social world with the ever-present terror of ''the Black Peril." In Buell's "Life of Jackson" is found, for the first time, the statement that the victory at New Orleans saved to us the Louisiana Purchase. Buell claims to have had the story from Governor William Allen himself : "Near the end of General Jackson's second administration, and shortly after the admission of Arkansas to the Union, I, being Senator-elect from Ohio, went to Washington to take the seat on March 4th. "General Jackson — he always preferred to be called General rather than Mr. President, and so we always addressed him by his military title — General Jackson invited me to lunch with him. No sooner were we seated than he said, 'Mr. Allen, let us take a little drink to the new star in the flag — Arkansas!' This ceremony being duly observed, the General said, 'Allen, if there had been disaster instead of victory at New Orleans, there never would have been a State of Arkansas.' "This, of course, interested me, and I asked, 'Why do you say that. General?' "Then he said, 'If Pakenham had taken New Orleans, the British 228 LIFE AND TIMES OF JACKSON. would have claimed that the treaty of Ghent, which had been signed fifteen days before the battle, provided for restoration of all territory, places, and possessions taken by either nation from the other during the war, with certain unimportant exceptions.' ' "Yes, of course,' I replied. 'But the minutes of the conference at Ghent as kept by Mr. Gallatin, represent the British commis- sioners as declaring in exact words: " ' "We do not admit Bonaparte's construction of the law of nations. We cannot accept it in relation to any subject-matter before us." " 'At that moment,' pursued General Jackson, 'none of our com- missioners knew what the real meaning of these words was. When they were uttered, the British commissioners knew that Pakenham's expedition had been decided on. Our commissioners did not know it. Now, since I have been Chief Magistrate I have learned from diplomatic sources of the most unquestionable authority that the British ministry did not intend the treaty of Ghent to apply to the Louisiana Purchase at all. The whole corporation of them from 1803 to 1815 — Pitt, the Duke of Portland, Greenville, Percival, Lord Liverpool and Castlereagh — denied the legal right of Napoleon to sell Louisiana to us, and they held therefore, that we had no right to that territory. So you see, Allen, that the words of Mr. Goulburn on behalf of the British commissioners, which I have quoted to you from Albert Gallatin's minutes of the conference, had a far deeper significance than our commissioners could penetrate. These words were meant to lay the foundation for a claim on the Louisiana Pur- chase entirely external to the provisions of the treaty of Ghent. And in that way the British government was signing a treaty with one hand while with the other behind its back it is despatching Pakenham's army to seize the fairest of our possessions. " 'You can also see, my dear William,' said the old General, waxing warm (having once or twice more during the luncheon toasted the new star), 'you can also see what an awful mess sucu a situation would have been if the British programme had been carried out in full. But Providence willed it otherwise. All the tangled web that the cunning of English diplomats could weave around our unsuspecting commissioners at Ghent was torn to pieces and soaked with British blood in half an hour at New Orleans by the never missing rifles of my Tennessee and Kentucky pioneers. And that ended it. British diplomacy could do wonders, but it couldn't provide against such a contingency as that. The British commissioners could throw sand in the eyes of ours at Ghent, but they couldn't help the cold lead that my riflemen sprinkled in the faces of their soldiers at New Orleans. Now, Allen, you have the whole story. Now you know why Arkansas was saved at New Orleans. Let's take another little one.' " Between tlie War of 1812 and the first Seminole War, there remained for Jackson some months of rest and recuperation at his home, the Hermitage. To the success- ful management of this estate, Aunt Rachel contributed in a way that reminds one of the ancient Germanic sys- tem in which the husband was the warrior, while the wife was the mistress of household and farm. So thriftily did LIFE AND TIMES OF JACKSON. 229 Mrs. Jackson conduct business affairs at the Hermitage, and so keen was the General in money matters that he soon became the richest man in Tennessee. Like Wash- ington, he was patriotic to the core, and to him, as to Washington, business was business. During the Revolutionary War, as is well known, Washington served without pay. That was patriotism. But he wrote to his overseer at Mt. Vernon, ordering him to refuse continental paper and demand coin, for wheat and tobacco. That was business. Now, Andrew Jackson was intensely patriotic. Also, human. He held on to his commission as Major General in the regular army, for several reasons. One was that he dearly loved power and distinction ; another was that he dearly loved to hear himself called ''General"; another was that he was fondly attached to the salary and perquisites. In all of this there was no lack of exalted patriotism, but, at the same time, there was lots of human nature. The salary itself was quite a boon in that era of sparsity of ready cash; and, then, again, the beauty of it was, it was so regular. Floods did not wash it away, and droughts did not wither it up. But if the salary was good, what shall we say of the perquisites? Mere words but feebly essay to give you a comprehension of the luxury of these perquisites. Eemember that General Jackson was living on his plantation, lodging in his own house, eating at his own table, burning his own wood to warm the domestic hearth, and being served by his own slaves. Notwith- standing this, the Government was made to pay him his customary perquisites, just as though he were living in some city, in a hired house, where he was charged for fuel, for servants, and for corn and fodder for his horses. Thus in 1820, while Jackson was at home, attending to his farm and planning for the Presidency, we find him charging the Government four hundred dollars for the rent of his own house, two hundred and forty dollars for the hire of his own slaves, four hundred and thirty-two 230 LIFE AND TIMES OF JACKSON. dollars for the food and clothing of these slaves, one thousand and ninety-eight dollars for extra rations, and six hundred and seventy-two dollars for tlie corn and fodder and hay that his negroes fed to his horses ! Here was a total of nearly three thousand dollars which the hero of New Orleans pocketed, in one year of peace, upon the supposition that he was paying out those various sums for maintenance and support. How blind is partisan passion ! Henry Clay and John C. Calhoun strove mightily against the grim soldier of Tennessee, hurling at him many a Jovian thunderbolt. These rolled over his head harmlessly. Had Jackson's enemies examined his accounts at the war office, and pro- claimed in the House and in the Senate the cold facts of record, Jackson's popularity might have been mortally wounded. Think how the items of that account would have struck the average voter! What? Charge the Govern- ment $400 for the rent of his own house? and $224 for the oak and hickory wood cut on his own farm? and $672 for the hire, food and clothing of his own slaves? and $672 for feeding his own forage to his own horses? and $1,098 for extra rations? We think that a frost would have bitten the Jacksonian popularity had these facts been well handled. What was the cause of the first Seminole war? It is the same old story. The Indian had no rights that a white man felt bound to respect. The Puritan, the Quaker, the Cavalier — differ as they might in other things, they were practically the same when dealing with Poor Lo'. William Penn looks the ideal of benevolence in that historic and familiar picture where he is repre- sented as a just man made perfect — giving the entranced red man a red bead for a hundred acres of red land. Or, perhaps, it was a red blanket for a thousand acres of land. At any rate, the benevolent Penn, after finishing the friendly smoke with the hypnotized sachems, and securing the grant of as much land as one man could walk around in one day, was so favored of Providence as LIFE AND TIMES OF JACKSON. 231 to* find a man — Quaker, of course — who managed to walk around one hundred and fifty miles of Indian land in one day. As to Puritan and Cavalier, it is difficult to say which was the more unscrupulously atrocious in extermi- nating the natives who had fed Jamestown and Plymouth through their ''starving times" and warmed them into the strength which was the doom of the Indian. In the West and in the South, the methods adopted by the whites for getting land from the red men were identical. Crafty Christians would bribe or debauch a few Indians to sign away millions of acres which belonged in common to the whole tribe; and then, when the tribe refused to leave the land, the rifle was the writ of ejectment. One illustration of the manner, in which William Henry Harrison operated has been given; but, as thor- oughly characteristic of ''the white man's way," we cite his dealing with the Sac and Foxes. In 1804, Black Hawk, chief of these tribes, sent four of his men to St. Louis to treat with General Harrison for the liberation of an Indian who had killed a white man. These four envoys of Black Hawk were kept in St. Louis, were plied with whiskey, day after day, and were persuaded to sign a treaty in which they ceded to the United States fifty-four million acres of the finest land in the world. The consideration was the liberation of the Indian prisoner and the annual payment to the tribes of $1,000. After the four drunken envoys had "touched the pen" and the treaty was duly signed, the prisoner was released. As he was running away, the whites shot him dead! This infamous transaction caused the Sacs and the Foxes to side with the British in the War of 1812, and also led to the "Black Hawk War" in which Abraham Lincoln took part. It is an awful thing to remember that the popularity which carried General Harrison into the Presidency of the United States had its foundation in crimes like this. But in the South the record is no less black, no less reek- ing of wrong and wantonly-shed human blood. 232 LIFE AND TIMES OF JACKSON. The first Seminole war grew out of the fact that the Indians preferred to fight rather than surrender their fruitful farms. The Florida Indians never did number more than five or six thousand souls. Therefore they could not, at the height of their power, bring a thousand warriors together into the field. Rev. Jedediah Mofse, U. S. Commissioner, reported (1820) that ''Before the wars of 1812 and since, these Indians with their negro slaves lived in comfort, and many of them were wealthy in cattle and horses. But these wars have broken them up, destroyed great num- bers of their warriors and chiefs ; also their villages and cattle, and thrown them into a state most distressing and pitiable." Capt. John R. Bell, in a report to the Secretary of War, said of the Seminoles : ' ' They are honest, speak the truth, and are attached to the British and Americans." In 1812, a band of white marauders from Georgia, commanded by Colonel Newnan, invaded the Seminole territory, attacked the town of King Payne (situated in what is now Alachua County, Flotida,) and had a pitched battle with the Indians. The whites were victorious and among the killed, of the red men, was King Payne. The half-breed chief. Gen. William Mcintosh, of Georgia, led forays into Florida at about the same time, burning and destroying and plundering, and carrying off negroes. J. A. Peniere, the first U. S. Commissioner to the Florida Indians, stated in an official report (1821) *'that seven years before some self-styled 'patriots' com- mitted great ravages among the Europeans and friendly Indians. Almost all the houses were burnt, the domes- tic animals killed, and the slaves carried off." Note that last statement, for it is the keynote to the explanation of the wherefore of the marauding expedi- tions. Many negroes had joined the Seminoles, some of them being refugees from the Bahamas and the West Indian Islands, and some of them being runaway slaves LIFE AND TIMES OF JACKSON. 233 from South Carolina, Georgia and Alabama. The Semi- noles made use of these fugitives, treating a few as allies, but making slaves of the greater number of them. Indian masters were so much more lenient than were the whites, that the negroes were but too glad to remain with the Seminoles. To border ruffians what a temptation were these negroes! To gather up a lawless band of whites on the Chattahoochee, or the St. Mary's, and make a dash upon the unsuspecting Indians, the object being to capture negroes ! — how alluring the prospect of rich booty! It was so much easier to capture the Florida negroes than to' cross the ocean and seek slaves on the West Coast of Africa! It requires no great amount of sagacity to get at the secret of these border troubles, and to discover that the Seminole War fur- nished one more illustration of the truth of Kit Carson's statement, — ''All Indian wars have had their origin in bad white men. ' ' In the latter part of the year 1814, the British erected a fort on the left bank of the Appalachicola River, about twenty-five miles from its bay. This fort, with its very valuable contents, — cannon, small arms and ammunition in large quantities — was turned over to the negroes and Seminoles by Colonel Nichols, of the British service. In some way, the negroes ousted the Seminoles, and the fortress soon took the dreaded and hated name of "The Negro Fort." In Barton's "Life of Jackson," the facts concerning the negroes who held possession of this place are slurred over in the most slovenly manner. Barton says it is "alleged" that the negroes had committed depredations, not only upon the Americans and Span- iards, but upon the Seminoles ; and that, for this reason, Spaniards and Seminoles, as well as Americans, were nursing wrath against the detestable fort and the ban- ditti who manned it. Had Barton taken the trouble to investigate for him- self, he would have learned that Gen. E. B. Gaines, in an official report to the War Department, (May 14, 1815,) expressly states that "while the occupants" (of the fort) 16 a j 234 LIFE AND TIMES OF JACKSON. "were charged with no crimes, he would keep a watch on their movements." Even while laying plans to destroy the fortification, the whites did not accuse the negroes of having used it for any criminal purpose. On May 16th, 1816, we find General Andrew Jackson writing to General Gaines, as follows : ' ' I have little doubt of the fact that this fort has been established by some villains for the purpose of rapine and plunder." Not that the negroes had wronged the Americans by holding the fort, but because Jackson had a suspicion that rapine and plunder were intended, it must be destroyed ! It is the same Jackson as he who had denounced the Lafitte smugglers as *'a hellish banditti," and who was, a few days later, glad to accept the heroic and unselfish aid of this hellish banditti in defending New Orleans. The Negro Fort was on Spanish territory, sixty miles from the Georgia line, — what right did the Ameri- cans have to attack itf Most of those who held the fort were of the free- negro class, called Maroons. They were industrious farmers and cultivated land along the banks of the Appa- lachicola for fifty miles. Many of them were wealthy, in a small way, and their prosperity was a temptation to lawless white borderers. In view of the fact that raids were being made into Florida by the Creeks, under Gen. William Mcintosh, and by the Georgians, under such marauders as Colonel Newnan, it was natural that the negroes should prize such a "house of refuge" as the fort on Prospect Bluff. But the planters of the lower South detested the Negro Fort, for the reason that it offered such conven- ient shelter for runaway slaves. Here, then, we have the true motives which led the Americans to invade Florida and blow up the fortress. In July, 1817, General Gaines sent a detachment of one hundred and sixteen men from Fort Scott down the LIFE AND TIMES OF JACKSON. 235 Appalachicola, to co-operate with a convoy that was on its way to Fort Scott from New Orleans. It is reasonable to suppose that the negroes had scouts or sentinels on the watch out, and that the approach of these enemies was known at the Fort. As at Fowltown, Gaines so man- aged the affair as to force his victims to the conclusion that a fight was inevitable. The whites afterwards said that the negroes fired first, but, as at Fowltown, it is immaterial who fired first. The demonstration made against the Negro Fort, like that made against Fowltown, was a declaration and an act of war. Therefore, the whites were the aggressors. A hot shot from one of the vessels of the convoy dropped into the powder magazine of the fort, and there was a terrific explosion which demolished the fortress and killed, instantly, two hundred and seventy-five of its occupants. Of the other sixty-four inmates, many died from injuries, and only three escaped unhurt. Two of these, the negro chief and a Choctaw chief, were tor- tured to death to avenge a white prisoner, taken during the campaign against the fort, who had been tarred and burnt alive. 236 LIFE AND TIMES OF JACKSON. CHAPTER XIX. In an official investigation, David B. Mitchell, who was twice Governor of Georgia, testified under oath, that "the first outrage committed on the frontier of Georgia, after the treaty of Fort Jackson (1814) was by a party of these banditti (lawless white men) who plun- dered a party of Seminole Indians on their way to Georgia for the purpose of trade, killing one of them. This produced retaliation on the part of the Indians." The following extract from a proclamation of Peter Early, Governor of Georgia, corroborates Mitchell and sustains the claim of the Indians that the lawless white borderers were seizing their farms: "Whereas, I have received repeated information that divers persons, citizens of this State, are making settle- ments on the Indian lands contiguous to our frontier by clearing ground and preparing to raise crops thereon. And whereas, such trespasses, in addition to the severe punishment annexed to them, are at this time peculiarly improper, I have therefore thought fit to issue this proc- lamation warning all persons against perseverence in or repetition of such unwarrantable procedures. And do hereby require all persons, citizens of this State, who have made any settlement ... on the Indian lands, forthwith to abandon the same . . ." The above proclamation was published April 25, 1814. Not being backed up by force of arms, it had no effect. The whites pushed their advance farther and farther, until the Seminoles were driven to measures of desperation. The Spanish Governor of St. Augustine (December, 1812,) complained bitterly to the Governor of Georgia of the manner in which the Georgians encroached upon the Florida Indians. " . . But the Indians, you say — well, sir, why wantonly provoke the Indians, if you dislike their rifle and tomahawk? General Matthews told Payne, in the LIFE AND TIMES OF JACKSON. 237 square of Latchuo, that he intended to drive him from his lands. Mcintosh sent a message to Bowlegs, another Indian chief, that he intended to make him as a waiting man; the Florida Convention (Patriots) partitioned their (the Indians') lands amongst their volunteers, as appears by a certificate in my possession signed by Director Mcintosh; the Indian trade was destroyed by you and your friends, and they (the Indians) found that, from the same cause, they were to be deprived of their annual presents. These, sir, are the provocations about which you are silent . . . The Indians are to be insulted, threatened, and driven from their homes; if they resist, nothing less than extermination is to be their fate. But you deceive yourself, sir, if you think the world is blind to your motives; it is not long since the State of Georgia had a slice of Indian lands, and the fever is again at its height. . . . " The present writer passes a portion of each winter in Florida, off that portion of the Everglades where the wretched remnant of the Seminole Nation now lingers. Some of the head-men of these perishing groups have visited him, bringing their wives and children. They are simple, cheerful, sociable folk, easily pleased and grate- ful for favors. The men are models of physical perfec- tion, and they seem to be most indulgent to their fami- lies. One of the head-men, an Apollo in bronze, con- sented to gratify my curiosity to see the war-dance. I shall never forget the gravity with which he did it, nor the uncontrollable and mocking laughter of his wife and his two sons as they looked on. The solemn chief took no notice of the merriment aroused in the bosom of his family by his performance. Poor children of nature ! — the whole group to which these visitors belonged was well-nigh exterminated by measles some months later. Curious to learn something of the traditions which had been handed down, among the whites, about the Seminole wars, I made inquiries to which the answers were invariably the same. The Seminoles on the Geor- gia frontier had splendid, well-stocked plantations. 238 LIFE AND TIMES OF JACKSON. They were excellent farmers and a quiet, good-natured, honest, loyal people. But the Georgians crossed over the line and squatted on the Indian land. White men would not only drive the Seminole off his farm, but seize his cattle also. Then, when the Indians rose in mass, the whites called for the troops. The rest is his- tory, — and history is generally the conquerer's gloss- over of his wrong-doing. White men who would never think of robbing one another, will unite to rob an Indian. Do we not remem- ber that Abraham Lincoln's uncle said that it was a virtuous deed to shoot an Indian on sight? and that Gen- eral Sherman declared "the only good Indian is a dead Indian"? Yet the whites who have lived among them, are those who have praised them most highly. Gen. Sam Houston, after spending many years among them, defended them in glowing terms in the United States Senate; and Col. Ben. Hawkins, the trusted friend of Washington, declared, in substance, that the greatest obstacle to' peaceful management of the red men was the rapacity of the whites. Gen. Edmund P. Gaines, of the U. S. Army, was the hot-head who precipitated the first Seminole war. In November, 1817, his "talks" to the chiefs were couched in this conciliatory vein : "You Seminoles are a bad people. You have mur- dered my people, stolen my cattle and many good horses that cost me money. I know it is so and you know it is so. ' ' And more to the same effect. The insulted and threatened Seminoles naturally "talked back," saying that where one American had been killed by Indians, four Indians had been killed by Americans. This intemperate General Gaines, as we have seen, was stationed at Fort Scott, near the junction of the Chattahoochee and the Flint. Fourteen miles south of the fort was Fowltown, an Indian village, containing LIFE AND TIMES OF JACKSON. 239 forty-five warriors. The chief of this town contended that the Treaty of Fort Jackson did not cede any lands east of the Flint Eiver. A reading of "Article I" of that document seems to prove that the chief was right. The names of some obscure water-courses are mentioned in the treaty, and these are not shown on the maps ; but so far as we can judge from the language used, the eastern boundaries of the ceded lands do not go across the Flint. At all events, it would have required a sur- vey, officially made, to establish the right of the whites to eject the Fowltown Indians from their homes. And no such survey had been made. Right or wrong, the whites were determined to drive the red men away. To Colonel Twiggs, in command prior to Gaines'' coming, the chief had said, "The land is mine. Don't come on the east side of the river. I am directed by the powers above to defend our homes, and I will do it." It was not even alleged that the Fowltown people had ever committed a single depredation upon the whites. The sole grudge that the Americans had against these Seminoles was that they refused to abandon their fertile plantations and move off from their ancestral home. The hot-head, Gaines, sent a runner to the Fowltown chief, ordering him to come to Fort Scott. The Indian refused to go. "I have already said all that I have to say." The feather-headed Gaines flew into a passion, like your true military martinet, and issued the order that was to cost hundreds of human lives and millions of dollars. He commanded Colonel Twiggs to take two hundred and fifty soldiers to "bring me the chief and his war- riors. In the event of resistance, treat them as enemies." Now, in the name of all that's holy, what right did General Gaines have to do anything like that? This chief had done nd wrong to any human creature. He was not under Gaines' jurisdiction. He was no more bound to obey the summons of Gaines than Gaines was bound to respect the orders of the chief. 240 LIFE AND TIMES OF JACKSON. Against this village of forty-five warriors, the white soldiers under Twiggs marched in the night, coming upon Fowltown just before daybreak, November 21st, 1817. If the intention was merely to make prisoners, why did not Colonel Twiggs surround the little village, wait until daylight, and demand the surrender of the Indians? Nothing would have been easier. Not a drop of blood need have been shed. But the whites wanted war. Gaines' ire was up. He, too, would be a hero •of the Jackson-Harrison sort. Consequently, Colonel Twiggs was directed to proceed in such a manner as necessarily impressed the Indians with the belief that they were being attacked. Hastily delivering a few shots, which did no harm, the Indians fled. The gallant whites fired upon the red people, killed two men and one woman, wounding several more. The gallant whites took possession of the deserted town, and the heroic Gaines, coming upon the scene at this the psychological moment, valiantly set fire to the town with his own martial hands. Thus the vainglorious officer had dramatically enacted Scene First in the play of military hero, and looked forward exultingly to the easily won triumphs ahead, which were to make for him a renown, similar to that of Jackson and Harrison. Alas! Fate was against the aspiring Gaines. The Secretary of War, Mr. Calhoun, did not know what Gaines was doing and planning, and, ignorant of the war which Gaines had begun, had ordered him to another field. These orders arriving soon after the Fowltown achievement, halted poor Gaines in mid-career, cast down his eager hopes, and brought Andrew Jackson to the front to continue this glorious war. By the time Gaines rejoined the Jackson army. Old Hickory himself had focussed attention. Inflamed by the one-sided statements which came to him at his home in Tennessee, General Jackson rushed to arms with the fury of an enraged bull. There were no doubts anywhere, nothing to debate, nothing to investi- LIFE AND TIMES OF JACKSON. 241 gate. All was as plain as day. Blood-thirsty Indians, English and Spanish villains, spies, and cut-throats had conspired to spread carnage along the frontier, pillage and slay in all directions — and these atrocious mis- creants must be annihilated. That was Jackson's way. He jumped at conclusions, and if he happened to jump the wrong way, the case was hopeless. Nobody could turn him, once his head was set. So, in this first Seminole war, he took the field with men enough to have won the fight for Texan independ- ence. In fact, he had so many troops that it was a heavy task to feed them. They had no fighting to do. The friendly Creeks, under Gen. William Mcintosh, did what little was necessary. By the time Jackson and Mcintosh reached the scene of hostilities, their forces amounted to 5,000 men ! Not a single band of Seminoles numbered one-tenth of that number, and if every one of these had united they would not have exceeded a thou- sand poorly equipped warriors. The building of the forts on the lower Flint and Chattahoochee, the series of depredations by white ban- ditti, the blowing up of the Negro Fort, and the wanton destruction of Fowltown caused the Seminoles to believe that they were to be crushed. British emissaries such as Nichols and Woodbine intensified these fears. Indeed, the marplot Nichols went so far as to make, in the name of Great Britain, a treaty, offensive and defensive, with Chief Francis and other Indians. So much in earnest was Nichols that he took Francis and other Indians to England with him, and the Seminole Chief was treated with distinction by the King and his court. While the British minister assured our Government that the Nichols treaty with the Indians was not taken seriously, it does not appear that the Indian Chief was undeceived. The attack upon Fowltown having been an act of unprovoked atrocity, the retaliation of the Seminoles was swift and bloody. They ambushed a party of whites — forty U. S. soldiers, seven women and four children — as they were ascending the Appalachicola in an open boat. 242 LIFE AND TIMES OF JACKSON. on their way to Fort Scott. Four of the soldiers escaped by jumping into the river and swimming to the opposite bank ; one woman was led into captivity ; excepting these, every man, woman and child in the boat was either killed by the repeated volleys of the Indians or slaughtered after the red men rose from ambush and rushed upon the boat. A few days later, the Seminoles fired upon another detachment of U. S. soldiers boating their way to Fort Scott. Two of the Americans were killed and thirteen wounded. It is worth remarking that the Indians con- fined their warfare to the U. S. soldiers, — the Fort Scott people who had destroyed Fowltown and shot down the Indian woman, as well as several warriors. In fact, the Seminoles approached Fort Scott itself, kept up a scat- tering fire upon it for several days, and its gallant defenders not only did not attempt to drive the red men off, but seriously considered the evacuation of the post ! On March 9th, 1818, General Jackson arrived at Fort Scott. Crossing the river, he pushed on to Prospect Bluff, and established a fortress where the Negro Fort had stood. Here he awaited supplies and the concentra- tion of his troops. Gen. William Mcintosh, at the head of two thousand Creeks, was already in the field, shoot- ing down Seminole warriors wherever he found them, capturing women and children, burning houses, wasting with fire and sword whatever he could not carry away. By the 26th of March, the army of General Jackson was ready to move. On the 1st of April, it had its ''bap-' tism of fire." The Americans came upon some unsus- pecting Indians who were ''minding their cattle" in the open, unfenced woods. These Seminoles were certainly not on the warpath; their wives were with them helping about the cattle, and from the very nature of their occu- pation had every right to be treated as non-combatants. But General Jackson immediately ordered his troops to attack these peaceful herders. Fourteen of them were killed, and four of the women made prisoners : the others, escaped into the swamps. LIFE AND TIMES OF JACKSON. 243 This glorious victory over a little party of Seminole herders, was won by an army of about three thousand whites ! Pursuing his advance upon St. Marks, Jackson halted near the fort on the 6th of April. To the Spanish Governor, he sent a bullying and peremptory demand for the surrender of the fortress. The Governor, in almost cringing words of deference, denied that the Indians and negroes had ever obtained supplies, succor or encourage- ment from Fort St. Marks. On the contrary, he had refused such supplies and had incurred the hostility of the Seminoles by doing so. He had no authority from his government to surrender one of its fortifications. He requested that Jackson grant him time to write to his government. With a conciliatory courtesy that ought to have appealed to Jackson's better nature, he wrote: *'The sick your excellency 'sent in are lodged in the royal hospital, and I have afforded them every aid which cir- cumstances admit. I hope your excellency will give me further opportunities of evincing the desire I have to satisfy you." Here was the high-breeding of the best type of Old Castile. This Spaniard who was about to be compelled to drain a bitter cup of humiliation, had been asked by General Jackson to take care of Jackson's sick soldiers, and the Spaniard had lodged them in the royal hospital and had personally attended to their needs. Yet when the loyal officer of the King of Spain implores Jackson to believe him, as to the Indians and the negroes, and to grant him time to consult his superiors, — the headstrong Jackson instantly replied to' the Governor with an inso- lent message and a seizure of the Spanish fort. Not a single Indian was found in the town. Not a single negro bandit, brigand, villain or ex-slave was discovered. An inoffensive old Scotch merchant, named Arbuthnot, was there, a guest of the Governor, and he was taken into custody. Before Jackson's arrival at St. Marks, Captain McKeever, of the navy, had sailed into the harbor, dis- 244 LIFE AND TIMES OF JACKSON. playing the English colors at his mast-head. Chief Francis saw the vessel, was duped by the British flag, and went off to the ship in a canoe, — he and another chief named Himollemico. The Indians were lured down to the Captain's cabin, "to take a drink," and while there seized by the sailors and bound with ropes. The next day the two chiefs were delivered to Gen- eral Jackson, who ordered them hanged at once. There was no form of trial; Jackson's command was sufficient; the two Indians, captured by a dastardly trick, were murdered by a barbarous exercise of despotic power. Himollemico was accused of torturing the prisoners taken by the Indians when they ambushed the boat of Lieutenant Scott, but there were no charges against Francis. His reputation was that of a model chief, intel- ligent and humane. To hang him, because he was trying to defend his country from invasion, was murder — and a very black one at that. After staying at St. Marks two days, the army pushed on to the Suwannee to attack the town of Chief Bowlegs. Again Mcintosh scoured the country, shooting at such Seminoles as he could find. In one skirmish he killed thirty-seven men, taking ninety-eight women and chil- dren, and six men prisoners. Mcintosh's force num- bered two thousand; that of the Seminoles one hundred and twenty. After a slight skirmish in which only one white soldier was seriously wounded, the invaders reached Suwannee. They found it a deserted village. For nearly three miles along the bank of the beautiful river, stretched three hundred well-built houses. It was here, more than a hundred miles from St. Marks, that the Seminoles of Chief Bowlegs farmed, raised cattle and hogs, — apparently having no thought of war. A letter which Arbuthnot had sent by an Indian runner to his son, instructing him to remove their mer- chandise to a place of safety, gave this peaceful Seminole settlement its first warning of danger. The Chief barely LIFE AND TIMES OF JACKSON. 245 had time to put his women and children across the river, where the endless swamp gave them safety, when the whites appeared. But for the Arbuthnot letter, Suwannee would have been one more name of horror, — a reminder of ruthless, indiscriminate butchery of unoffending men, women and children. Great was the wrath of General Jackson when he saw that his prey had escaped him. Vengeful was his mood toward the old merchant who had written that letter! It is hardly necessary to say that every house at Suwanee was burnt, and that everything of value which was not destroyed was taken away. This was the end of the Seminole War. Glorious, wasn't it? Five thousand Americans and Creeks had been chasing little squads of Seminoles, burning houses, carrying off corn and cattle, and, so far as Jackson was concerned, he couldn't find anybody to fight excepting a score of cow-herders and an insignificant force at Suwannee. In this so-called Seminole War only one of Jackson's soldiers was kiled. If he had not taken the wrong view at the beginning, he would soon have real- ized that he had woefully blundered, that the Seminole Nation was not on the war-path, that the only Indians in the field were those that had been attacked, and that a conference and a treaty were the remedies demanded by the situation. But having started wrong, he was never able to get right; and his overbearing conduct toward the Span- iards, his summary execution of the two chiefs, and his unprovoked depredations on the non-combatant Semi- noles sowed the seeds of future trouble. So far from breaking the strength of the Seminoles, he merely filled them with an abiding sense of wanton outrage which was to smoulder, year after year, burning deeper with succeeding wrongs, and flaming out fiercely in the second Seminole War, when Osceola, for five years held at bay the military power of the United States. Returning to St. Marks, Jackson had the two white prisoners, Arbuthnot and Ambrister, court-martialed and executed. 246 LIFE AND TIMES OF JACKSON. Arbuthnot was charged with exciting the Indians to war against the United States, and of acting as a spy, aiding and comforting the enemy. This unfortunate man was condemned upon the testi- mony of one witness, who swore to the contents of a let- ter which he had read nearly a year before. The alleged letter was said to have been written by Arbuthnot to the Indian chief, Little Prince, advising him not to comply with the treaty of Fort Jackson, for the reason that under the treaty of Ghent the United States were bound to restore those lands to the Indians, and that, therefore, his Britannic Majesty would see to it that the lands were restored. Arbuthnot reminded the court that Indians never destroyed letters and documents, and prayed delay in order that the letter might be produced to show for itself what he had written. This plea was denied. The officers composing the court did the prisoner the gross injustice of allowing the contents of a paper to be given in evidence without the slightest effort to produce the letter itself, or to prove that it could not be produced. Arbuthnot feelingly complained of being made the victim of 'Hhe vagrant memory of a vagrant individual." Said he to the Court, ''Make this a rule of evidence, and where would implication, construction and invention stop? Whose property, whose reputation, whose life would be safe?" One of the witnesses used against the prisoner was Cook, who was under arrest, and whose own letters, then in the possession of the Court, proved that he had been one of the attacking party when Fort Scott was assailed by the Indians. But when Arbuthnot asked that Ambris- ter be called to testify in his behalf, the request was refused ! Everything was prejudiced in this wretched Seminole War, and the condemnation and hanging of the innocent old trader was a deed of the same character as the attack on Fowltown and the murder of Chief Francis. Ambrister was "tried" next. He was convicted and LIFE AND TIMES OF JACKSON. 247 sentenced to be shot. Then one of the officers relented, and a reconsideration of the sentence was had. Without additional light of any sort, the "Court" changed its mind and condemned the prisoner to be whipped, and imprisoned a year. Jackson arbitrarily set aside the sentence of his military tribunal and executed the one which it had set aside. He ordered the prisoner to' be shot, and the unhappy young man, — a Waterloo hero ! — was shot like a dog. In his case, there was no doubt that in behalf of the Seminoles he had taken the same position as that which LaFayette, Count Pulaski, and Baron De Kalb took in behalf of the American Colonies. The land of the Semi- noles being overrun by foreign invaders, he had espoused the cause of the oppressed and urged them to fight for their homes. What right did General Jackson have under the law of nations, or any other kind of law, to shoot this gallant, warm-hearted young man? None, — absolutely none. " 248 LIFE AND TIMES OF JACKSON. CHAPTER XX. On the 24tli of May, General Jackson took possession of Pensacola and Fort Barrancas, His excuse for this second outrage upon the helpless Spaniards was the threadbare pretence that Indians and outlaws had col- lected there, and that the Spanish Governor was furnish- ing supplies to these miscreants. Jackson's own story was that 550 Indians ''who I had dispersed east of the Apalachicola were harbored at Pensacola. I had positive proof." Yet after Jackson, over the written protest of the Governor, had seized the undefended town and fort, not a single Indian was found at the place ! Nor was a single person of any nationality discovered who could by any ingenuity of prejudice and hatred be shot or hanged. Jackson seemed to regret this very much, and wrote to his friend, George "W. Campbell, of Tennessee, "All I regret is that I had not stormed the works, captured the Governor, put him on trial for the murder of Stokes and his family, and hung him for the deed." It is possible that Indians may have massacred Stokes and his family, but in jumping at the conclusion that the Governor of Pensacola was a party to the crime, Jackson proves merely the blind fury of his own preju- dice. There was not a particle of evidence to support the preposterous accusation. Leaving a garrison at Fort Barrancas, Jackson moved his army homeward. First, however, came the inevitable proclamation, in which the world, through his soldiers, was told of the great things they had so bravely done in Florida, Of all military documents, this Pensa- cola output is the most vaingloriously ridiculous. Even Andrew Jackson's talent for verbal pomp encountered difficulties in the attempt to find something to boast of in this ill-conceived and bungling campaign. His army had not done any fighting, had done nothing but march, burn houses, drive off cattle and haul corn. Conse- quently, we find the proud General congratulating his LIFE AND TIMES OF JACKSON. 249 noble troops upon the length of the march which they had made, under "immense difficulties." What these fearful obstacles were, one is not informed. The spring of the year isn't so very bad in Florida, and while sand- flies and mosquitoes are a nuisance, they have never been dignified with honorable mention in a military proclamation. At Pensacola, Jackson had brought the poor old Gov- ernor to a hasty capitJ^tion hj threatening to storm the ungarrisoned fortress. Alluding to this crisis of the campaign, Jackson says in his proclamation: "Your General cannot help admiring the spirit and military zeal manifested when it was signified that a resort to storming would be necessary." This is probably the first time any General ever thought it worth while to issue a formal statement telling his soldiers that he admired them because they showed that they were ready to fight, if necessary. When he comes to name the officers who had distin- guished themselves in the campaign, the strain on "your General" becomes tense. Your General, therefore, warmly praises Captain Gadsden for his good judgment in selecting the position for the batteries; and the "gal- lantry" of Captains McCall and Young, in aiding Cap- tain Gadsden to erect the batteries, is highly commended. Captain McKeever, of the navy, had landed two guns, to be used if needed, and to McKeever is awarded the Gen- eral's "warmest thanks." Fortimately, the McKeever guns were an idle surplus. A round or two from Jack- son's three cannon ended the splendid affair. "Your General" takes affectionate leave of such troops as he leaves behind, and hastens to Nashville to receive the ovation which his enthusiastic fellow citizens are preparing for the conquering hero. In the meantime, the international situation clouds up in a very ugly manner, indeed. Jackson 's high-handed doings in that brief campaign have made all sorts of trouble for President Monroe, the Cabinet, and the Con- gress. Spain is enraged. Great Britain growls omi- 17 a j 250 LIFE AND TIMES OF JACKSON. nously, and at the time when the self-satisfied Jackson is being acclaimed in Tennessee, Mr. Monroe is at his wits' end to know how to get the Republic out of the scrape into which "your General" has brought us. Spain is pacified by a prompt surrender of the forts. Great Britain has powerful reasons for not going to war, and she allows herself to be satisfied with diplomatic assurances. But there's to be a big battle over the Semi- nole matters in Congress; the C^^inet is to split over it, and the feud between Calhoun and Jackson will relate back to it; and since that feud changed the political his- tory of this country, one may safely say that the ruthless and headstrong conduct of Jackson in Florida was the source of incalculable woes to his own people. Like master, like man. General Jackson's example of indiscriminate slaughter found its imitators. In Southern Georgia there was an occurrence which even now fills one with horror and indignation. The operations of Mcintosh and Jackson naturally caused a great commotion among the Indians in the lower part of the State. Governor Rabun wrote to Gen- eral Jackson about this, and requested him to detail a portion of his superabundant force to protect the fron- tier from incursions. To this appeal, Jackson gave no heed. Governor Rabun felt that the inhabitants of South Georgia should not be left to the depredations of hostile savages, and he, therefore, ordered Captain Obed Wright, with a sufficient force of mounted men, to attack the towns of the celebrated old Chief Hopaunee. It is claimed that Hopaunee and his braves were on the war- path. When Captain Wright and his two hundred and seventy men neared the Hopaunee towns, they were told the old chief had removed and was then living at the village of Cheha. Now the Indians of this town were not only not hos- tile, but nearly every able-bodied man of the place had joined Jackson's army, after having furnished him with all the corn they could spare. They had even taken into their care and keeping some sick soldiers of Jackson's LIFE AND TIMES OF JACKSON. 251 command. At the time (April 23, 1818,) that Captain Wright was advancing upon Cheha, not a dozen warriors were there. Some old men, some herders, a small guard, and the women and children were the sole occupants of the place. Hopaunee was not in the village, and it does not appear that he had ever been there. But just as wild rumors were sufficient evidence for Jackson in Florida, so a rumor was enough for Wright in Georgia. An Indian who was herding some cattle first noticed the approach of the white soldiers. Alarmed and amazed, he earnestly begged Captain Wright to let him and the interpreter enter Cheha and bring before the white soldiers any of the head men that could be found. His prayer was denied. The attack was ordered, the cavalry galloped forward, and the massacre began. The ven- erable chief, known as Major Howard, and known as a friend to the whites, came out of his house, bearing a white flag, and this the old man waved in front of the charging line. He was fired upon, shot down and bay- oneted. His son, also, was killed. Besides these, three other men who had been left to guard the town, and one woman were slain. Every house in the town was burned. Perhaps there is no episode of our treatment of the Indians that is more disgraceful than this. It has a par- allel, we grieve to say, in the action of Lieutenant Kings- bury, whd, on the Mississippi Eiver, fired a six-pounder upon Black Hawk's flag of truce, murdering some starv- ing women and children. When General Jackson heard of what had been done at Cheha, he was in a towering passion. Not only was he indignant at the outrage committed upon his allies, but he was indignant that Governor Rabun should dare to put troops in motion, in Jackson's military division, when Jackson himself was in the field. Said Jackson to the Governor, ''You, sir, as Governor of a State within my military division have no right to give a military order while I am in the field." This monstrous proposition was treated by Governor Rabun with the scorn it deserved. Said the Governor to 252 LIFE AND TIMES OF JACKSON. the General, in substance, '^I told you of the condition of our bleeding frontier on the 21st of March, and requested that you detach a portion of your overwhelm- ing force for our protection. You did not even deign to reply. You marched off with five thousand men to attack scattered bands of two hundred and three hundred Indians, leaving our frontier totally undefended. Since you would not protect the frontier, I did. If necessary, will do it again. As to' the powers you arrogate to yourself, they are preposterous. As to Captain Wright, you have nothing to do with him. He is a State officer, and the State authorities will deal with him. In conclu- sion, — ^you attend to your own business and I will attend to mine." In this correspondence, Kabun not only defies Jack- son, but goes at him hammer and tongs. After the spunky Governor's second letter, the irate General thought best to ''drop it." As to the "inhuman monster" Wright, he was prob- ably no worse than thousands of other white men who thought that there was no great harm in killing Indians. He was put through the form of a trial, and was allowed to make his escape. No white man was ever put to death, or severely punished, for crimes against the red men. East, North, South, West, the record is the same. Note: Henry A. Wise, in "Seven Decades of the Union," gives a curious account of the action of Con- gress in voting for war: — "Party spirit ran rankling to the most violent extremes. Not only was personal courtesy forgotten in partisan rudeness, but measures were carried or defeated by means 'fas aut nefas.' On the question of 'war or no war,' the House of Representatives was kept in session several weeks, day and night, without recess or respite. "So determined was the Opposition that the Federal leaders, with an organized phalanx of debaters, got the floor, and held it by preconcerted signals, until the patience of their opponents was exhausted. The physical endurance of the Speaker was overcome; his sleep was not that of 'tired Nature's sweet restorer,' — it was not 'balmy.' An elderly gentleman from New England, with rather goggle-eyes, took the text of peace, and spun it out exceeding fine ana broadly disquisitive, from point to point, each of infinite detail, like Captain Dalgetty's pious tormentor, far beyond 'eighteenthly' LIFE AND TIMES OF JACKSON. 253 and never towards 'lastly,' until Bellona, or some one else, resorted to most startling means of storming the tenure of the floor to get at the 'previous question.' The Speaker of the House and most of the members, making a bare quorum, were asleep, and there was nothing to disturb the solemn silence but the Dominie-like drawling of the member on the floor, — didactic, monotonous and slow; the clerk's head bent low down upon the journal; when lo! sudden noises, rattling, dashing, bounding down the aisles, awoke and astonished Speaker's chair and clerk's desk; spittoons were bound- ing and leaping in the air, and, falling, reverberating their sounds like thunders among the crags of the Alps. 'Order! order! order!' was the vociferated cry; but, in the midst of the slap-bang con- fusion of the no longer drowsy night, the humdrum debater who had the floor took his seat from fright, and a belligerent Democrat snatched the pause to move the 'previous question,' which was sec- onded, and the declaration of war against Great Britain was thus got at, and carried in the House of Representatives of the Congress of the United States in June, 1812." 254 LIFE AND TIMES OP JACKSON. CHAPTER XXI. In one of the tart letters of Governor 'Rabun he twits General Jackson about two things which are significant, — the overwhelming number of his troops and his dis- obedience of the orders of his Government. And, strangely enough, Jackson made no reply. Here, then, is a circumstance to arrest attention and cause one to reflect. Why did General Jackson march against a handful of Seminoles with an army nearly twice as large as that which he had led against the great Creek Nation"? And did he disobey orders when he seized St. Marks and Pensacola? We think that there can be no doubt that when Old Hickory set out from Nashville, his settled purpose was to bring on a war with Spain, and wrest Florida from her failing grip. The letter to Monroe proves it ; the size of his army proves it : the heavy investments in Florida land, made by his family connections and close friends prove it. The Monroe letter will be discussed presently; the size of the army speaks for itself; and the purchase of the Florida lands was made by James Jackson, John Jackson, J. Donelson, J. H. Eaton, J. McCrea, J. C. McDowell and T. Childress. In 1818, there was peace between the United States and Spain. President Monroe was negotiating for the purchase of Florida, and, therefore, he had powerful reasons for wishing to maintain friendly relations with the Dons. Knowing this. General Jackson must have realized how gravely he would compromise his Govern- ment if he went beyond his orders. Eager to' seize the coveted territory, yet conscious that Monroe could not sanction an attack upon Spain, how did the General set about getting his own way? Students who are willing to throw prejudice aside and learn the true character of public men and events will find much to interest them in this episode of Jack- son's career. LIFE AND TIMES OF JACKSON. 255 On the 6th of January, 1818, the General wrote to President Monroe a letter to which an ingenious rea- soner might plausibly trace the source of the Civil War, — which changed our Democratic Republic into the cen- tralized plutocracy of the present era. Jackson begins by stating to the President that he is aware of the orders which had been given to General Gaines. These orders authorized the pursuit of Indians into Spanish territory, but expressly forbade the seizure of any Spanish fortress. Now, Jackson wanted a freer hand than this, and he argued that if the savages took refuge in Pensacola and St. Augustine, it would be necessary to seize those places. He believed that he should be allowed to take possession of the whole of East Florida which should be held as an indemnity for the "outrages of Spain upon the property of our citizens." The General very well knew that President Monroe could not openly sanction such a course. To authorize the violent spoliation of a friendly power, with whom we were even then conducting amicable negotiations, would have been dishonorable and perfidious. Jackson himself realized this. What, then, was his proposition to Monroe ? "Let it be signified to me through any channel (say Mr. J. Rhea) that the possession of the Floridas would be desirable to the United States, and in sixty days it will be accomplished." Were not this letter a matter of record which no one ever disputed, it would be incredible. The popular con- ception of Andrew Jackson is that he was a bluff soldier, tough and rough, and utterly incapable of double deal- ing. The historical impress which Jam.es Monroe made upon his times is that of a perfectly truthful, honest, dis- interested, patriotic man. Yet here we find the soldier, who was supposed to be free of guile, making a written proposition which involves moral turpitude of the blackest kind, and making it to a man of the nicest sense of honor. In effect, the Jackson suggestion is this: 256 LIFE AND TIMES OF JACKSON. "You, Mr. President, must continue to show a friendly face to Spain ; you must smile and negotiate ; I understand that you can not afford to do anything else; but, still, I believe that East Florida should be seized and I am not quite willing to seize it in violation of my orders. Therefore, do you tip me the wink to go ahead. There's Johnny Rhea, a devoted friend of mine; do you say on the sly to Johnny Rhea that you would like for me to pounce upon Spain's unprotected territory, while you are lulling her into deceptive security by pretending friendship and by keeping up negotiations for the pur- chase of Florida. Do this, and in sixty days I will rob Spain of that which you are pretending that you wish to buy." Can there be any question of the morals of a propo- sition like that? We shall see this trait of Jackson's character reveal itself again in the matter of the Texan revolt against Mexico, as well as in his dealings with John Quincy Adams and William H. Crawford. What reply did President Monroe make to the letter? Jackson and his partisans claimed that the President spoke to Rhea and that Rhea wrote to the General, but no one has ever pretended to state the contents of this alleged letter. As a matter of fact, Monroe did not read the Jackson letter of January 6th, until after the Seminole War was ended. He was sick at the time the communication reached Washington, and he handed it to Calhoun, who laid it away. Jackson had already been given his orders, and the President could not possibly suspect that the General was making the disgraceful proposition con- tained in the unread letter. On December 21st, 1818, Monroe himself wrote to Jackson explaining fully how it came about that the Jackson letter of January 6th, 1818, had not been read by him until after he had received the dispatches brought by Hambly announcing Jackson's seizure of the Spanish forts. Hambly did not reach Washington until July, 1818. LIFE AND TIMES OF JACKSON. 257 General Jackson did not at that time dispute this statement, did not remind the President of the alleged letter of Johnny Rhea, and continued on the most cordial terms with Monroe. In the Diary of John Quincy Adams, date December 17th, 1818, occurs the entry: "At the President's met Secretary Crawford who was reading to him (Monroe) a violent attack upon himself in a letter from Nashville, published in the 'Aurora' of day before yesterday." In this Nashville letter the Monroe administration is charged with having had knowledge, beforehand, that Jackson meant to invade Florida. As this part of the attack on Monroe evidently refers to Jackson's letter of January 6th, 1818, the person who wrote it must have been in the General's confidence. The publication which Crawford read to Monroe on December 17th, 1818, would seem to explain why Monroe went out of his way, in the letter of December 21st, 1818, to assure Jackson that it was not until after the fall of Pensacola that he was aware of his suggested seizure of East Florida. Here the matter rested for many years. We shall see how it was revived some years later. All the world admires a man of dash and force and bravery, and the people of America were now wrought up to such enthusiasm over Andrew Jackson that he was rapidly becoming a national hero. It was Jackson who always did the thing which he set out to do. He had made up his mind that the power of the Creeks must be broken, and in spite of every difficulty he had annihilated them. He had resolutely said that he would ' ' smash h— 11 out of the British," and he had done it. He Iiaa declared that he could trample upon Spanish rights in Florida, and he had done that, too. Of such a strong, triumphant man, his countrymen were proud. Small errors and misdeeds were condoned or forgotten, or denied, or justified. If he had gambled, he was a gentle- man gambler, not a blackleg. If he had killed a man in a duel, that was a trifle ; murder by the duello was gentle- 258 LIFE AND TIMES OF JACKSON. manly homicide. If he had courted another man's wife, won her heart, and scared her husband off the range, that was a personal and private affair, and there was much to be said in extenuation. It was the strong man's master- ful way of getting the woman he wanted. As to hanging those two English subjects, Ambrister and Arbuthnot, it was perhaps a somewhat hasty pro- ceeding, — but how many flagrant outrages had Great Britain inflicted upon American sailors? Besides, it would teach her to quit sending English officers to incite red men to war. As to the Indian chiefs who had been hanged without any sort of trial, — that was nothing. They were just savages, who deserved killing on general principles. So reasoned the populace; and the close of the Florida skirmishes, house-burnings, cattle-liftings and fort seizures found General Jackson the most popu- lar man in America. In such a grandiloquent style had Old Hickory written and spoken of his performances in the land of flowers, the people of the East and North honestly believed that heroic things had been accom- plished. They could not know that General Mcintosh had done very nearly all of the fighting, and that the fortresses taken by Jackson were not in condition to make any resistance. But while the multitude acclaimed Andrew Jackson, there were many intelligent, observant men throughout the Union who severely censured his high-handed doings in Florida. This dissatisfaction, however, took no definite shape, save in Congress. There, the politicians threshed it out in a debate which ran along for several weeks. In the lower house, Mr. Clay led the attack on Jackson, doing it with his usual eloquence. But he had not taken the trouble to' study the facts carefully and therefore' his speeches lacked the convincing strength which he might have given them. George Poindexter, of Mississippi, defended the General, and, being coached by the General himself, he was able to make a strong case. Where he omitted a detail. Clay was unable to supply it; and when he misstated incidents, there was no one to LIFE AND TIMES OF JACKSON. 259 correct him. Besides, President Monroe, while disavow- ing the seizure of the Spanish posts, lent the whole weight of his administration to Jackson. Meanwhile, a very curious situation had developed in the Cabinet. Calhoun was of the opinion that Jackson had gone much too far in Florida, and appears to have taken the position in the Cabinet counsels that he should be censured. Crawford was of the same opinion. The Secretary of State, the able and learned John Quincy Adams, had a fine capacity for hatred, and two of the men whom he ardently loved to dislike were Calhoun and Crawford. Whether this personal feeling had anything to do with deciding him to antagonize the views of these two colleagues, no one can say with certainty. Very probably, it gave Mr. Adams a keen pleasure to espouse the cause of General Jackson and to foil not only Cal- houn and Crawford, but Henry Clay, also. At any rate, Mr. Adams did take up the cudgels for the grim warrior who was under civilian fire. By the time the astute Adams had suppressed and distorted the facts of the case to suit his conception of the law of nations, he was able to build upon this fabricated foundation an exposi- tion of the law which no one could overturn. It check- mated Spain, puzzled Great Britain, satisfied America and scored a glorious victory all around. The three towers of strength to Jackson in this crisis were Monroe, Adams and Poindexter. We shall here- after see how bitterly he turns against all three. While the fight was raging against him in Congress, the General himself was on the ground, in personal com- mand of his partisans, directing every movement of the defense. He was boiling with wrath against Clay, and against Crawford ; and is said to have been violent in his threats. Lacock, who made the report against Jackson in the Senate, was told that the furious warrior had sworn to cut the honorable Senator's ears off, — where- upon Lacock began to carry on his endangered person weapons of deadly character. There appears to be no doubt that the enraged Gen- 260 LIFE AND TIMES OE JA( K80X. eral was turned back by bis frieud. Commodore Deeatiir, wbeu iu tbe act of entering tbe Senate obamber for tbe purpose of assaulting Jobn W. Eppes, son-in-law of Thomas Jetferson. After the prolonged debate, the House of Kepresen- tatives voted down the proposition to censure Jackson, and his victory over the politicians endeared him all the more to the people. AVherever he appeared in public, whether iu Baltimore, Fhiladelphia or New York, he was lionized. Banquets, balls, receptions, etc., were given in his honor; and his manners were such a natural blending of dignity and grace that he came forth from every scene of entertainment with his popularity .broadened. In October. 1S20. the Spanish government ratitied the treaty under which Florida was ceded to the United States for live million dollars; in the following Feb- ruary. Congress also ratitied it, but not without a vigor- ous protest by a minority led by Clay. Our title to Texas was as good as the title by which we held New Orleans, and Mr. Clay insisted that we should not relinquish our claim to it, as the treaty bound us to do. The New England States, however, had shown such extreme opposition to the Louisiana Purchase, and were so sensitive on the subject of the growth of the West and South that President Monroe was of the opinion "we ought to be content with Florida for the present." On June 20th, 1S20, General Jackson, in response to a letter from the President, explaining the reasons for the relin- quishment of Florida, wrote Monroe that he fully agreed with him. Many years later when the Texas question was red- hot, the old General denied — bitterly, vehemently, and with much profanity denied — that he had ever sanc- tioned the gi^ing up of our claim on Texas, or that he had ever been consulted about it. So tickle is memorv! On May 31, 1821, General Jackson resigned his com- mission iu the army, and was appointed by President LIFE AND TIMES OF JACKSON. 261 Monroe to the Governorship of Florida. This office brought nothing to our hero but vexation of spirit, for himself and others. In the shortest possible time, he managed to get up a row with the Spanish officials who were going out as he was coming in. Upon the complaint of a mulatto woman, that the retiring Spaniards were about to carry off valuable papers belonging to an estate in which she was interested, Governor Andrew Jackson — without waiting to hear the other side or to make any investigation into the merits of the woman's claim — ordered the papers surrendered. But the order was directed to a gallant subordinate who had no authority to give up the papers. The official who did have the authority was most willing to exercise it, but got no chance. Jackson proceeded so rapidly that everything fell into a brain-racking tangle, and the upshot of the business was that the furious American Governor flung the Spanish ex-Governor into the calaboose! No wonder John Quincy Adams declared that Mon- roe's cabinet dreaded to see the Florida mail arrive: they never could tell what Jackson might do next. In this particular instance, Andrew Jackson got the situation in Florida so ''balled up" that he himself was at a loss to know what to do with it. Particularly, as a writ of habeas corpus was issued by a Federal judge, requiring the production of the body of the Spanish ex-Governor. Jackson stormed, frothed at the mouth, banged the table with his fist, and made use of frightful language. But he was completely stalled. The officer who had no right to surrender the papers had been clapped in jail; and the officer who did have the authority, but who did not know which papers were wanted, was likewise in the calaboose, — where the ridiculousness of the thing had caused the prisoners to pass a night in laughing at Jackson and themselves, rehearsing the turbulent scenes through which they had passed, and drinking much champagne. Jackson had the filthy little calaboose full of merry Spaniards, but he had not been able to get those valuable 262 LIFE AND TIMES OF JACKSON. papers. In this dilemma, the Alcalde Breckenridge came to his relief. * ' Send Commissioners to the Spanish Gov- ernor 's house, and get the papers." This was done. Then the calaboose was emptied, the Federal Judge given a terrible cussing-out, and the valuable papers examined. They were found to be of no value whatever. Of course. Governor Jackson made a formidable report to his Government, demonstrating with fierce sin- cerity that he had been in the right all the way through. To John Quincy Adams, Secretary of State, fell the task of explaining things to the Spanish minister, and of keeping the peace with harassed Spain. It is well known that President Monroe had thought of appointing General Jackson Minister to Russia. When this was mentioned to Mr. Jefferson he was hor- rified. Strenuously objecting to a step so rash, he exclaimed: "My God! He would breed you a quarrel with Russia in less than a month." Possibly a great European complication and world- war was averted by the sending of Jackson to Pensacola, rather than to St. Petersburg. The wrongfulness of Jackson's course is shown by his unconditional release of his prisoners. If they had done anything punishable, they should have been punished; if they had committed no offense, they should not have been imprisoned. The mere seizure of the papers by Jackson did not alter the status of facts, so far as the conduct of the prisoners was concerned. The papers could have been seized at first, or at any stage of the game. The Spaniards made no attempt to hide the documents, and had no idea of resist- ance to an attempt to take them. The Spanish Governor contended all along that he was perfectly willing to sur- render the papers if Jackson would specify the papers desired, and would make the demand of him in his capacity of Spanish official. In other words, the retir- ing governor merely asked to be treated with common civility, and to be given, in writing, a paper which would serve to explain to his superiors why he had surrendered a portion of the documents left in his official custody. LIFE AND TIMES OF JACKSON. 263 Nothing could have been more reasonable. The Span- ish Governor, whose name was Callava, was a gentle- man, but the treatment accorded him was brutal in the extreme. Disappointed because his office gave him no oppor- tunity to reward his friends with patronage ; worn down by his old enemy, chronic dysentery; and realizing that he was adding nothing to his fame or fortune at Pensa- cola, General Jackson resigned in November (1821) and returned to the Hermitage. 264 LIFE AND TIMES OF JACKSON. CHAPTER XXII. We have now reached the end of Andrew Jackson's career as a soldier. He goes no more to the wars. A short interval of peace and quiet at home, and then he becomes a fierce combatant in the arena of National poli- tics. Before following him into the memorable struggles, which had so powerful an influence upon the destiny of our country, let us try to get a view of his home life, and of those leading men with whom the old soldier is about to be drawn into association or conflict. The humble log cabin in which the General and Aunt Eachel had so long made their home has been abandoned for ihe new mansion. To European visitors, it appeared small and mean, but to Jackson's neighbors, it was magnificent. The Hermitage — as Jackson's home was known — was not built upon the best site which the plantation afforded, for it was not placed upon the higher groimd. Aunt Rachel chose the site, and, although there were those who pointed out to Jackson the defect in the location, he struck the ground with his cane and swore "by the Eternal ' ' that the house should be built right there, — for "that is where Rachel wants it!" And there it was built, a two-story structure of brick. Visitors trooped to the Hermitage from all parts of the Union, and foreigners frequently made it a stopping place. When Lafayette, (1825) came to visit the country for which he had fought when a gallant youth, he did not consider his tour complete until he had paid his respects to the old soldier of Tennessee, who, in the hearts of his countrymen, had won a place second only to that of George Washington. There being no children to bless the union of Jackson and Aunt Rachel, he had adopted one of his wife's nephews. Besides this adopted son, Andrew Jackson, Jr., there lived with him his wife's nephew, Andrew J. Donelson, and also one of her nieces. Included in the (. I -I LIFE AND TIMES OF JACKSON. 265 domestic establishment was Henry Lee, of Virginia, the black sheep of one of the noblest families of this or any other country. His father was the Revolutionary hero, Light Horse Harry Lee, who came as near to being familiar with George Washington as it was possible for a mere mortal to become. The tradition is that it was Light Horse Harry who "cut out" the majestic George when he and Washington were rival suitors for the hand of the lowland beauty to whom young Washington addressed his well-meant but clumsy rhymes. It was Light Horse Harry, of all men, who would venture to joke Washington at his own table about the well-known "sharpness" of the father of his country as a horse- trader, and do it so deftly that even "Lady" Washing- ton would join heartily in the laugh at the expense of her august spouse. It does indeed appear to be singular that one of the sons of Light Horse Harry should be Robert E. Lee, the flower of Anglo-Saxon chivalry, while the other (by another wife, however), should have been such a reprobate that his own family cast him out; that the United States Senate would not hear of him as an appointee to office, and that he should have wandered from pillar to post, a social and political Pariah, until he should lose himself in a foreign land, and virtually write his own epitaph in the bitter words that ' ' everything has turned to ashes on my lips." Andrew Jackson was one of those who for a time, made use of his splendid talents. Wonderfully gifted intellectually, Henry Lee wrote some of the finest campaign papers on Jackson's behalf that ever cut a figure in American politics. His fugitive prose-poem, written on the death of the Indian boy whom Jackson had taken under his protection after the father of the boy had been killed in the battle of Horse Shoe Bend, is one of the pearls of American literature. General Jackson was an ideal host, — easy, graceful, sociable, often playful, but always maintaining a dignity which no familiarity invaded. He loved a joke, encour- aged gaiety in the social circle, was a good listener as 266 LIFE AND TIMES OF JACKSON. well as a good talker, and left nothing undone that would contribute to the comfort, the ease and the enjoyment of his guest. A most beautiful trait in his character was his devo- tion to his wife and his perfect loyalty to her. No matter how many beautiful women might crowd around him in Nashville or New Orleans, whenever Aunt Rachel appeared, his manner seemed to say, "this is her Majesty, the Queen." It was a puzzle to many that Jackson could have such an eye for a fine figure of a woman — such an eye as Washington himself had — and be so appreciative and enjoy the company of elegant, refined, highly gifted and highly cultured ladies, and yet never seem to have the slightest perception of the limita- tions of his wife. That she was one of the best and most lovable of women, all witnesses agree; nobody could be acquainted with her without becoming attached to her and feeling for her the profoundest respect; and yet, stfinding by the side of her tall, dignified and courtly hus- band, she was at the greatest disadvantage. She had nevor been accustomed to what is known as good society. She was a back-woods girl of good common sense, high animal spirits, a good dancer in the rough square dances of the back-woods, a wholesome, physi- cally attractive girl or young woman when she, a mar- ried woman, fell in love with Andrew Jackson, the unmarried young lawyer. In 1822, however, she was no longer handsome. She was very dark and coarse-look- ing. Her figure was full, and she dressed loosely and carelessly. Standing up, she had no particular shape, and when she sat down she seemed to settle into herself in a manner that was not graceful. At all public recep- tions where it was her part to appear along with the General, the anxiety of Jackson's lady friends was so great that they usually formed a cordon around Aunt Eachel, to guard her from making any social "break," — exerting themselves to the utmost to keep her from say- ing or doing anything that would bring discredit upon the courtly Jackson. For instance, it was all right for President Jackson in civilian's dress LIFE AND TIMES OF JACKSON. 267 her, in the privacy of the Hermitage, to take a few puffs at her reed-stem, corn-cob pipe, and then pass it on to one of the male guests and say, ''Honey, won't you take a smoke?" but, of course, that wouldn't have fitted in well at New Orleans, or even in Nashville. When Aunt Eachel sat herself down and took her pen in hand to write a letter to one of her friends, she was apt to indite something like this : ''The play-actors sent me a letter, requesting my countenance to them. No. A ticket to balls and parties. No, not one. Two dinings; several times to drink tea. Indeed, Mr. Jackson encourages me in my course. He recommends it to me to be steadfast. Still, his appetite is delicate, and company and business are oppressive, but I look unto the Lord, from whence comes all my com- forts. I have the precious promise and I know that my Eedeemer liveth." Daniel Webster made an impression upon his own times, that is, perhaps, not justified by the lasting impor- tance of anything that he did. It is not at all clear that he had any fixed opinions. While a protectionist during the greater part of his career, his most powerful speeches were made for free trade at a time when there was no interested motive to influence his opinion. He is best known as an opponent to the theory that the Union of the States is a compact between sovereign States, and yet he afterwards reached and expressed a contrary con- viction. That he was the greatest forensic orator, the greatest debater this country has produced, is uniformly conceded. No matter who the other man was, if Webster was in the wrong, there was a debate ; if Webster was in the right, his adversary was crushed. It is doubtful if the world ever produced Webster's equal as a logic- fencer, a gladiator in the forum and in the Senate. Imperial in his mental gifts, Mr. Webster was not great as a man. His morals were not pure; he had no high standard of honor in money matters ; he allowed himself to be subsidized by the rich capitalists of Boston when he 268 LIFE AND TIMES OF JACKSON. was holding public office, — a public servant who should have kept himself absolutely free from even the sus- picion of being improperly influenced by the receipt of a secret income from those who were financially interested in his speeches and his votes. Occupying the most exalted position as a parliamentary orator, he was not a leader. At no period of his long career did he ever have a per- sonal following. Totally lacking in the power of organ- ization, he never even carried through Congress a scheme of legislation. While Clay was a leader, an organizer and a constructive statesman, and while Cal- houn was conspicuously capable in the same way, Web- ster was so utterly lacking in these qualities that Henry Clay treated Webster's influence as a negligible quan- tity. At some crisis in National politics when Clay and others were holding a conference, an inexperienced mem- ber (Rufus Choate) kept saying, ''Well, what will Mr. Webster think T' until finally Clay turned upon him fiercely, scornfully, and silenced him by saying, "Who cares a damn what Webster thinks?" Nor was Mr. Webster a great statesman. Henry Clay was certainly not so learned as Mr. Webster, not in the same class as a lawyer or logician, but he was far and away a greater statesman. Webster's manners when he unbent and tried to be agreeable were irresistible. He could fascinate the young and the old, the learned and the unlearned; but there were times when he aroused enmity by his harsh tones and his repellant looks. Congressmen from New England were apt to resent his ungracious reception of visiting constituents who, being in Washington, felt a natural desire to see the god-like Daniel in order that they might speak of it when they returned home. Oliver Dyer in his book, "Great Senators," says: "Webster evidently felt such introductions to be an intolerable bore, and seldom took the trouble to conceal his annoyance. Usually his manner on such occasions was freezingly indifferent. He seemed to be preoccupied and unable to bring his mind to the cognition of the rural LIFE AND TIMES OF JACKSON. 269 Jorkins. Sometimes he did not even look at the person introduced, but mechanically extended his hand, and per- mitted the stranger to shake it, if he had the courage to do so. I have seen members of Congress turn crimson, with indignation at Webster's ungracious reception of their constituents. They felt that his manner was a per- sonal insult to them, and their constituents shared their opinion and spmpathized with their indignation. Doubt- less many enemies were thus made by Webster, whose adverse influence was afterwards felt in the Whig National Conventions of which he so repeatedly and so vainly sought a nomination to the Presidency." Henry Clay's manner was altogether different. He was always genial, gracious and captivating. He was one of those men who adapted himself to his environment. At a country dance, he could mix and mingle with the young women and the young men as well as make himself perfectly at home to the elders. If he wanted to dance a particular jig or reel, and the fiddlers did not know the tune, the great Harry of the West could unbend, take the fiddlers aside, whistle the tune to them until they had caught it, then bring them back, have them play it, and dance the reel with one of the girls. In the Supreme Court room he was as much at ease at he was on the hustings, and when Chief Justice Marshall took out his snuff box to refresh himself with a pinch of snuff, it was Henry Clay who could saunter up to the bench and help himself out of the Chief Justice's mug, saying with a sang froid which was matchless, ''I perceive that your Honor still uses the Scotch." No other member of the Bar dreamed of taking such a liberty. Never forgetting a face or a name, ready with anec- dote and illustration, blessed with a flow of animal spirits that hardly ever left him an hour of depression, naturally gallant and chivalrous, as fearless a man as ever lived, his sensual nature subordinated by his men- tality, Henry Clay wielded an influence that survived all of his many mistakes and lasted to the last day of his life. 270 LIFE AND TIMES OF JACKSON. He was the tallest of ''the great trio," his height being six feet, one inch in his stocking feet. Although very slender, he was well made, his carriage not only- graceful, but commanding. Length was the dominant note of his physique — length of limb, length of body, length of neck, and length of head from base to crown. His hair was rather thin, and sandy in color; his eyes, gray, expressive and brilliant ; his mouth, large, the lips being thin and straight, the chin strong. Miss Martineau, in her "Retrospect of Western Travel," paints a pleasant picture of Mr. Clay as he appeared in private society: "Mr. Clay, sitting upright on the sofa, with his snuff- box ever in hand, would discourse for many an hour, in his even, soft, deliberate tone, on any one of the great subjects of American policy which we might happen to start, always amazing us with the moderation of esti- mate and speech which so impetuous a nature has been able to attain." In action, Henry Clay suggested the thoroughbred. He tingled with life, and in speaking, everything about him contributed to the force, animation and eloquence of the speech. Capable of sustained labor, he was quick witted, able to rise to any occasion and the spur of the moment. It was his nature to attract or to repel. As to himself, — as it was with regard to Jackson — there were no neutrals. Men could not be indifferent to either of those strong characters; they were loved or they were hated; they were admired or they were scorned. Like Webster, Clay too often indulged in strong drink, but, on the whole, his manner of life was simple and economical, and his personal honor was conceded by his bitterest enemies. Not a hard student, Mr. Clay had a mind that was naturally receptive and penetrating, and he could make more out of what he did know than any man in public life. In speaking, he touched almost every key. While no match for Calhoun or Webster in reasoning power, he could still be logical and very convincing. He was so vehement, self-confident and intensely earnest, that the LIFE AND TIMES OF JACKSON. 271 very magnetism which he threw into his presentation of his case carried a weight of its own. He was more often witty and humorous and sarcastic than the other mem- bers of the great trio. He left no recorded gems of elo- quence that are equal to those of Webster, but there can be no doubt that among his contemporaries he was more generally popular as an orator. All who have written of him go into raptures in describing the wonderful sweetness, richness and trum- pet-like ring of his voice. Even his lowest notes had a carrying power that reached the remotest man in his audience; and when he rose to his higher notes, they were clarion calls to battle. In the years that are to come, we shall hear the dying John Randolph bid hi; servants carry his invalid chair into the Senate chamber, that he may hear once more "that wonderful voice" of Henry Clay. While every student of American history has been made familiar with Webster and Clay, a vast amount oi' misconception yet prevails as to John C. Calhoun. A palj of gloom hangs about his name ; it is associated with doc- trines which have been put under the ban. His greatest work is associated in the minds of his countrymen with tragedy and collossal failure. Even the people of the South take his portrait as painted by the Northern writers who were taught to hate him. We have come to regard Mr. Calhoun as an abstraction, an idea, rather than a man of flesh and blood. We can not think of him as unbending and playing with children, or chatting easily with the young, or mixing familiarly in social intercourse with ordinary men. We have put him apart and aloft as a kind of political Lucifer, the prince of fallen angels. Around him we have drawn the drapery of dark clouds and disagreeable memories, — put him off entirely from human co'm|3anionship and sympathy. Yet, of the men that American historians class as "The Great Trio," by far the purest, the tenderest and most sincerely loving was John C. Calhoun. Even with Henry Clay, the smile, after a while, became the mere stereotyped smirk of the permanent 272 LIFE AND TIMES OF JACKSON. seeker after the Presidency; too often it meant nothing. To Mr. Webster there came not only the occasional fits of gloom and despondency and unsociability, but the settled exjoression which bespoke a heart that had been soured by disappointment, — a manner which toward the ordinary man and the ordinary amenities of life seemed to say, "I want none of you; leave me to my own soli- tude and bitter thoughts." Upon his forehead settled a perpetual scowl : into his cavernous, big, black eyes came the expression of inexpressible melancholy. But to Mr. Calhoun we shall never see come any such period of inaccessible gloom. However stern he might seem to be in the Senate chamber, where he was strug- gling against awful odds, he never lost the exquisite polish of manner, the perfect courtesy of the gentleman ; and in private life he never seemed to be weary of the company of the young, nor lost the inclination and the power to make them his friends. Springing from the same stock as Andrew Jackson, — the Scotch-Irish, — Calhoun was, in his own way, as brave a man as Jackson himself. It was not his to quarrel and fuss and braw] and shoot and stab. As in the case of Mr. Jefferson, there is no record of his having given or taken a personal affront. On one notable occasion, Henry Clay, in the course of a debate in the Senate, allowed his hot temper and his unbridled tongue to carry him too far, and he made use of words which a professional duelist might have made the provocation for a challenge. Mr. Calhoun was no duelist, and he passed the insult by with the dignity of a Roman senator ; and the two great South- erners went their ways apart for many years, neither speaking to the other. But when Mr. Clay made his touch- ing farewell address to his colleagues, expressing a manly regret for language used in the heat of debate, and ask- ing pardon of those whom he might thus have offended, Mr. Calhoun proved the metal he was made of by promptly rising and going to Clay, with extended hand and suffused eyes, "to make it up." In person Mr. Calhoun was tall and gaunt, his com- plexion dark, his eyes black and luminous; his hair, LIFE AND TIMES OF JACKSON. 273 somewhat like that of Andrew Jackson, was bushy and rebellious, standing up from his head and falling upon his shoulders like a lion's mane. His voice was only second to that of Clay in its sweetness, purity and reson- ance. His usual expression in public was one of intense earnestness, so much so that most people considered his countenance unusually stern and hard. His features taken altogether conveyed an idea of rock-like strength. Of "the great trio," he was the most subtle reasoner, though not so great a debater as Webster, nor so much of a constructive statesman as Clay. He was rather lik^ Webster in not being a great party leader or organizei In his own State, he was supreme, but he did not hav* Henry Clay's capacity for moulding his following into h great national party and committing it to a great national policy. Oliver Dyer, in "Great Senators,'^ bears testimony to the effect that Mr. Calhoun was, "By all odds the most fascinating man in private intercourse that I ever met. His conversational powers were marvelous. His voice was clear, sweet and mellow, with a musical, metallic ring in it which gave it strength without diminishing its sweetness. His pronunciation and enunciation were perfect. His manner was simple and unpretentious. He talked on the most abstruse sub- jects with the guileless simplicity of a prattling child. His ideas were so clear and his language so plain that he made a path of light through any subject he discussed. "Calhoun's kindness of heart was inexhaustible. He impressed me as being deeply but unobtrusively relig- ious, and was so morally clean and spiritually pure that it was a pleasure to have one's soul get close to his soul— a feeling that I never had for any other man. He seemed to exhale an atmosphere of purity, as fresh and sweet and bracing as a breeze from the prairie, the ocean, or the mountain— an atmosphere which one could safely breathe all in and be better and purer from the inspira- tion. He was inexpressibly urbane, refined, gentle, win- ning ; and yet he was strong and thoroughly manly, with an elegant and engaging invincibleness pervading his softness and gentleness. I admired Benton; I admired 274 LIFE AND TIMES OF JACKSON. Clay still more; I admired Webster, on the intellectual side, most of all; but I loved Calhoun; and as I came to know him well, and saw his exquisitely beautiful nature mirrowed in his face, his countenance no longer seemed Satanic, but angelic, and his benignant greeting in the morning was like a benediction that lasted the whole day." What Dyer says about Calhoun's religious nature, reminds the present writer of a story related to him many years ago by one who had it from an attendant at Calhoun's beside during his last days. Some young sprig of a theological student, who, of course, knew everything about everything, and had no doubts on any subject whatever, — because he was yet fresh from the Seminary — took it upon himself to visit Mr. Calhoun and to impart to him dogmatically the great truths of revealed religion. The dying statesman listened cour- teously and patiently until the homily was done and the young theologian had departed, and then, with a weary sigh, he turned to a friend and said, "That young man undertakes to instruct me on matters that have been the subject of my deepest, most anxious thoughts during my whole life." Harriet Martineau in "Western Travel" describes a Senatorial scene in which Thomas H. Benton made one of his numerous brutal attacks upon Mr. Calhoun. She says that the speech would have been insufferable if it had not been so absurdly worded as to inspire contempt. To make this attack it was necessary for Mr. Benton to rudely interupt Mr. Calhoun in the midst of an earnest speech; therefore, the assault was all the more inexcus- able and exasperating. "He was called to order; this was objected to; the Senate divided upon the point of order, being dissatisfied with the decision of the chair — in short, Mr. Calhoun sat for two full hours, hearing his veracity talked about, before his speech could proceed. He sat in stern patience, scarcely moving a muscle the whole trme; and when it was all settled in his favor, merely observed that his friends need not fear his being disturbed by an attack LIFE AND TIMES OF JACKSON. 275 of this nature from such a quarter, and resumed his speech at the precise point where his argument had been broken off. It was great. ' ' Far below the great trio, but still a positive factor in Jackson's day was Thomas H. Benton, a man of very much coarser and tougher fibre than either one of the others. Full of pugnacity, full of ponderous conceit, he was an indefatigable worker, mentally strong and resourceful, thoroughly honest and working always to a high ideal of public duty. He was no orator, but a force- ful talker, a ready debater, one who prepared himself with extraordinary care and who brought to the discus- sion of every question a great store of information. In public life he was considered domineering, aggressive, but devoted to his cause, an honest partisan, generally fighting a fair fight, asking no quarter and giving none. In private life he was altogether different, and in his home circle a model husband and father, — gentle, affec- tionate, indulgent and loyal. No longer the leader of a party, and no longer exert- ing any considerable influence by his speeches or vote, John Randolph, of Roanoke, must still be mentioned as one of the conspicuous men figuring in Congressional life. Taking our view, as usual, from New England, we have come to regard this erratic Virginian as little more than a freak and a common scold. We are given to see all of the contortions of the Sibyl and none of the inspi- ration: we are allowed to hear all of the shrieks, and none of the splendid eloquence with which this rare genius was so richly endowed. Yet, it is a fact that John Randolph was the most consistent statesman of his time. He and he alone remained steadfast to' his original, States-rights creed. From the time when he sprang into fame by his debate with Patrick Henry, until he accepted from Andrew Jackson the mission to Russia, Randolph's career is "as straight as a string." He had the vision of a prophet, but unfortunately the curse of Cassandra was on him, and though he spoke the truth his own people would not believe. 276 LIFE AND TIMES OF JACKSON. CHAPTER XXIII. Besides the great men of the political world noticed in the preceding chapter, there were John Quincy Adams, James Monroe, William H. Crawford, John Forsyth, William B. Giles, William Pinkney, James Buchanan, Sergeant S. Prentiss, Sam Houston, Felix Grundy, John McPherson Berrien, Edward Livingston, Martin Van Buren and many others less prominent. As our story proceeds we will try to make each of the positive per- sonal factors of the period well known to our readers. The narrative will soon cary us into those vital and burning issues out of which sprang sectional strife and civil war, — therefore it may be well to take a look backward. Many of the pregnant facts of our early history have been purposely omitted from the books: the origins of things have been misrepresented: the very compromises and principles upon which our complex Government was built have been so wilfully suppressed and blotted from the record that the generation now crowding toward the open fields of busy life know little of the real truth of the political strategy which transformed a league of sov- ereign States into a consolidated Republic. Perhaps our readers will appreciate a simple review of the record. On May 10, 1775, the thirteen North American colo- nies, acting through their delegates in a Convention which sat in Philadelphia, agreed upon the first Union of all the colonies. There had been previous confedera- tions of some of the colonies, mainly for the purpose of making war upon the Indians, but there had never been a union which embraced them all. The revolt against King George was a common cause, and even the most confident rebel realized the necessity of gathering up the thirteen sticks into one bundle, as the only hope of pre- venting England from breaking each separate stick. "Articles of Confederation and Perpetual Union" were consequently adopted, and a Union formed which LIFE AND TIMES OF JACKSON. 277 lasted a little more than three years. The following extracts will show the nature and purpose of the league : — ^'Article 1. The name of this Confederacy shall be the United Colonies of North America. (On July 2, 1776, the word ' colonies ' was changed to ' states ' by Act of Congress, upon which day was assumed the title, 'United States of America.' On the 4th of the same month was issued the formal Declaration of Independ- ence. It was under the operation of this Government that George Washington was appointed Commander-in- Chief of the Army of the Confederation.) ''Article 2. The United Colonies hereby severally enter into a firm league of friendship with each other, binding on themselves and their posterity, for their com- mon defence against their enemies, for the securities of their liberties and properties, and their mutual and gen- eral welfare. "Article 3. Each colony shall enjoy and 'retain as much as it may think fit of its own present laws, customs, rights, privileges, and peculiar jurisdiction within its own limits. ' ' ' On July 27, 1778, Congress abolished the first Union and adopted a second, under the same words, "Articles of Confederation and Perpetual Union." The following extracts are worth reproduction : — "Article 1. The style of this Confederacy shall be 'The United States of America.' "Article 2. Each State retains its sovereignty, free- dom, and independence, and every power, jurisdiction, and right which is not by their confederation expressly delegated to the United States in Congress assembled. "Article 3. The said States hereby severally enter into a firm league of friendship with each other for their common defense, the security of their liberties, and their mutual and general welfare. "Article 13. * * * The articles of this Confederation shall be inviolably observed by every State, and the 278 LIFE AND TIMES OF JACKSON. Union shall be perpetual: nor shall any alteration be made in any of them, unless such alteration be agreed to in a Congress of the United States, and afterwards con- firmed by the Legislature of every State." On December 17, 1787, the third Government of the United States was formed. One after another, nine of the States seceded from the "perpetual Union," and set up a new one. The politicians who favored a strong nationality, instead of a loose league of independent States, adroitly manipulated a movement for a commer- cial convention until they had got the States committed to a constitutional convention. The declared object of this body was the amendment of the "Articles of Confed- eration and Perpetual Union." The people had no sus- picion of what was on foot. The strategy of the nation- alist wire-pullers was so infernally clever, that the States-rights men were completely hoodwinked. The Convention which had been instructed to prepare amend- ments to the "Articles of Confederation," giving to the "Perpetual Union" those powers which the nationalists claimed that it lacked, deliberated and worked behind closed doors. Not only were their proceedings not pub- lished, but each delegate was solemnly bound to silence. Not until the Madison Papers were given to the world in 1842 did the people know the inside history of the famous Convention of 1787. Remember this : Perpetual Union the first, was broken up by general consent of all the parties thereto, but Per- petual Union the second was dissolved by the action of ten of the States which sent delegates to the Constitu- tional Convention and the further action of the nine States which seceded from Perpetual Union number two, and formed Union number three. At the time the Gov- ernment under which we now live was organized and went to work, with George Washmgton as President, the other three States were still members of Perpetual Union, the second. New York soon followed the nine seceding States, and North Carolina came along not much later; LIFE AND TIMES OF JACKSON. 279 but Rhode Island remained outside the new Union until a bill was passed by the United States Senate and sent to the House ''to prevent bringing goods, wares and mer- chandise from the State of Rhode Island into the United States, and to authorize a demand of money from the said State," etc., etc. This was in May, 1790, three years after the present Government had been organized. When "right little, tight little Rhody" saw that Uncle Sam was about to put up a tariff fence between herself and the twelve erring sisters whom she had suffered to depart in peace, she came across, got on the sunny side of the inclosure, and began to wax marvelously fat on those tariff taxes which the obliging and generous foreigner is said to pay. Why mention details like these? Because current histories omit them, and because it is impossible to com- prehend the States-rights school of politics unless you are made to know the facts just as they were. You are taught to believe that the New England con- spirators did a wicked thing when they intrigued with the British for a separate peace during the War of 1812, and convened the Hartford Convention, threatened secession, and frightened poor little pedagogic James Madison into a state of blue funk. But before you make up your mind as to the enormity of New England's offense, you must remember that there was universal acceptance, then, of the principle that "all government rests on the consent of the governed." To accede to a new league, meant secession from its predecessor; and the right of a State to do that, was not questioned by a people who had so recently witnessed the dissolution of one "Perpetual Union ' ' and the formation of another. It is true that the conduct of New England in holding secession meetings, threatening disunion, furnishing the enemy with supplies, and maintaining confidential rela- tions with him smelled pungently of treason to Old Glory and Uncle Sam ; but still one must strive to bear in mind that the War of 1812 seriously affected the Puritan pocketbook, and that the relations between the Puritan 280 LIFE AND TIMES OF JACKSON. conscience and wallet have invariably been twin-like in tenderness and strength. We will soon come to the great battle over the doc- trine of Nullification, and we will be unable to understand the position of such statesmen as John C. Calhoun, unless we spend some time in acquainting ourselvse with condi- tions which preceded the Constitution of 1787, and with the opinions current among ''the Fathers" themselves as to the character of the new Government which they had made. Is it worth nothing to us as historical students to know what such a nationalist as James Madison thought of the inherent, sovereign right of a State to negative an Act of Congress? In the Alien and Sedition laws, passed during the administration of the elder Adams, our fore- fathers saw an infringement of the reserved rights of the citizen. The Federal Government asserted its authority in a way which overlapped the sovereign powers of the State. The laws in question would have enabled the United States to banish political offenders and to muzzle the opposition press. Both Jefferson and Madison were intensely alive to the importance of resisting this begin- ning of federal encroachment, and they smote the Adams administration with the celebrated state-papers known as the Virginia and Kentucky resolutions. The gist of the doctrine set forth is, that a State may ignore and refuse to obey an Act of Congress which is unsupported by constitutional authority, and that each State may judge for itself whether any given law is violative of her reserved rights. While this doctrine met with condemnation in New England States, at that time, if must have been approved by the balance of the Union, for Adams was heavily beaten at the next election. Neither Jefferson nor Madi- son ever receded from the stand taken in the famous Eesolutions, and both served two terms as President. In that day, nobody contended that the Supreme Court of the United States was the final arbiter in dis- putes of this kind. To give to the judiciary the last and LIFE AND TIMES OF JACKSON. 281 controlling word as to the binding power of laws, and to make the Federal Judges the supreme legislators,— even the nationalists who framed the new Constitution had no idea of confusing the legislative and the judicial func- tions in a manner so anomalous and unprecedented. When it was definitely proposed in the Convention of 1787 to give the Supreme Court of the United States jurisdiction over the Acts of Congress, the proposition was overwhelmingly voted down — not once, but several times ! It need not surprise us, then, to find Mr. Madison, ''the father of the Constitution," writing into a State- paper the doctrine of Nullification. In his breast were locked the secrets of the great Convention: he was in honor bound not to divulge them : he could not tell John Adams and the world generally that the Supreme Court was without jurisdiction over the Alien and Sedition laws and that, therefore, each State must protect itself from Federal invasion of its reserved rights. Equally significant is the attitude of Edmund Ran- dolph, another influential nationalist, upon whom fell the brunt of the battle when Patrick Henry was making his great fight in the Virginia Convention against the new Constitution,-^and prophesying like one inspired how it would draw all power to the Central Government, and afflict the States and the people with the abuses which have since oppressed them. Mr, Randolph was second to none but Madison in the making of the Constitution of 1787, and never once did he say that the Federal Judi- ciary could set aside unconstitutional legislation. His contention was that the States, acting through their legislatures, would nullify such Acts of Congress, and thus bring them to nought. Another thing is indispensable to the American student who would understand the history of his country, and who would intelligently follow the movements of men and parties during the political career of Andrew Jack- son : he must learn that the antagonism between the two sections, the North and the South, did not grow out of 19 a j 282 LIFE AND TIMES OF JACKSON. Nullification, nor out of slavery, nor out of secession : he must learn that it grew out of the nature of things, the difference of race and creed, the rivalry of opposing interests, the clash of irreconcilable plans. It is the fashion to make a kind of Mount Sinai out of Plymouth Rock, and to represent the Pilgrim Fathers as new and improved editions of Moses, Solon, Socrates and Numa. We are told that these Puritans were cruelly per- secuted in England and that, on account of this harsh treatment, they came to America in order that they might enjoy in peace the blessed privilege of worshipping God according to the dictates of their own conscience. This story is beautiful and heroic, but not true. It is somewhat late to deny what has been so' universally pub- lished and believed, and I have no sanguine expectations of changing anybody's opinion on the subject; but, just as a relief to my own mind, I must enter a protest against that New England idyl. As a matter of fact, the Puritans were not happy in England. Their manners and their religion were so much of a caricature upon the established Christian faith, and their disposition to' push their own beliefs upon others was so persistent and irritating that they nat- urally provoked retaliation. Something in their nar- row, bigoted, dismal creed made them hate sunlight, laughter, merry music and cheerful games. They prob- ably had the most loving ways to cause people to hate them that ever were seen on this troubled globe. They not only did not have any fun themselves, but they didn 't want anyone else to have any. All kinds- of innocent pastimes, dear to the people and bound up with thou- sands of recollections of Old Times, were sourly con- demned by the pharisaical Puritan, who appeared to believe that God had specially commissioned him to blot joy out of the world. Garbed in absurd clothing, affecting a sanctimonious gait, speaking through his nose, walling his eyes heaven- ward at the smallest provocation, talking self-righteous jargon new to the ears of mankind, this Puritan made LIFE AND TIMES OF JACKSON. 283 relentless war upon harmless amusements, all but pro- scribed the fine arts, forbade the use of the organ, put the ban on such books as the Fairy Queen ; and made it a sin to drink a friend's health, to hang garlands on a May-pole, to play chess, to starch a ruff, and to touch the virginals— the primitive piano. So far did these fanatics eventually go in their theocratic legislation that they made it a crime for a mother to kiss her own babe on the Sabbath day! (See Appendix.) That a sect like this should persecute and be perse- cuted, was inevitable in England, where the Cavalier- spirit was dominant and where some millions of sane people hated monastic gloom, nasal preachments, kill-joy countenances, lank-haired bigotry and censorious inter- meddling with everybody's business. Consequently, our Pilgrim Fathers shook English dirt and dust off their godly pedestals, and betook themselves to Holland. The Dutch gave them hospitable welcome, in their own phlegmatic way, and then left them alone. For ten years the Pilgrims had nobody whom they could torment, or provoke into persecu- tion. This was unbearable. It was absolutely need- ful to the bodily and spiritual comfort of the typical Puritan that he should torment or be tormented. One or the other he must have, or be wretched. Now, in Hol- land he could not keep in practice. The Dutch were not a persecuting folk, and the Puritans were not strong enough to do the things to' the Dutch that they would have dearly loved to do. For ten years, the Pilgrims languished in this negative, inoffensive state, and then they could bear it no longer. They resolved to resume their travels. They gave two reasons for leaving the Dutch. One was that they spoke a different language, and the other was that they had been unable to bring the Dutch to a proper observance of the Lord's day, or to reform ''any other thing amiss among them." In other words, they could not endure life among a people whose habits differed from theirs and whom they could not persuade to change, and whom they were too weak to' coerce ! 284 LIFE AND TIMES OF JACKSON. So, our Pilgrim Fathers abandoned a home in which they were not persecuted and could not persecute, and came to New England where they could enjoy their cheerless religion in a thoroughly uncomfortable way, and recoup their own loss of happiness by making others miserable. With a holy zeal and awful joy they turned New England Sundays into days of wrath and tribula- tion, banishing smiles and caresses, outlawing physical and mental rest, and stretching both mind and body on the rack, — filling the hearts of young and old, innocent and guilty, with a paralyzing fear of death and hell, and depicting this hell of pulpit anathema with a dreadful realism that cast a spell of horror upon the bright face of Nature herself. Sometimes, in mentally picturing what the old Puri- tan Sabbath in New England was like, I could almost believe that it resembled the weird, uncanny condition of things, in medieval Europe, when the Pope had stretched forth his omnipotent hand and laid a kingdom under the dreaded Interdict. A shadow fell, and a great silence, and men walked about voiceless as shadows, and women crouched and prayed, and in the streets no music of chil- dren's merriment was heard, and from the fields came no anthem of plough-man or sower; joy was dead, and Christians were prostrate and afraid, for the Holy Father had laid the shadow of his frown upon the land. So, the New England Sunday. I wonder if the profane sun danced upon the house-tops, and the irreverent hill-streams dared to laugh as they ran to the bosom of the dells : I wonder if the amorous bees sipped the volup- tuous flowers, and if the lover bird was bold enough to woo his mate with song: and I wonder if the human mothers, on that dismal Sabbath, obeyed the law, and resisted, hour after hour, — during all that terrible, blighted day, — the dimpling cheeks and rose-leaf lips and longing eyes of the -babe which missed its mother's kiss! Dealing rigorously with himself and his own house- hold, the Puritan was a terror to the heathen, — and the LIFE AND TIMES OF JACKSON. 285 heathen, in his eyes, was the fellow-creature who either did not worship God at all, or did not do it in the Puritan way. For these heathen, the Pilgrim Fathers had no tolerance. Upon these heathen, our Pilgrim Fathers laid their hands heavily. The scourge, the branding iron, the dungeon, the gibbet were the instrumentalities used against these heathen by the godly men who came over to this country to escape persecution and enjoy religious freedom. Yes: they escaped persecution but, after they had landed in America, nobody else did. They came over to enjoy religious freedom, but they were piotisly determined that nobody else should. Quakers, Baptists, Episcopalians, and Catholics were criminals in the eyes of our Pilgrim Fathers, and very hard indeed was the lot of such heathen when they chanced to fall into the hands of the rigidly righteous of New England. The South was sprinkled with Puritan and Presby- terian and Calvinist elements, but the controlling influ- ence was Cavalier. Consequently, the antagonism between the Eastern and the Southern States may be said to have been brought from the old country. They had hated and fought each other in England: they hated and were to fight each other in North America. During the Revolutionary War the antagonism of the two sec- tions was constantly in evidence, both in the army and in Congress. Soldiers drawn from the East disliked their compatriots from the South, and the Southern rebel detested the fellow-patriot who hailed from New Eng- land. The two types differed radically — differed in creed, in blood, in the way of looking at things, in stand- ards, and in manners. While each spoke the English language, they differed so widely in pronunciation and intonation that each excited in the other a certain amount of ridicule and contempt. This is true of the Yankee and the Southerner of today, and it has always been so. We see the dislike of the Cavalier for the Puritan cropping out in the correspondence of General Washing- ton. In his letters, the Commander-in-Chief expressed his indignant contempt for the New Englanders who put 286 LIFE AND TIMES OF JACKSON. selfish pecuniary interests above everything else, and who were lacking in the noble spirit of patriotic generosity. The first quarrel of the antagonistic sections broke out on the question of opening the Mississippi River to navigation. The South naturally wanted the use of this magnificent water-way: it was necessary to her growth and her extension into the Southwest. To her intense surprise and indignation, the North opposed her, and sided with Spain. In defiance of the angry protests of the Southern States, John Jay agreed upon a treaty with the Spanish negotiator in which New England got what she demanded and the Mississippi was closed to us for thirty-five years. However, the Constitutional Convention of 1787 was about to convene, and the North, conscious of the unwisdom of precipitating a storm at that time, quietly withdrew Jay's powers to treat, and his proposed surrender to Spain never took effect. It is the accepted belief that the main stumbling-block to the creation of the new Union, was the clash of interest between the large and small States. The truth is, that the real difficulty which confronted ' ' the Fathers ' * was the mutual jealousy of the North and South, It was to the interests of the nationalists to conceal this omi- nous fact, and they did it. The vow to secrecy, made at the commencement of the Convention, was faithfully kept; and, when the new Constitution was under discus- sion, the pledge to secrecy was tantamount to a con- spiracy of silence. Not only did James Madison, Alex- ander Hamilton and Edmund Randolph not disclose the facts, but, in the case of Madison at least, there was a deliberate misrepresentation of those facts. In one of the papers in the "Federalist," he dwells upon the provi- dential peace and harmony which prevailed in the secret Convention, when the truth is that violent storms raged therein, and at times the continued existence of the Con- vention hung upon a thread. And the cause of the trouble was ever the same, — the hatred and jealousy with which North and South regarded each other. LIFE AND TIMES OF JACKSON. 287 The Union could not have been formed at all had not the South yielded to the North the preponderance of power both in the Senate and in the House. Such Eastern leaders as Gouverneur Morris and Rufus King declared explicitly and emphatically that it would never do to allow the Southern States to have a majority in Congress. The North took that position as a matter of course, and maintained it throughout the Convention. Yet, at that time, the South surpassed the North in wealth, in population and in territory. By every known principle of representation, the Southern States were rightfully entitled to a majority in the new Government. But, strange to say, the Southern delegates did not even put forth a claim for the full measure of Southern rights. They surrendered control of the Senate, thus conceding to a small State like Delaware a power equal to such an empire as Texas or Ohio. This concession is justifiable only upon the theory that the sovereign, equal right of each State should be preserved in the Union. But the surrender to the North of control of the House of Representatives was utterly indefensible. There was the fountain head of all our woes. By a full count of population, the South would have had a slight majority in the House ; but with blindness, hard to comprehend or excuse, the Southern leaders allowed the North to base its representation on all the whites, all the blacks, all the sane and insane, all the men, women and children, while Southern representation was limited by the counting of five negroes as three. By accepting this monstrosity of compromise, the South put her neck in the yoke of the North, and she never could get it out. If the negroes were human beings, — persons, — they should have been counted just as other persons were counted. If they were not human beings, they should not have been taken into con- sideration at all. To count five of them as three, was mere nonsense. Why was that peculiar clause, which has puzzled so many students, put into the Constitution? Because the Northern delegates to the Convention flatly refused to let the South have the majority which would 288 LIFE AND TIMES OF JACKSON. have been hers, had all persons been counted in the South, as in the North. The speeches made in the Con- vention prove that the Southern leaders believed that the tide of population was setting Southward, and that the Southern States would soon control the House: this fact serves to partially explain their terrible mistake. But, at best, they were surrendering the bird in the hand for the bird in the bush, and the subsequent history of j Northern tyranny and Southern helplessness is the ghastly monument to their folly. Some of the Southern delegates took alarm, and proposed that a two-thirds vote should be required in Congress to pass an Act regulating commerce. The pur- pose was to prevent the North from having everything I her own way. As commerce aifects all sections, it seemed i dangerous to give full control to the majority vote of the " North. But the Southern leaders were generous and trustful, as usual. Mr. Butler, of South Carolina, declared that he was conscious of the gravity of the con- cession the South was making: "he considered the interests of these (the Southern States) and the Eastern States to be as different as the interests of Russia and Turkey. Being, notwithstanding, desirous of conciliat- ing the affections of the Eastern States, he should vote against requiring two-thirds instead of a majority." Gallant Mr. Butler! "Desirous of conciliating the affections of the Eastern States!" Unsuspicious, unwary, big-hearted and magnani- mous, the Southern leaders fashioned the chains for the limbs of their posterity, and we wear them now, even as our fathers did. As already stated, these secrets of the Convention of 1787 were not revealed until the publica- tion of the Madison papers by the Government, in 1842. Therefore, when South Carolina was making her des- perate stand against New England, in 1833, she could not have known that it was her own delegate, in the Con- vention of 1787, who had urged that the East be given the power to oppress and despoil the South, — doing it with full knowledge of the risk, but overmastered by the LIFE AND TIMES OF JACKSON. 289 desire to "conciliate the affections of the Eastern States." When one remembers the especial hatred of New England for South Carolina, and the barbaric Inst with which Sherman's army wreaked its vengeance on the Palmetto State, one could fancy that there was sardonic and derisive applause in hell when the South Carolina delegate made that fatuous speech in the Constitutional Convention. Appendix. Some early American manifestation of fanatical intolerance that made it a crime to sing, walk, laugh, cook, kiss or shave on Sunday. Blue laws are no joke, though often an object of irony or deri- sion. They were drawn up by Puritan pioneers — a race of stern and inflexible men, who, in their excess of religious enthusiasm, adopted such sanctimonious names as Stand-Fast-on-High Stringer, Kill-Sin Pimple, More-Fruit Fowler, Fight-the-Good-Fight-of-Faith White, and If-Christ-Had-Not-Died-For-You-You-Had-Been Damned Barebones — the latter commonly shortened to Damned Barebones. For the benefit of the present generation it may be as well to say here that each one of the names just cited was actually given to and borne by a man, and that many other names of the same sort are to be found in the records of New England. These men went straight to the old Mosaic law of Holy Writ for their code. In fact, each section of the capital laws has its Bible text appended — a gruesome combination of sermon and death- warrant. The original Blue laws were those of the New Haven (Connecti- cut) Colony, at first more or less unwritten, or at least unprinted, but systematized and printed by Gov. Baton in 1656. They were enveloped in blue-colored paper, whence the popular (and subse- quently unpopular) name. The Plymouth and Massachusetts colonies also had their Blue laws, calculated to send a chill through every human vein. Even New York, Maryland, Virginia, and South Carolina — in fact, all the English colonial settlements in seventeenth century America, had lavv's, orders, and resolutions of more or less pronounced indigo tinge. But the True Blue code was that which terrorized early Con- necticut. The first batch of Blue laws, known as the "Capital laws" of Connecticut, and purporting to punish, according to the penalties prescribed by the Old Testament, those offenses forbidden therein, was enacted in April, 1642. The texts of Scripture on which they were based were added to each law, as dicta probantia, showing the divine authority by which they were defended. They are singular speciments of jurisprudence. 290 LIFE AND TIMES OF JACKSON. For instance, witchcraft is one of the first offenses taken up. It is enacted that "if a man or woman be a witch, or hath consulted with a familiar spirit, they shall be put to death." (Exodus xxii., 18. Leviticus xx., 22.) And "if any man steal a man or mankind. or selleth him, or he be found in his hand, he shall be put to death.'' (Exodus xxi., 16.) Yet the good colonists made slaves of the Pequot Indians, as the regulation punishment for breaking these same Blue laws! The Puritan legislators, having disposed of the ordinary, every- day crimes, went on in due course to enact the more minute laws, covering every conceivable misdemeanor, from sneezing in church to crossing a stream otherwise than by the licensed ferry. It reminds one of De Quincey's ironical observation, to the effect that the habit of murder, if persisted in, may lead insensibly to pro- crastination and Sabbath-breaking. The following examples, transcribed literally from the best au- thorities on American Colonial history, relate mostly to the heinous crime of Sabbath-breaking: CONNECTICUT BLUE LAWS. (Quoted from Hinman, Peters, Barber and Other Authorities.) "No one shall run on the Sabbath day, or walk in his garden or elsewhere, except reverently to and from meeting. "No one shall travel, cook victuals, make beds, sweep house, cut hair or shave on the Sabbath day. "No woman shall kiss her child on the Sabbath or fasting day. "The Sabbath shall begin at sunset on Saturday. "If any man shall kiss his wife or wife kiss her husband on the Lord's day, the party in fault shall be punished at the discretion of the Court of Magistrates." (Tradition says a gentleman of New Haven, after an absence of some months, reached home on the Sabbath, and, meeting his wife at his door, kissed her with an appetite, and for his temerity in violating this law the next day was arraigned before the court, and fined, for so palpable a breach of the law on the Lord's day.) "No one shall read common prayer, keep Christmas or saints' days, make minced pies, dance, play cards or play on any instrument of music, except the drum, trumpet and jewsharp. "Whoever wears clothes trimmed with gold, silver or bone lace, above two shillings by the yard, shall be presented by the grand jurors, and the selectmen shall tax the offender at £300 estate." There was an ancient law in Massachusetts that ladies' dresses should be made so long as to hide their shoe buckles. The tradition that beer was forbidden to be made on Saturday, to prevent the commission of sin by its working on the Sabbath, upon the penalty of flogging the barrel, the historian Hinman quotes, but is unable to verify. Smokers may light their pipes with this choice extract from the early laws of the colony of New Plymouth (Mass.), 1669: "It is enacted by the court, that any p'son or p'sons that shall be found smoaking Tobacco an the Lord's day, going too or coming from the meetings, within two miles of the meeting house, shall pay twelve pence for every such default to the collonie's use." Among the "Capital laws of the Colony of New Plymouth, revised and published by order of the General Court, in June, 1671," this pleasant little paragraph is found : LIFE AND TIMES OF JACKSON. 291 DEATH FOR SUNDAY OFFENDERS. "This court taking notice of great abuse, and many misde- meanors committed by divers persons in these many wayes, pro- faneing the Sabbath or Lord's day, to the great dishonour of God, reproach of Religion, and grief of the spirits of God's people. Do, therefore order, that whosoever shall profane the Lord's day, by doing unnecessary servile work, by unnecessary traveling or, by sports and recreations, he or they that so transgress, shall forfeit for every such default forty shillings, or be publicly whipt; but if it clearly appear that sin was proudly, presumptuously, and with a high hand committed, against the known command and authority of the blessed God, such a person therein despising and reproaching the Lord, shall be put to Death, or grievously punished at the judg- ment of the Court. — Numbers, 15: from 30 to 36 verse." It ought to be apparent from the foregoing that there is even more logic than chance in the dubbing of these statutes, "Blue laws." The term "blue" was specifically applied to the upright, downright, uncompromising old Scotch Covenanters in contradis- tinction to the royal red. "Blue — dismal, depressed, despondent, hypochondriacal," is an up-to-date distionary definition. Even so conservative a commentator as Dr. Samuel M. Smucker in the preface to his collection of the "Earliest Statutes and Judicial Proceedings of the Colony of Connecticut," while paying tribute to the New England Puritans as "the same class of men who over- turned the ancient monarchy of Britain," declares that these Blue laws "exceed in the minuteness of their detail and in the severity of their penalties the enactments which were adopted by the rest of the American colonies; nor are they equalled in those respects by the statutes and judicial decisions of any other community with which we are acquainted." — New York World. 292 LIFE AND TIMES OF JACKSON. CHAPTEE XXIV. "I swEAB, SO help me God," said Washington, in a voice which could hardly be heard by the Chancellor who administered the oath or by the Revolutionary com- panions-in-arms who stood near him: when he straight- ened, after stooping to ''kiss the Book," Livingston waved his hand and shouted, "Long live George Wash- ington, President of the United States,"— and prolonged cheers rang out from the enthusiastic multitude which had collected in the streets of New York to witness the first inauguration of the Chief Magistrate of the third ''perpetual Union" of the North American States. Washington was elected President by the unanimous vote of the electors ; but New York was not represented in the colleges, and neither North Carolina nor Rhode Island had yet adopted the new Constitution. The Federalists organized the Government and for twelve years controlled it. Hamilton was the masterful mind of Washington's administration, and his political ideal was the English system. To draw power from the States, to centralize and consolidate, to attach the wealth of the country to the Federal authority, to evolve a moneyed aristocracy out of Special Privilege, were his objects ; and before he had been in the Cabinet two years he had taken giant strides toward success by the assump- tion of the State debts, by issuing bonds for the national debt, by the enactment of a protective tariff act, and by having the Government go into copartnership with the rich in the establishment of a national bank. The opposition to these plans, which Mr. Jefferson started in the Cabinet, was organized by him and his lieutenants after his resignation, and, while the Fed- eralists were able to elect John Adams, Jefferson, a close second in the contest, became Vice-President. Mr. Adams made the natural but fatal blunder of retaining Washington's Cabinet, and upon this official family of the Chief Magistrate, Hamilton wielded a controlling LIFE AND TIMES OF JACKSON. 293 influence. Since Adams was too independent to be Ham- ilton's puppet, and too courageous to be afraid of Mm, and too sagacious not to penetrate the selfishness and danger of some of his schemes, and too jealous and sus- picious not to harbor dislike, — Hamilton turned against his chief and assailed him savagely. This feud, together with the immense unpopularity of the Alien and Sedition laws, caused the Federalist party to go down in irre- trievable defeat. The "Virginia House" came in with Jetferson and for twenty-four years remained in the ascendant. So thorough was the organization and discipline of the Jef- ferson Republicans that it was practically a national "machine." To antagonize it meant loss of power in national politics — as such insurgents as John Randolph discovered. So well in hand were matters kept, that the chiefs of the party knew in advance how the Presidential succession was to go. It was "understood" that Mr. Madison was to succeed Mr. Jefferson; and it was "understood" that Mr. Monroe would follow Mr. Madi- son. The nominations were made by a caucus of Con- gressmen, and over such a nominating body the Admin- istration naturally had great influence. The Federalist party being dead, and the Jefferson Republicans in full control, a caucus nomination was equivalent to an election. Had William H. Crawford gone into a struggle for the nomination at the time Monroe got it, there is little doubt that the great Georgian would have reached the "White House. As it was, he received a very large vote in the caucus. He was a much abler man than Monroe, and would perhaps have made a magnificent President; but he deferred to the Virginia House and to Revolu- tionary prestige, and, saying, "I am young enough to wait," declined to actively oppose Monroe. He could not foresee that by the time eight more years had gone by, his own health would be hopelessly shattered, that the Republican party of Jefferson would be breaking up of its own weight, and that aspirants for the Presidency 294 LIFE AND TIMES OF JACKSON. who had no chance in the Congressional Caucus would denounce the machine and make a direct appeal to the people. According to "the gentlemen's agreement," Crawford got the nomination, after Monroe had served his second term, but by that time the nomination was not only worthless, but a positive handicap. The Jefferson Republicans were no longer a disciplined army; they were split up into clashing squads, and other Richmonds were in the field eager for the crown. Long-headed politicians, such as Aaron Burr, Edward Livingston and William B. Lewis, had realized, soon after the close of the War of 1812, that Andrew Jackson's popularity could be utilized to overthrow the House of Virginia, the Congressional Caucus, and the office-holding clique that was in control. When the sub- ject was mentioned to the old General, however, he pooh- poohed it. Totally lacking in false modesty, and not burdened with any other sort, Jackson had told LaFayette that he thought himself worthy to be the donee of Washington's pistols, and in his speeches and proclamations had given evidence of sufficient self- esteem: but when the calculating politicians mentioned the Presidency, the General said, most positively, that he wasn't fit for it. He said, in substance, that he had a talent for handling troops, "in a rough sort of way," but that he was not cut out for the position of Chief Magistrate of the United States. Nevertheless, he at length consented tO make the race. And, of course, after he got into the fight, the old war- rior developed his usual determination to win. His com- petitors were John Quincy Adams, William H. Crawford and Henry Clay. Like himself, the other candidates had been known as Jefferson Republicans. Crawford has almost become a myth in our national history. Few facts about him are told in any of the books. Yet his jDublic career was long and distinguished ; he served his country prominently at home and abroad, and he was recognized as the heir apparent to the Presi- dency at the opening of Monroe's administration. Him- LIFE AND TIMES OF JACKSON. 295 self a Virginian by birth, he was in his eleventh year when his father, Joel Crawford, after living in South Carolina several years, crossed the Savannah River and settled in Columbia County, Georgia. Young Crawford attended the Academy of the celebrated Dr. Waddell, at Mount Carmel. After completing the course of study there, Crawford acted as usher in the school and received one-third of the tuition money for his services. This position he held until April, 1796, when he became one of the teachers in the Richmond Academy, Augusta, Georgia. He not only continued his academic studies while in Augusta, but read law and was admitted to the bar (1798). Removing to Oglethorpe County in the spring of 1799, he worked his way up, from the bottom, as so many of the eminent men of this country have done. In a very short time, "Billy Crafford," as the people called him, was the "bull of the woods" of his part of the State. Tall, big, well-made but not graceful, hand- some, genial, fearless, with kindly blue eyes which blazed fiercely when he was aroused, Crawford was a delightful companion in private circles and a natural leader in public affairs. An able and successful lawyer, he soon went into politics and was the chief of one of the factions of the bitterest feud the State of Georgia ever knew. He himself was drawn into duels, killed a young lawyer named Van Alen in one of them, and had his left wrist shattered in another. General John Clark, who was his antagonist in this fight, labored earnestly and persist- ently to persuade Crawford meet him again, but Craw- ford as earnestly and persistently refused. Sent to the State Legislature for four years in suc- cession, he was elected to the United States Senate in 1807. Thus at the age of thirty-five, he had become a recognized leader of the bar and had reached one of the proudest pinnacles in national politics. In Washington, his extraordinary ability won imme- diate recognition. He was the peer of such men as Giles and Benton and Clay and Adams. No Senator spoke wth greater clearness, conciseness and force. In the 296 LIFE AND TIMES OF JACKSON. debate in the national bank, he shone to better advan- tage than Clay. Each afterwards took the other side of the question — Clay, when he embraced Hamiltonianism, and Crawford, when it was shown him that the Conven- tion of 1787 had voted down the proposition to give Con- gress the authority to charter corporations. Elected President pro tern, of the Senate, he occupied the chair during the debates which preceded the declara- tion of war against Great Britain, — a war which he heartily favored. It was perhaps a great mistake in Crawford to decline the Secretaryship of War offered him by Presi- dent Madison. Instead, he accepted the mission to France (1813). The Emperor Napoleon was impressed by his gigantic stature and manly bearing, and spoke of his simplicity and truthfulness as being the peculiar products of a Republic; but it does not appear that any important consequences were realized or expected from the mission. Crawford could not speak French, and the Emperor spoke no English ; and therefore Napoleon said, somewhat querulously, that the United States had sent him two Ministers, one of whom was deaf and the other dumb. Mr. Livingston, who was hard of hearing, was one of the two, — Crawford, the other. In 1817, Mr. Crawford entered Monroe's Cabinet as Secretary of the Treasury, and he held the place until 1825. His administration of the affairs of the office was so generally satisfactory that when John Quincy Adams became President, he tendered the nomination for Treasurer to Mr. Crawford ; but, on account of his being paralyzed, the latter declined the offer. Of John Quincy Adams, it is a matter of some deli- cacy for a Southern man to speak. His name is so inseparably connected with the virulent sectionalism of which the South was the victim, that the son of a slave- holder cannot pretend to love Mr. Adams very much. The historian must, however, do his duty, and must say, with all proper emphasis, that John Quincy Adams was as honest and conscientious a man as ever occupied LIFE AND TIMES OF JACKSON. 297 the Presidential chair. His natural capacity was of a high order, and he was decidedly the best educated statesman of his day. No diplomat could draw up a better State-paper. No politician had a loftier concep- tion of public duty. In that respect, he was absolutely Washingtonion in virtue. He judged every applicant for office by the rule of fitness for the place. If his warmest supporter was lacking in the necessary qualifi- cations, it was useless for him to apply to Adams. On the contrary, he kept his bitterest opponents in office, because of the fidelity and capacity with which they were performing their duties. But it was not in John Quincy Adams to fire the imagination and warm the heart of a people. Even in New England he was admired and supported without being loved. In physique, he was unprepossessing. His figure was short and not well formed; his head was bald and his eyes watery. Temperamentally, he was unmagnetic. The politicians of today would say that he was "not a good handshaker, — did not know how to mix and min- gle." To the common herd he appeared unsocial, ungra- cious, unysmpathetic, and his manner was so unfortu- nate that he sometimes offended those whom he obliged. In his family, however, he was most amiable; and in a circle of private friends, free and easy and even facetious. In his private correspondence, he does not appear in a lovable light, and his "Diary" is an ocean of male- volence. Much is to be allowed to John Quincy Adams on account of heredity. His parents were a unique couple, and little John Quincy never could have been a boy like other boys. I have often lingered over the let- ters written by members of this Adams family to each other, and wondered if that epistolary style was to any extent epidemic in New England. Was it a sporadic case? or did the Puritans, generally, fire miniature essays and diminutive State-papers at their wives and husbands and sons and daughters? 20 a j 298 LIFE AND TIMES OF JACKSON. In uxorious epistles to Mrs. John Adams, her lord and master always addresses her as "My dearest friend." In one of the letters, the husband describes his inauguration as President, and tells her that a man of the name of Mason had declared that he had never heard such a speech in all his life (Adams' speech), and that Mason said the country would lose nothing by the change from George Washington to John Adams. In a con- cluding line, Mr. Adams states that "all agree that it" (his inauguration) "was the sublimest thing ever exhib- ited in America. ' ' The letter of Mrs. Adams in reply to her spouse, starts out with a couplet of poetry, is illustrated by his- torical illusion, is enriched by Scriptural quotation, and is altogether one of the primmest, stateliest, most rhet- orical epistles that a wife ever wrote to a husband. Such formality governing the correspondence of the parents, we may not be surprised when the son, John Quincy, at the age of nine years, holds forth to his father in manner and form following, to-wit : "Baintree, June 2nd, 1777. ^'Dear Sir: — "I love to receive letters very well; much better than I love to viTite them. I make but a poor figure at composition. My head is much too fickle. My thoughts are running after birds' eggs, play and trifles, till I get vexed vi^ith myself. Mamma has a troublesome task to keep me a studying. I own I am ashamed of myself. I have but just entered the third volume of Rollin's History, but designed to have got half through it by this time. I am determined this week to be more diligent. Mr. Thaxter is absent at Court. I have set myself a stint this week, to read the third volume half out. If I can but keep my resolution, I may again at the end of the week give a better account of myself. I wish, sir, you would give me in writ- ing, some instructions with regard to the use of my time, and advise me how to proportion my studies and play, and I will keep them by me, and endeavor to follow them. "With the present determination of growing better, I am, dear sir. Your son, "JOHN QUINCY ADAMS." "P. S. S'ir: — If you will be so good as to favor me with a blank book, I will transcribe the most remarkable passages I meet with in my reading, which will serve to fix them upon my mind." This remarkable missive contains no other intrinsic evidence to prove that it was written by a son to his LIFE AND TIMES OF JACKSON. 299 paternal parent than the formal words, "Your son." The dignified little writer does not even unbend to say, ''Your affectionate son," — much less to substitute ''Dear Papa" for "Dear Sir." In the foregoing, John Quincy makes a sportive ref- erence to birds' eggs, but I think he assumed that his statement would be taken in a figurative or Pickwickian sense. I myself do not believe that John Quincy Adams ever played mumble-peg, ever skinned the cat, ever rode the bull-calf, ever pinched a pretty girl, or ever robbed a bird's nest. It ran in the family to be stilted, self-con- scious, formal and somewhat bombastic, — and when we come upon a letter written by John Quincy 's sister, Abigail, we find her describing her own father to her own mother in these high-stepping terms : "I discover a thousand traits of softness, delicacy and sensibility in this excellent man's character. I was once taught to fear his virtues; happy am I that I find them rather to love, grown up into life unknown to him, and ignorant of him. * * * How amiable, how respectable, how worthy of every token of my atten- tion, has this conduct rendered a parent, a father, to whom we feel due even a resignation of our opinions!" f You can draw a mental picture of this starchy and premature little girl growing up into a stately dame, imposing and somewhat tremendous, and being wedded, after ceremonious negotiations, to the Archbishop of Canterbury, or at least, to the Canon of Westminster Abbey. You feel taken aback and slightly injured when you discover that, after all, she married a man named Smith. 300 LIFE AND TIMES OF JACKSON. CHAPTER XXV. There are to be found, here and there, in the annals of nations, some very remarkable instances of great men whose fame and power rested upon the support of an unselfish and almost unknown friend. In the case of Lord Thurlow, to whom the comparatively obscure Har- grave was the indispensable prop, the singular facts live in immortal fiction, for Dickens made use of it in his most perfect novel, "The Tale of Two Cities." Sidney Carton and the boisterous, self-assertive Striver — the one sensitive, retiring, and a slave to drink, the other bold, brassy, voluble and merely absorbtive mentally — were portrayed by Dickens as the jackal and the lion; and the characters were suggested to him by the rela- tions that existed between the modest London lawyer, Hargrave, and the blustering, brow-beating, superficial Lord Chancellor Thurlow. It may not be true that the almost mythical "grey cardinal" was as much to Richelieu as has been pre- tended, but in the case of Mirabeau there can be no doubt of the way he fed on the fertile brain of the Genevese Dumont — a man who shrank from notoriety and whose unselfish services to the orator and tribune were known only to the few. A yet more interesting instance is that of the Emperor Napoleon III. and the Duke De Morny. If you have a book with the necessary pictures in it, compare the faces of Charles Bonaparte and his wife, Letitia, with those of all the Bonaparte children, and then with that of Napoleon's son, and those of Prince Napoleon, — "Plon Plon" — or any other Bonaparte of the second generation, known to be legitimate, — ^and you will imme- diately recognize the facial resemblance. The Bona- parte features are unmistakable. But study the face of Napoleon III. His are not Bonaparte features. They are coarse, heavy, dull. Some of the Bonaparte faces are sensual, but none of them are coarse, or heavy, or dull. LIFE AND TIMES OF JACKSON. 301 The countenance of the third Emperor Napoleon suggests slowness of mental process, phlegm of disposi- tion and irresolution of purpose. There is no sugges- tion of reserved power, internal fire, intellectual vivacity. His face looks Dutch, — quite properly, for his father was a Dutchman. But his mother. Queen Hortense, brought into the world another son, who is to me one of the most fasci- nating men of history. His father was the Duke of Flahaut, a gay gallant, — one of the braves who galloped with the last of the great Captain's orders at Waterloo. De Morny was addicted to pleasure, else he would have left a mark on Europe deep as that of Richelieu. He was quick as lightning, possessed unerring sagacity, was bold and resourceful, was a natural politician. It was his hand that steered his halting, blundering, half- brother through the Coup d'etat, and made him Emperor. It was he who piloted Napoleon III. through all sorts of difficulties. Had De Morny lived, Germans would not have caught Frenchmen unprepared. Exhausted by excesses and cut down in the prime of life, De Morny had a last and most affecting talk with his half-brother, and as the weeping Emperor was leav- ing the room, the dying man called him back and said, once more, ''Sire, beware of Prussia." Napoleon III. did not know how to profit by the advice, allowed his bigoted wife to push him into a war for which France was not ready, and, in the effort to gratify the Pope by a victory over Protestant Prussia, the Napoleonic dynasty was swept away, and France crushed and dismembered. As long as human records are kept and read, the name of Andrew Jackson will shine among the fixed stars. He won his way by indomitable pluck, fierce determination and energy, his ambition being of the loftiest type and his success of the kind that dazzles. No matter how much we may feel compelled to condemn him for the spots, we are forced to admit that it is a blazing 302 LIFE AND TIMES OF JACKSON. Sim we are looking at and quarreling with, — not a fire-fly, or even a comet. Yet at the very foundation of his success, lies the support of a man whose name was utterly unknown to the millions who shouted, "Hurrah for Jackson!" This unassuming friend, who kept himself in the background always, was William B, Lewis. In the case of most of the helpers of great men, — the jackals who bring food to the lions — there is a sharing of the spoil. Sometimes they follow from afar and are content with the crumbs, but in the generality of instances, the aid is amply rewarded. So far as I know, the devotion of William B. Lewis to Andrew Jackson is unique, in that he never even seemed to think of asking anything for himself. He was a fountain of friendship, loyalty, and service that flowed spontaneously, inces- santly, copiously, gratuitously. In war and in peace, in politics and in soldiering, Lewis was always ready, willing, capable, indispensable. Advising his chief, restraining him, writing his more important letters, proclamations, and public manifestos for him, election- eering for him, planning for him, pulling wires for him, covering up ugly things for him, telling lies for him, — the faithful Lewis balked at nothing. And whenever Lewis could get to Jackson before he had already formed and expressed an opinion, he could wind his chief around his little finger without the doughty old warrior suspecting that he was being put on the spool. If ever the General, at an emergency, blazed away on his own hook, — he was pretty apt to make a nice hot mess of it. For instance, he flew off the handle because General Winfield Scott characterized as mutinous one of Jackson's "General Orders," which was uncommonly mutinous, and he fired an impromptu letter at Scott which carries consternation to Jacksonian worshippers, — it is so crude, violent, and indefensible. Lewis had not got the chance to revise and recast it, you see. Nor was Lewis with him in that last glorious trip to Florida, when, as Governor, he got everything in such a ridicu- lous tangle. LIFE AND TIMES OF JACKSON. 303 Determined to make a President out of his chief, Colonel Lewis set to work with his usual shrewdness, method, energy and diplomacy. Knowing that the Con- gressional Caucus would never listen to the proposition to nominate Jackson, the obvious thing to do was to attack the caucus. It had given the country several excellent Presidents: it was about to name another can- didate who possessed every qualification for the office; no breath of scandal had ever blown against it; no hint of corruption had ever been dropped about it,— but it had to go, nevertheless. It was in Andrew Jackson's way; and whatever was in the way of that stern, inflexible man, was necessarily bad, unpatriotic, and detrimental to the country. In a very short while, Colonel Lewis got busy with a systematic assault upon the wicked, obstructive caucus, and he said lots of hard things about it. He drew dark pictures of plottings and jugglings, and various other suspicious parleyings that went on, behind closed doors, in this Congressional Caucus. The men who made up this disreputable convention were those upon whose characters the people themselves had passed in electing them to Congress. In the event of their choosing an unfit candidate for President, they not only ran the risk of having their man defeated, but of being beaten themselves by their resentful constitu- ents at the next election. Therefore, you might always say that kind of a nominating convention was under bond to select a fit and proper candidate. The more I think of it, the greater is my inclination to have a good opinion of the old Congressional Caucus. It had many advantages over our present system, where money and patronage are used to secure the nomination as well as to carry the election. But, the nominating convention, composed of states- men like John Forsyth, Thomas H. Benton, Henry Clay, Daniel Webster, John C. Calhoun, George McDuffie, Nathaniel Macon, Thomas W. Cobb, etc., etc., was in Andrew Jackson's way. Of course, it was a palpably 304 LIFE AND TIMES OF JACKSON. dangerous and corrupt thing, and had to die. By the time Lewis had accused it of all the things which he was doing and the caucus wasn't, it had few friends. When it finally convened to nominate Crawford, which it did almost unanimously, only 66 men attended out of a membership of 261. That sort of nominating convention never met again. ''King Caucus" was dead, and the country well on its way to the spoils system, and the modern practice of buying both nomination and ^election. General Jackson was, very properly, put in the race by the legislature of Tennessee. His home State was enthusiastic for him and nobody doubted that he would receive almost every vote that was cast; but one of the U. S. Senators from Tennessee was pledged to Crawford. Here was a dilemma, for it was time for a successor to this Senator to be chosen, and he was a candidate for re-election. It would not hurt Jackson's chances in Tennessee to have the legislature which put him in nomi- nation for the Presidency to elect a Crawford man to the U. S. Senate, but what would the effect be in other States? Colonel Lewis and Judge Overton decided that Sena- tor John Williams must be defeated, and they went actively to work at Murfreesboro, where the legislature was in session, to do it. To their dismay they found that there wasn't a single available candidate who" could muster enough votes. The fine soldier who had gone with his regiment of regu- lars to Jackson's relief at the most critical time of the Creek War, and who had contributed so largely to the success of the campaign, was immensely popular. It suddenly dawned upon the astute Lewis that there was only one man in Tennessee who could beat John Wil- liams, and that was Old Hickory himself! Post-haste Judge Overton made a bee-line for the Hermitage, arriv- ing there at breakfast time. The situation at Murfrees- boro was explained to the General ; and the necessity for the use of his name was stated. Quick as a flash he LIFE AND TIMES OF JACKSON. 305 decided. *'Go right back to Murfreesboro and put my name in nomination. I do not want the office, but, by the Eternal, John Williams shall not be re-elected." Overton hurried back to the legislature immediately: Jackson was nominated, on the same day, and Williams defeated. 306 LIFE AND TIMES OF JACKSON. CHAPTER XXVI. On December 5th, 1823, the General was sworn in as Senator, and for the remainder of the session of nearly six months he spent the greater part of his time in Wash- ington City. Aunt Eachel remained at the Hermitage, in Tennessee. Some of the General's votes in the Senate are sur- prising, and the wonder is that his personal and political foes, who were numerous and rancorous, did not dig into the records at Washington, instead of harping upon the high-handed manner in which he took another man's wife. They attacked him savagely and continuously about John Woods, and the six militia men, and Ambris- ter and Arbuthnot; but in all these cases Jackson and his defenders could interpose in his behalf the findings of courts-martial. But there was nothing to screen him from direct personal responsibility for his vote against the removal of the tariff duty on cotton bagging. Henry Clay's partisans could not have made political capital out of that, but the Crawford men might have used it with telling effect throughout the cotton belt. The General also voted against the reduction of the duty on cotton goods. This, likewise, could have turned into a most damaging weapon in the intensely hot politi- cal battles that raged during the subsequent years. The same thing may be said of his votes against the reduc- tion of duties on imported iron, and upon wool and woolen goods. True, the tariff on these various articles was nothing like the prohibitive rates that have since been wrung from Congress by the insatiable manufac- turers, but they were too high, even then. The General's votes were bad votes. No word of defense can be uttered in behalf of his antagonism to free cotton bagging; nor for his opposition to the increase of the duty on silks. To go upon record as favoring the increased cost of the necessaries of life, which the poor are compelled to buy in order that they may continue to exist, was certainly a strange thing for Andrew Jackson to do. And to extend LIFE AND TIMES OF JACKSON. 307 Ms Senatorial protection to those who robe themselves in silks, was even more out of keeping with the popular conception of Old Hickory. "Luxuries must not advance in price, but the necessaries shall," is a queer policy to discover in the Congressional record of the Presidential candidate whose champions proclaimed him "the Friend of the People." How short-sighted is partisan hatred! Had Jack- son's enemies let his wife's name alone, and said nothing about his military doings, — concentrating their assault upon his expense-accounts and his Senatorial votes, there might not have been a "Jacksonian Era" for his- torians to wrangle over. A very potent factor in political discussions for the last eighty and odd years is "the Colman Letter." One of the original Jackson men of Virginia, L. H. Colman, of Warrenton, wrote to the General, inquiring how he stood on the "protecting duty policy." Very promptly, he received a reply, — and a delicious specimen of flexible composition he got. The General's letter refers to the manner in which "Heaven smiled upon, and gave us liberty and independ- ence." Then the General argues that "If we omit or refuse to use the gifts which He has extended to us, we deserve not the continuance of His blessings." The Gen- eral then proceeds to say that it is our solemn duty to provide ourselves with means for national defense, and that we must protect our manufacturers and laborers from European competition in order "that we may have within our own country a. supply of those leading and important articles so essential to war." The General is careful, very careful, to say that the tariff which he favors must be "a judicious one." Furthermore, he con- tends that the agriculturalists are suffering for lack of a market for their surplus products; and that too much labor is employed in agriculture, anyway; and that the channels of labor must be multiplied, so that the super- abundance of farm labor may be drawn into manufac- turers, — thus simultaneously decreasing agricultural 308 LIFE AND TIMES OF JACKSON. products and increasing the demand for them. The Gen- eral figures that there are 600,000 people engaged in agricultural pursuits who ought to be drafted into the factories, mines, and quarries. Make this change, argued the General, "and you at once give a home market for more breadstuffs than all Europe can furnish us." It is in bitterness of spirit that one reads this Colman letter and its confident prophecies, in the cruel white light of actual conditions. And the General's own votes are glaringly inconsistent with it. He based a part of his reasoning upon agricultural distress, and not only voted against relieving it, but to increase it! The Colman letter was a mighty vote-winner for Jackson. The Southern States worshipped the hero of New Orleans too fervently to be lost by anything that he was apt to do or say; and such States as Pennsylvania were won to him because of his firm stand for the Tariff. Boldly as the General voted against free bagging for cotton and lower rates on cloth and iron, he cast some anchors to windward. He favored a lower duty on blankets, and he came out squarely for the untaxed fry- ing pan. He likewise voted for the abolition of imprisonment for debt. The Tariff might reduce people to poverty, but the usual and inevitable consequences of such laws should not be penalized. On, went the Jacksonian campaign. The General's partisans worked like beavers. They were loud, confi- dent and aggressive. When every other argument was exhausted, they fell back on ' ' Hurrah for Jackson ! ' ' In vain, such men as Clay characterized the old hero as ' ' a mere military chieftain. ' ' In the first place, military heroes have always been more popular than any other sort; and in this country, which had for its first Presi- dent "a military chieftain," the objection of Clay was particularly lacking in force. While the battle roared, the General behaved admir- ably. His friends all told him that he was sure to be LIFE AND TIMES OF JACKSON. 309 elected, and he believed it. Serene of temper and concil- iatory in manner, his stay in Washington was marked by a constant increase in the number of his friends. He made the first advances to Thomas H. Benton, and con- verted that ancient foe into a life-long champion. He even exchanged civilities with Henry Clay. He buried the hatchet with General Scott. He won the admiration of Webster. "My wife is decidedly for him," wrote the ''steam-engine in breeches." In short. Old Hickory, who had proved himself to be a ''natural-born" military genius, was now giving the country at large some evidences of what was already well-known in Tennessee, — that he was a first-class political strategist. Had not the General taken the stand he did on the Tariff, Henry Clay would probably have won the race. Winningly magnetic, where Crawford excited no enthu- siasm and Adams repelled. Clay would almost certainly have been one of the names before the House, had not the Colman letter carried so many Protectionists to Jackson. And as Clay was a Speaker of the House, and had a devoted following there, he would have found it much easier to have made himself President than it was for him to throw the prize to John Quincy Adams. Nothing could be loftier than Jackson's bearing during this campaign of 1824. He made no speech, went on no tour, issued no address. When urged to invade the Adams territory, he wrote, "I have no doubt if I was to travel to Boston, that it would insure my election. But this I cannot do ; I would feel degraded the balance of my life. If ever I fill that office (the Presidency) it must be by the free choice of the people." In another letter, he declared that he would not "intrigue nor combine with any man, nor any set of men," to get the office. What a noble, beautiful contrast that is to the stand- ards of today! No yelling into the phonograph, at $500 per screech : no rear-end harangues, with a throat- specialist along : no continuous stream of fulminations in the newspapers. None of that for Andrew Jackson. 310 LIFE AND TIMES OF JACKSON. The deportment of Adams, Clay and Crawford was equally proud and unbending. Neither of these great political leaders and masters of strategy would stoop to the circus-ring methods of our day and generation, — methods which are as worthless as they are beneath the dignity of Presidential office. How Clay proved to^ be the hindmost man in the race ; how the election was thrown into the House; how the stroke of paralysis kept Crawford from receiving the support he expected, and put it out of Clay's power to consider him instead of Adams ; and how the warm Ken- tuckian allied himself to the cold Puritan,— making him President, — is one of the most familiar and dramatic episodes in American history. General Jackson was among the first and the heartiest to congratulate Mr. Adams upon his election. He went to the White House reception, gallantly, genially, and with a handsome lady on his arm. But in his soul, a storm of anger was raging. He believed that he had been cheated out of his just due. Between Clay and Adams, a guilty bargain had been made, and thus by corruption had the will of the people been thwarted. So thought Andrew Jackson. His letters were full of it. His private talk with confidential friends throbbed with it. And by the time Clay had been confirmed by the Senate as Secretary of State, the old General's fury burst all bounds, and his journey from Washington back to the Hermitage was made memorable in many places by his wild denunciations of Adams and Clay. He had not wanted to run for the Presidency, had been slow to enter the race, and had made no compro- mise of personal pride to win; but all the lion of his nature was roused by the disappointment and the wrong put upon him. Everybody could see that the General would try it again, and that the next campaign would be bloody. LIFE AND TIMES OF JACKSON. 311 CHAPTER XXVII. As John Quincy Adams was as much responsible for the Civil War as any other individual, we will devote this chapter to him and his administration, during which term of four years more incidents of lasting influence occurred than we find mentioned in the average history. But while we will go out to Georgetown to pay a visit to the fallen giant, Crawford, and take a trip to Georgia to see one of the greatest of American personalities, and while we may join the war party of Creeks who are seut to take vengeance upon General William Mcintosh for his sale of the tribal land, you must not forget, for one moment, that Andrew Jackson is running for President. State authorities may clash with the Federal Govern- ment, Indians may be on the warpath, Congress may set itself against President Adams and thwart such policies as he favors — none of these things greatly interest the old hero of the Hermigtage. He has frothed at the mouth so often about the "bargain and corrup- tion" which defeated him at the last election that he believes, unshakably, that Clay and Adams did come to an agreement before the one supported the other. There never was a scintilla of evidence to sustain the charge, but the tremendous driving force of Andrew Jackson whirled it over the whole country, and it was a death-blow to the Presidential aspirations of both Adams and Clay. By the unwritten law, Mr. Adams was entitled to a second term. His failure to get it angered him intensely, for he regarded the discrimination against him as a personal humiliation. A Southern man, sup- ported by his section, was the cause of Adams' misfor- tune; and herein lies one explanation of that raging hatred of the South which the remainder of his life so vividly displayed. While I am relating the various events which follow, you must keep ever in mind that Jackson and his friends are working away on his campaign, every week of the 312 LIFE AND TIMES OF JACKSON. four years covered by this chapter. He departs some- what from that lofty policy of indifference. The people, of course, are to say whom they want for the next term of the Presidency, but General Jackson is now willing to do a great deal to help the people come to the conclusion that he is the man whom they prefer. He accepts invita- tions to appear in public, attends banquets, holds recep- tions ; and at New Orleans his friends arrange a monster demonstration which serves to remind the people of the crushing defeat he there inflicted upon the British. Although the old General was doing lots of hand- shaking, and was receiving numerous ovations, he remained the same choleric person that he had always been. Riding along the highway one day, near his Ala- bama plantation, the General met the overseer of the place. Surprised to find his trusted agent absent from his post of duty, the General made inquiry of him to the effect, "Why are you not on the plantation, as you are paid to be?" The agent, a much younger man than Jackson, gave the hero a "sassy" reply. Whereupon, the General whaled him with his stick. The man sneaked off to the nearest justice of the peace, and swore out a warrant against the General. Being a candidate for the Presidency, Jackson was not able to afford the luxury of defying the law, as he had so often done in his past, so he appeared before the court, confessed the battery, was fined a small sum, and respectfully paid it. (In those days justices of the peace were almost as big as Federal judges and municipal recorders are, at the present time.) Temporarily, we bid the old General adieu, leaving him to press fiercely on in one of the most savage politi- cal campaigns that ever convulsed the Re]mblic — a cam- paign of abuse, of lies, of fist-and-skull fights, of cutting scrapes and shooting affairs; a campaign in which virulent accusations were hurled back and forth by furious partisans who respected neither man nor woman, neither the living nor the dead. Jackson himself had set LIFE AND TIMES OF JACKSON. 313 the pace by his violence of speech, immediately after the senatorial confirmation of Henry Clay as Secretary of State. Violence begets violence, of course, and before the bloody fight was ended, his own wife, good Aunt Rachel, had been talked about and written about, as though she were an adulteress ; and Jackson was to weep tears of impotent rage and bitter grief, because of flings at his mother. In the very prime of life, William H. Crawford was stricken down, an incompetent country physician having given him lobelia for erysipelas. Almost blind, unable to articulate words distinctly, his walk a mere waddle, and his strength insufficient to support him for more than a few steps at a time, the once physical and intel- lectual giant had become as pitiable a wreck as ever saddened the heart of wife and child and friend. Now, while Crawford was in this condition, political rancor continued to shoot poisoned arrows at him, and he was accused of illegalities in the handling of the pub- lic funds. Congress investigated, found everything as it should be, and exonerated Crawford unanimously. But the sting lay in the fact that the newspaper, in which the most venomous of these attacks were made, was a Cal- houn organ, subsidized by Calhoun, and edited by one of the clerks of the War Office, employed and retained by Calhoun. These two great Southerners, Crawford and Calhoun, had been boys together, at school ; had studied and played on the grounds of the Waddell Academy ; had browsed together among the books of the Waddell library. They had been life-long friends; and these wicked assaults upon the honor of the Georgian — con- tinued for a whole year in the columns of a paper edited by a Calhoun clerk, and sustained by Calhoun money — cut Crawford to the quick. He never forgave it. Later on, we shall see how the paralytic took his revenge. In ''The Life and Times of William H. Crawford," by Hon. J. E. D. Shipp, there is a chapter describing the 21 a j 314 LIFE AND TIMES OF JACKSON. beautiful domestic-life of the invalid, in the suburban home to which he had retreated ; and one can almost see and hear the sorrowful friends who come from the capi- tol on that snowy day of February, 1824, to bring the sad news that the day of Crawford, as a national figure, is over. After all, the swift runner has missed the goal; after all, the strong swimmer has gone under. As the messengers tell their story, an expression of surprise and of melancholy spreads over the invalid's face; but he soon rallies, is himself again, and even jokes his friend Thomas W. Cobb about '"laughing on the wrong side of your mouth" — for Cobb was about to cry. When Nathaniel Macon described how heartily Gen- eral Jackson had congratulated and shaken hands with Mr. Adams, the blunt Crawford exclaimed: "That was a useless piece of hypocrisy. It deceived no one. Shaking hands was very well — was right — but the congratulatory speech might have been omitted. I like honesty in all things." Now, let us see whether Crawford practised what he preached. Notwithstanding the fact that the diary of John Quincy Adams paints Crawford in very dark colors, the assiduous keeper of that malevolent record tendered the Treasury portfolio to the statesman whom the diarist so cruelly maligned — the tender being couched in the language of respect and friendship. Crawford was poor, had a large family to support, and the temptation to remain in Washington, where he would enjoy a good salary, and still cut a national figure, might have overcome almost any other man. He himself did not hesitate a moment. He declined the office, for the reason that to serve under Mr. Adams would compro- mise his principles. So the family bade farewell forever to greatness and luxury, returning to the humble country home at Wood- lawn (now Crawford Station, on the Athens branch of the Georgia Railroad), where the broken statesman spent the remainder of his life. He was appointed Judge of the Superior Court of his circuit, and discharged its duties until his death, in September, 1834. LIFE AND TIMES OF JACKSON. 315 In many respects George M. Troup was one of the strongest men of his time. His natural ability was of a high order, and he was thoroughly educated. I have never read State papers which fascinated me as his do. A man of spotless morals, he was also a man of iron will ; and of fear he had no more sense than Old Hickory him- self. He served with distinction in Congress, but it was as Governor of Georgia that he made the most conspicu- ous exhibition of his magnificent qualities. The State had owned all of the territory now embraced within the boundaries of Alabama and Missis- sippi; but Georgia ceded these fifty million acres of the most fertile land to the General Government. The con- sideration was less than three cents per acre in money, and the stipulation that the United States would extin- guish the Indian title to all the land in Georgia held by the red men. Of course, it was contemplated that the Indians would be given an equivalent in the unoccupied wilderness west of the Mississippi River. This treaty between the State and the Federal Gov- ernment was made in 1802. Subsequent to that date, various cessions of land had been secured by the United States from the Southern tribes, but no consiflerable progress had been made in extinguishing Indian titles in Georgia. On the contrary, the Creeks and Cherokees had been treated with such consideration by the Federal Gov- ernment that they apparently lost all fear of being trans- ferred to the West. The chiefs built fine houses (fine for those days), sent their sons to college, bought negro slaves, opened up extensive plantations, and gave every evidence of a fixed purpose to remain where they were. In fact, the Cherokees formally declared that they never would sell any more of their land. The majority of the Creeks were of the same mind. In one of their councils, General William Mcintosh, a half-breed chieftain who had two Indian wives, proposed a new law, imposing the death penalty on any chief who should sign a cession of Indian land without having been authorized to do so by the whole tribe. This half-breed was a very distinguished man. His 316 LIFE AND TIMES OP JACKSON. connections were "Indian," but his sympathies were "white." He had been against the Eed Sticks, and had given powerful assistance to the armies which broke the Creek nation. In the Seminole "War, he did nearly the whole of the effective work. General Jackson published the proclamations, outlined the campaign and "took the responsibility" for doing a number of aggressive, inde- fensible deeds, but Mcintosh fought the Indians. The United States, in recognition of the loyalty and value of Mcintosh, made him a Brigadier-General. He lived in a two-storied frame mansion on the Chattahoo- chee Eiver. He owned many slaves, large herds of cattle, and a large tract of fine land. Besides, he was on the payroll of the United States. Various considerations caused him to change his mind on the subject of selling tribal lands. Doubtless his intelligence made it clear to him that the whites were certain to drive the red men out. This being inevitable, he may have come to the conclusion that the easiest way was the best. To sell at a fair price, or to swap the Geor- gia territory for something just as good, were a better plan than to be exterminated by warfare, or to be forcibly transplanted. It is only just to Mcintosh to place one's self at what was, in all probability, his point of view. At a general meeting of the Creek chiefs, he boldly proposed that the tribes sell out and move away. The other chiefs were almost unanimously against him on this proposition, and they, in effect, not only howled him down, but, as we are told, "deposed" him. For fear that he would sign some treaty of cession, they said that he should no longer be a chief. But, as we shall see, he con- tinued to act as one; and the whites, who may not have known of his deposition, continued to regard him as head-man of the entire Creek confederation. His record, his military rank, his wealth and his superior intelligence all contributed to make this natural. Governor George M. Troup and General William Mcintosh were cousins. They admired each other greatly and were fast friends; their correspondence gives the reader a most favorable impression of both. LIFE AND TIMES OF JACKSON. 317 Now, it was Troup's inflexible purpose to get that Indian land. He had it on the brain. He was going after it, as Andrew Jackson went after the national bank. Nothing could turn him. He was intensely wrought up about it. The Federal Government had been deaf to every appeal; would not make any earnest, persistent effort to secure a cession from the red men, and would not pay any attention when Troup demanded that the treaty of 1802 be carried out, or that the United States return to the State of Georgia the unsold remnants of the Alabama and Mississippi land. In December, 1824, the Creek chiefs met in general council at Broken Arrow — the name of their capital. A cession of their lands was proposed, but voted down. Duncan G. Campbell, United States Commissioner, sug- gested to President Monroe that he could make a treaty with some of the chiefs. Mr. Monroe rejected the prop- osition, and directed that another general council of the whole Creek nation be convened. On February 7, 1825, the Indian Spring conference was held. Only eight out of the fifty-two towns sent dele- gates. The authorized speaker of the Creek nation, Ho-poth-le-yoholo, addressed the few Indians present, and declared that no cession of land could be made, announcing that the nation would hold another general council at the national capital. Broken Arrow, three months from that date. He formally invited the Indians present to attend the general council which the Creek nation had ordered. Having delivered this message, the speaker for the tribes, together with Big Warrior, the head-chief of the nation, and all the chiefs and warriors of the Cussetuhs and Soowoogaloos, left for home, that night. Tradition points to a venerable dwelling, at the Indian Spring, in which a carousal is said to have been held by the red men on the same night ; if Mcintosh took part in the ball, it was his last dance. It is perfectly clear that no cession of Creek land should have been urged or made, after the formal notice and withdrawal of the Big Warrior and the official 318 LIFE AND TIMES OF JACKSON. spokesman of the Creek nation. But the Georgians were pressing, impatient and unscrupulous. Mcintosh had been detected in attempting to bribe certain Cherokee chiefs to sign a treaty, and there can be no reasonable doubt that money had some influence on him and the few obscure sub-chiefs who, on the day after the carousal, "touched the pen," while their marks were being made to the paper which conveyed away the tribal lands. When the tidings of what had been done at Indian Springs flew over the Creek nation, ungovernable rage took possession of the tribe. The national council when it convened at Broken Arrow formally denounced the treaty, and this protest reached Washington one day after President Monroe had signed the act of ratification ! The Indians determined to kill Mcintosh. Alarmed by rumors, he hurried to Milledgeville and asked Gov- ernor Troup for protection — for himself and the other treaty-making chieftains. The Governor not only promised it, but sent Henry G. Lamar into the Creek towns, to ascertain the state of feeling among the Indians, and to warn them sternly to keep the peace. The red men appear to have deceived Lamar completely. He returned to Milledgeville, and reported to Troup that no danger need be apprehended : the Indians were going to acquiesce in the treaty. Yes, but they were hell-bent on killing Mcintosh, The coolest, bravest warriors of the Creek nation were selected; at their head walked Manowa, an old fighter who had escaped from the death-trap at Horse- Shoe Bend. They followed, one behind the other, this grim and grizzled warrior, all through the forests and swamps which lay between the Tallapoosa and the Chat- tahoochee; they put by the temptation to bushwhack Mcintosh as he rode along the road; they waited in the woods, after coming near the doomed man's dwelling, until the darkness of night should fall ; they split up a lot of fat pine "lightwood," in order that the house might the more easily be fired in different places at the same time. These human tigers had the patient ferocity to wait until three hours after midnight — and then they LIFE AND TIMES OF JACKSON. 319 sprang, with hideous yells and the outflaming passions of hell, upon the sleeping family in the traitor's home. Amid the roar of flames, amid volleys from their guns, the exultant wreakers of the nation's vengeance cried out: "Mcintosh, we have come, we have come! We told you, if you sold the lands to the Georgians, we would come ! ' ' Even under that awful test, the bravery of the half- breed showed no flaw. He seized his guns, barriraded his door, fired upon the warriors who forced it ; retreated to the upper story with four guns in his hands, continued to shoot from the window at the frenzied savages below ; returned to the lower story, was shot down, dragged out by the heels ; and, while still fronting them fiercely, with the undaunted eye of the wounded hawk, an Osfuskee brave struck a long knife into his heart. On this expedition, the Indians killed two other traitors to the nation and seized their cattle, etc., but did no harm to any other persons. There were one hundred and seventy of these executioners, and when they had carried out the sentence of the tribe, they returned to their homes — bearing the scalps of the three victims. Congress having ratified the treaty of the Indian Spring, Governor Troup immediately took possession of the land. Surveying parties began to run the boundaries, and new counties were laid off. The Indians protested ; the Federal Government interfered; a heated corres- pondence between Troup and the national authorities began; John Quincy Adams sent General Gaines down to the Indian Spring, and the threat of Federal coercion of the State was distinctly made. Troup rose to the occasion, superbly. He summoned the Legislature: sent in a ringing message stating the whole case, and con- cluded with the appeal: "I entreat you, therefore, most earnestly, now that it is an end of the argument, to stand by your arms." General Gaines having indulged in much vainglorious and impertinent speech and conduct, Governor Troup censured him severely, ceased to hold any communica- 320 LIFE AND TIMES OF JAC'KSON. tion with him, and demanded of the President the arrest of the insolent officer. To President J. Q. Adams the •Governor wrote, and, among others, used this expression concerning Gaines: "Were I to send him to you in chains, I would trans- gress nothing of the public law." The Governor did not, as many historians relate, insult the President by threatening to "send your briga- dier by brevet home to you in irons." No; George M. Troup was a gentleman ; and this entire correspondence reveals the cultured man, the high-bred man, as well as the man who was indomitable in the pursuit of his object. When the President sent his message to Congress, broadly insinuating that he would use military force against the State of Georgia, Governor Troup took up the glove at once by officially ordering the militia to get ready to fight ! (Would to God we had governors of the same stamp in this day of national consolidation and State degradation!) Governor Troup was in no mood to listen to an acade- mic discussion of the moralities of the Indian question, from a President who hailed from the State which sold into slavery, and early death, the grandson of the noble old chief that had fed the Puritans in "the starving time." In the days of Governor Troup, the States did not have to obtain a permit from the judge of an inferior Federal court, before they could carry on the State administration. Mr. Adams was well aware of the fact that the country would not back him in the attempt to defend the Indians. Besides, he may have felt that the United States had not in good faith complied with the treaty of 1802. At all events, he backed down — snarling savagely as he did so. He even had the effrontery — he of New England ! — to rail at Georgia for getting so many favors from the Federal Government. Here, then, we recognize another cause for the rabid Iiatred which this able, intrepid and relentless man bore toward the South — a hatred that was to cost us dear. Major-General Andre-w Jackson LIFE AND TIMES OF JACKSON. 321 CHAPTER XXVIII. It is a historical fact, previous to the election of Andrew Jackson to the Presidency, the educated and proprietor classes had ruled the Republic, — the men of the schools and of the colleges were on top. The national administration was perhaps as pure as any that ever was known. The breath of scandal seldom blew against those who were at the helm. With the advent of Jack- son, and the throwing aside of the Congressional Caucus (in which the trained civilians of the highest class selected some experienced statesman for the Chief Executive), a change took place. We have already seen how this Congressional Caucus, committed to Crawford as it was, became an obstacle in the pathway of those who wished to be pulled up into place and power, by hanging onto the coat-tails of the tremendously popular military hero, and how they persistently, aggressively and unscrupulously undermined it, in a slanderous and systematic campaign. Beyond all comparison, the methods used in the elec- tion of Jackson were the worst that the country had ever known. The lowest passions were fanned into flames; class and sectional hatred were factors in the fight; venomous and utterly false statements were the weapons of the warfare ; and the triumph which Jackson won was really a triumph of passion and prejudice over reason and politic^il honesty. During the whole period of four years in which the storm raged, John Quincy Adams never veered an inch from the pathway of rigid impartiality, in the giving of patronage; nor from the highest standards of adminis- trative integrity. On the other hand, we find Senator Thomas H. Benton, of Missouri, relating with great gusto, how the support that was necessary to Jackson's success was bought by legislative favors. For instance, the State of Ohio desired an appropriation of half a mil- lion acres of public land, in aid of the Scioto Canal. Ohio 322 LIFE AND TIMES OF JACKSON. was not only a big State, but a doubtful one ; therefore, it was of the utmost importance that she be won to Old Hickory. Of course, the Adams men were after her, too. The friends of the two candidates rushed into Congress a bill which provided for the grant of the public lands which Ohio desired. The Jackson men were the quickest ; got in their bill first ; and secured priority of considera- tion for it in the Committee of the Whole, where it was agreed to. By some sort of strategy, however, the friends of Adams (their bill being a little later than that of the Jackson men,) got ahead of the other bill on the calendar. This was fatal to the other measure, it being impossible to expect that two grants of land for the same purpose could be passed at the same time. But, almost incredible to relate, the friends of Jackson actually fol- lowed the land-grant bill of the Adams men up to the Senate, and secured an amendment which, in effect, gave Ohio the full amount of land carried in both bills. In other words, this doubtful State got twice the amount of public land that she had originally desired. This result came about in a mere selfish and corrupt effort of the rival politicians to win the favor of Ohio and gain her electoral votes. Nothing worse than that happens now. In 1828 the number of electoral votes was two hun- dred and sixty-one. Of these. General Jackson received one hundred and seventy-eight, and Mr. Adams eighty- three. With the exception of one electoral district in Maine, John Quincy Adams carried New England solidly. Mr. Crawford's hatred of John C. Calhoun was shown in his ability to throw away seven of Georgia's electoral votes for Vice-President upon William Smith, of South Carolina. The entire vote of Georgia was given to Gen- eral Jackson, and this emphasized the slap at Calhoun. With the exception of that State, Mr. Calhoun received the vote of every district that his chief carried. In Ten- nessee, the ticket of Adams and Rush received less than three thousand votes. In many of the towns every vote was cast for the ticket of Jackson and Calhoun. A member of the North r'arolina Legislature related LIFE AND TIMES OF JACKSON. 323 to James Parton an incident which he witnessed in a Tennessee village, on the afternoon of the day of the presidential election of 1828. He found the whole village chasing two men; and, upon inquiry, learned that the two men had to flee to the woods to escape being tarred and feathered by their thoroughly indignant, and some- what intoxicated fellow citizens. The crime which they had committed was, that they had voted against General Jackson. In other parts of Tennessee, however (especially in East Tennessee), there was very bitter feeling against Old Hickory; and one of the most savage pamphlets that was ever shot at him was boldly published, over the sig- nature of a man of considerable local prominence, John R. Nelson. In this pamphlet, Jackson's primitive way of securing a wife was described in the most offensive terms, — so offensive, indeed, that I do not care to repeat them. Good Aunt Rachel had not wished the General to enter politics, again. She believed that the afternoon of their life should be spent together, in peace, at the Her- mitage. Her soul was weary of the hot conflicts which General Jackson's appearance in public life always pre- cipitated. She was tired unto death of vituperation, rancor, feuds, factional fights, duels, and stabbings; she longed for nothing so much as for domestic repose and happiness. Besides, the faithful wife, who had been through so many tempests with her storm-petrel of a husband, was not in good health. For several years, she had complained of heart-trouble. Excitement, of course, aggravated this ailment. To have her name dragged into the public press and public debates was intensely disagreeable to her. She was often found bathed in tears. There can be no question that this presidential campaign, this awful torrent of abuse which beat upon the heads of herself and the General for four long years, shortened her life. When December, 1828, came, the cavalier of the pale horse was en route to the Hermitage. On that day. Aunt 324 LIFE AND TIMES OF JACKSON. Rachel was suddenly stricken down and, with what the negro servant, "Old Hannah," described as "a horrible shriek," the good woman placed her hands upon her heart, sank into a chair, and then fell forward into old Hannah's arms. She was placed upon her bed, messen- gers hurried away for assistance, the negro woman rubbed her side, but she writhed in agony, gasping for breath. The General came, on the run, in a state of pitiable alarm. After awhile the doctors arrived, and the house was filled with relatives, friends and servants. During the next two days her sufferings were excruciat- ing. The General never left her bedside for ten minutes at a time. Then, as the end approached, the pain went away; and she recovered speech, assured her husband that she was quite well, and begged him to go to another room and get some sleep. She reminded him that he would need all his strength for the great banquet that they were preparing for him at Nashville; and that he must not weaken himself with fasting and lack of rest. But the General mistrusted her sudden release from pain. To him, it seemed a bad symptom; and so it was. Saturday and Sunday passed with her lying on the bed, painlessly, but very weak and inert, while the General watched her, sleeplessly, devotedly. On Monday, her condition was about the same; and at length, at nine o'clock at night, the General did agree to go to the next room and lie down. He had not been gone more than five minutes when his wife, who had been removed from the bed in order that it might be made up, uttered a loud, prolonged, inarticulate scream, and fell forward upon the shoulders of the old negro woman. There was a rattling noise in her throat, and she was dead. The General rushed wildly into the room, and cried out, "Bleed her! bleed her!" They did so, but found that no blood would flow from her arm. "Try her temple, Doctor!" cried the General. Two drops crimsoned her white cap, but that was all. It must have been a heart-breaking spectacle to have seen that old man (who could, on occasion, be so savage, LIFE AND TIMES OF JACKSON. 325 so unrelenting, so cruel, so irresponsive to all pleas for mercy,) stand there, misery personified, refusing to believe the evidence of his eyes, feeling her hands, feel- ing her feet, and ordering the servants with a broken voice, when they were preparing a table for laying her out, ' ' Spread four blankets on it : if she does come to, she would lie so hard on that bare table." All night long he sat in the room by her side, with his face in his hands, speechless with sorrow, now and then looking hard into her face, and feeling, now her heart, and then her wrist, hoping that the life-beat would be felt. The funeral scene you can imagine. The large crowd, the universal sorrow for the dead wife and sympathy for the surviving husband, the wailing of relatives and servants, the solemnness and lonesomeness that hung over the Hermitage like a pall, the General's own suffer- ing, the lowering of the coffin into the ground, the fall- ing of the clods covering her up, and that most awful of all depressions of collected humanity — the departure from a new-made grave: — every bit of this you can imagine so well that it need not be described. In Mrs. Trollope's "Domestic Manners of the Ameri- cans, ' ' we get a glimpse of President-elect Andrew Jack- son on his way to "Washington City to be inaugurated. It was at Cincinnati, and the General was expected, on his way, by steamer, to Pittsburg. Mrs. Trollope describes the approach of the boat, and she speaks of the splendor in which the escort steamers were decorated. * ' The roofs of all three were covered by a crowd of men ; cannon salutes were fired from the shore as they passed by, to the distance a quarter of a mile above the town; there they turned about, and came down the river with a rapid and stately motion, the three vessels so close together as to appear one mighty mass upon the water." She states that the crowd on the shore awaited Jack- son's arrival in perfect silence. When the boat reached 326 LIFE AND TIMES OF JACKSON. the bank, the people on board gave a faint hurrah, but it was not answered by any note of welcome from the land. She says, however, that "this cold silence was not pro- duced by any want of friendly feeling towards the new President;" for during the whole of the campaign he had been decidedly the most popular candidate at Cin- cinnati; and the cry of ''Jackson, forever!" she had been accustomed to hear. She related how the General had declined to ride to the hotel in the carriage which had been provided; and how he walked through the crowds, which parted as he stalked along. He made the impression upon this English lady that, in spite of his carelessly worn gray hair, his harsh, gaunt features, that he was "a gentleman and a soldier." Jackson was in deep mourning for his wife, and as he made his way through the crowd, Mrs. Trollope was very much pained to hear some one near her exclaim, as the President-elect approached the place where she stood, ''There goes Jackson, where is his wife!" Another sharp voice, at a little distance, cried out, "Adams, forever!" She states that these sotmds were all that she heard to break the silence. But she states that, "There was not a hulking boy from the keel-boat who was not introduced to the President, unless, indeed, as was the case with some, they introduced themselves." She says that, when she was at Jackson's elbow, "a greasy fellow" accosted him with these words: 'General Jackson, I guess?' The General bowed assent. ■ 'Why, they told me you was dead.' ' 'No! Providence has hitherto preserved my life.' 'And is your wife alive, too?' 'The General was apparently much hurt, and told the man that his wife was dead. Upon which, this human brute completed his dialogue by saying: " 'Aye, I thought it was one or the 'tother of yer.' " The National Journal, published in Washington City, was considered the personal organ of President John Quincy Adams. During the campaign of 1S28, it had LIFE AND TIMES OF JACKSON. 327 published infamous attacks upon the reputation of Aunt Rachel; and General Jackson believed that Mr. Adams was responsible for these assaults. There is no evidence that The National Journal was Adams' personal organ, but General Jackson was not in the habit of waiting for proofs. He had a habit of jumping at conclusions on very slight provocation, and after he had formed an opinion all creation couldn 't change it. Acting upon the assumption that his rival for the presidency had been a party to the slandering of Mrs. Jackson, the General refused to call upon the President, on his arrival in Washington in February, 1829. In consequence of this studied disrespect and breach of custom, Mr. Adams, in his turn, refused to accompany General Jackson on his way to the Capitol on the day of his inauguration. In fact, they did not meet at all. Innumerable throngs rushed into Washington City to see the inauguration. Such cheering, such enthusiasm, such admiration for the popular idol, had never been witnessed before. Mr. Webster said that, "persons have come five hundred miles to see General Jackson. They really seem to think that the country has been rescued from some terrible danger. I never saw such a crowd before." The oath was taken in the usual place, in the usual way; and General Jackson read his written address in a voice which very few heard. Then came the procession to the White House. Judge Story, who was an Adams man, declared that he never saw such a mixture of polished and unpolished people in his life. The washed and the unwashed were on a common plane of equality. The disgusted New England Judge declared that ''King Mob was triumphant;" and he said that he was glad to escape the scene as soon as he could. One of the letter-writers, describing the aftermath of the inauguration, said that ' ' a profusion of refreshments had been provided, — orange punch by barrels-ful was made, but as the waiters opened the doors to bring it out, a rush would be made, the glasses broken, the pails of 328 LIFE AND TIMES OF JACKSON. liquor emptied, and the utmost confusion prevailed. To such a painful degree was this carried that the wine and ice creams could not be brought out to the ladies, and tubs of punch were taken from the lower story into the garden to' lead off the crowd from the rooms." There was no order at all. The crowd was too great; the bustle too strenuous. Men with heavy and muddy boots stood up on the chairs which were covered by damask satin. They did this in their eagerness to get a glimpse of the tall, sombre, idolized Jackson. Many of the books speak of an enormous Pennsyl- vania cheese, — a cheese that was so prodigious that it not only filled everybody who could eat cheese, but smeared itself over the carpets and the furniture. Somebody remarked to Jackson upon the good-natured riot which was wrecking things in the White House, and making the eminently respectable element of society utter expressions of horror. But the old General was used to rough scenes, and he merely remarked, ''0, let the people have a good time; they only get it once in a while. ' ' LIFE AND TIMES OF JACKSON. 329 CHAPTER XXIX. Blaise Paschal remarks that, "If the nose of Cleo- patra had been shorter, the whole face of the earth would have been changed." Be that as it may, there is no doubt whatever that if the proboscis of Peggy 'Neal had been two inches longer, the history of this country would be different. Of the mother of this celebrated woman, nothing is known ; her father kept a boarding-house in Washington City ; and Peggy grew up among the Congressmen, army and navy officers, and departmental clerks who patron- ized the O'Neal tavern. Without being pretty, she was piquant, witty, bewitching. Full of animal spirits, she enjoyed life in her own way, and her way happened to be very much more attractive to men than to women. Indeed, the knowing ones among Peggy's feminine acquaintances shook their heads, and predicted amiably that she would come to a bad end,— meaning, of course,, that they hoped she would. But the little Irish maiden, with all of her fun and frolic, her pert talk and romping manners, steered her- self into a good marriage ; thereby, no doubt, intensify- ing the envy and the dislike of sundry seeresses of evil. Timberlake, Peggy's husband, was a purser in the navy, and his duties kept him at sea most of the time. Appar- ently, this didn't bother his sprightly wife in the least. She had the gayest kind of a time among the young men who boarded at the house — so much so that she got her name on the social blacklist. W^hether vicious persons wrote to Timberlake on the subject, is not known, but for some cause he committed suicide while his ship was in the Mediterranean. One of the men with whom Peggy had been behaving most freely, and whose name was connected with hers in chronicles scandalous, was Senator John Eaton, of Ten- nessee. He soon married the young widow, although he knew that Washington society had shut the door in her 22 a j 330 LIFE AND TIMES OF JACKSON. face. Eaton had long been Andrew Jackson's warm personal friend, had been to the wars with him, had helped to pull the strings which elevated the General to the White House, and had written the biography of his Chief. By taking Peggy O'Neal to wife, Major Eaton made a social crisis inevitable, for he was taken into Jackson's Cabinet, and of course he expected that Peggy would be received in official circles. John C. Calhoun had been slated for the Presidential succession. As the running-mate of Jackson, he had been overwhelmingly elected Vice-President in 1824, when his Chief was beaten. In like manner, he had been elected Vice-President when Adams was defeated. He was nearing the summit of political success, and had every reason to believe that he would be President in two more years, for Jackson had publicly pledged him- self not to accept a second term. But Martin Van Buren, "The Fox of Kinderhook," was bent on succeeding Jackson. He now began to scheme, subtly and tirelessly, to bring about a collision between Jackson and Calhoun. When Jackson had been Senator, he had boarded at the O'Neal tavern. Both he and Aunt Rachel grew to be fond of the cheerful, winsome Peggy. Liking the girl, Jackson could see no fault in her. That was his way. He could not detect any blemish even in such a black- sheep as Henry Lee. He stoutly stood by Swartout, the rascal who was conniving at wholesale thefts at the New York Custom House. As to Peggy O'Neal, the old General swore by the Eternal that she was as chaste as an angel — which was quite a doubtful compliment to the angel. Nobody could turn him, the least bit: he was Peggy's champion, ready to battle and perish in her sacred cause. On this subject, he wouldn't even listen to the preachers, although, as a rule, he was most partial to preachers. In fact, his own Washington pastor took him in hand in the matter of Peggy's true character, and the old hero stormed at the devoted clergyman, and browbeat him at such a dreadful rate, that his honored and beloved pastor had to flee the field. Whenever LIFE AND TIMES OF JACKSON. 331 Peggy's name was mentioned, the General sprung his rattles, and was ready to strike. Now, this situation was like a blessing from on high to Martin Van Bnren. He knew General Jackson like a book, was as slippery as a greased Indian, as supple as a Hindoo acrobat, a courtier by nature, and utterly untrammelled by anything in the way of convictions. In his own day, he was known as the Talleyrand of Ameri- can politics. Daniel Webster used to convulse audiences by pantomimic illustrations of the fox-like tread of ''Little Van" — whose principles were said to consist of ''five loaves and two fishes." Martin was a widower, and hence his advantage over the other members of the Jackson Cabinet. He made a specialty of cultivating the acquaintance of the perse- cuted Peggy, and gave entertainments in her honor. Jackson was delighted, charmed, enraptured. His whole soul went forth to the diplomatic Martin. The flattery was so subtle, so fascinating, that the single-minded old warrior never once suspected the motive. Believing that Van Buren was as honest in his friendship to Peggy as he himself was, Jackson began to regard the wily New Yorker as a man after his own heart. But how about the other members of the Cabinet? These statesmen had wives, and the ladies would brook no' Jacksonian interference with social laws. They flatly refused to receive Mrs. Peggy Eaton. Jackson's own niece declined to associate with her. Mrs. Donelson was packed off to Tennessee, the whole Cabinet resigned, (excepting Barry, the Postmaster-General,) the doom of Calhoun was sealed, and the current of national history turned from its natural course. Old Hickory, for once in his life, had tried persua- sion. He wrote Calhoun a note urging him to take the part of persecuted Peggy, but Calhoun was as unbending a man as his Chief, and he courteously declined to take any hand in the row. In effect, he said, "Let the women settle it. They have their own laws, and nobody can change them." Jackson then got Eichard M. Johnson 332 LIFE AND TIMES OF JACKSON. (afterwards Vice-President,) to intercede with the refractory members of the Cabinet, but they were immovable. The sly Van Buren thought it was a good time for him to step down and out, and his letter of resignation, as Secretary of State, is one of the curiosi- ties of political literature. Jackson puzzled over it, and finally said, "I can't make heads or tails of it, and I don't believe that Van Buren himself can." Major Eaton was so disgusted and irritated by the treatment accorded his wife, that he resigned, also, and then Jackson made a clean sweep of the others. In Colonel Colyar's ''Life of Jackson," the effort is made to prove that the quarrel over Peggy O'Neal did not cause these Cabinet changes. Buell claims that Colyar made out his case. But how can he, when there is on record the unchallenged letter of John McPherson Berrien, of Georgia, one of the retiring members of the Cabinet? This gentleman was wholly incapable of false- hood, and had his statement been untrue, Jackson him- self would have rushed into print to combat it. Mr. Berrien says in his letter, given to the public then, that they (the Calhoun men,) had been forced out of the Cabinet because their wives would not consent to receive Mrs. Eaton. (There is a contemporaneous letter from Daniel Webster to the same effect.) The refusal of Mrs. Calhoun to recognize Peggy O'Neal as her social equal, kindled the furious, implac- able resentment of President Jackson, caused him to seek a cause for quarrel with the Vice-President, drove that illustrious leader into a hopeless opposition, brought about a change of mind in Jackson on the tariff question; threw the iron-willed President to the side of Clay and Webster, and laid the foundations for the bitter dissensions which evolved the Civil War. Jackson practically abolished the Cabinet, and was controlled exclusively by men of the back-stairs, the famous "Kitchen Cabinet," composed of Amos Kendall, William B. Lewis, Isaac Hill, and Francis P. Blair, who LIFE AND TIMES OF JACKSON. 333 succeeded Duff Green when that doughty fighter announced his adherence to Calhoun. In all of the biographies you will read the statement that Andrew Jackson never forgave any man who had besmirched the name of Aunt Rachel. I am sorry to tell you that the statement is untrue. Amos Kendall had been a rampant supporter of Henry Clay. As such, he had written and published scurrilities against Andrew Jackson and Aunt Rachel. But politics, which makes strange bed-fellows, brought Amos and Andrew to the same couch, and Amos was for for many years the power behind the throne of Andrew Jackson. The fateful feud which sprang up so suddenly and unexpectedly between Jackson and Calhoun was of such tremendous consequence, that I am justified in giving you in full the Calhoun side of it. James Parton, in his ''Life of Jackson," states that Mrs. Calhoun would not receive Mrs. Eaton, "although she had called upon the lady soon after her marriage in company with the Vice-President, her husband." This statement is specifically denied in the very letter, (pub- lished at the time,) in which Mr. Calhoun replied to General Eaton's public statement that Calhoun was "responsible for the persecutions of Mrs. Eaton." It was General Eaton and Peggy who called on the Calhouns, in the absence of John C, and they were civilly treated by Mrs. Calhoun, who did not, however, return the call. Mr. Calhoun's reply to the charges of General Eatoti is as follows : "When he [Gen. E.] and Mrs. Baton made their visit I was not at home, as he states, and did not return until after they had re- tired. When I returned Mrs. Calhoun mentioned that they had been there, and said she would not have known who Mrs. Eaton was, had she not been with Mr. Eaton, as the servant had not announced their names. She, of course, treated her with civility. She could not with propriety do otherwise. The relation which Mrs. Eaton bore to the society of Washington became the subject of some gen- eral remarks. The next morning she informed me that she had made up her mind not to return the visit. She said that she consid- ered herself in the light of a stranger in the place — that she knew nothing of Mrs. Eaton, or the truth or falsehood of the imputations 334 LIFE AND TIMES OF JACKSON. on her character, and that she conceived it to be the duty of Mrs. Eaton, if innocent, to open her intercourse with the ladies who resided in the place, and who had the best means of forming a cor- rect opinion of her conduct, and not with those who, lilve herself, had no means of forming a correct judgment. I replied that I ap- proved of her decision, though I foresaw the difficulties in which it would probably involve me; but that I viewed the question involved as paramount to all political considerations, and was prepared to meet the consequences as to myself, be they what they might. "So far from political motives having any influence in the course adopted, could they have been permitted to have any weight in the question, the very reverse course would have been pursued. The road to patronage and favor lay directly before me, could I have been base enough to tread it. The intimate relation between Gen- eral Jackson and Major Baton was well known, as well as the in- terest the former took in Mrs. Eaton's case, but as degraded as I would have felt myself, had I sought power in that direction, I would not have considered the infamy less, had we adopted the course we did from any other motive than a high and sacred regard to duty. It was not, in fact, a question of exclusion of one already admitted into society, but the admission of one already excluded. Before the marriage, while she was Mrs. Timberlake, she had not been admitted into the society of Washington; and the real question was, whether her marriage with Major Eaton should open the door already closed upon her, or, in other words, -"vhether official rank and patronage should, or should not, prove paramount to that censorship which the sex exercises over itself, and on which all must acknowledge the purity and dignity of the female character mainly depends." In the old Southern Review, I find the following :--- "We recollect many years ago, and not many before his death, having heard an account of this affair from Mr. Calhoun's own lips. There were a few friends present, and the conversation had turned upon General Jackson, his character, its impress on the times, and tlie mighty results which he had been the instrument in bringing about. In such connection it was natural that the Eaton affair should be mentioned. Mr. Calhoun said: 'The matter had been discussed between Mrs. Calhoun and myself, but without coming to any positive conclusion. I had gone to my study, and was writing, when she came in without a word of introduction. She said: "Mr. Calhoun, I have determined not to return Mrs. Eaton's visit." ! have heard that a drowning man will sometimes see, at a glance, his whole past life, and, at these words, it seemed as though the future was shown me in as sudden and as vivid a manner. The rupture with General Jackson; the Administration changing from a Free Trade policy to that of Protection; the failure to adjust the Tariff difficulties; Executive patronage brought to bear upon the States' Right leaders; personal property influencing the masses; certain Nullification by South Carolina, and almost certain attempt at co- ercion by the Federal Government — this was the panorama which passed like a flash before my eyes. I was roused from my partial reverie by Mrs. Calhoun saying again, and with emphasis, "I have determined, Mr. Calhoun, not to return Mrs. Eaton's visit." 1 then said that she misunderstood my silence, and said simply: "That is a question about which women should feel, not think. Their in- LIFE AND TIMES OF JACKSON. 335 stincts are the safest guides. I entirely concur with you in your decision." ' Of course we only quote from memory, and, while the published statement gives the reason which influenced Mr. Calhoun's action as Vice-President, we have thought the anecdote might not be without interest, as affording a glimpse of the private feelings of the man and of the woman. "The vindictive bitterness and unforgiving hate felt towards Mr. Calhoun for this act of manly independence can, at this day, be realized only by considering his then social and political position. His decision as to Mrs. Eaton's status was conclusive. Hence the experiment was first made on him, and it was made with every hope of success. His relations with General Jackson were then, and had been for years, of the most intimate and friendly character. For this reason it was supposed he would be inclined to yield. Then, the country, as will be seen further on, was terribly convulsed, and upon the very verge of revolution. The position which General Jackson should assume relative to the great issue then pending, it was gen- erally admitted, would decide the fate of the country for weal or for woe. He was as yet, if not halting between two opinions, at least not openly committed. The wonderful influence which Mrs. Eaton had over him was well known. Married to a Cabinet Minister, she was determined not to be excluded from the houses of his colleagues. If friendship, or personal ambition, could not influence Mr. Calhoun, might not love of country do so? If his personal relations with General Jackson were uninterrupted, the Administration would be under his control. General Jackson once secured, his personal pop- ularity and iron will, backed by the (even then) powerful patron- age of the Government, would give easy and quick victory to the Republican party over their enemies, and the enemies of the Consti- tution. Could General Jackson be induced only to avow publicly the principles of the party to which he had always professed to belong, and announce his determination to act upon them, pros- perity would be secured to the South, and peace to the whole coun- try. The Executive standing squarely on the Jeffersonian doctrine of '98 and '99, consolidationism must yield or die. Georgia, in 1827, had asserted the right of State interpretation, and had denounced a tariff for protection as unconstitutional. South Carolina, in Decem- ber, 182 8, had concurred in these views, and published the 'exposi- tion.' Alabama, in 1828, and again in 1829, avowed the same doc- trine. Virginia, through her Legislature, by a vote of 134 to 68, had reaffirmed her Resolutions of '98 and '99. Should even one of these States nullify the Act of 1828, known over the whole South as the 'Bill of Abominations,' and the President declare that he had no power to enforce it, the wheels of the Government must stand still or the bill be repealed, and a constitutional ac<" passed for the legiti- mate purposes of revenue." On August 16, 1818, William H. Crawford, and his bosom friend, Hon. Thomas C*obb, spent the nip:ht with Fleming Grantland, in Milledgeville, Georgia. Mr. Grantland was the editor of The Georgia Journal. Nine days later, there appeared in this newspaper an editorial in which it was stated, that the Monroe Cabinet had been equally divided on the question of arresting General 336 LIFE AND TIMES OF JA( KSON. Jackson, because of his lawless conduct during the Seminole campaign. (This is the very first reference to the matter that I have been able to trace. It was found in a very scarce, out-of-print volume, which Captain James Barrett, of Augusta, Georgia, was kind enough to procure for me.) The inference that Editor Grantland got his infor- mation from William H. Crawford is unavoidable. Crawford was a member of Monroe's Cabinet during the Seminole campaign. He spent the night at Grantland 's house a few days before the official secret appeared in Grantland 's paper. No other member of Monroe's Cabinet had talked with the editor on that subject. In the abandon of private conversation, the guest had ' ' told tales out of school." And I must say that there is a sug- gestion of political calculation in Crawford's conduct, for Grantland, a gentleman of the highest character, would not have made editorial use of the Crawford statement if there had been no understanding to that effect. The editorial was an attack on Jackson, apparently inspired by Crawford. Now, John Forsyth, of Georgia, was a very able man, and one of the best of political manipulators : his hatred of John C. Calhoun was consuming. It is highly probable that he read the editorial in the Milledgeville paper. (That city was then the capital of Georgia, and the Journal an influential sheet.) The circumstances indi- cate that he did read the Crawford statement, either in the Journal, or in some other periodical. However, there is no evidence to show that there was any effort made that time to identify those Cabinet officers who favored Jackson's arrest. Years passed, Crawford was paralyzed, and went into retirement, filled with a raging detestation of Calhoun. Then came Martin Van Buren, eagerly hunting for something that would embitter Andrew Jackson against John C. Calhoun. The refusal of the Southern lady, the Vice-President's wife, to recall Peggy O'Neal from : social banishment had enraged Eaton and Jackson, but LIFE AND TIMES OF JACKSON. 337 the old General could not afford to pick a quarrel with Mr. Calhoun about that. His own niece agreed with Mrs. Calhoun, and imitated her example. Besides, on such an issue, the whole country would probably decide that the ladies had a right to choose their own associates. So Jackson bided his time. With all of his fierceness of temper was intermingled a fine discretion. All at once, a rumor began to circulate — a rumor that William H. Crawford had written a letter to John For- syth in which the statement was made that Calhoun had been in favor of Jackson's arrest during the Seminole War. Significantly enough, that rumor reached Jackson through the son of Alexander Hamilton, confidential friend of Martin Van Buren. And even more significant is the fact that the rumor never arose until after Van Buren had gone down to Georgia, and spent a night at Crawford's house. The old General immediately wrote Calhoun a curt, offensive letter demanding to know whether Crawford's statement was true. Admirers of Calhoun would be most happy to relate that the Vice-President stood upon his dignity, and declined to discuss the matter. It was a Cabinet secret, and Jackson had no right to require its revelation. But it is vastly more easy for you and I to see what course Calhoun should have pursued, than it was for him when that terrible crisis came upon him. He might have known that nothing he could say would appease Jackson. He had condemned the lawlessness of certain Jacksonian doings, and he had been quite right in it. Nobody but a Jesuitical J. Q. Adams could justify those proceedings. Instead of a manly defiance of the irreconciliable President, Mr. Calhoun had the weakness to answer him in a prodigiously long letter, which utterly failed of its purpose. He could do some hurt to the fame of Crawford, but it was not in his power to pacify the vengeful champion of Peggj^ O'Neal; When Mr. Calhoun had the further bad judgment to write, a second time, Jackson virtually told him that he did not care to hear another word from him. 338 LIFE AND TIMES OF JACKSON. The rupture was complete, tina] and, to Calhoun's presidential aspirations, fatal And the strangest thing about it all is, that Calhoun proved by overwhelming evidence that Jackson had known, in 1818, that Calhoun disapproved of some of his conduct in the Seminole War. Like the queer movements made by the Jacksonian man- agers in the matter of the Rhea letter, there is something in the episode that never has come to light. With two such unscrupulous manipulators as Amos Kendall and Martin Van Buren, concealment of tracks was a fine art. One of the curious features of the episode was that Calhoun at first believed that he had laid Jackson out, and that he himself had come off triumphant. His letter to Hon. James H. Hammond is worth quotation. "TO JAMES H. HAMMOND. "Washington 16th Feb 1831 "Dear Sir, the mail, that takes this, will bring you a copy of the Correspondence with Gen. Jackson. It will speak for itself. Gen. Jackson has certainly involved himself in great difficulty in this affair. He has, to say the least, been sadly duped; yet, I think, the proper course, at least at first, is to say little about him. Let the press direct the publick indignation against the contriver of this profligate intrigue. Who is the prime mover belongs rather to the publick, than to me. to say. One thing, however, is remarkable, that every individual connected with it, is the correspondent and friend of a certain prominent individual, who made a visit to Georgia in 1827. The origin dates certainly from about that period, as you will see by Mr. Crawford's letter to Mr. Balch of Nashville. The affair, I hope, may open the eyes of Gen. Jackson. It is most unfortunate for him and the country, that he has so greatly misplaced his confi- dence. Unless he should withdraw it, and that speedily, it is hard to anticipate the result. Universal discontent, distraction, and cor- ruption seem to be taking possession of the country. "I write in great haste, and you must understand, what I have said, as being for your inspection only. (Signed) "JNO. C. CALHOUN." (The "prominent individual" alluded to was Van Buren.) The following letter is even more remarkable : "TO SAMUEL L. GOUVERNEUR. "Fort Hill 22d May 1835 "My dear Sir, I have just heard from a respectable source, that a book is now writing at Washington under the auspices of Genl. LIFE AND TIMi^lS OF JACKSON. 339 Jackson and to be published when he retires, on the subject of the Seminole affair; in which an attack will be made both on Mr. Mon- roe's character and my own, and in which the affidavit of John Rhea is to form a prominent part. I deem it important to apprise you of the fact, that it is believed at Washington, that such a work is in progress. "I had no doubt that any effort, that baseness and ingenuity can devise will be resorted to induce you, by them, who believe that all are venial and base like themselves, to abandon the defense of Mr. Monroe, but I feel perfectly confident without the slightest effect. General Jackson feels deeply mortified with the situation he occu- pies in relation to the affair; and is determined that nothing shall be omitted to reverse it if possible in the eyes of posterity. As to myself individually 1 certainly can have no objection that he should renew his attack on me in relation to it. He has heretofore gained nothing by his attacks, and I shall take care, if he should renew it, not to let him off as easily as I have in the correspondence. "!' would be glad to hear from you, and to learn, whether you have any information as to the supposed contemplated publication, and in particular who is to be the author. "Mrs. C. joins her best respects to yourself and Mrs. G." The book to which Calhoun refers was actually under way, but a death-bed statement made by James Monroe caused the Jackson men to halt. The dying ex-President most positively and solemnly donied the truth of the material allegations made in the Rhea affidavit. We are told that after the return of the Donelsons to Tennessee, Peggy O'Neal acted on State occasions as First Lady of the land. She arranged the details of the entertainments, and presided over them. There came near being an international rumpus because of the con- duct of the wife of the Dutch minister, who rose indig- nantly and sailed out of the White House, when she saw that fascinating Peggy was in command. She was a plucky little woman, was Margaret 'Neal, and one can not repress his admiration of her gallantry in battling with those ''stuck-up" Washington ladies. Really there never was a scrap of trustworthy evidence brought against her. General Jackson himself chal- lenged her accusers to a show-down; and they com- pletely failed in the attempts to produce testimony. As she grew older, Mrs. Eaton became more sedate, and she enjoyed all the "society" that she desired. She survived to the year 1879, when she died in Washington. 340 LIFE AND TIMiCS OF JACKSON. Her husband became estranged from his old Chief and was his bitter enemy. I find the following in the defunct Southern Review : "After General Jackson had retired from public life, and the places which had known him knew him no longer, the more respect- able of his adherents began very unmistakably to show Mrs. Eaton the cold shoulder. She was not one to be very easily put down, and, where the force was too great to resist, she never submitted with patience, nor failed to pay back all acts of unkindness, and usually with interest. Mrs. Polk, when presiding at the White House, found her acquaintance not desirable, and took no pains to conceal her Impressions. Mrs. Eaton was not long in discovering this, and acted promptly. Not knowing when she might be actually excluded, she seized upon the first opportunity of a gathering of the great ones of the land at the Presidential mansion, and presented herself. For- tune favors the brave, and it favored her on this occasion. Mrs. Polk was seated when she entered, and by her side sat the wife of a foreign ambassador, who was herself, however, an American. Mrs. Eaton approached, nodded with a pleasant and familiar smile, and took a vacant seat which happened to be next them. They were surrounded by ambassadors, senators, judges, and members of the Cabinet, and became immediately so engaged in conversation as ap- parently not to observe .the new comer. Peggy bided her time, and, taking advantage of the first pause, said in a very distinct voice, and with a manner that attracted instant attention, "Good morning, Mrs. Polk, you did not see me; no matter, in such a charming circle I don't wonder at it. And you, too, Madame ; how very well you are both looking. By the way, what a funny country this is! Only think that we three daughters of tavern-keepers should be sitting together here in the While House, and receiving the atten- tions of the most distinguished of our own countrymen and of the representatives of the crowned heads of Europe! Why, how em- barrassed you both look! I don't mind it a bit. Your father, you know, Madame , kept a tavern in Cincinnati, and yours, Mrs. Polk, in Tennessee, and mine — well, mine did not exactly keep a tavern, it was a private boarding-house for members of Congress, but for the sake of the unities, we'll call it a tavern. And to think how oddly it has all turned out. You, Madame — married a foreign minister, and you, Mrs. Polk, are the wife of the President, and my husband was a member of the Cabinet, and foreign minister; and here we all are together in the White House. Funny country, isn't it! Good morning, Mrs. Polk; good-morning, Madame ; I will see you both again soon.' And so having brought her guns quickly into battery, and delivered her fire, she limbered up and retired before the enemy could reply. The effect can be more easily imagined than described. So parted Peggy with her two friends, who did not approve of her." Buell preserves this little anecdote, which throws a sidelight on Jackson's admiration for Peggy O'Neal: *'A favorite boast of Jackson's was that his feet 'had never pressed foreign soil;' that, 'born and raised in the LIFE AND TIMES OF JACKSON. 341 United States, lie had never been out of the country.' It is recorded that he one day made this exultant obser- vation in the presence of Mrs. Eaton, whose Irish wit prompted her to inquire, 'But how about Florida, General r '' 'That's so. I did go to Florida when it was a foreign country, but I had quite forgotten that fact when I made the remark.' '' 'I expect, (ieneral, you forgot that Florida was foreign when you made the tripT ''The General was put hors de combat for a moment, but soon rallied. 'Yes, yes, may be so. Some weak- kneed people in our own country seemed to think so.' " 'Oh, well, General, never mind. Florida didn't stay foreign long after you had been there!' "This was one of his favorite anecdotes for the rest of his life. Whenever he related it, he would add: 'Smartest little woman in America, sir; by all odds, the smartest!' " ANECDOTES OF THE PERIOD. Henky Clay as a Gentleman's Gambler. "Whist was regularly played at many of the 'Con- gressional messes,' and at private parties a room was always devoted to whist-playing. Once when the wife of Henry Clay was chaperoning a young lady from Boston, at a party given by one of his associates in the Cabinet, they passed through the card-room, where Mr. Clay and other gentlemen were playing whist. The young lady, in her Puritan simplicity, inquired: "Is card-playing a common practice here?' 'Yes,' replied Mrs. Clay, 'the gentlemen always play when they get together.' 'Don't it distress you,' said the Boston maiden, 'to have Mr. Clay gambler 'Oh! dear, no!' composedly replied the statesman's wife, 'he most always wins.' '^ The Surly Temper of J. Q. Adams. "Senator Tazewell, Mr. Randolph's colleague, was a first-class Virginia abstractionist and an avowed hater 342 LIFE AND TIMES OF JACKSON. of New England. Dining one day at the White House, he provoked the President by offensively asserting that he had 'never known a Unitarian who did not believe in the sea-serpent.' Soon afterward Mr. Tazewell spoke of the different kinds of wines, and declared that Tokay and Rhenish wine were alike in taste. "Sir,' said Mr. Adams, 'I do not believe you ever drank a drop of Tokay in all your life.' For this remark the President subse- quently sent an apology to Mr. Tazewell, but the Vir- ginia Senator never forgot or forgave the remark." Daniel Webster Takes Too Much Wine. "An amusing account has been given of an after- dinner speech by Mr. Webster at a gathering of his political friends, when he had to be prompted by a friend who sat just behind him, and gave him successively phrases and topics. The speech proceeded somewhat after this fashion : Prompter: 'Tariff.' Webster: 'The tariff, gentlemen, is a subject requiring the profound attention of the statesman. American industry, gentle- men, must be — ' (nods a little). Prompter: 'National Debt.' Webster: 'And, gentlemen, there's the national debt — it should be paid' (loud cheers, which rouse the speaker) ; 'yes, gentlemen, it should be paid (cheers), and I'll be hanged if it shan't be' — taking out his pocketbook) — 'I'll pay it mj^self ! How much is itf This last question was asked of a gentleman near him with drunken seriousness, and, coupled with the recollection of the well-known impecuniosity of Webster's pocket- book it excited roars of laughter, amidst which the orator sank into his seat and was soon asleep." Charity-Brokers Defied by Andrew Jackson. ' ' General Jackson turned a deaf ear to the numerous applications made to him for charity. At one time when he was President a large number of Irish immigrants were at work on the Chesapeake and Ohio Canal in Georgetown, and, the weather being very hot, many of them were prostrated by sunstroke and bilious diseases. LIFE AND TIMES OF JACKSON. 343 They were without medical aid, the necessities of life, or any shelter except the shanties in which they were crowded. Their deplorable condition led to the forma- tion of a society of Irish- Americans, with the venerable Mr. McLeod, a noted instructor, as president. A com- mittee from this Society waited on the President for aid. Mr. McLeod made known the object of their visit. General Jackson interrupted him by saying that he 'entirely disapproved of the Society; that the fact of its existence would induce these fellows to come one hun- dred miles to get the benefit of it ; that if the Treasury of the United States were at his disposal it could not meet the demands that were daily made upon him, and he would not be driven from the White House a beggar- man, like old Jim Monroe.' " The Indian Chief. ''The then recently completed rotunda of the Capitol — Mr. Gales took pains to have it called rotunda in the National Intelligencer — was a hall of elegant propor- tions, ninety-six feet in diameter and ninety-six feet in height to the apex of its semicircular dome. It had been decorated with remarkable historical bas-reliefs by Cap- pellano, Gevelot, and Causici, three Italian artists — two of them pupils of Canova. They undoubtedly possessed artistic ability and they doubtless desired to produce works of historical value. But they failed ignominiously. Their respective productions were thus interpreted by Grizzly Bear, a Menominee chief. Turning to the eastern doorway, over which there is represented the landing of the Pilgrims, he said: 'There Ingen give hungry white man corn.' Then, turning to the northern doorway, over which is represented William Penn making a treaty with the Indians, he said : ' There Ingen give white man land. ' Then turning to the western door- way, over which is represented Pocahontas saving the life of Captain Smith, he said : ' There Ingen save white man's life.' And then turning to the southern doorway, oVer which is represented Daniel Boone, the pioneer, 344 LIFE AND TIMES OF JACKSON. plunging his hunting-knife into the heart of a red man, while his foot rests on the dead body of another, he said : 'And there white man kill Ingen. Ugh!' " Adams and Jackson. ''That evening President Monroe gave a public reception at the White House, which had just been rebuilt, after having been burned by the British army — in 1814. The two candidates, Mr. Adams, the elect, and General Jackson, the defeated, accidentally met in the East Eoom. General Jackson, who was escorting a lady, promptly extended his hand, saying pleasantly: 'How do you do, Mr. Adams! I give you my left hand, for the right, as you see, is devoted to the fair. I hope you are very well, sir.' All this was gallantly and heartily said and done. Mr. Adams took the General's hand, and said, with chilling coldness: 'Very well, sir; I hope General Jackson is well!' The military hero was genial and gracious, while the unamiable diplomat was as cold as an iceberg. ' ' (But Adams acted as he felt, while Jackson concealed his raging hatred with geniality and graciosity.) These anecdotes are taken from the Ben Perley Poore's "Reminiscences." LIFE AND TIMES OF JACKSON. 345 CHAPTER XXX. Has it ever occurred to you that among the causes of the terrible inequalities of wealth in this country, the manufacturing system is twin-brother to our money system? Think it over. In the first place, the United States Statistical Abstract reveals the appalling fact that the compara- tively few men engaged in that branch of industry absorb one-half of the annual increase of wealth. On the capital invested they cleared, in the year 1900, the sum of $2,000,000, over and above eight per cent, net profits. One combination of manufacturers, the United States Steel Corporation, clears a hundred million dollars a year — more than the entire agricultural class has ever cleared in any year. These manufacturers have leagued themselves together in the various Trusts, and the consumer finds himself held up in the purchase of every commodity. The great mass of the unorganized farmers accept the Trust price when they sell, and pay the Trust price when they buy. The common people fix the price of nothing. Consequently, there is left to the working class and to the agricultural class a bare living. The million- aire corporation of a few years ago, is the billionaire Trust of today. All the histories and all the statesmen agree that, during the first half-century of our national existence, we had no poor. A pauper class was unthought of: a beggar, or a tramp never seen. At the present time, our destitute are numbered by the millions, beggars swarm in the big cities, tramps infest the roads; men, women and children perish of cold and hunger in almost every State of the Union. The size of our proletariat is prodigious; its condition, frightful. What caused this dreadful change, from universal well-being to such a state of ominous inequality and suf- fering? To a very great extent, the manufacturing system. 23a j 346 LIFE AND TIMES OF JACKSON. We have become the world's melting-pot. The scum of creation has been dumped on us. Some of our princi- pal cities are more foreign than American. The most dangerous and corrupting hordes of the Old World have invaded us. The vice and the crime which they have planted in our midst, are sickening and terrifying. What brought these Goths and Vandals to our shores? The manufacturers are mainly to blame. They wanted cheap labor; and they didn't care a curse how much harm to our future might be the consequence of their heartless policy. Let them but pile up their mil- lions — they recked not of the nation's future. "Apres nous le deluge!" Let the future take care of itself: the Flood which might come thereafter, mattered not to them. I never gazed upon a cotton mill, running at night, that it did not seem to me to be some hideous monster, with a hundred dull red eyes, indicative of the flames within which were consuming the men, women and chil- dren chained to the remorseless wheel of labor. Every one of these red-eyed monsters is a Moloch, into which soulless Commercialism is casting human victims — the atrocious sacrifice to an insatiable god! Did you ever see the smelting works of Birmingham, at night? Did you ever see Pittsburg, at night? If so, you have gazed upon something more infernal than Dante or Milton could throw into their pictures of hell. War sometimes closes the temple of Janus — com- mercialism never does. On the battlefield, the life of the vanquished is spared — no pity ever softens the cold, hard eyes of commercialism. The undeniable statistics published by the United States Government prove that, in loss of life and limb, in sick lists, and prematurely exhausted, our manufacturing system drains the national vital forces to a greater degree than would a perpetual war. No foreign foe could slay as many American citizens as our commercialism slaughters. No invading Attila and his Huns could gather up so much plunder, and LIFE AND TIMES OF JACKSON. 347 reduce so many millions of our people to want as our manufacturing system does. Tamerlane never sacked so many homes, never subdued as many millions of people as our manufacturers have done. In the name of Patriotism, under the pretense of paying high wages, the manufacturer has ground the face of the poor, driven countless men and boys to crime, sunk multitudes of women to perdition, and imported a host of low-class foreigners, to take bread out of the mouths of native Americans. They have pinched wages to the limit of physical endurance, have shot down with- out pity the workmen whom intolerable treatment had driven to desperation; have sold their goods at lower prices to alien peoples abroad than they will accept from their own flesh and blood, here at home ; have corrupted our politics, debauched our judiciary, enslaved the press, and well-nigh destroyed the confidence of our people in the churches of Christ. To the manufacturers is largely due the deplorable concentration of population in the cities — a concentra- tion ruinous to the industrial and moral welfare of the poorer classes. Here are the storm-centers: here are the rumbling, seething volcanoes: here are the depravities and the criminalities that cancerously eat into the body politic: here are the savage hosts. that are muttering revolution, flying the red flag, and chanting the "Marseillaise!" The Privileged are ever blind. They can't be made to see. The Roman Senators would not read the signs of the times : the French nobles would not heed warn- ings: the Southern slave-owners could not be taught wisdom: the English lords, even now, are cursing the heavens and daring the thunderbolt. It has always been so. Never is a Cassandra lacking, and never can the prophet save Troy. Would to God that not a single custom-house had ever been built on our shores. Had we never had a Tariff; had we left Industry to prosper on its own merits, forcing nothing by hot-house processes: had we 348 LIFE AND TIMES OF JACKSON. never enacted a "law" which enabled one man's busi- ness to thrive at the expense of another's: had we never disguised "Confiscation" under the name of "Protec- tion": had we never allowed the manufacturers to take charge of legislation, and to fashion the elaborate sys- tem which methodically transfers wealth from one class to another — we would never have seen the Presidency sold to the highest bidder, never seen a Sugar Trust steal $2,000,000 per year, at one Custom-house: never wit- nessed the bloody uprising of the tobacco-growers in Kentucky and Tennessee ; never seen an army of unem- ployed; never heard of an employment system which evolved the $5-per-week girl and her "gentleman friend"; never known of fathers and mothers giving away their children because they couldn't feed them; never been horrified by the whole families starving together, or killing themselves to escape the lingering tortures of cold and hunger; never have been put to the blush by an official report on home-life which our Gov- ernment dared not publish tO the world ! Historians tell you that the Southern States were originally in favor of a protective tariff, but changed when it was found that slave labor in the mills was a failure. That is not true. The South was the Cavalier section; and the Cavalier had no genius or inclination for mechanical pursuits, literary seclusion, or manufac- turing. In fact, the typical Cavalier was not much of a worker, at anything. His tastes ran to horseback exer- cise, athletic sports, hunting and fishing, gaming, horse- racing and cock-fighting. Magnificent as a soldier, he was a mere child in business. The sedentary life of a scholar was his abomination: confinement in the count- ing-house, a punishment : the management of a manufac- turing establishment, utterly foreign to his taste and capacity. These facts are so well-known that it astounds one to read, in the histories, the statement that the South turned against Protection because she had tried manu- facturing and failed. The truth is, that while Mr. Cal- LIFE AND TIMES OF JACKSON. 349 houn, in 1816, supported Mr. Clay, in his tariff policy, the South never was in favor of Protection. Mr. Jeffer- son had taught the agricultural section the great lesson, that the tariff robs agriculture for the benefit of manu- factures. On that subject, the Southern States were Jeffersonian. The greatest speech ever made by an American against the principle and policy of Protection, was that of George McDuffie. John Randolph, of Roa- noke, had thundered against it throughout his long career — and he entered Congress under Washington's immediate successor. Northern historians ignore McDuffie, and classify Randolph as a freak; but this country never produced two orators of greater power, eloquence and influence. Either one of them could speak for three hours at a stretch, and hold throughout the fascinated attention of their Congressional audience. In fact, Henry Clay, crazy to be President, and there- fore catering to the North, was the only towering figure in the South that stood throughout for Protection; and Kentucky is not, strictly speaking, a Southern State, any more than West Virginia is. From the very beginning, the statesmen of the South realized that their section, being agricultural, was the principal loser to New England under the tariff system. From the first, the successive increases in tariff rates, provoked greater and greater indignation in the South. George McDuffie had truthfully declared that, out of every hundred bales of cotton produced in our fields, the tariff robbed us of forty. But New England paid no attention to these protests. Poverty-cursed by nature, she was determined to get rich at lawmaking. If she could so manipulate the import duties as to shut out competition, she could manu- facture the goods which the American consumers must purchase, at her own prices. With the foreign manufac- turer kept out, by custom-house duties, the American consumer of manufactured articles would be at her mercy. She could put up prices to such an extent that he would be plundered and New England enriched. In this 350 LIFE AND TIMES OF JACKSON. way, the section least favored by nature would, vampire- like, suck the wealth out of the agricultural sections, upon which nature had showered such favors. Thus, the naturally rich section would be doomed to perpetual poverty, while the naturally poor section would amass such wealth as the world had never previously known. So, New England went on from Congress to Con- gress, iuching up, inching up, raising the rates every few years. Henry Clay, — brilliant, ambitious, head-strong, superficial — became the champion of the Eastern manu- facturers, doing immensely more for them than it was in Daniel Webster to do. In 1828, the worst of all tariffs — up to that time — was enacted into "law." It is known as the "Tariff of Abominations. ' ' When the details of this atrocious bill became known, at the South, there was a furious outcry against it. In most of the States, public meetings denounced it. Georgia declared that the "law" was not binding. South Carolina went still further, and took her stand on the famous ground of "Nullification." At this point, the significance of the Peggy O'Neal rumpus is vividly evident. Calhoun, being the great opponent of the Protective principle and the apostle of Nullification, can any one doubt that Jackson's intense scorn and hatred of him — as the cause of Peggy O'Neal's failure to get into society — influenced the deci- sion of Jackson! In his conflict with the United States Indian agent, Dinsmore, we have seen how the passionate, iron- willed Jackson defied the United States authorities, threatened to destroy Dinsmore and the agency-house, and declared that if the Federal Government did not respect the rights of the State of Tennessee, it would be the duty of her people, as freemen, to redress their grievances by resort to arms. And Jackson required his friend, George W. Campbell, to carry these threats to the Sec- retary of W^ar! Again, after the Webster-Hayne debate. President LIFE AND TIMES OF JACKSON. 351 Jackson wrote a note of congratulation — to whom? Webster? No; to Hayne. Therefore, had not the Peggy O'Neal row occurred, had Calhoun and Jackson remained good friends; had Calhoun opened his house to the outlawed woman and thus assured her entrance into the best social circles; had he not foiled the burning ambition of Jackson's favorite, and caused her to inflame the old General's heart against him — in a word, if Calhoun had been an adroit, limber-kneed courtier, as Van Buren was, can there be any serious doubt that the course of events would have been different? Balked by Calhoun in a matter on which he had set his whole heart, and kept at fever heat by the artful, insidious, untiring Peggy — who played injured inno- cence with consummate skill — Jackson grew to hate John C. Calhoun as even he had never hated any other man. And wherever Andrew Jackson hated, he wanted to hurt. His whole life proves that. When Carolina passed her ordinance of Nullification, and prepared to resist the enforcement of the new tariff "law," Jackson issued his proclamation of remonstrance and warning. Also he made preparations to collect the custom-house duties in South Carolina. A bill was introduced into Congress, to empower the President to use the military to enforce the law. Historians of a certain sort make a great to-do over Jackson's threats to hang Calhoun, over his toast at the Jefferson-day banquet, ("The Union: it must be pre- served!") and over the consternation and dismay of Calhoun and his following. In all of this, there isn't a scintilla of truth, beyond the fact that Jackson did send, or propose, such a toast. (Authorities differ as to his being present at the ban- quet. In the book, "Great Senators," it is stated that Jackson was too unwell to attend.) It is possible that the old General, who had shown such a readiness to unlawfully hang prisoners, may have threatened, in some wild talk at the White House, to 352 LIFE AND TIMES OF JACKSON. hang a United States Senator,* but if any such silly explosion took place, it had no effect whatever on Cal- houn. He never flinched one iota throughout the crisis. His speeches ring with the fiery determination of Patrick Henry. Time and again, he told the Senate that any attempt to enforce that abominable ''law," would be resisted with all the armed force of South Carolina. Addressing the Senate, he said : "I consider the bill as far worse, and more dangerous to lib- erty, than the tariff. It has been most wantonly passed, when its avowed object no longer justified it. I consider it as chains forged and fitted to the limbs of the States, and hung up to be used when •occasion may require. We are told in order to justify the passage of this fatal measure, that it was necessary to present the olive branch with one hand and the sword with the other. We scorn the alternative. Yet have no right to present the sword. The Constitu- tion never put the instrument in your hands to be employed against a State; and as to the olive branch, whether we receive it or not will not depend on your menace but on our own estimate of what is due to ourselves and the rest of the community in reference to the diffi- cult subject on which we have taken issue." In another speech, he declared: "* * * It has been said that the bill declares war against South Carolina. No. It decrees a massacre of her citizens! War has something ennobling about it, with all its horrors, brings Into action the highest qualities, intellectual and moral. It was, perhaps, in the order of Providence that it should be permitted for that very purpose. But this bill declares no war, except, indeed, it be that which avenges wage — a war. not against the community, but the citizens of whom that community is composed. But I regard it as worse than savage warfare — as an attempt to take away life under the color of law, without the trial by jury, or any other safeguard which the Constitution has thrown around the life of the citizen! It authorizes the President, or even his deputies, when they may suppose the law to be violated, without the intervention of a court or jury, to kill without mercy or discrimination! "It has been said by the S'enator from Tennessee (Mr. Grundy) to be a menace of peace! Yes: such peace as the wolf gives to the lamb, the kite to the dove! Such peace as Russia gives to Poland, or death to its victims! A peace, by extinguishing the political existence of the State, by awing her into an abandonment of the exercise of every power which constitutes her a sovereign com- munity. It is to South Carolina a question of self-preservation; and I proclaim it that, should this bill pass, and an attempt be made to enforce it, it will be resisted, at every hazard — even that of death itself. Death is not the greatest calamity: there are others still ♦Upon his resignation from the Vice-Preaidency, Mr. Calhoun had been elected to the Senate. LIFE AND TIMES OF JACKSON. 353 more terrible to the free and brave, and among them may be placed the loss of liberty and honor. There are thousands of her brave sons who, if need be, are prepared cheerfully to lay down their lives in defense of the State, and the great principles of constitu- tional liberty for which she is contending. God forbid that this should become a necessity! It never can be, unless this Govern- ment is resolved to bring the question to extremity, when her gal- lant sons will stand prepared to perform the last duty — to die nobly." This language is certainly not that of a craven. Jackson himself never blazed forth more fiercely. Who was it that, thoroughly alarmed at the course events were taking, weakened and surrendered? It was Henry Clay. He saw, when almost too late, that his reckless pur- suit of Northern favor was about to plunge his country into civil war ! He was in desperate straits. To his con- fusion, it had become evident that Calhoun was as deter- mined as Jackson. Neither would "give" an inch. To prevent the worst of all national calamities. Clay, (in so many words, uttered in open session in the Sen- ate,) surrendered the principle of Protection. This being done, compromise was easy. The "Bill of Abomi- nations" went to the limbo of dead things; and after Congress had thus removed the "cause of war," South Carolina repealed her ordinance of Nullification. No American statesman ever displayed such nerve, such Roman courage as Calhoun did, in this famous episode — in which he, single-handed, fought New Eng- land, Henry Clay and Andrew Jackson. His triumph was as complete as it was marvellous. And yet, nearly all of the histories put him in the dust, with fear-whitened face, trembling at the threats of the irate Jackson. Compared to the tariff monstrosities of today, the "Bill of Abominations" was a beautiful specimen of legislative justice. Alas ! we have fallen upon the evil times in which no Senator, no Governor, no aroused commonwealth dares to imitate the glorious example of Calhoun and South Carolina I 354 LIFE AND TIMES OF JACKSON. CONTEMPORARY CHARACTERS— INCIDENTS AND ANECDOTES. McDuffie's Antagonist in the Famous Duel. ' ' Colonel William Cumming was a native of Augusta, Georgia. Born to the inheritance of fortune, he received a liberal education and selected the law as a profession. He read with the celebrated Judges Reeve and Gould, at Litchfield, Connecticut. At the period of his study this was the only law-school in the United States. Many anecdotes of his peculiarities during his residence at the school were related by his preceptors to the young gen- tlemen from Georgia who followed him in the office in after-years. A moot court was a part of the system of instruction, in which questions of law, propounded by one of the professors, were argued by students appointed for the purpose. On one occasion, Cumming was reply- ing to the argument of a competitor, and was resented by insulting words. Turning to the gentleman, and without speaking, Cumming knocked him down. Imme- diately, and without the slightest appearance of excite- ment, addressing the presiding professor, he remarked: 'Having summarily disposed of the gentleman, I will proceed to treat this argument in like manner.' "Upon his return to Georgia, the war with England having broken out, he procured the commission of a cap- tain and entered the army. He was transferred to the Northern frontier — then the seat of active operations — and soon distinguished himself amid that immortal band, all of whom now sleep with their fathers — Miller, Brook, Jessup, McCrea, Appling, Gaines, and Twiggs. Cumming, Appling, and Twiggs were Georgians. At the battle of Lundy's Lane he was severely wounded and borne from the field. He was placed in an adjoining room to General Preston, who was also suffering from a wound. Cumming was a favorite of Preston's, and both were full of prejudice toward the men of the North. Late at night, Preston was aroused by a boisterous laugh LIFE AND TIMES OF JACKSON. 355 in Gumming 's apartment. Such a laugh was so unusual with him that the General supposed he had become delirious from pain. He was unable to go to him, but called and inquired the cause of his mirth. " 'I can't sleep/ was the reply, 'and I was thinking over the incidents of the day, and just remembered that there had not in the conflict been an officer wounded whose home was north of Mason and Dixon's line. Those fellows know well how to take care of their bacon. ' ''He was soon promoted to a colonelcy, and was fast rising to the next grade when the war terminated. In the reduction of the army he was retained — a compli- ment to his merits as a man and as an officer. He was not satisfied with this, and, in declining to remain in the army, wrote to the Secretary of War: " 'There are many whose services have been greater, and whose merits are superior to mine, who have no other means of livelihood. I am independent and desire some other may be retained in my stead.' "He was unambitious of political distinction, though intensely solicitous to promote that of his friends. His high qualities of soul and mind endeared him to the peo- ple of the State, who desired and sought every occasion which they deemed worthy of him, to tender him the first positions within their gift; but upon every one of these he remained firm to his purpose, refusing always the proffered preferment. Upon one occasion, when written to by a majority of the members of the Legisla- ture, entreating him to permit them to send him to the Senate of the United States, he declined, adding: 'I am a plain, military man. Should my country, in that capacity, require my services, I shall be ready to render them; but in no other.' He continued to reside in Augusta in extreme seclusion. Upon the breaking out of the war with Mexico he was tendered, by Mr. Polk, the command of the army, but declined on account of his age and declining health, deeming himself -physically incapable of encountering the fatigue the position would involve." — Sparks: "Memories of Fifty Years." 356 LIFE AND TIMES OF JACKSON. George McDuffie. George McDuffie was a very different man. Born of humble parentage in one of the eastern counties of Georgia, he enjoyed but few advantages. His early edu- cation was limited; a fortuitous circumstance brought him to the knowledge of one of the Calhouns, who saw at once in the boy the promise of the man. Proposing to educate him and fit him for a destiny which he believed an eminent one, he invited him to his home, and fur- nished him with the means of accomplishing this end. "The rise of McDuffie at the Bar was. rapid; he had not practised three years before his position was by the side of the first minds of the State, and his name in the mouth of every one — the coming man of the South. "Fortunately at that time it was the pride of South Carolina to call to her service the best talent in all the public offices, State and National, and with one acclaim the people demanded his services in Congress. Mr. Simpkins, the incumbent from the Edgefield district, declined a re-election, that his legal partner, Mr. McDuffie, might succeed him, and he was chosen by acclamation. He came in at a time when talent abounded in Congress, and when the country was deeply agitated with the approaching election for President. Almost immediately upon his entering Congress an altercation occurred upon the floor of the House between him and Mr. Randolph, causing him to leave the House in a rage, with the detetrmination to challenge McDuffie. This, however, when he cooled, he declined to do. This ren- contre of wit and bitter words gave rise to an amusing incident during its progress. "Jack Baker, the wag and wit of Virginia, was an auditor in the gallery of the House. Randolph, as usual, was the assailant, and was very severe. Mr. McDuffie replied, and was equally caustic, and this to the astonish- ment of every one; for all supposed the young member was annihilated — as so many had been by Randolph — and would not reply. His antagonist was completely taken aback, and evidently felt, with Sir Andrew Ague- LIFE AND TIMES OF JACKSON. 357 cheek: 'Had I known he was so cunning of fence, I had seen him damned ere I had fought him.' But he was in for it, and must reply. His rejoinder was angry, and wanting in its usual biting sarcasm. McDuffie rose to reply, and, pausing, seemed to hesitate, when Baker from the gallery audibly exclaimed: 'Lay on, Macduff, and damned be he who first cries hold, enough!' The silence which pervaded the chamber was broken by a general, laugh, greatly disconcerting Randolph, but seeming to inspire McDuffie, who went on in a strain of vituperation, withering, pungent, in the midst of which Mr. Randolph left his seat and the House. ' * On one occasion of social meeting at a public dinner- party in Georgia, a young South Carolinian gave as a sentiment: 'George McDuffie — the pride of South Caro- lina.' This was immediately responded to by Mirabeau B. Lamar, the late President of Texas, who was then young, and a great pet of his friends, with another: 'Colonel William Cumming — " 'The man who England's arms defied, A bar to base designers; Who checked alike old Britain's pride And noisy South Carolina's.' "The wit of the impromptu was so fine and the com- pany so appreciative, that, as if by common consent, all enjoyed it, and good feeling was not disturbed. "McDuffie was not above the middle size. His features were large and striking, especially his eyes, forehead and nose. The latter was prominent and aquiline. His eyes were very brilliant, blue, and deeply set under a massive brow — his mouth large, with finely chiselled lips, which, in meeting, always wore the appear- ance of being compressed. In manners he was retiring without being awkward. His temperament was nervous and ardent, and his feelings strong. His manner when speaking was nervous and impassioned, and at times fiercely vehement, and again persuasive and tenderly pathetic, and in every mood he was deeply eloquent." — Sparks: "Memories of Fifty Years." 358 LIFE AND TIMES OF JACKSON. John Forsyth. \'The world, perhaps, never furnished a more adroit debater than John Forsyth. He was the Ajax Telamon of his party, and was rapidly rivalling the first in the estimation of that party. He hated Calhoun, and at times was at no pains to conceal it in debate. In the warmth of debate, upon one occasion, he alluded in severe terms, to the manner in which Mr. Crawford had been treated, during his incumbency as Secretary of the Treasury, by a certain party press in the interest of Mr. Calhoun. This touched the Vice-President on the raw: thus stung, he turned and demanded if the Senator alluded to him. Forsyth's manner was truly grand, as it was intensely fine: turning from the Senate to the Vice-President, he demanded with the imperiousness of an emperor: 'By what right does the Chair ask that question of me?' and paused as if for a reply, with his intensely gleaming eye steadily fixed upon that of Cal- houn. The power was with the Speaker, and the Chair was awed into silence. Slowly turning to the Senate, every member of which manifested deep feeling, he con- tinued, as his person seemed to swell into gigantic pro- portions, and his eye to sweep the entire chamber, 'Let the galled jade wince, our withers are unwrung,' and went on with the debate. "—Sparks : "Memories of Fifty Years." A New One on Andrew Jackson. The daughter of a Massachusetts Senator told me that in her younger life she went with her father to one of the regulation dinners at the White House. General Jackson himself took her out to the dinner-table. There was some talk about the light of the table, and the Gen- eral said to her, 'The chanticleer does not burn well.' She was so determined that she should not misunder- stand him that she pretended not to hear him and asked him what he said. To which his distinct reply was, 'The chanticleer does not burn well.' "—Edward Everett Hale: "Memories of a Hundred Years." LIFE AND TIMES OF JACKSON. 359 General Jackson at the Races : Anecdotes He Relates. ' ' The reviewer correctly says, '■ It has long been a matter of jest in Tennessee, indeed it was quite as freely spoken of during the life of General Jackson as it has been since his death, that the old hero conquered all his enemies, and those of his country, whom he met ; that he had overthrown the savage warriors of Alabama, Missis- sippi, Georgia, and Florida, and forced the fiercest and most stubborn to humbly sue for peace; that he had met and conquered the picked army of Packenham at New Orleans, with a handful of raw militia and volunteers; had overthrown the friends of the United States Bank; had met *'the beast with seven heads and ten horns," as he always termed the nullification of South Carolina, and compelled submission ; had forced the tariff into the channels he indicated, and had never known defeat; but he was unable to conquer the little Maria. She alone was able to meet all the hosts of the Hermitage, and compel them to follow her to the winning-post. Rivals for fame, imported from beyond the State, suffered the same ignominious fate. Finally she went abroad, and amid the rich fields and verdant grass of the ''dark and bloody ground," she met and conquered the hitherto invincible Robin Grey, the great-grand sire of the ever- to-be-lamented Lexington, the racer without a peer, the sire without a rival.' Such was Hanie's Maria in Ten- nessee, but in 1816, when nine years old, she was sold and taken to South Carolina, where she was badly beaten. Indeed, she never won a race after she left this State. Various were the opinions concerning her sudden fail- ures. But the best reason given was that she had lost the careful nursing of Green Berry Williams and the masterly horsemanship on the track of her old jockey, Monkey Simon, who rode every race she made in Ten- nessee, and she was never beaten until she left the State. The uniform success of Maria, however, must to a great extent be accredited to her trainer, Mr. Green Berry Williams. He came to Tennessee from Virginia or Georgia in 1806, with three thoroughbred horses, and 360 LIFE AND TIMES OF JACKSON. found a home with Captain Wm. Alexander at Harts- ville, in Sumner County. He had been bred to the track, having as a boy been an expert rider of quarter races, and was an experienced trainer. He was a man of mark in his profession, and had a host of friends. "The love of fast horses, and, indeed, of all thorough- bred animals, was a life-long characteristic of General Jackson. Colonel Peyton tells us in his graphic and happy style, with what delight even in the last years of his Presidency the old chief enjoyed the exercises of his horses on the race-course at Washington. He says: 'In the spring of 1834, while a member of Congress, I was invited by my friend, Major A. J. Donelson, Private Sec- retary of President Jackson, to visit without ceremony the stable of horses then being trained at Washington by himself and Major T. P. Andrews, of the United States Army, consisting of Busiris, by Eclipse, owned by Gen- eral C. Irvine; Emily, by Ratiler, and Lady Nashville, by Stockholder, belonging to Major Donelson, and Bolivia, by Tennessee Oscar, owned by General Jackson, which were trained by M. L. Hammond, who shortly after trained John Bascom when he beat Post Boy in a great match over the Long Island course. I assisted in timing all the ''trial runs" of the stable, and as the race meeting drew near, Major Donelson called to notify me that the last and most important trial would take place on the following morning, urging me to be oh hand, and saying the General and Mr. Van Buren (the Vice-Presi- dent) would be present. Galloping out, I overtook the party, the General being as calm as a 'summer's morn- ing.' On our arrival the horses were brought out, stripped, and saddled for the gallop. Busiris, an immense animal in size, and of prodigious muscular power, became furious and unmanageable, requiring two men to hold him for Jesse, Major D.'s colored boy, to mount. As soon as Busiris began 'kerlaraping,' Gen- eral Jackson fired up, and took command, and issued orders to everybody. To the trainer he said, 'Why don't you break him of those tricks? I could do it in an President Andrew Jackson LIFE AND TIMES OF JACKSON. 361 hour.' Rarey could not have done it in a week. I had dismounted, prepared my watch, and taken my place immediately below the judge's stand for the purpose of timing, the General and Mr. Van Buren remaining on their horses in the rear of the stand, which was a safe and convenient position, as the quarter-stretch was enclosed on both sides down to the stand, no other part of the course being inclosed on the inside. The General, greatly excited, was watching Busiris, and commanding everybody. He said to me, 'Why don't you take your position there? You ought to know where to stand to time a horse' — pointing to the place I intended to occupy in due time. I 'toed the mark,' lever in hand, without saying a word (nobody ever 'jawed back' at Old Hickory when he was in one of his ways). Busiris was still 'kerlaraping.^ 'Hold him, Jess. Don't let him break down the fence; now bring 'em up and give 'em a fair start,' and flashing his eye from the enraged horse to Mr. Van Buren, who had left his safe position in the rear and ridden almost into the track below the stand, he stormed out, 'Get behind me, Mr. Van Buren, they will run over you, sir.' Mr. Van Buren obeyed orders promptly, as the timer had done a moment before. This was one of the anecdotes current among the stump- speakers of Tennessee in the Presidential canvass of 1836, between Mr. Van Buren and Judge White, to illus- trate General Jackson's fatherly protection of Mr. Van Buren. Lady Nashville and Bolivia were next brought out, and demeaned themselves in a most becoming man- ner. The trials were highly satisfactory, and greatly pleased the General, whose filly, Bolivia, a descendant of his favorite horse Truxton, was to run in an important sweepstakes at the coming meeting at Washington. He left the course in the finest humor, and on his way to the White House he gave us, in a torrent-like manner, his early turf experiences in Tennessee. He was the most fluent, impressive, and eloquent conversationalist I ever met, and in any company took the lead in conversation, and nobody ever seemed disposed to talk where he was, 24 a ?. 362 LIFE AND TIMES OF JACKSON. and on this occasion I found him especially interesting — going back to the race of Truxton and Greyhound at Hartsville in 1805, and coming up to the great match between his horse Doublehead and Colonel Newton's Cannon's Expectation, which was run about 1811 over the Clover Bottom course, four-mile heats, for $5,000 a side, Doublehead being the winner. He alluded to the intense excitement and extravagant betting on the Trux- ton and Greyhound race; said besides the main bet, he won $1,500 in wearing apparel, and that his friend, Pat- ton Anderson, after betting all his money and the horse he rode to the race, staked fifteen of the finest horses on the ground belonging to other persons, many of them having ladies' saddles on their backs. 'Now,' said he, 'I would not have done that for the world, but Patton did it, and as he won, and treated to a whole barrel of cider and a basketful of gingercakes, he made it all right.' He recounted a thrilling incident, also, which occurred at Clover Bottom, after the race of Double- head and Expectation, which illustrated his maxim 'that rashness sometimes is policy, and then I am rash.' 'After the race,' said he, 'I went to the stable to see the old horse cooled off (it was near the proprietor's dwelling), and about dusk I observed Patton Anderson approaching in a brisk walk, pursued by a crowd of excited men, with several of whom I was aware he had an old feud. I was bound to make common cause with Patton, and I knew that unless I could check them we should both be roughly handled. I met them at the stile, and protested against their course as unmanly, and pledged myself that Patton would meet any of them at sunrise the next morning, and give satisfaction, thus delaying them until Patton had passed into the house. But the leaders of the crowd swore they intended to kill him, and I saw there remained but one chance for us, and that was to bluff them off". I knew they had no cause of quarrel with me, and that they supposed I was armed; putting my hand behind me into my coat pocket, I opened a tin tobacco box, my only weapon, and said, ' ' I will shoot LIFE AND TIMES OF JACKSON. 363 dead the first man who attempts to cross that fence," and as their leader placed his foot on the first step, I raised my arm and closed the box with a click very like the cocking of a pistol (it was so dark they could not dis- tinguish what I held in my hand), and, sir, they scrambled like a flock of deer. I knew there were men in that crowd who were not afraid to meet me or any other man; but, Mr. Van Buren, no man is willing to take the chance of being killed by an accidental shot in the dark. ' I am aware that Mr. Parton, in his life of General Jack- son, represents the tobacco-box exploit as occurring in the daytime, at a long dinner-table, on the race-course, General Jackson on the top of the table, 'striding at a tremendous pace to the rescue of Patton Anderson, wading knee-deep in dinner.' " — Guild: "Old Times in Tennessee." 364 LIFE AND TIMES OF JACKSON. CHAPTER XXXI. Insepaeable from the full sovereignty of any Gov- ernment, is the creation of Money. Like the exclusive authority to make treaties with other nations, to admin- ister justice, to legislate, to declare war, the power to make and control the currency of the nation is an attribute of royalty, of supreme power. In the history of the world, the unity of these func- tions in the King has been found necessary to the dignity and strength of the realm. Where nobles were so powerful that they themselves could administer justice in their own provinces, make war upon one another or upon foreign princes, and coin money — chaotic conditions existed. The growth of the royal prerogatives were marked by rigorous repression of private war, the exclusive creation of judicial tri- bunals, and the suppression of all coinage save that of the King. I use the term "create money" purposely. For just as the priest can persuade his dupe to disbelieve the evidence of his own eyes and common-sense, so the money-changers have convinced about nine-tenths of the world that Money is a creation of God, as the mountains and valleys are. Yet, if one could only prevail upon the people to look about them in a rational, independent way, the fact would be apparent to all that Nature nowhere produces any such thing as Money. God, after all His labors at the dawn of creation, left very many things for man to do. Nature furnishes the raw materials, but it is for us to manufacture. God made the forest, but man must make charcoal, turpen- tine, shingles, lumber, staves, squared timbers. Nature gives us the cow, but not the butter ; we must create that by churning. Nature imbedded coal and iron ore in the earth, but man makes the axe, the hoe, the plow, the steel-rail, the battle-ship. LIFE AND TIMES OF JACKSON. 365 In the same sense that linen and paper and a bar of gold are the hand-work of human beings, money is. But in some inscrutable manner, the financiers of the world have hypnotized governors and the governed, until the actualities have no influence upon national policies. The power behind every throne is the banker who rules the world through his power to mystify the nations on the subject of Money. Although history proves that a medium of exchange is the creature of convention, and that it may consist of almost any portable, non-perishable commodity, nearly everybody seems to believe that Gold and Silver are the money metals, by divine right. In the Santa Cruz Islands, the natives have a beauti- ful currency made of coils of soft bark covered with crimson feathers. It serves every purpose for which men create money. The Santa Cruz Islands are not cursed by any Money Trusts. When gold threatened to become too plentiful and cheap, the European bankers went to silver as the money of final payment. Then when the silver output grew alarmingly large, they repudiated silver and went over to gold. If there should be made tomorrow, a discovery of some enormous deposit of the yellow metal, the bankers would immediately begin to denounce gold as they condemned silver. (Even now, they are beginning to say that there is too much gold.) Why do they shift about from one metal to the other, and why did they wage relentless warfare against bi-metalism? Because the financiers are determined to have as small a volume of legal tenders as possible — so that they can the more easily corner the available supply of real money, and compel the mercantile world to supply its needs for currency with bank paper. In this way, the financiers reap untold millions of profits on currency of various kinds, whose cost did not exceed the ink, paper and printing, or engraving. In this way, they can inflate or contract the volume of cir- culating medium, and raise, or lower, prices. If threat- ened with adverse legislation, they can, by calling in 366 LIFE AND TIMES OF JACKSON. loans, decreasing the currency, and hoarding the avail- able cash, produce a panic which frightens the govern- ment into submission. In this country, they did just that, time and again. After the triumph of the Kings over the feudal lords had restored to the sovereign the exclusive privilege of creating money, that attribute of royalty was never dele- gated to a subject until the reign of the most dissolute and despicable Charles II. of England. During his reign, the palace was a brothel, and respectability fell into dis- grace. It was positively ridiculous for a courtier to be honest, and a lady of the royal circle to be chaste. Among the lewd women who for a season governed Charles, was Barbara Villiers. Through her, the gold- smiths of London secured from her royal lover a grant from which our present world-wide system of private coinage is lineally descended. In the language of the highest courts of Europe and America, the words, "to coin money", are synonymous with, "to create money." And who is it that creates the money which the mass of mankind use today? The banker. He has driven bi-metalism away; has forced each nation to heap up a vast hoard of idle, useless gold ; he has obtained unlimited control of all that is not tied up in these Gold Reserves — and he coins his own money like a King, filling the veins and arteries of commerce with it. Whoever controls the currency is master of everything and everybody. The banker has so manipu- lated ministries, cabinets, emperors, czars, kings, presi- dents, parliaments, congresses and the press, that he is, at this blessed moment, lord of lords, and king of kings. In these United States, one banker controls abso- lutely all of the visible and available supply of money. He Is J. P. Morgan. His power is vastly more absolute, unreachable and irresistible than is that of any crowned and sceptred monarch in the world. At the nod of his head, that one banker could cause a panic now, just as - he and his associates caused those of 1907 and 1893. When Alexander Hamilton, Thomas Jefferson, and LIFE AND TIMES OF JACKSON. 367 Gouverneur Morris were laying the foundations for onr financial system, they adopted bi-metalism, as a matter of course. The Constitution so pro\ided. In the Con- vention of 1787, not a single voice was heard against the equality of the use of these two metals. Impliedly, the intention to use paper money, also, is expressed in the words forbidding the States to use anything but gold and silver. But Hamilton's plan contemplated a partnership of wealth and government, together with a consolidation of power in the Federal system. Naturally, therefore, he favored a central bank. On the Constitutional question involved, Washington's cabinet split. One of the unac- countable things about this famous controversy is, that neither Washington, nor Hamilton, nor Edmund Ean- dolph, made any allusion to the decisive fact— namely, the voting down, in the Convention of 1787, of the prop- osition to give the Federal Government the authority to charter corporations. Washington, while no lawyer, ought to have known how much importance to attach to this expression of the intention of the Constitution makers. And even if Hamilton, out of policy, kept the secret locked in his own breast, there was Edmund Ran- dolph, a really great lawyer, who knew of the Conven- tion's action. But Randolph, who sided with Jefferson, made no use of the secret. Can it be that he considered himself bound, still, by the oath which, as a member of the Convention, he had taken? The Charter of the old United States Bank, its his- tory and its expiration are facts familiar to all. But in 1816, Congress chartered another one for twenty years; and when Jackson became President, it was doing busi- ness in a large way, under the management of Nicholas Biddle. While Jackson bore a grudge against the bank for having dishonored his drafts as army officer, many years previous, tliere is no evidence that he meant to wage against the institution a war of extermination. He had referred to it in his messages, but not in a tempestu- ous, Jacksonian style— the style Jackson always used *'when his dander was up." 368 LIFE AND TIMES OF JACKSON. The "war" on the bank has its origin in two things, Isaac Hill's desire to oust Jeremiah Mason from the presidency of a branch bank in New Hampshire, and Henry Clay's self-confident arrogance. Nicholas Biddle refused to desert Mason, although a member of Jack- son's cabinet intimated to him in an official letter that his failure to please the administration in the premises might result in something bad for his bank. It is wholly to Biddle 's credit that he stood his ground, against Jackson and Isaac Hill. Jeremiah Mason was doing his duty, compelling local Democrats to pay their debts to the branch bank, and it was most discreditable to the Jacksonians that they sought Mason's removal on the wscore of politics. But it was the impetuous, sanguine Henry Clay who acted the Fal staff' and led the Biddle troops to where they got peppered. The charter of the bank had six more years to run, and there waL no especial reason for trying to cross the bridge before they got to it. But Clay was Biddle 's Congressional dependence, and nothing would do Clay but the immediate re-chartering of the bank. So the bill was introduced prematurely. Even then, the old General at the White House evidenced no par- ticular animosity. According to Thurlow Weed (who states the matter in a very convincing manner in his "Reminiscences") Jackson drew up a list of changes in the bill which he demanded as a condition precedent to his giving it his official approval. The paper was sent to Biddle by the President. Every oft'icer of the bank readily consented to Jackson's terms. But Biddle felt that, as a matter of courtesy, he should submit these modifications to the bill to Clay and to Webster. Upon his doing so, Clay immediately declined to accept them. And Webster, as usual, deferred to Clay. Biddle and another of the officials of the bank, on further conference, were so thoroughly of the opinion that Jackson's requirements should be met, that he again sought Clay and Webster, and urged the LIFE AND TIMES OF JACKSON. 369 advisability of acquiescence. But Clay was deaf to reason, became impatient (as he always did at contradic- tion or opposition) and declared flatly that there should be no compromise. And what the resolute Clay said, the less forceful Webster echoed. So, much against his will, Nicholas Biddle was com- pelled to fight that grim old soldier whom nobody ever whipped — excepting, of course, the Washington ladies. Congress passed the bill rechartering the bank, and Jackson vetoed it. In his message, the President stated that his idea of a central national bank was an institution owned and controlled by the Government. This institution would, of course, have had to issue paper money; but the notes would have been United States currency instead of bank-paper. Assuming that these notes of the Jackson bank were to be made legal tender, you understand, at once, that Jackson's plan was substantially the same a-. that of Thomas Jefferson, of John C. Calhoun, of the old Greenbackers, and of the Populists. Under Jackson's system, the Government would have created and issued all the money of the country — gold, silver, and paper. In other words, the Jacksonian proposition, if adopted, would have recovered for the people of this country, at least, all of the ground that had been lost since a prosti- tute wheedled a debauchee into dismembering the royal sovereignty. If Andrew Jackson had but fought for his plan, with the same inflexible energy that he fought against Clay's bill, what a blessed revolution might have resulted! But he merely threw out the suggestion, without fol- lowing it up. Some of the passages of his veto message are so true and so applicable to our own plight, that they deserve to be quoted. "Distinctions in society will always exist under every just government. Equality of talents, of education, or of wealth, can not be produced by human institutions. In the full enjoyment of the gifts of Heaven and the fruits of superior industry, economy, and virtue, every 370 LIFE AND TIMES OF JACKSON. man is equally entitled to protection by law. But when the laws undertake to add to these natural and just advantages, artificial distinctions, to grant titles, gratuities, and exclusive privileges, to make the rich richer and the potent more powerful, the humble mem- bers of society, the farmers, mechanics, and laborers, who have neither the time nor the means of securing like favors to themselves, have r 'i'rht to complain of the injustice of their government. There are no necessary evils in government. Its evils exist only in its abuses. If it would confine itself to equal protection, and, as heaven does its rains, shower its favors alike on the high and the low, the rich and the poor, it would be an unqualified blessing. In the act before me, there seems to be a wide and unnecessary departure from these just principles. "Nor is our Government to be maintained, or our Union preserved, by invasion of the rights and powers of the several States. In thus attempting to make our gen- eral Government strong, we make it weak. Its true strength consists in leaving individuals and States, as much as possible, to themselves; in making itself felt, not in its power, but in its beneficence, not in its control, but in its protection, not in binding the States more closely to the center, but leaving each to move unob- structed in its proper orbit. "Experience should teach us wisdom. Most of the difficulties our Government now encounters, and most of the dangers which impend over our Union, have sprung from an abandonment of the legitimate objects of gov- ernment by our national legislation, and the adoption of such principles as are embodied in this act. Many of our rich men have not been content with equal protection and equal benefits, but have besought us to make them richer by act of Congress. By attempting to gratify their desires, we have, in the results of our legislation, arrayed section against section, interest against interest, and man against man, in a fearful commotion which threatens to shake the foundations of our Union. It is time to LIFE AND TIMES OF JACKSON. 371 pause in our career, to review our principles, and, if possible, revive that devoted patriotism and spirit of compromise which distinguished the sages of the revolu- tion, and the fathers of our Union. If we can not at once, in justice to the interests vested under improvident legislation, make our Government what it ought to be, we can, at least, take a stand against all new grants of monopolies and exclusive privileges, against any prosti- tution of our Government to the advancement of the few at the expense of the many, and in favor of compromise and gradual reform in our code of laws and system of political economy. "I have now done my duty to my country. If sus- tained by my fellow-citizens, I shall be grateful and happy ; if not, I shall find, in the motives which impel me, ample grounds for contentment and peace. In the 'diffi- culties which surround us, and the dangers which threaten our institutions, there is cause for neither dis- may nor alarm. For relief and deliverance let us firmly rely on that kind Providence which, I am sure, watches with peculiar care over the destinies of our Republic and on the intelligence and wisdom of our countrymen. Through His abundant goodness, and their patriotic devotion, our liberty and Union will be preserved." The campaign of 1832 opened up, with Clay in the field, and Jackson a candidate for a second term. It was a walk-over for the old General. Clay got but forty-nine electoral votes, out of a total of two hundred and eighty- eight. Backed by the people in a manner so tremendously emphatic, Jackson renewed hostilities on Biddle's bank. He ordered Duane, Secretary of the Treasury, to remove the Government's money from the Biddle institution. Duane refused. The President requested the Secretary to resign, and again Duane refused. Then he was removed, andRoger B. Taney appointed in his place. The ne\v Secretary promptly issued the order which the President desired. The impression made by the Jackson biographies, 372 LIFE AND TIMES OF JACKSON. and by most of the historians, is that the money of the Government was immediately transferred to the pet State banks. According to Charles H. Peck, author of ''The Jacksonian Epoch," the deposits were not "removed" at all. The order applied to future revenues, which, as they came in, were placed in the State bank selected to receive them. The sum on deposit in Biddle's bank was simply checked out, from time to time, in the usual course of disbursement; and, at the end of fifteen months, four million dollars of the national funds still remained in the national bank. During the contest, Biddle and his associates hal caused a panic, the purpose being to create a clamor against Jackson, a pressure which he could not resist. Under a similar test, we saw President Cleveland's boasted ''backbone" turn to tallow in 1893. When the Wall Street bankers, under the lead of J. P. Morgan, caused a panic "to give the country an object lesson," Cleveland fell into a pitiable state of blue funk. To Con- gressman William C. Oates, of Alabama, he cried in terror, "My God, Oates! The bankers have got the country by the leg!" Then followed the infamous midnight-conference with Morgan, who came to the White House demanding a bond-issue, and got it. The contract was drawn by Francis Lynde Stetson, Cleveland's former law-partner, (The firm of Cleveland & Stetson were attorneys for J. P. .Morgan & Company,) and under this contract, Mor- gan and his pals divided a profit of $11,000,000, in less than a week. The heroic bearing of Andrew Jackson, at the same kind of a crisis, is so vividly described by Joseph G. Baldwin, in his "Political Leaderp," that I quote the passage : "Besides, Jackson always had the sagacity to dis- guise his strong measures in popular forms. Whether his acts were always popular or not, his reasoning always was. Whether his proceedings were despotic or not, he defended them upon the principles and in the LIFE AND TIMES OF JACKSON. 373 name of freedom. It was the Bank, he charged, that was the tyrant. It was seeking to overturn the Government, and to enslave and corrupt the people. It was buying up members of Congress and subsidizing the press. It was producing the panic and pressure, which disordered commerce, and crippled industry, and turned out labor to starve, in order to force upon the people its own financial system, and a renewal of its existence. It had violated its charter. It had closed its doors against investiga- tion. It had been false to its contracts. It had expended vast sums of money in electioneering schemes and prac- tices against the Government. It had assumed a tone of haughty insolence towards the President, as disrespect- ful to the office as to the incumbent. Its president lived in a style befitting a prince of the blood royal. From his palace of Andalusia he came to his marble palace in Philadelphia, to issue his ukases which caused the stocks to rise and fall all over the world. He was the Money King— 'the despot with the quill behind his ear,' whom John Randolph said he feared more than a tyrant with epaulettes. He could make money plentiful or scarce, property high or low, men rich or poor, as he pleased. He could reward and he could punish ; could set up and pull down. His favor was wealth, his enmity ruin. He was a government, o^^er which the people had no control. "Thus, it will be seen, with what exquisite tact the President presented the issue to the people. It was the issue of a powerful money oligarchy, in its last struggles for power denied by the people, warring against the government the people had set up. Jackson stood the impersonation of the popular sovereignty, warring against an usurping moneyed institution — an enormous shaving- shop. St. George and the Dragon was only the ante-type of Jackson and the Monster ! "The truth is, that what Jackson lacked of material to make head against the Bank, the Bank more than sup- plied. Biddle, its president, seems to have been a worse politician than financier. From the first hostile demon- 374 LIFE AND TIMES OF JACKSON. stration of the President, to the final explosion of the new institution, into which the assets and management of the National Bank were carried, the whole series of movements was a series of blunders and follies. "If the Bank had been bent upon ruin, it could have taken no surer method of suicide. The opposition of its friends in Congress to an investigation into its affairs; its contributions towards the publication of political papers and pamphlets; its large loans to news- paper editors, and to members of Congress ; the immense extension of its line of discounts — these things, however innocent, naturally gave rise to suspicion, and suspicion, in its case, was conviction. The tone it adopted in its report, towards the President, or, rather, towards the paper sent to the cabinet, signed 'Andrew Jackson,' was in as bad taste, as policy. The truth is, the president of the bank greatly underrated the President of the United States. Jackson was a much abler man than Biddle sup- posed. The unlearned man of the backwoods knew the American people better than the erudite scholar of the refined metropolis. The tenant of the Hermitage was, by all odds, a wiser politician than the lord of the princely demesne of Andalusia. "It is true that the crisis was a sharp one. Great distress was felt, great clamor was raised, immense excitement prevailed. The storm burst suddenly, too, and with tropical fury. The President's friends fell off like autumn leaves in a hurricane. The party leaders grew anxious, many of them were panic-stricken, and some of them deserted; but the pilot at the helm stood like another Palinurus in the storm. The distress was confined mostly to the commercial cities. Jackson's reliance was mainly on the rural districts, and, luckily for him, these contained the great mass of the popula- tion, devoted to the calm and independent pursuit of husbandry, and devoted to him. The farmers were, to a great extent, independent of banks and free of debt, and depending for support upon the sale of necessaries, which generally commanded, under all states of the money market, remunerating prices. LIFE AND TIMES OF JACKSON. 375 ''That there was great distress could not be denied. But whose fault was it? The Bank had laid the blame on the President ; the President laid it on the Bank. Which was to be believed? The immediate cause was the con- duct of the Bank in withdrawing its circulation ; but this was made necessary, it was said, by the withdrawal of the public money. This was denied; and it was charged that the Bank had, by the unnecessary and corrupt extension of its discounts and accommodations, put itself into the necessity of this sharp measure of protec- tion, even if such necessity existed. ''But relief was at hand. The deposits were placed in the vaults of the State-banks. The United States Bank was out of the way. The funds of the Government, overflowing in all its channels of revenue, became the feeders to numberless Bogus banks all over the country. Bank charters multiplied in the land. A state of almost fabulous prosperity, as it seemed, set in. The revolution went back for the first time. But the calm was worse than the storm — the prosperity worse than the adver- sity. And here was the great, and, for a time as it turned out, the fatal error of the Democratic party. It had not provided for the exigencies it created. The United States Bank was put down, but where was the substitute? The bank had been the fiscal agent of the government, in fact the treasury ; what was to succeed to its duties? If the public money was not safe in the United States Bank, it could scarcely be considered safe in the various shin-plaster concerns that had sprung up, like toad-stools, all over the Union; nor could individ- uals, in such wild and uncertain times, especially without new restrictions and securities, be intrusted with the enormous sums coming into the hands of the govern- ment, when every man was a speculator, and every speculation seemed a fortune! It could scarcely have escaped the sagacity of the politicians, who were inveigh- ing, every day, against the evils of the credit and paper system, that this enormous banking, so suddenly and prodigiously increased, must, at no distant day, lead to a 376 LIFE AND TIMES OF JACKSON. 1^ ■ ■ monetary crisis, which, compared with that following the removal of the deposits, would be like a hurricane to a zephyr. But no adequate safeguard was provided. Present peace was purchased at the expense of future overthrow; and it was bequeathed to Mr. Van Buren to reap the whirlwind, from the wind sown by his predecessor. "But for the present, the sky cleared again. Jackson rallied his hosts. He recovered his lost ground; he regained his captured standards; he cashiered the deserters, and inspired throughout the country a fresher zeal for the party, and an almost superstitious conviction of his own invincibility." LIFE AND TIMES OF JACKSON. 377 CHAPTER XXXII. At the present time (December, 1909,) the number of persons holding office under the Federal Government is rapidly approaching 400,000. The National Treasury is like some monstrous cheese, with a million rats devour- ing it. In Washington City alone, there are 2,300 negroes holding office under the Government, to say nothing of those drawing salaries from the District of Columbia. In a recent address to an audience of Wash- ington negroes, Booker Washington made the statement thtat the negro office-holders of that city were drawing $5,000,000 per year from the Federal Treasury. These figures are exaggerated, but extremely significant, as giving the Afro- American 's point of view. To him, the Government means an office and a salary. To hundreds of thousands of white men, it means the same thing. More lamentable still, the office means the opportunity to loot the treasury directly or indirectly. The pressure of the seekers for office upon the appointing powers, is tremendous. It killed President Harrison, and taxes to the limit of endurance such robust characters as Roose- velt and Taft. Inevitably growing out of this state of things, is the man lower down who does the real work, at the minimum salary. First Assistants, 2d Assistants, 3d Assistants, 4th Assistatnts, are strung out, one behind the other ; and to each must be given a miniature staff of 1st, 2d, 3d and 4th Assistants. Then come one, two, three and four Secretaries; and each Secretary must have his "head stenographer," overlording other stenographers, typewriters, clerks, messengers — about three times as many people being employed as would be found necessary in a private establishment. But the bane of the Spoils System extends to the Army and Navy. Graft ramifies in all directions. In buying, the Government is swindled: in selling, it is betrayed. Custom-house officers are bribe-takers: one of the Trusts, at one of the Custom-houses has been 2J a j 378 LIFE AND TIMES OF JACKSON. caught stealing $3,000,000 from the Treasury, by the use of false weights— used with the connivance of Federal employees. In all of the shops and yards where the Gov- ernment has work done, the cost of a given article will be four times as much as a private citizen has to pay for the same thing. In fact, the whole enormous pressure of the office- seeking and office-holding multitude is to increase offices, increase salaries, increase expenses. Instead of having an orderly, experienced, regularly efficient corps of civil servants, such as we see in Great Britain, Ger- many, and France, we have a pell-mell turn-them-out, and a promiscuous put-new-ones-in, every four years. The position which may be occupied by an honest, com- petent, energetic man under one administration, may, under a change of Presidents, fall to some person whose ''pull" is irresistible, but who has no qualifications for the office. Tha Spoils system makes it practically impossible for us to have the regular administration of the Civil Service kept in the hands of those who have proven that they are honest, capable and industrious. In spite of all attempts at reform, we are still debauched by the detest- able slogan, "To the victors belong the spoils." Under the old method of selecting the nominee for the Presidency, the people were absolutely assured of a trained statesman, of character and ability. The Jack- son men destroyed the Congressional caucus, in which the men whom the people had directly elected as their Representatives, chose the candidate for the Presidency. The specious pretense used was that the people them- selves should nominate. But they do not do so, and have never done so. Jackson himself was not the nominee of the people, but of a handful of keen, tireless, intrigueing wire-workers. True, the people elected him, over Adams, but that was another thing altogether. In our own day, the people do not nominate, and they have no real choice in the matter. Politicians make their slates, and pick out the dele- LIFE AND TIMES OF JACKSON. 379 gates to the national conventions of their respective parties ; at the conventions, log-rolling, bribery, promises of appointments to office, pledges to support certain measures, etc., are used by the workers for the various candidates to influence votes and win the nomination. When the victor is announced, and has been elected President, he finds that he has been mortgaged by his campaign managers ; and he must either pay the debt, or face a national scandal. Sometimes he does both. Study these conditions, and you will then be able to trace them to their h'storic source — the destruction of the Congressional caucus. I am not saying that the old method was ideal : what I do say is, that it was very much better than the system which took its place. No Con- gressional caucus would have nominated General Andrew Jackson; nor such unfit and inexperienced men as General Taylor, General Harrison, James Buchanan, James K. Polk, General Grant, and R. B. Hayes. In other words, the present method does not give the people any chance to put the best man into the White House. The politicians name the candidates, seeking, not the best, but the most available man. By ''avail- able," they mean "usable." When an unmanageable Roosevelt slips in, it is a political accident; and even he was "used" a great deal more than the general public imagines. Under President Washington, there was no such thing as a "pull." The only test applied to the office- seeker was the correct test — honesty, capacity, effi- ciency. If a clerk in one of the Departments reviled the administration in a newspaper, he was in no danger of removal, so long as he faithfully discharged his duties. The same rule prevailed under John Adams. How- ever, at the very close of b^s term, this President had the indecency to pack Federalists into every old place that was vacant, and into every new office that Congress had created. Jefferson, ir the main, followed the Wash- ington rule, and many a Federalist retained his position. So it was during the terms of Madison, Monroe and John Quincy Adams. 380 LIFE AND TIMES OF JACKSON. But Jackson had declared, "I am not a politician; but if I were, I'd be a New York politician ! ' ' Events proved tbat he was a masterly strategist in politics, and that he was, to the tips of- his fingers, a New York politician. Before six months had rolled over his Presidential head, he had ousted from office a greater number of men than all his predecessors put together; and whereas nearly every one of those removed by former adminis- trations had gone out "for cause," Jackson swept them away on account of their politics. "They are not Jack- son men: off with their heads!" The faster the old officials were displaced, the fiercer became the pressure for appointments. Naturally: the more carcasses, the more eagles. "To the victors belong the spoils!" said the New York leader, William L. Marcy: and to Jackson, a military man, the maxim had the right sound. Even he almost grew frantic, at times, because of the increasing greed for office. He had cut the dyke, and the flood kept pouring in. Some of his removals were utterly cruel and inde- fensible. Adams had appointed General William Henry Harrison Minister to Bolivia during the expiring weeks of his term. One of Jackson's first acts was to recall this popular soldier— who had hardly reached his post before the blow fell. To inflict such a public humilia- tion upon so distinguished a fellow-citizen was alto- gether wrong. (Jackson lived to see Harrison become President.) Another case was thoroughly shocking. No man in public life could owe a greater debt of gratitude to another than Andrew Jackson owed to James Monroe. In every way possible, Jackson had received the benefit of Monroe's encouragement, support, and protection at the time when Jackson most needed them. According to one witness, Monroe had been at first the sole defender of Jackson's conduct in the Seminole War — his Cabinet being a unit against the General. Monroe was an old Revolutionary soldier: he had involved himself finan- cially by giving his personal pledges to the creditors of LIFE AND TIMES OF JACKSON. 381 his country; and now, harrassed by debt and debility, had gone away from his beloved Virginia, to spend his last, sorrowful days in New York City, with his daugh- ter, Mrs. Gouverneur. Her husband held the office of Postmaster of the City. With an almost incredible lack of gratitude, to say nothing of kindly feeling for a feeble old soldier and ex-President, Jackson smote his afflicted family by ousting Gouverneur from his office. It actually makes one sick to the soul to contemplate such politics as this — heartless, ungrateful, "New York politics!" Poor old James Monroe! One of the cleanest, straightest, most high-minded patriots this country ever produced. With what bitterness of heart must this ven- erable statesman, whose whole life had been unselfishly given to his country's service, have rallied his remaining strength to make and sign the dying declaration which averted the attack that Jackson was preparing to make upon his memory! (About that historical puzzle, the Rhea letter.) No wonder Henry Clay, old, broken, disappointed said to his son, "Be a dog rather than a politician." No wonder the great, black, sombre eyes of Daniel Webster carried, in his last years, the look of unutterable weari- ness and melancholy. No wonder that Calhoun wel- comed death, as the tired sentry greets the "relief." Extracts from S. S. Prentiss' ''Speech on Defalca- tions.'" "I hold in my hand a book of some four hundred pages, entitled, 'Letter from the Secretary of the Treasury, transmitting copies of reports of examinations of land offices since 1st January, 1834,' &c. It is Document 29 7, and was furnished the House by the Sec- retary on the 30th of March, 1838. It is the most extraordinary publication that ever fell under my observation. It is a moral, po- litical, and literary curiosity. If you are a laughing philosopher, you will find in it ample food for mirth; if you belong to the other school, you cannot but weep at the folly and imbecility which it exhibits. The Secretary must have been frightened when he com- piled it, for it is without form, and darkness rests upon its face. It contains two hundred and sixty letters to defaulting collectors and receivers; in some instances, from ten to twenty to the same defaulter; yet, so curiously is the book constructed, that you must read the whole of it to trace a single case. Its contents are as 382 LIFE AND TIMES OF JACKSON. strange as the 'hell broth' that boiled and bubbled in the witches* cauldron. From this fragment of chaos I shall proceed to extract and arrange such matter as is material to my purpose; and first, to show, as I proposed, what Importance the Secretary attached to the duty of depositing the public moneys in bank, at stated periods, so that they might not accumulate in the hands of the collector, and thus afford temptation to defalcation." "But let us again take a birdseye view of this correspondence. Let us group it; without giving the exact language, we will take the meaning — the idea. "Letter 1st. Mr. H., 1' am sorry to tell you again, you haven't made your returns. "2d. Mr. H., you haven't made your returns. "3d. Mr. H., if you don't make your returns, I'll tell the President. "4th. Mr. H., you had better settle up; if you don't, out you go. "5th. Mr. H., please tell me why you haven't settled; do, that's a good man. "6th. Hr. H., now don't behave so. "7th. Mr. H., how would you feel if you were dismissed from office? Better pay up, or you'll know. "8th. Mr. H., it's lucky for you you've got strong friends; that's the reason we don't turn you out. But you'd better mind your eye. "9th. Mr. H., ain't you ashamed? "10th. Mr. H., perhaps you don't know it, but you are very much behindhand. Do you intend to pay or not? I wish you would. 'Tis very strange you will hurt my feelings so, and the President's too. "11th. Mr. H., how comes it that you are a defaulter for $12 8,- 884.70? I don't wish to hurt your feelings, but I should like to know. I have a curiosity on the subject; can't you tell me?" "12th. Mr. H., you've resigned, have you? Well, that beats anything. What a cunning dog you are! Feathered your nest well, ha? I'll tell the President all about it when he comes home. How he will laugh! "13th. Dear Mr. H., I regret to tell you that the rascally So- licitor of the Treasury is a-going to try and recover back that money you've got, which belongs to the Government. Never mind; we'll fix it some way. "Such is an epitome of the correspondence of the Secretary of the Treasury, and constitutional adviser of the President. What a rich specimen of an American statesman!" "It -was the time when 'Hurrah for Jackson' constituted the 'Open Sesame' of power, which gained at once admittance into the robber's cave, and participation in the plunder. The General Jack- son had but to whistle, and " 'Instant from copse and heath arose Bonnets, and spears, and bended bows.' "His followers, like those of Roderick Dhu, started up in every direction, ready and eager to perform his bidding. He had but to point his finger, and his fierce bloodhounds buried their muzzles in the unfortunate victim of his wrath. Then was the saturnalia of the officeholders; and, like the locusts of Egypt, they plagued the land. Few dared to whisper of corruptions or defalcations; and bold man was he who proposed to investigate them, for it was sure LIFE AND TIMES OF JACKSON. 383 to bring down upon his head tlie rage which never relented, and the anger which nothing but furious persecution could assuage. "There was one man, however, who blenched not before General Jackson's frown, and whq dared to propose an Investigation into frauds and corruptions which had become so palpable and gross as to be an offence in the nostrils of the community. He occupied, at that time, a seat in the other end of this building, as Senator from my own State; a State upon whose laws and institutions his talents and genius are indelibly impressed. The political history of Mis- sissippi is illustrated by his name, from its commencement. He served her in all her departments; and as legislator, judge, and Governor, advanced her prosperity, and added to her character. What he was as Senator you all know. He stood proudly among the proud, and lofty among the loftiest, at a time when the Senate Chamber contained the garnered talent of the country; when its intellectual giants shook the whole nation with their mighty strife. The floor of that body was his proper arena. To a cor- rectness of judgment, which would have given him reputation even without the capacity of expression, he joined a power of debate which, for parliamentary strength and effect, was unsurpassed. To all this was added a stern, unyielding attachment to his political principles, and an indomitable boldness in expressing and sustain- ing them. "Do you not recollect, s'r, when General Jackson, like Charles I., strode to the legislative chamber, and thrust among the Senators a despotic edict, more insulting than if he had cast at their feet a naked sword? It was that fierce message which commenced with breaking down the independence and character of the Senate, and finally resulted in that worse than felon act, the desecration of its records. But the mandate passed, not unopposed or unrebuked. When it burst, like a wild beast from his lair, upon the astonished body whose degradation it contemplated, and in the end accom- plished, most of the distiaguished Senators were absent; but he of whom I speak was at his post. Single-handed, and alone, like Codes at the head of the brigade, he held at bay the Executive squadrons, and for a whole day drove back the Mamelukes of power; till at the sound of nis voice, as at the sond of a trumpet, his gallant compeers, the champions of freedom, the knights — not of the black lines, but of the Constitution — came flocking to the rescue. Sir, it was a noble scene, and worthy of the best times of the Roman republic. A Senator of the United States, in bold and manly pride, trampl'ng under foot Executive insult, and protecting at the same time the honor of his country and the dignity of his high station. There was a moral chivalry about it, far above the heroism of the field. Even now, the contemplation of it makes the blood thrill through the veins, and flush the forehead to the very temples. I need not tell you that man's name was George Poind exter; a name that will long and honorably live among the lovers of independence and the haters of tyranny. But he dared to propose an investigation into the frauds and corruptions of the Government, and from that moment his doom was sealed. The deep, turbid, and resistless cur- rent of Jacksonism swept him from the State in whose service the best of his life had been expended; and, ostracized from her coun- cils, he became an exile in other lands. •'Sir, the office-holders in this country form an oligarchy too powerful to be resisted. Why was not S removed? Why was not H ? Why not L and B ? I will tell you. The Administration did not dare to remove them, even had 384 LIFE AND TIMES OF JACKSON. it wished to do so; like pachas, they had become too powerful for the Sultan, and would not have hesitated in twisting the bowstring round the neck of the messenger who presented it. "Since the avowal of that unprincipled and barbarian motto, that 'to the victor belong the spoils,' office, which #as intended for the use and benefit of the people, has become but the plunder of party. Patronage is waved like a huge magnet over the land, and demagogues, like iron filings, attracted by a law of their nature, gather and cluster around its poles. Never yet lived the demagogue who would not take office. The whole frame of our Government, the whole institutions of the country are thus prostituted to the uses of party. I express my candid opinion, when I aver that I do not believe a single office of importance within the control of the Executive has, for the last five years, been filled with any other view, or upon any other consideration, than that of party effect; and if good appointments have in any instances been made, and benefits accrued to the country, it has been an accidental, and not a voluntary result. Office is conferred as the reward of partisan service; and what is the consequence? Why, the officeholders are not content with the pitiful salaries which afford only small com- pensation for present labors, but do not. in their estimation, consti- tute any adequate reward for their previous political services. This reward, they persuade themselves, it is perfectly right to retain 'Toin rthate\er passes through their hands. Being taught that all moneys in their possession belong not to the people, but to the party, it reouires but small exertion of casuistry to bring them to the conclusion that they have a right to retain what they may con- ceive to be the value of their political services; just as a lawyer holds back his commissions. The Administration countenances all this; winks at it as long as possible; and when public exposure is inevitable, generally gives the bloated plunderer full warning and time to escape with his spoils. "Do you not see the eagerness with which even Governors, Senators and Representatives in Congress, grasp at the most trivial appointments — the most insignificant emoluments? Well do these sons of the horse-leech know that there is more blood in the body than what mantles the cheek, and more profit in an office than is exhibited by the salary. "Sir, I have given you but two or three cases of defalcations; would time permit, I could give you a hundred. Like the fair Sul- tana of the Oriental legends, I could go on for a thousand and one nights; and even as in those Eastern stories, so in the chronicles of the office-holders, the tale would ever be of heaps of gold, massive ingots, uncounted riches Why, sir, Aladdin's lamp was nothing to it. They seem to possess the identical cap of Fortunatus; some wish for $.50,000 some for $100,000, some for a million; and behold, it lies in glittering heaps before them. Not even " 'The gorgeous East, with richest hand. Showers on her kings barbaric pearl and gold' in such lavish abundance as does this Administration upon its fol- lowers. Pizarro held not forth more dazzling lures to his robber band, when he led them to the conquest of the Children of the Sun. . . . These defalcations teach another lesson, and one well worth the cost, if we will but profit by its admonitions. They teach that the Sub-Treasury sj'stem is but the hotbed of temptation and ^rime. They teach that the public treasure cannot be safely con- LIFE AND TIMES OF JACKSON. 385 fided to individual custody. Sir, this Government may determine to watcti, like Turks, with jealous care, its golden harem; but it will seek in vain for the financial eunuchs who have the power to guard without the wish to enjoy." (Mark the exceeding beauty and finish of Prentiss' diction. The simile at the close of the extracts is a gem.— T. E. W.) PERTAINING TO THE JEFFERSONIAN ERA. Desckiption of Daniel Webster, "The person, however, who has succeeded in riveting most strongly the attention of the whole Union, is undoubtedly Mr. Webster. From the Gulf of St. Law- rence to that of Mexico, from Cape Sable to Lake Superior, his name has become, as it were, a household word. Many disapprove his politics, but none deny his great talent, his unrivalled fertility of argument, or his power, even still more remarkable, of rapid and compre- hensive induction. In short, it is universally believed by his countrymen, that Mr. Webster is a great man; and in this matter I certainly make no pretension to singularity of creed. Mr. Webster is a man of whom any country might well be proud. His knowledge is at once extensive and minute, his intellectual resources very great; and, whatever may be the subject of discus- sion, he is sure to shed on it the light of an active, acute, and powerful mind. ' ' I confess, however, I did meet Mr. Webster under the influence of some prejudice. From the very day of my arrival in the United States, I had been made involun- tarily familiar with his name and pretensions. Gentle- men sent me his speeches to read. When I talked of vis- iting Boston, the observation uniformly followed, 'Ah! there you will see Mr. Webster.' When I reached Bos- ton, I encountered condolence on all hands. 'You are very unfortunate, ' said my f rends, ' Mr. Webster set out yesterday for Washington.' Whenever, at Philadelphia and Baltimore, it became known that I had visited Bos- 386 LIFE AND TIMES OF JACKSON. ton, the question, 'Did you see Mr. Webster?' was a sequence as constant and unvarying as that of the seasons. "The result of all this was, that the name of Webster became invested in my ear with an adventitious caco- phony. It is not pleasant to admire upon compulsion, and the very pre-eminence of this gentleman had been converted into something of a bore. To Washington, however, I came, armed with letters to the unconscious source of my annoyance. The first night of my arrival 1 met him at a ball. A dozen people pointed him out to my observation, and the first glance riveted my attention. T had never seen any countenance more expressive of intellectual power. "The forehead of Mr. Webster is high, broad, and advancing. The cavity beneath the eyebrow is remark- ably large. The eye is deeply set, but full, dark, and penetrating in the highest degree; the nose prominent, and well defined; the mouth is marked by that rigid compression of the lips by which the New Englanders are distinguished. When Mr. Webster's countenance is in repose, its expression struck me as cold and for- bidding, but in conversation it lightens up ; and when he smiles, the whole impression it communicates is at once changed. His voice is clear, sharp, and firm, without much variety of modulation ; but when animated, it rings on the ear like a clarion. "As an orator, I should imagine Mr. Webster's forte to lie in the department of pure reason. I can not con- ceive his even attempting an appeal to the feelings. It could not be successful ; and he has too much knowledge of his own powers to encounter failure. In debate his very countenance must tell. Few men would hazard a voluntary sophism under the glance of that eye, so cold, so keen, so penetrating, so expressive of intellectual power. A single look would be enough to wither up a whole volume of bad logic."— "Men and Manners in America." By T. Hamilton. LIFE AND TIMES OF JACKSON. 387 A Jacksonian Levee at the White House. *'0n the following evening I attended the levee. The apartments were already full before I arrived, and the crowd extended even into the hall. Three — I am not sure that there were not four — large saloons were thrown open on the occasion, and were literally crammed with the most singular and miscellaneous assemblage I had ever seen. "The numerical majority of the company seemed of the class of tradesmen or farmers, respectable men, fresh from the plough, or the counter, who, accompanied by their wives and daughters, came forth to greet their President, and enjoy the splendors of the gala. There were also generals, and commodores, and public officers of every description, and foreign ministers and members of Congress, and ladies of all ages and degrees of beauty, from the fair and laughing girl of fifteen, to the haggard dowager of seventy. There were majors in broadcloth and corduroys, redolent of gin and tobacco, and majors' ladies in chintz or russet, with huge Paris ear-rings, and tawny necks, profusely decorated with beads of colored glass. There were tailors from the board, and judges from the bench ; lawyers who opened their mouths at one bar, and the tapster who closed them at another; — in short, every trade, craft, calling, and profession, appeared to have sent its delegates to this extra-ordi- nary convention. "For myself, I had seen too much of the United States to expect anything very different, and certainly anticipated that the mixture would contain all the ingre- dients I have ventured to describe. Yet, after all, I was taken by surprise. There were present at this levee, men begrimed with all the sweat and filth accumulated in their day's — perhaps their week's — labor. There were sooty artificers, evidently fresh from the forge or the work-shop; and one individual, I remember — either a miller or a baker — who, wherever he passed, left marks of contact on the garments of the company. The most prominent group, however, in the assemblage, was a 388 LIFE AND TIMES OF JACKSON. party of Irish laborers, employed on some neighboring canal, who had evidently been apt scholars in the doc- trine of liberty and equality, and were determined, on the present occasion, to assert the full privileges of 'the great unwashed.' I remarked these men pushing aside the more respectable portion of the company with a cer- tain jocular audacity, which put one in mind of the humors of Donnybrook. "A party, composed of the materials I have described, could possess but few attractions. The heat of the apartment was very great, and the odours — cer- tainly not Sabsean — which occasionally affected the nos- trils, were more pungent than agreeable. I, therefore, pushed on in search of the President, in order that, hav- ing paid my respects in acknowledgment of a kindness for which I really felt grateful, I might be at liberty to depart. My progress, however, was slow, for the com- pany in the exterior saloons were wedged together in a dense mass, penetrable only at occasional intervals. I looked everywhere for the President as I passed, but without success, but, at length, a friend, against whom I happened to be jostled, informed me that I should find him at the extremity of the most distant apartment. "The information was correct. There stood the President, whose looks still indicated indisposition, pay- ing one of the severest penalties of greatness ; compelled to talk when he had nothing to say, and shake hands with men whose very appearance suggested the precau- tion of a glove. I must say, however, that under these unpleasant circumstances, he bore himself well and gracefully. His countenance expressed perfect good- humour ; and his manner to the ladies was so full of well- bred gallantry, that having, as I make no doubt, the great majority of the fair sex on his side, the chance of his being unseated at the next election must be very small. "I did not, however, remain long a spectator of the scene. Having gone through the ordinary ceremonial, I scrambled out of the crowd the best way I could, and LIFE AND TIMES OF JACKSON. 389 bade farewell to the most extraordinary scene it had ever been my fortune to witness. It is only fair to state, how- ever, that during my stay in Washington, I never heard the President's levee mentioned in company without an expression of indignant feeling on the part of the ladies, at the circumstances I have narrated. To the better order of Americans, indeed, it can not be painful that their wives and daughters should thus be compelled to mingle with the very lowest of the people. Yet the evil, whatever may be its extent, is, in truth, the necessary result of a form of government essentially democratic. Wherever universal suffrage prevails, the people are, and must be, the sole depository of political power. The American President well knows that his only chance of continuance in office, consists in his conciliating the favour of the lowest— and, therefore, most numerous- order of his constituents. The rich and intelligent are a small minority, and their opinion he may despise. The poor, the uneducated, are, in every country, the people. It is to them alone that a public man in America can look for the gratification of his ambition. They are the ladder by which he must mount, or be content to stand on a level with his fellow-men. "Under such circumstances, it is impossible there should be any exclusion of the real governors of the country wherever they may think proper to intrude. General Jackson is quite aware, that the smallest demon- stration of disrespect even to the meanest mechanic, might incur the loss of his popularity in a whole neigh- borhood. It is evident, too, that the class in actual pos- session of the political patronage of a community is, in effect, whatever be their designation, the first class in the State. In America, this influence belongs to the poorest and least educated. Wealth and intelligence are compelled to bend to poverty and ignorance, to adopt their prejudices, to copy their manners, to submit to their government. In short, the order of reason and common-sense is precisely inverted; and while the roots of the political tree are waving in the air, its branches are buried in the ground. 390 LIFE AND TIMES OF JACKSON. ''During the time I was engaged at the levee, my servant remained in the hall through which lay the entrance to the apartments occupied by the company, and on the day following he gave me a few details of a scene somewhat extraordinary, but sufficiently charac- teristic to merit record. It appeared that the refresh- ments intended for the company, consisting of punch and lemonade, were brought by the servants, with the intention of reaching the interior saloon. No sooner, however, were these ministers of Bacchus descried to be approaching by a portion of the company, than a rush was made from within, the whole contents of the trays were seized in transitu, by a sort of coup-de-main ; and the bearers having thus rapidly achieved the distribution of their refreshments, had nothing for it but to return for a fresh supply. This was brought, and quite as com- pendiously despatched, and it at length became appar- ent, that, without resorting to some extraordinary meas- pres, it would be impossible to accomplish the intended voyage, and the more respectable portion of the com- pany would be suffered to depart with dry palates and in utter ignorance of the extent of the hospitality to which they were indebted." — T. Hamilton, in ''Men and Manners in America." An Englishman Calls on Chaeles Caekoll op Caerollton. "While at Baltimore, I enjoyed the honour of intro- duction to Mr. Carroll, the last survivor of that band of brave men, who signed the declaration of their country's independence. Mr. Carroll is in his ninety-fifth year, yet enjoys the full use of all his faculties, and takes pleasure in social intercourse, which he enlivens by a fund of valuable anecdote. It was with great interest that I heard this aged patriot speak of the companions of his youth, Jay, Adams, Jefferson, and Hamilton, and describe those scenes of stormy struggle, in which he had himself partaken with honourable distinction. Bal- timore, which now contains nearly eighty thousand LIFE AND TIMES OF JACKSON. 391 inhabitants, he remembers a pretty fishing hamlet, of some half-dozen houses. But the progress of change throughout the whole Union has been equally rapid. Little more than half a century ago, the Americans were a handful of poor colonists, drivers of slaves and small traffic, in lumber and tobacco, from whom it was the policy of the mother country to squeeze all she could, and give nothing in return, which it might be at all profitable to keep. With a judicious economy of gibbets and jail room at home, she was so obliging as to accelerate the natural increase of population by the transmission of certain gentlemen and ladies, who, being found some- what awkwardly deficient in the ethics of property in their own country, were despatched to improve their manners on the plantations of Maryland and Virginia. Then, in her motherly care, she fenced in their trade with all manner of restrictions, which could in any way contribute to the replenishing of her own parental exchequer, and, to crown her benefits, condescended to export a copious supply of Lord Johns and Lord Charleses, to fill their empty pockets, and keep the people in good humor, with fine speeches, strong prisons, and a round military force. "All this Mr. Carroll remembers, but he has lived to' see a state of matters somewhat different. The colonies have disappeared, and in their place has risen a power- ful confederation of free States, spreading a population of twelve millions over a vast extent of fertile territory, and possessing a commerce and marine, second only toi those of that nation from whom they boast their descent. He beholds his countrymen as happy as the unfettered enjoyment of their great natural advantages, and insti- tutions of the broadest democracy, can make them. He sees whole regions, formerly the savage haunts of the panther and the wild Indian, covered with the dwellings of civilized and Christian man. The mighty rivers, on which a few wretched flats used to make with difficulty an annual voyage, he now sees covered with steam- vessels of gigantic size, and loaded with valuable mer- 392 LIFE AND TIMES OF JACKSON. chandise. He has seen lakes in the very heart of a great continent, formerly approachable only by some adven- turous traveller, connected with the ocean by means of canals. In short, the lot of Mr. Carroll has been cast in what must ever be the most eventful period of his coun- try's history; and having- witnessed chan2:es so vast and extraordinary, and beheld the whole of his early com- panions, one by one, drop into the grave, this venerable patriot may well be content to follow them, happy till the last in the enjojTuent of the attachment of his family, and the esteem and reverence of his fellow citizens."* ' ' Colonel Burr now lives in New York, secluded from society, where his great talents and extensive profes- sional knowledge, still gain him some employment as a consulting lawyer. "A friend of mine at New York inquired whether I should wish an interview with this distinguished person. I immediately answered in the affirmative, and a note was addressed to Colonel Burr, requesting permission to introduce me. The answer contained a polite assent, and indicated an hour when his avocations would permit his having sufficient leisure for the enjoyment of con- versation. At the time appointed, my friend conveyed me to a house in one of the poorest streets of the city. The Colonel received us on the landing-place, with the manners of a finished courtier, and led the way to his little library, which — judging from the appearance of the volumes — was principally furnished with works con- nected with the law. "Ini.person, Colonel Burr is diminutive, and I was much struck with the resemblance he bears to the late Mr. Percival. His physiognomy is expressive of strong sagacity. The eye keen, penetrating and deeply set ; the forehead broad and prominent; the mouth small, but dis- figured by the ungraceful form of the lips; and, the * "Mr. Carroll, since my return to England, has paid the debt of Nature. When the intelligence of his death reached Washing- ton, bcth Houses immediately adjourned, in testimony of respect for this 'ultimus Romanorum.' '' — T. Hamilton, in "Men and Manners in America." LIFE AND TIMES OF JACKSON. 393 other features, though certainly not coarse, were irreconcilable with any theory of beauty. On the whole, I have rarely seen a more remarkable countenance. Its expression was highly intellectual, but I imagined I could detect the lines of strong passion mingled with those of deep thought. The manners of Colonel Burr are those of a highly bred gentleman. His powers of conversation are very great, and the opinions he expresses on many subjects marked by much shrewdness and originality. ''When in England, he had become acquainted with many of the Whig leaders, and I found him perfectly versed in everything connected with our national politics. **It would be an unwarrantable breach of the confi- dence of private life, were I to publish any particulars of the very remarkable conversation I enjoyed with this eminent person. I shall, therefore, merely state, that, having encroached, perhaps, too long, both on the time and patience of Colonel Burr, I bade him farewell, with sincere regret, that a career of public life, which had opened so brilliantly, should not have led to a more for- tunate termination." — T. Hamilton, in "Men and Man- ners in America." How AN Ieish Heko Held the Foet. *'The post of Fort Stephenson had been unanimously declared worthless and untenable, by a council of offi- cers, of which the Hon. Lewis Cass, late Secretary of War, and General McArthur were members. Accord- ingly Croghan had been ordered to set fire to it and march to headquarters, before the enemy could reach it. This order, however, was not received by Major Crog- han, in consequence of Mr. Connor and the' Indians, by whom it was sent, getting lost in the woods, until the fort was surrounded by Indians, and retreat rendered impos- sible. Croghan then addressed the following note to Harrison : 'Sir: — I have received yours of yesterday, ten o'clock, P. M., 26 a j 394 LIFE AND TIMES OF JACKSON. ordering me to destroy this place and retreat, which was received too late to be carried into execution. We have determined to main- tain this place; and by Heavens, we can.' ''This note was written with the expectation that it would be intercepted by the enemy, and was designed to leave on them an impression of his strength. Harrison, not knowing this, regarded it as a refusal to obey, and accordingly on the evening of the 31st of July, he sent Colonel Wells to Fort Stephenson with a squadron of dragoons, to supersede Croghan and send him to head- quarters. When Croghan arrived and made this explanation, the General, pleased with the good policy which he exhibited, instantly reinstated him, with orders to evacuate the fort as soon as he safely could. The next day, the enemy, under Proctor, landed and sum- moned the post to surrender ; at the same time humanely informing the besieged that if they did not, the fort should be stormed and themselves given up to the toma- hawk and scalping-knif e ! Dickson, in person, accom- panied the flag which bore the summons, and was met by Ensign Shipp on the part of the garrison. Dickson begged Shipp to surrender for God's sake, as in the event of Proctor's taking the fort, they would all be massacred. Shipp replied, 'that when the fort was taken there would be none left to massacre.' At this juncture an Indian came up to Shipp and endeavored to wrest his sword from him. Shipp drew it on him and was about despatching him, when Dickson interposed and restrained the savage. Croghan, who had been standing on the ramparts, and had observed the insult offered to Shipp, called to him, 'Shipp, come in, and we will blow them all to hell.' Shipp went in, bidding Dickson's 'good-bye.' The cannonading then com- menced, and in twenty-four hours upwards of five hun- dred shot struck the works, though with little effect. "Croghan had but one piece of artillery, a six- pounder, which by his order was removed to he block- house and loaded with musket balls. On the evening of the next day the enemy determined to carry the works LIFE AND TIMES OF JACKSON. 395 by storm. They advanced in two columns ; one led on by Lieutenant-Colonel Short, the other by Colonel Cham- bers. Under cover of the smoke of the fort, the men advanced until they came to the ditch, where they paused. Colonel Short rallied them, crying out to push on, 'and give the damned Yankees no quarters. ' The six-pounder, which had been placed at a masked embrasure in the block-house, at thirty feet distance from them, now opened, jDOuring death and destruction among them. Of those in the ditch few escaped. A precipitate retreat commenced. The column under Colonel Chambers was also routed by a severe fire from Captain Hunter's line; and the whole fled into an adjoining wood. Lieutenant Short and twenty-five privates were left dead in the ditch, and twenty-six were afterwards taken prisoners. The total loss of the enemy was one hundred and fifty killed and wounded. When night came on, the wounded in the ditch suffered indescribably. Croghan conveyed them water over the pickets, and opened a ditch through the ramparts by which they were invited to enter the fort. Let the reader compare this act of magnanimity with the conduct of Proctor at the River Raisin ! ''In the night the combined force of the 'allies' com- menced a rapid and disorderly retreat, leaving part of their baggage and wounded behind them. For his act of gallantry on this occasion, Croghan was promoted to the rank of Brevet Lieutenant-Colonel." Jesse Mercer, in the Hot Clark-Troup Fight. "The celebrated Jesse Merc6r was a moving spirit amidst the excited multitude, and Daniel Duffie, who, as a most intolerant Methodist, and an especial hater of the Baptist Church and all Baptists, was there also, willing to laj'^ down all ecclesiastical prejudice, and to go to Heaven even with Jesse Mercer, because he was a Troup man. "The Senate came into the Representative chamber at noon, to effect, on joint ballot, the election of Gov- ernor. The President of the Senate took his seat with 396 LIFE AND TIMES OF JACKSON. the Speaker of the House, and in obedience to law assumed the presidency of the assembled body. The members were ordered to prepare their ballots to vote for the Governor of the State. The Secretary of the Senate called the roll of the Senate, each man, as his name was called, moving up to the clerk's desk, and depositing his ballot. The same routine was then gone through with on the part of the House, when the hat (for a hat was used) containing the ballots was handed to the President of the Senate, Thomas Stocks, of Greene County, who proceeded to count the ballots, and finding only the proper number, commenced to call the name from each ballot. Pending this calling the silence was painfully intense. Every place within the spacious hall, the gallery, the lobby, the committee-rooms, and the embrasures of the windows were all filled to crushing repletion. And yet not a word or sound, save the excited breathing of ardent men, disturbed the anxious silence of the hall. One by one the ballots were called. There were 166 ballots, requiring 84 to elect. When 160 ballots were counted, each candidate had 80, and at this point the excitement was so painfully intense that the Presi- dent suspended the count, and though it was chilly November, took from his pocket his handkerchief, and wiped from his flushed face the streaming perspiration. While this was progressing, a wag in the gallery sang out, 'The darkest time of night is just before day.' This interruption was not noticed by the President, who called out 'Troup!' then 'Talbot!' and again there was a momentary suspension. Then he called again, 'Troup- Talbot!' '82-82,' was whispered audibly through the entire hall. Then the call was resumed. 'Troup!' 'A tie,' said more than a hundred voices. There remained but one ballet. The President turned the hat upside down, and the ballot fell upon the table. Looking down upon it, he called, at the top of his voice, ' Troup ! ' The scene that followed was indescribable. The two parties occupied separate sides of the chamber. Those voting for Troup rose simultaneously from their seats, and one LIFE AND TIMES OF JACKSON. 397 wild shout seemed to lift the ceiling overhead. Again, with increased vim, was it given. The lobby and the galleries joined in the wild shout. Members and spec- tators rushed into each others' arms, kissed each other, wept, shouted, kicked over the desks, tumbled on the floor, and for ten minutes this maddening excitement suspended the proceedings of the day. It was useless for the presiding officer to command order, if, indeed, his feelings were sufficiently under control to do so. When exhaustion had produced comparative silence, Duffie, with the full brogue of the County Carlow upon his tongue, ejaculated: '0 Lord, we thank Thee! The State is redeemed from the rule of the Devil and John Clarke.' Mercer waddled from the chamber, waving his hat above his great bald head, and shouting, 'Glory, glory!' which he continued until out of sight. General Blackshear, a most staid and grave old gentleman and a most sterling man, rose from his seat, where he, through all this excitement, had sat silent, folded his arms upon his breast, and, looking up, with tears streaming from his eyes, exclaimed: 'Now, Lord, I am ready to die!' Order was finally restored, and the state of the ballot stated, (Troup, 84; Talbot, 82,) when President Stocks proclaimed George M. Troup duly elected Governor of the State of Georgia for the next three years. "This was the last election of a Governor by the Legislature. The party of Clarke demanded that the election should be given to the people. This was done, and in 1825, Troup was re-elected over Clarke by a majority of seven hundred votes. It was during this last contest that the violence and virulence of party reached its acme, and pervaded every family, crciating animosi- ties which neither time nor reflection ever healed." James Buchanan Invites a Jacksonian Whack. "Shortly after Mr. Buchanan's return from Russia in 1834, to which country he had been sent by President Jackson in 1832, and immediately following his election to the Senate of the United States by the Legislature of 398 LIFE AND TIMES OF JACKSON. Pennsylvania, he called upon Old Hickory escorting a fair English lady, whom he desired to present to the head of the American nation. Leaving her in the reception- room down stairs, he ascended to the President's private quarters and found General Jackson unshaved, unkempt, in his dressing-gown, with his slippered feet on the fen- der before a blazing wood fire, smoking a corn-cob pipe of the old Southern school. He stated his object, when the General said he would be very glad to meet the handsome acquaintance of the new bachelor Senator. Mr. Buch- anan was always earful of his personal appearance, and, in some respects, was a sort of masculine Miss Fribble, addicted to spotless cravats and huge collars ; rather proud of a small foot for a man of his large stature, and to the last of his life what the ladies would call ' a very good figure.' Having just returned from a visit to the fashionable Continental circles, after two years of thorough intercourse with the etiquette of one of the stateliest courts in Europe, he was somewhat snockecl at the idea of the President meeting the eminent English lady in such guise, and ventured to ask if he did not intend to change his attire, whereupon the old warrior rose, with his long pipe in his hand, and, deliberately knocking the ashes out of the bowl, said to his frienci: 'Buchanan, I want to give you a little piece of advice which I hope you will remember. I knew a man once who made his fortune by attending to his own business. Tell the lady I will see her presently. ' "The man who became President in 1856 was fond of saying that this remark of Andrew Jackson humiliated him more than any rebuke he had ever received. He walked down stairs to meet his fair charge, and in a very short time President Jackson entered the room, dressed in a full suit of black, cleanly shaved, with his stubborn white hair forced from his remarkable face, and, advanc- ing to the beautiful Britisher, saluted her with almost kingly grace. As she left the White House she exclaimed to her escort, 'Your Republican President is the royal model of a gentleman.' " LIFE AND TIMES OF JACKSON. 399 A Glimpse of Clay, in His Old Age. "Toward the close of Mr. Clay's life, one Carter Beverly, of Virginia, wrote Mr. Clay some account of the part he himself had taken in the concoction of this slander, craving his forgiveness. (The "bargain and corruption" charge which damaged Clay so much.) This letter was received by Mr. Clay while a visitor at the home of the writer, and read to him: it dissipated all doubts upon the mind of Mr. Clay, if any remained, of the fact of the whole story being the concoction of Buchanan. Creemer was a colleague of Buchanan, and was a credulous Pennsylvanian, of Dutch descent; honest enough, but without brains, and only too willing to be the instrument of his colleague in any dirty work which would subserve his purposes. "He struggled to believe Buchanan was wronged by General Jackson; but one fact after another was developed — he could not doubt — all pointing the same way; and finally came this letter of Beverly's, when he was old and when his heart was crushed by the loss of his son Henry at Buena Vista, of which event he had only heard the day before : he doubted no more. I shall ever remember the expression of that noble countenance as, turning to me, he said: 'Read that!' Rising from his seat, he went to the garden, where, under a large live- oak, I found him an hour after, deeply depressed. It was sorrow, not anger, that weighed upon him." — Sparks: "Memories of Fifty Years." 400 LIFE AND TIMES OF JACKSON. CHAPTER XXXIII. "Jackson was of great assistanqp to me in my War upon the Bank." So spake Thomas Benton, who in his public speeches in Missouri, always alluded to himself in the third person, pronouncing the name ''Banetun." This self-complacent remark is usually cited as a humor- ous exhibition of monumental vanity, but it contains more than a grain of truth. Benton had long been the determined foe of the Bank, and he was the colossus of the Congressional assault upon it. When the historical estimates of American Statesmen come to be revised, for final record, Clay will be taken down, a peg or two; Daniel Webster will not rank so high; and both Calhoun and Benton will go up higher. Clay was bold enough and far sighted enough to stand for the governmental ownership of the telegraph; but he was ruinously wrong on finance and taxation. No principle more fatal to an equitable distribution of wealth, and, therefore, to civilization itself, can be con- ceived than "The American System" of Henry Clay. The law which, under the guise of protecting me in my business, deprives you of your property and gives it to me, cannot be consistent with sound morals, or national happiness. The beneficiaries of such- legislation are humanly bound to become increasingly powerful, rapacious, and unscrupulous. The victims of the system necessarily multiply in numbers and in wretchedness. One of the American millionaires, Joseph Fels, (a soap manufacturer) rather startled the country a few years ago, by saying, publicly, that such men as himself and Carnegie and Rockefeller and Morgan "felt like robbers." That is just what they are. Such a remark is a natural tribute to the "statesmanship" of Henry Clay. The truth is, Clay found it so easy to win his way by oratory, boldness of initiative and magiietic manners that he never studied any question thoroughly. He was LIFE AND TIMES OF JACKSON. 401 a shallot thinker, a weak reasoner, a superficial lawyer, and a President-seeking statesman. In the recently published correspondence of John C. Calhoun, it astonished me to find a letter written to an influential South Carolinian, in which Mr. Calhoun urged a system of State-built railroads. The Federal Government was returning some thirty odd million dollars to the States. It was a surplus and the banks did not demand and get it, as they do now- adays — and as they have done ever since President Cleveland set the noble, patriotic precedent. No: Jackson divided the Surplus among the States, to whose people it belonged. How differently these things are managed, in our own day and time ! To keep it from competing with the banker's interest-bearing currency, $150,000,000 in gold lies idle in the Treasury, under the cynical pretense of redeeming Greenbacks, which nobody wants redeemed and which the law says shall be immediately reissued, if redeemed ! Besides this favor to the banks, our good and great Government — the best on earth ! leaves among the banks, permanently, vast sums of the peoples' money, which the people may borrow from the banks, if they can furnish good collateral! Does any other government outrage the commonalty in that manner? Is any other nation under the sun so remorselessly, so openly, so calamitously operated in the interest of a privileged few? Are the masses — any- where on the globe ! so mercilessly plundered as ours are? Not anywhere else in the wide, wide world! But — coming back to Calhoun — when the Surplus was divided among the States, the long-headed States- man advised that the States use it to build railroads. He urged that South Carolina, and Georgia should construct trunk lines from the Atlantic seaboard to the Missis- sippi, and he suggested substantially the routes which have since been utilized. When you reflect upon what might have been the 402 LIFE AND TIMES OF JACKSON. result of the adoption of Calhoun's plan, you cannot withhold your admiration of his broad, far-sighted statesmanship. His financial views — not at the beginning of his career, but farther on — ^were equally sound. He favored an exclusively governmental system — money issued directly to the people, without the intermediary banker, and consisting of fiat gold, fiat silver, and fiat paper. How great is the hypnotic power of a word ! People grow scared when you talk of issuing "fiat money." All money is now, and ever has been, "fiat" money. That is, the law, and not Nature, creates it. Had Mr. Calhoun's financial views prevailed, and become our settled policy, this country would not now be at the mercy of the Money Trust, with its vast federation of uncontrollable, irresistible billions. Benton's distinguishing merit is, that he foresaw, as Jefferson did, the destiny of the West. Not only that, Benton's unerring sagacity took in the fact that the West meant the Orient also. While the statesmen of greater popularity and wider renown were surrendering, as not worth contending for, the magnificent territory which now lies in Canada, and to which thousands of our best farmers have rushed and are still rushing, Benton had grasped the importance of every square mile of it. While Webster, with an imperial gesture, was asking, "What is all this wilderness worth?" and answering his own question, to his com- plete satisfaction with the word, ' ' Nothing, ' ' Benton was picturing to the business men of St. Louis the gorgeous future of Western development and Oriental trade. Recurring to Benton, Jackson and the Bank. The indispensable man, is ever entitled to his fame; and Thomas H. Benton was the indispensable man of that combat. Without a Jackson to storm at those delega- tions which the bankers sent to shake his resolution, Benton could not have held his own in Congress. The united strength of The Great Trio would have rescued LIFE AND TIMES OF JACKSON. 403 Biddle and his Bank. No other man had the mental and physical fibre — the adamantine strength — to stand up to Webster, Clay and Calhoun day after day, night after night, week after week, as old Tom Benton did. And — most pugnacious of men! he wouldn't let the Big Three off, with merely killing Biddle 's Bank. He never rested until he compelled the Senate to draw black lines around the resolution which condemned Jackson's removal of the deposits, and to write the word ''Expunged" upon it. The rough, tough, gruff old fighter had "The Great Trio" completely whipped! Jackson was, of course, intensely gratified; and he gave a formal banquet in honor of Benton and his loyal colleagues. The feeling comes over me that I have lingered long enough over this story; and while there is a certain melancholy which depresses me in the completion of a book, I will bring this one to a rapid conclusion. Eeally, there is not much more to tell. Upon the Texan revolt from Mexico a stirring chapter could be written ; but that will come into my ' ' Story of the South and West," which I take up next. The old claims against France, growing out of the seizure of merchant vessels during the Napoleonic wars, were adjusted by treaty; but the money was not forth- coming. Jackson flew into one of his furies, and sent a message to Congress that was terribly insulting to France. Whereupon, Frenchmen began to " Sacre Blue"! and to dance with rage. Ministers were recalled, war-talk was in the air, and the two nations were dead- locked. Strange to say, Jackson's administration had been most cordial to' England, despite the furrow in his head, where the British officer had gashed him with his sword for refusing to clean his boots. At this crisis, when Jackson had the whole situation "balled up," (as in Florida when he was Governor) Great Britain offered her mediation. It was accepted, and the matter was 404 LIFE AND TIMES OF JACKSON. soon arranged to the satisfaction of all parties. France paid the money, and the incident added immensely to the European prestige of Old Hickory and his country. He named and elected his own successor; and Mr. Van Buren splendidly reaped the whirlwind where his illustrious predecessor sowed the wind. State banks had sprung up like mushrooms, wild-cat money flooded the country, speculation became a craze, prices bounded upward, and the whole country was in a fever. Down came Jackson's "Specie Circular," ordering land agents to demand gold and silver in payment of public domain. It was "Resumption," without due notice. It was "Contraction," by stroke of lightning. Just how much disaster was the consequence, no human being can estimate. The storm was fearful, and the wreckage was immense. Of course, the President should have issued the circular sooner, and given the country time for preparation. To revolutionize commercial methods so radically and so suddenly was a political error of the gravest magnitude. Jackson himself escaped most of the trouble, but Van Buren couldn't. His administration was a failure. If he had had a policy, he could not have carried it out, for Congress was against him. In fact, he was cordially disliked and deeply distrusted. Popular nicknames gen- erally hit the bull's eye, and his was "the Kinderhook Fox." When Andrew Jackson took his leave of the White House his popularity seemed undiminished. At Van Buren 's inauguration, the crowds paid no attention to "Matty." It was the white-haired old Chief that eager eyes singled out — that resonant voices cheered. The old man was very feeble, worn, emaciated; and those who looked upon him must have felt that they would see him no more. And to be able to say that they had seen Andrew Jackson, was something that three-fourths of the people considered a source of patriotic pride. He went home to be received as Tennessee always received him — the hero of whom she was enthusiastically LIFE AND TIMES OF JACKSON. 405 and affectionately proud. At the Hermitage lie found things in a bad way. The Donelsons of Jackson's imme- diate circle were poor managers, and his adopted son was a Donelson. Heavy losses had been suffered, and the aged soldier was under the necessity of borrowing $10,000 for his pressing obligations. His friend Francis Blair was the lender. Of course, he soon had his fine plantation on the self- supporting basis; and we hear of no further financial worries. He continued to take the liveliest interest in politics, and retained great influence. He was not able, however, to give Little Van a second term. In fact, ' ' the Kinderhook Fox" was never liked in Tennessee; and he failed to carry it even when he gained the Presidency. Judge Hugh L. White, of Tennessee, carried both his own State and that of Georgia. But for Jackson's feud with Col. John "Williams, which drew into it his brother-in-law. Judge White, it is highly probable that Jackson would have chosen the able, upright and accomplished Tennessean as his political heir. There is no doubt that this feud weakened Jackson in his own State, and lost Tennessee to the Demo'cratic party. The Hermitage precinct went against Jackson's candidate, three to one! Whatever chance Van Buren had for a re-election was lost by his opposition to the annexation of Texas. In playing for Northern support, he lost much more at the South than he won elsewhere. During the campaign, Jackson did his utmost for ''Matty." Among other things, he wrote and published a letter criticising Gen- eral Harrison's military achievements, and stating that he did not have a high opinion of Harrison as a soldier. The letter did Van Buren no good. The old hero was highly gratified when Tennessee went for James K. Polk ; but as Polk was a popular, oft- honored native of the State and the Texas question was in the campaign, and the rival candidate was the tactless, head-strong Henry Clay — whose own letter-writing ruined his chances — I can't see any Jacksonian victory in Polk's election. 406 LIFE AND TIMES OF JACKSON. Indeed, it is evident to me that his persistence in politics began to be resented. It had too much the appearance of dictation. The General joined the church, and became very devout. He was fond of the society of preachers, who were ever welcome guests at the Hermitage. His health was very bad during these closing years; and his strength gradually declined. A mis-step and stumble on the stair-way, one night in the White House, had wrenched open the falsely healed wound inflicted by Dickinson's bullet. Internal bleeding set in and Jack- son's sufferings were great. Frequent hemorrhages, and a hacking cough plagued him so constantly during his Presidency that he was seldom a well man. As he neared his end, his powers of endurance were taxed terribly. First, he would be gaspingly weak from violent diarrhea; and, then, would come dropsical swell- ings which puffed him from head to heel. The swelling disappeared when the bowel trouble seized him, only to return when it let go. It was an agonizing approach to the grave. Weaker after each crisis of his alternating attacks, regaining less of his strength after each, he was fully sensible of his nearness to death. But no one could have been more reconciled to it, and none could have borne the pain with greater patience and fortitude. He made no complaint, had no fears, suffered without a groan, was tenderly considerate of all who approached him. Many and many a night he could not lie down; many and many a day he was horribly racked by pain. But through the guard of this self-restrained, iron- willed soldier, could pass no word of weakness, of use- less concession to disease. On the very last day of his life, he "preached as fine a sermon," as those about had ever heard, holding forth an hour on religion. His kinspeople and his friends were in his room: the negroes were at the doors and windows. It was a wonderful spectacle — that of the cock-fighter, the deadly duelist, the inexorable military LIFE AND TIMES OF JACKSON. 407 chieftain, the fiery party-leader, the hero of New Orleans, preaching a sermon as he died! Alexander perished in a debauch : Caesar met sudden death with godlike composure: Hannibal drank poison: Frederick the Great, died like an unfeeling stoic : Wash- ington, without a word which proved that his mind was on anjiihing save himself and his property: John Adams' ''I yet live," shows where his thoughts were: Jefferson, the amiable and unflinching Deist, had already delivered his message. But Andrew Jackson, whose place is away up toward, the top in the class of great men, spent his last hours ''preaching as good a sermon as I ever heard." Not a man of books, not a man of great mental depth, but one whose practical head was clear within its own range — with instincts and intuitions which supplied the place of reasoning — he had witnessed the effects of reli- gion on the lives of men and women ; and he believed in it, most profoundly. It was enough for him that the good Christians whom he knew took the Bible as the very word of God. I don't suppose he had the faintest conception of the Buddhist, Mohammedan, or Confucian creeds ; and, to Andrew Jackson, the man who said in his heart, or otherwise, that there was no personal God, no actual malignant Devil, no real physical hell, no Heaven with many mansions and harping angels, was indeed a most aggravating fool. He told all the weeping attendants, white and black, to meet him in Heaven. And he said what all true hus- bands say of all good wives, that, if he did not meet his darling there, it would not be Heaven to him. After he had ended his sermon, he sat quietly in his chair. He knew the rider of the pale horse was very near. But not the slightest regret nor misgiving crept into his soul. No : indeed. Andrew Jackson had always done what he had made up his mind to do. His self- confidence had always been sublime. He had not had the slightest doubt that he would whip the Bentons, kill Dickinson, crush the Indians, destroy the British, coerce 408 LIFE AND TIMES OF JACKSON. France, demoralize the Spanish, rout Calhoun, burst Biddle's bank, repulse and overthrow the Great Three. One day on deep water, the boat was being knocked about by big waves, and a man with him expressed anxiety. Old Jackson looked at him with those fierce blue eyes and said, "I see, sir, that you have never been much with me." Caesar had said virtually the same thing, under prac- tically the same circumstances. And now the indomitable man was in his last fight — with Death and the Devil — and he was just as sure of winning it as he had been at Horse-shoe Bend, or New Orleans. He had made up his mind to go to Heaven, and he was going. No doubts about it at all : he was going. And so groat is the impression made by unbending determination and unvarying success that the papers, soon after Jackson's death, were circulating a dialogue between two New Yorkers, one of whom said that Jack- son was in Heaven, and the other, asking how such a thing could be known to be a fact, received the answer: ''Andrew Jackson said he was going to Heaven, and as he had made up his mind to go, you may be certain that he is there." The release of the dying man was painless. He had remained seated in his chair, and one of his last acts was to greet his old friend, Col. Lewis. "You like to have been too late," Jackson remarked to him calmly. Then, he put on his spectacles to see some of the children, bet- ter. Then he sat with eyes closed for a space, free from pain. Easily, like one going to sleep, he went to sleep — the head which nodded forward, and which met the sup- porting hand of William Lewis, being cold in death. It was the 8th of June, 1845. THE END ^ffffflifi 1 -"'''- ''^^