YALE UNIVERSITY UBWjRV ' 3 9002 064719637 &.M 3 S~ ¦^tAA,. V^ (J)AUd . d(AJrt*zA*4 wm f=l t4 » JEFFERSON IT MOMCEIL& THE PKIVA*CE LIFE OF THOMAS JEFFERSON. dfrcm cniir*Ig iuuj Materials. WITH NUMEROUS FAC-BIMILES. NEW TOEK: CHAELES SOEIBNEE, 124 GEAND STEEET. 1862. Entered, according to Act of Congress, in the year 1862, By CHARLES SCRIBNER, In the Clerk's Office of the District Court of the United States, for the . Southern District of New York, JOHN F. TEOW, PBZNTEB, STEBEOTYPEH, AND ELECTEOTTTEB, 48 & 50 Greene Street, New York TO MY OLD COLLEGE CHUM, EEY. SILAS S. HAEMON, OF SONORA, CALIFORNIA. IN MEMORY OF THE FOUR DELIGHTFUL TEARS WHEN WE STUDIED, WALKED, AND TALKED TOGETHER, AND SO OFTEN AND SO TRULY SAID, HAEC OHM MEMWISSE JJJVA2IT, ©Iris W alnrat IS RESPECTFULLY DEDICATED, AS A TRIBUTE TO HIS RARE ATTAINMENTS AS A SCHOLAR, HIS SELF-DENYING TOILS AS A CHRISTIAN, AND HIS TRUE NOBILITY AS A MAN, BY HIS DEVOTED FRIEND, THE AUTHOE. PEEFACE, This volume has been prepared from entirely new ma terials, derived from sources hitherto unexplored. It was the author's rare good fortune, some months since, to make the acquaintance of Oapt. Edmund Bacon, a now aged and wealthy citizen of Kentucky, who was for twenty years the chief overseer and business manager of Mr. Jefferson's estate at Monticello. He obtained from him a large mass of letters and other documents in Mr. Jefferson's own handwriting, giving directions as to his farm, grounds, garden, stock of different kinds, and all the various matters connected with his farm at Monti- cello. He also spent several weeks in writing out, in detail, Capt. Bacon's reminiscences of his venerated employer. This work has been prepared exclusively from the materials thus acquired. It is not therefore a rearrangement of historical facts in regard to Mr Jeffer son, that were already known and accessible to the pub lic, but a presentation of those that are entirely new. It does not come within the scope or design of this work, to attempt any sketch of Mr. Jefferson's public life, or any discussion of his political or religious opinions. Its simple purpose is, so to describe his home, his personal ap- 6 PREFACE. pearance, and all his personal and business habits, as to set the man fully before the reader — as a farmer, manufacturer, and master ; as a lover of fine horses, hogs, and sheep ; as the enthusiastic cultivator of fruits and flowers ; as the kind neighbor; the liberal benefactor of the poor; the participator in the childish sports of his grandchildren ; the hospitable entertainer of swarms of visitors, that well-nigh ate up his substance and consumed his life ; and in all the minutest details of his every-day home life at Monticello. It is believed that the portraiture of Mr. Jefferson's Private Life, thus presented, is much more full and complete than any that has heretofore been given to the public. There are a few facts in this volume that, if the au thor coiild have consulted his own feelings merely, he would certainly have omitted. He has described at length, in the first chapter, the manner in which all Capt. Bacon's reminiscences were obtained and written out. The facts alluded to were secured in the same man ner, but afterwards were marked to be omitted from the volume. A distinguished historian who was looking over the manuscript, asked why those passages were to be omitted. The author replied, that he did not like to publish facts that would give pain to any that might now be living. " Did you ever know," said he, " a kinder-hearted man than the Apostle John ? And did he not tell us that Peter denied his Master — more than once ! And would not his history have been very imperfect, if he had failed to give us this fact ? What is your praise worth, if you suppress all facts that are not praiseworthy ? " PREFACE. ^ The author could but feel the force of these questions, and could not erase the sad facts that are presented in regard to the intemperance, and other vices and misfor tunes, of some who were connected with Mr. Jefferson's family, and otherwise make a part of this history. It was the fault of David that he sinned, and not of the sacred historian that he recorded the fact. The principle involved in this judgment, is of universal application. The author submits this volume to the public with entire confidence in the credibility of the testimony of the venerable man from whom so many of the facts pre sented have been obtained. At this memorable period of our country's history, when the Union that was estab lished by the wisdom and cemented by the blood of our venerated fathers, has been so madly assailed, he is happy to have been the means of rescuing from oblivion facts that must increase our national reverence and regard for one of the most distinguished founders of our Eepublic, and administrators of its Government. — Esto Perpetua. Cumberland College, Princeton, Ky., 1862. CONTENTS. CHAPTER I. INTRODUCTION TO OAPT. BACON. Death of Jefferson mi Adams — " Thomas Jefferson Still Sur vives," in the Memory of his Overseer — Visit to his Neigh bor, Capt. Eoach — Anecdote of John Randolph — Introduc tion to Oapt. Bacon — Mr. Jefferson and the University of Virginia — Selection of the Site — Laying of the Corner-Stone — Interest in the Erection of the University — Mr. Jefferson's Letter of Recommendation \o Capt. Bacon — Capt. Bacon's Horses — His Knowledge of Blooded Stock — John Randolph's Blooded Horses — Subsequent Visits to Capt. Bacon — Manner of Taking Notes and Preparing this Volume, . . . .13 CHAPTER II. AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF OAPT. EDMUND BACON. Birth — Family — Early Acquaintance with Mr. Jefferson — Em ployed by him as Overseer — "With him Twenty Years — Visit to St. Louis in 1818 — The Party — Journey on Horseback — Fording Rivers — Deer, "Wolves, and "Wild Game on the Route — Gov. Coles and his Slaves at Edwardsville, 111. — St. Louis a Small French Settlement — Gov. Clarke — His Views of the Future of St. Louis — Chouteau's Farm — His Anxiety to Sell — Reasons for Not Purchasing — Return to Monticello— Subse- 10 CONTENTS. quent Emigration to Kentucky — Second Visit to Missouri — The Kentucky Widow — Determination to Return and Marry —Satisfied with the Union, ...... 28 CHAPTER III. MONTICELLO. The Mountain, Mansion, Grounds, Flowers, Shrubbery, Terraced Garden — Fruit, Vegetables — Letter of Instructions from "Wash ington in Regard to Stock, Crops, Accounts, Shrubbery, &c. — The Estate — Different Plantations — Premiums to Overseers and Servants — Copy of Mr. Jefferson's Instructions on Leav ing Home for ^Washington, 37 CHAPTER TV. me. jefferson's blooded stock. Importations of Merino Sheep — Their Great Increase in the Country — Barbary Sheep, Fine Mutton, but not Popular — Calcutta Hogs, Very Fine — Mr. Jefferson's Object in the Im portation of Stock — His Passion for Blooded Horses — De scription of Diomede, Brimmer, "Wellington, Tecumseh, and Eagle— His Turn-out, 53 CHAPTER V. mr. Jefferson's manufactories. Flouring Mill, Very Expensive, and a Bad Investment— Mr. Jef ferson's Interest in it— Letters from "Washington— Sale of Flour in Richmond— United States Bank Money— Nailery Very Profitable — Cloth Factory, Blacksmith, Carpenter, Painter, ,61 CHAPTER VI. mr. Jefferson's personal appearance and habits. Mr. Jefferson's Height — "Straight as a Gun-barrel" Health Strength, Complexion, Self-Possession— Anecdote— Personal CONTENTS. 11 Habits— Early Rising— His Fire — Tobacco — Cards— Diet- Ingenuity — Exeroise — Attendance on Preaching — Anecdote — The Baptist Preacher — Kindness to the Poor — Frost of 1816 — Anecdote — The Old "Woman and the Mule Dolphin — Busi ness Habits — A Written Account of Every Thing — Crop Account — Contract for Wood — Contract with Carpenter- Written Contraots Prevented Difficulties, . . . . 70 CHAPTER VII. MR. JEFFERSON'S FAMILY. Mr. Jefferson's Children — Martha Married Col. Th. M. Randolph — Maria Married John W. Eppes, and Died Young — Mrs. Randolph like her Father in Appearance, Character, Habits, &c. — Mr. Jefferson's Industry — Remarkable Statement — Mrs. Randolph's Children — Their Names and Family Characteris tics — Mr. Jefferson's Devotion to Them — Advice — Anecdote — Participation in Their Sports — Visits of School-Children to Monticello— A Fight— William C. Rives a Peacemaker — A Fine Boy — Governor Randolph — His Eccentricities — His Horse "Dromedary" — His Arrest by Wagoners — A Bad Manager — Sale of Slaves — Bill of Sale for Maria — His Trouble to Raise Money — Letter — Sale of Edy — Receipt — His Failure — Charles L. Bankhead — His Intemperance — Chiv alry — Fight with Wm. F. Gordon — His Receipt for Winny and her Children, . . ..... 85 CHAPTER VIII. mr. Jefferson's servants. Mr. Jefferson an Indulgent Master — Not Willing to have his Ser vants Overworked, or Whipped— Nails Stolen by Jim Hub bard — His Penitence- and Forgiveness — Favorite Servants — The House Servants — In the Room when Mrs. Jefferson Died — His Promise Not to Marry Again — Mr. Jefferson's Instruc tions in Regard to his Cider— Sally Hemings Crossed the 12 CONTENTS. Ocean with Maria Jefferson — Their Stay in London with Mrs. Adams — Mrs. Adams' Letters — Ursula, John Hemings, Joe Fosset — A Fugitive Slave — Servants Freed by Mr. Jefferson —His Views of Slavery, 103 CHAPTER IX. ME. JEFFERSON AT WASHINGTON — HIS LIBRARY. Oapt. Bacon's Visits to Mr. Jefferson in Washington — Appear ance of the City — The President's House — Its Domestic Ar rangements — Servants from Monticello — Steward — Cook — Carriage Driver — Visitors — Dinners — Market — Expense — Moving Home Mr. Jefferson's Goods and Servants — Snow storm — Capt. Bacon Mistaken for the President — Mr. Jeffer son's Reception on the Way — Anxiety to See " Old Tom " — His Reception at Home — His Library — Sale to Congress — Removal to Washington — Sixteen Wagon Loads — His Lounge — Writing-Table — Bible-Reading — Chancellor Wythe's Li brary, 112 CHAPTER X. ME. JEFFERSON'S HOSPITALITY. His Visitors— Mr. Madison — His Appearance and Character— Mr. Monroe— His Ability — Letters— A Bad Manager — What Made him President— The Three Ex-Presidents Together— Other Visitors Came in Gangs— Their Horses, and what they Consumed— Mrs. Randolph's Trouble to Entertain Them— Mr. Jefferson's Reason for Going to Poplar Forest— Reasons of his Failure— Gov. Wilson C. Nicholas— Thomas J. Ran dolph—Reasons for Leaving Mr. Jefferson— The Parting- Subsequent Correspondence— Capt. Bacon's Opinion of Mr. Jefferson — Conclusion, # 221 Appendix, . v _ 233 JEFFERSON AT MONTICELLO. CHAPTER I. INTRODUCTION TO CAPT. BACON. DEATH OF JEFFERSON AND ADAMS "THOMAS JEFFERSON STILL SURVIVES," IN THE MEMORY OF HIS OVERSEER — VISIT TO HIS NEIGHBOR, CAPT. ROACH — ANECDOTE OF JOHN RANDOLPH INTRODUCTION TO CAPT. BACON — MR. JEFFERSON AND THE UNIVERSITY OF VIRGINIA — SELECTION OF THE SITE — LAYING OF THE CORNER-STONE — INTEREST IN THE ERECTION OF THE UNI VERSITY MR. JEFFERSON'S LETTER OF RECOMMENDATION TO CAPT. BACON — CAPT. BACON'S HORSES — HIS KNOWLEDGE OF BLOODED STOCK— JOHN RAN DOLPH'S BLOODED HORSES — SUBSEQUENT VISITS TO CAPT. BACON — MANNER OF TAKING NOTES AND PREPARING THIS VOLUME. " Thomas Jefeekson still survives ! " were the dying words of the elder Adams. At that mo ment the devoted family and friends, at Monticello and at Quincy, were moving with the same noise less tread, and watching with the same breathless interest, the closing scenes in the lives of those illustrious men. Adams and Jefferson breathed their last, July 4th, 1826 ; and the waves of grief 14 JEFFERSON AT MONTICELLO. from Quincy and Monticello soon intermingled and overspread the land. The nation was in tears. Adams and Jefferson were no more. The one by his tongue, the other by his pen, had done more than any others, by these means, to secure the lib erty and independence of their country. That country had lavished upon each her highest hon ors; and, as if in approval of their life-work, Heaven had kindly ordained that both, should die upon the anniversary of that day that they had done so much to make immortal. These pages are devoted especially to the mem ory of Jefferson. The dying utterance of the sage of Quincy was not less the statement of a fact, than a prophecy. Thomas Jefferson still survives. Thomas Jefferson will survive so long as our coun try or its history endures. That he was the au thor of the Declaration of Independence ; that he filled the highest posts of public trust at home and abroad; that his name and influence are inter woven with the early history of his State and country; that he was the founder of the Univer sity of Virginia ; — these facts, and such as these, are well known to all. In all these relations, Thomas Jefferson still survives in history and in the universal knowledge of his countrymen. But it will doubtless be new to most of my readers, that Thomas Jefferson still survives in all MR. JEFFERSON'S OVERSEER. ^5 the minutest details of his every-day home life at Monticello ; as a farmer, manufacturer, and master ; as a lover of fine horses, hogs, and sheep ; as the enthusiastic cultivator of fruits and flowers; as the kind neighbor, the liberal benefactor of the poor, the participator in the childish sports of his grandchildren, the hospitable entertainer of swarms of visitors that well-nigh ate up all his substance, and consumed his life ; — in all these, and numerous other relations, Thomas Jefferson still survives in the iron memory, and in the most devoted and ten der affection and veneration of a now aged man, who was for twenty years the chief overseer and business manager of his estate at Monticello. Such is the fact. On a visit, some months since, with one of my associates, to a neighborhood in Trigg County, Ky., about twenty miles from my own home, our host, Capt. C. W. Eoach, remarked: "I have a near neighbor, Capt. Edmund Bacon, who lived with Thomas Jefferson at Monticello, as overseer, for twenty years." " "We should be most happy to go and see him," was our response ; and very soon we were on our way. Most naturally, as we rode on, our conversa tion turned on the distinguished men that Virginia had given to the country and the world. Though I doubt not my readers are as impatient for the 1Q JEFFERSON AT MONTICELLO. introduction that was before us as we were,I am sure they will pardon me for detaining them with some of the details of that conversation. Capt. Roach was a native of Charlotte County, Va., the home of John Randolph. He had been familiar with his appearance from childhood, had frequently heard him speak, had often seen him driving about the country with four magnificent blooded horses to his carriage, and his servants following him with perhaps a dozen more equally " high-bred " and fiery. He gave us a number of anecdotes illustrating his eccentricities. One of these was so very characteristic of the man, that I must repeat it. A Baptist clergyman, the Rev. Abner W. Clop- ton, took charge of some Baptist churches in Char lotte County, and attracted unusual attention as a preacher. He had been a Professor in the Uni versity of North Carolina, at Chapel Hill, and the fame of his learning and eloquence drew large crowds to hear him. Mr. Randolph, whose solici tude for his servants is well known, employed Mr. Clopton to preach to them, and generally at tended these services. On one occasion, having been particularly moved by the sermon, he arose at its close and commenced an address to his sable audience. As he proceeded, his feelings became deeply enlisted, and in the most appropriate, beau- ANECDOTE OF JOHN RANDOLPH. ]_/- tiful, and eloquent manner, he urged upon them the importance of the great moral truths that the preacher had presented to them. Mr. Clopton told Capt. Roach, a few days after, that no clergyman could have spoken more appropriately or beauti fully. In conclusion, he expressed his great gratifi cation at seeing them there, said he was very glad to provide preaching for them, was willing and anxious to afford them all the religious privileges they could desire, except night meetings. He could not and would not tolerate them. He grew indig nant and bitter as he went on to speak of their evil effects, and said there was nothing that he hated worse, unless it was a mean, thieving overseer, to whom, in his indignation, he applied another and much stronger epithet, not at all in keeping with the moral lecture he had just given. As quick as thought he set about extricating himself from the awkward condition into which he had been led by his passions, and very deliberately went on to say, " Now if there were any common, vulgar peo ple here, they would perhaps go away and say that I had used profane language ; but my clerical friend here, who is a fine classical scholar, knows that ' damned ' means condemned ; and therefore I simply mean to say, an overseer that everybody condemns." As we approached our destination, I remarked 2 13 JEFFERSON AT MONTICELLO. to Capt. Roach, that as it was so late in the after noon, we should have but a short time to stay, and I was anxious to spend as little time as possible in general conversation, so that we might hear as much as possible of Mr. Jefferson from one who had been with him so many years, and must have known him so well. " Give yourself no uneasiness about that," said he. "Capt. Bacon is enthusiastic and entirely at home on two subjects, and he never tires of talk ing about either. One is Thomas Jefferson, and the other is fine horses ; and he easily passes from one to the other. We shall not be in the house many minutes before you will be certain to hear something of Mr. Jefferson." We entered the house, and were introduced to Capt. Bacon as connected with the College at Princeton. The form of our introduction was most fortunate. It was pivotal. To Capt. Bacon's mind the mention of a College most naturally suggest ed the University of Virginia, and Mr. Jefferson's labors and solicitude in its behalf. Pie began at once to give the early history of the institution, and we soon found not only that he could talk about Mr. Jefferson, but that he was an uncom monly interesting talker, as the reader shall have occasion to see, for my pencil was soon in requi sition. UNIVERSITY OF VIRGINIA. 1Q " You know," said he, " that Mr. Jefferson was the founder of the University of Virginia. Let me see if I can remember all the Commissioners. There were Mr. Jefferson, Mr. Madison, Mr. Mon roe, Chapman Johnson, John H. Cocke, and some others. They are all that I now remember. The act of the Legislature, if I mistake not, made it their duty to establish the University within a mile of the Court House at Charlottesville. They advertised for proposals for a site. Three men offered sites, — Nicholas Lewis, John H. Craven, and John M. Perry. The Commissioners had a meeting at Monticello, and then went and looked at all these sites. After they had -made this ex amination, Mr. Jefferson sent me to each of them, to request them to send by me their price, which was to be sealed up." " Do you remember the different prices \ " said I. " I think I do. Lewis and Craven each asked $17 per acre, and Perry $12. That was a mighty big price in those days. I went to Craven and Lewis first. When I went to Perry, he inquired of me if I knew what price the others had asked. I told him I did, but I did not think it would be right for me to tell him. They had both talked the matter over with me, and told me what they were a-going to ask. But I told Perry that if he 2Q JEFFERSON AT MONTICELLO. asked about $10 or $12 per acre, I thought he would be mighty apt to succeed. They took Perry's forty acres, at $12 per acre. It was a poor old turned-out field, though it was finely situ ated. Mr. Jefferson wrote the deed himself, and I carried it to' Mr. Perry, and he signed it. After wards Mr. Jefferson bought a large tract near it from a man named Avery. It had a great deal of fine timber and rock on it, which was used in building the University. " My next instruction was to get ten able- bodied hands to commence the work. I soon got them, and Mr. Jefferson started from Monticello to lay off the foundation, and see the work com menced. An Irishman named Dinsmore, and I, went along with him. As we passed through Charlottesville, I went to old Davy Isaacs' store, and got a ball of twine, and Dinsmore found some shingles and made some pegs, and we all went on to the old field together. Mr. Jefferson looked over the ground some time, and then stuck down a peg. He stuck the very first peg in that building, and then directed me where to carry the line, and I stuck the second. He carried one end of the line, and I the other, in laying off the foundation of the University. He had a little rule in his pocket that he always carried with him, and with this he measured off the ground, and laid off the UNIVERSITY OF VIRGINIA. 21 entire foundation, and then set the men at work. I have that rule now, and here it is," said Capt. Bacon, taking it from a drawer in his secretary that he unlocked, to show it to us. It was a small twelve-inch rule, so made as to be but three inches long when folded up. " Mr. Jefferson and I were once going along the bank of the canal," said he, " and in crawling through some bushes and vines, it fell out of his pocket and slid down the bank into the river. Some time after that, when the water had fallen, I went and found it, and carried it to Mr. Jefferson. He told me I had had a great deal of trouble to get it, and as he had provided himself with another, I could keep it. I intend to keep it as long as I live ; and when I die, that rule can be found locked up in that drawer. "After the foundation was nearly completed, they had a great time laying the corner-stone. The old field was covered with carriages and peo ple. There was an immense crowd there. Mr. Monroe laid the corner-stone. He was President at that time. He held the instruments, and pro nounced it square. He only made a few remarks, and Chapman Johnson and several others made speeches. Mr. Jefferson — poor old man ! — I can see his white head just as he stood there and looked on. " After this he rode there from Monticello every 22 JEFFERSON AT MONTICELLO. day while the University was building, unless the weather was very stormy. I don't think he ever missed a day unless the weather was very bad. Company never made any difference. When he could not go on account of the weather, he would send me, if there was any thing that he wanted to know. He looked after all the materials, and would not allow any poor materials to go into the building if he 'could help it. He took as much pains in seeing that every thing was done right, as if it had been his own house." After answering a great many questions in re gard to Mr. Jefferson, Capt. Bacon said he had a great many of his letters, and proposed to show us a specimen of his handwriting. He unlocked a drawer, and brought us a paper, which most natu rally he prizes very highly, of which the following is a copy : "Warm Springs, Aug. 18, 1818. "The bearer, Mr. Edmund Bacon, has lived with me twelve years as manager of my farm at Monticello. He goes to the Missouri to look out for lands to which he means to remove. He is an honest, correct man in his conduct, and worthy of confidence in his engagements. Any information or instruction which any person may give him, will be worthily bestowed ; and if he should apply particularly to Gov. Clarke on his way, the Gov- MR. JEFFERSON'S LETTER. 23 ernor will especially oblige me by imparting to him his information and advice. "Thomas Jefferson." " Mr. Bacon has continued to possess the es teem, confidence, and good-will of his neighbors, and of the family in which he has lived, without any interruption to this day. " Th. M. Randolph." "September 14, 1820." I will here add, that Capt. Bacon has now re sided in Kentucky about forty years, and his neigh bors, who have known him during all that time, would vouch as strongly for his character as Mr. Jefferson and his son-in-law, Gov. Randolph, have done. He is a man of wealth and character. Our time was exhausted, and expressing our great gratification at our visit, we arose to leave ; but Capt. Bacon insisted that we should go to his stable and see his horses. He had two of them brought out and exhibited for our gratification. They were magnificent specimens of that noble animal. Their pedigrees for an indefinite period backward were at his tongue's end, and he showed a knowledge of blooded horses that I think would have astonished any old Virginia connoisseur in that line. He was certainly thoroughly Jefferso- nian in his love for fine horses. He had taken the 24 JEFFERSON AT MONTICELLO. leading stock journals of the country for more than fifty years, and seemed to know all about all the most noted horses there had been in the country in all that time. Like Mr. Jefferson, he has never patronized nor in any way encouraged horse-racing. He says, that though John Randolph had some times a hundred* blooded horses, — the finest stable of horses in Virginia, — he never trained them for the turf — never allowed them to race. On leaving, I told Capt. Bacon, that if my life was spared, that would not be my last visit to him. I felt that I had found a rich historical placer, that I was determined to thoroughly work, as soon as I could find time to do so. * " Charlotte Cocktt, Va., May 19, 1S26. ****** « Mr. Randolph is the Magnus Apollo of this county. Every one knows and fears him. His power of sarcasm and invective is such, that no one pretends to contradict him. He has three several plantations in this county, all of them extensive. His horses (I mean those which are never used) are worth, I suppose about $8,000." " Chaelotte, April 10, 1827. '" * '' * * '"'"" "This part of Virginia has long been cele brated for its breed of horses. There is a scrupulous attention paid to the preservation of the immaculate English blood. Among the crowd on this day were snorting and rearing fourteen or fifteen stal lions, some of which were indeed fine specimens of that noble crea ture. Among the rest, Mr. Randolph's celebrated English horse Roanoke, who is nine years old, and has never been 'backed.'" Forty Years' Familiar Letters of James W. Alexander, B.D. New York : C has. Scrioner. 1860. Pp. 95, 101. TAKING NOTES. 25 I have recently been able to accomplish that determination. I have spent several weeks with my host, to whom I was indebted for this intro duction, and day after day I have gone to Capt. Bacon's, and listened to his. reminiscences of his venerated employer. He was never weary of talk ing on this theme, nor I of listening. At his fire side, around his hospitable table, strolling among his blooded stock, and riding over his immense plantation, he poured forth from the inexhaustible storehouse of his wonderful memory the accumu lations of a score of the best years of his life, that were spent at Monticello. It will be my object in the pages that follow, to give the results of these conversations. I shall not trouble the reader with the thousand questions I have asked, but will give the answers in narrative form, as nearly as possible in Capt. Bacon's own language. He has frequently remarked to me, that when he was a boy, there were no such opportunities for education as now ; that he had only an " old-field-school, picked-up education ; " but the reader will see that he has "picked up" a very terse, vigorous use of lan guage. This is no doubt largely due to the un conscious influence of Mr. Jefferson, for whom his admiration is most profound, and was acquired in his twenty years' correspondence and conversations with him in regard to his business affairs. 2(j JEFFERSON AT MONTICELLO. In my visits to Capt. Bacon, I took notes of all that he said of Mr. Jefferson. Sometimes he would talk at length upon one subject, and at others his conversation was perfectly discursive. But wherever he went I followed him with my " notes," asking him questions and drawing him out when ever his mind seemed most excited by his own reminiscences upon particular themes. In this manner we talked, and I wrote day after day, until I had gained from him all the information I could possibly acquire in regard to Mr. Jefferson. Hav ing in this manner filled a blank book with " notes," and having carefully looked over Capt. Bacon's papers, and selected, by his permission, all those in the handwriting of Mr. Jefferson, Mr. Monroe, Mr. Randolph, and some others, I returned home with my historical treasures. In writing this volume, I have done very little " editing," except that the results of these conversa tions are arranged, as far as possible, under the sub jects to which they appropriately belong. The reader will bear in mind, that these reminiscences go back over a period of from forty to sixty years; yet in no instance has Capt. Bacon referred to a manuscript or written memorandum in regard to any of the facts communicated. They are literally " reminiscences." It is therefore well-nigh impos sible that there should be no inaccuracies in any A KIND WORD. 21 of the statements. Should any reader make such a discovery, I am sure that in the circumstances he will need no exhortation from me, in behalf of my aged friend, to " Be to his faults a little blind ; Be to his virtues very kind." Before proceeding with these reminiscences of Mr. Jefferson, it will be proper for me more fully to introduce Capt. Bacon to my readers. This I shall do in the next chapter. CHAPTER II. capt. bacon's autobiography. BIRTH — FAMILY — EARLY ACQUAINTANCE WITH MR. JEFFERSON — EMPLOYED BY HIM AS OVERSEER — WITH niM TWENTY YEARS — VISIT TO ST. LOUIS IN 1818 — THE PARTY — JOURNEY ON HORSEBACK FORDING RIVERS— DEER, WOLVES, AND WILD GAME ON THE ROUTE — GOV. COLES AND HIS SLAVES AT EDWARDSVILLE, ILL. — ST. LOUIS A SMALL FRENCH SETTLEMENT GOV. CLARKE — HIS VIEWS OF THE FUTURE OF ST. LOUIS — CHOUTEAU'S FARM — niS ANXIETY TO SELL — REASONS FOR NOT PURCHASING RETURN TO MON TICELLO — SUBSEQUENT EMIGRATION TO KENTUCKY — SECOND VISIT TO MIS SOURI THE KENTUCKY WIDOW — DETERMINATION TO RETURN AND MARRY — SATISFIED WITH THE UNION. " I am now seventy-six years old. I was born March 28, 1785, within two or three miles of Mon ticello, so that I recollect Mr. Jefferson as far back as I can remember anybody. My father and he were raised together, and went to school together. My oldest brother, William Bacon, had charge of his estate during the four years he was Minister to France. After he was elected President, he told my father he wanted an overseer, and he wished to employ my brother William again. But he was then quite an old man, and very well off and did not wish to go. He then inquired of my father if EMPLOYED AS OVERSEER. 29 he could not spare me. He replied that he thought I was too young. I was his youngest son, and not of age yet. Mr. Jefferson requested him to send me to see him about it. My father was a com fortable farmer; had ten or twelve hands. He was very industrious, and taught all his .children to work. Mr. Jefferson knew this. That was why he wanted one of my father's sons. He was the most industrious man I ever knew. When my father told me Mr. Jefferson wanted to employ me, I was keen to go ; and I determined that if he em ployed me, I would please him, if there was any such thing. When I went to see him, he told me what he wanted me to do, gave me good advice, and said he would try me, and see hoAV I would get along. I went to live with him the 27th of the December before he was inaugurated as Presi dent ; and if I had remained with him from the Sth of October to the 27th of December, the year that I left him, I should have been with him pre cisely twenty years. " Some time before I left him, I determined to go West and buy land upon which to settle, and Mr. Jefferson recommended me to go to the Mis souri. It was a territory then, and there was a great deal of talk about it. At the time that we had arranged that I should go and look at the country, Mr. Jefferson was at the Warm Springs. 30 JEFFERSON AT MONTICELLO. In going to his Bedford farm, he had somehow caught the itch, and it troubled him a great deal, and he went to the Springs to see if he could not get rid of it. But he wrote me not to let his ab sence interrupt my plans, and said that in going, I Avould pass directly through the yard where he was staying, and he would see me there. That is why that letter of his, that I showed you, is dated at the Warm Springs. " There were six of us started together on horseback from Charlottesville for the Missouri, — John D. Coles, Absalom Johnson, James Garnett, William Bacon, and Jones — I forget his given name ; he was as good company as ever lived. We went by the Warm Springs, Hot Springs, Guyan- dotte, and crossed the Big Sandy at its mouth; and then went on by Flemingsburg, Mt. Sterling, Lexington, and Sheibyviile, to Louisville. It was a little settlement then, and the people were very anxious we should settle there. When we crossed the Ohio into Indiana, there was no road at all. We took a pilot, and went to Vincennes. We had no road, only a bridle path. From there we went to Edwardswille, 111., where Edward Coles, after wards Governor of the State, then lived. I had known him well in Albemarle County; we were raised together. He was very anxious for us to buy land there. He had bought a great deal. He JOURNEY TO ST. LOUIS. 3^ had taken about twenty negroes with him from Virginia, who worked for him for a time, and made improvements on his land. He finally sold his land for a great profit, freed his negroes, and went back to Virginia. From here we went on to St. Louis. " There were no bridges on our route, and only the large rivers, like the Ohio and Mississippi, had ferry-boats. We had to swim all the smaller streams. Some of the more difficult streams had dug-out canoes, in which we rowed over, and swam our horses behind and beside us. My mare was one of the best animals ever backed. She was a granddaughter of imported Diomede. She would swim almost like a fish. She would seldom wet me above the knees. Garnett's horse was a poor swimmer — swam very deep. He called him Henry. When we crossed a river, you could only see his head out of the water, and Garnett would be wet almost to the armpits. On our way we saw a great deal of game, — gangs of deer, fowls, and wolves. At one house where we stayed all night, the wolves came about the house and howled so terribly, that the dogs were afraid of them — would not go out and attack them. They took several pigs out of the pen, and we had to go out and throw brands of fire at them to drive them away. We saw no bears except some tame ones that had been caught by the people when they were young. 32 JEFFERSON AT MONTICELLO. " When we got to St. Louis, I called on Gov. Clarke, and showed him the letter from Mr. Jeffer son, and I never was more kindly treated. There was a small tavern near the ferry, but he insisted that I should stay with him. He knew a great deal about the Western country. He and Merri- wether Lewis had explored the Missouri River. St. Louis was a dingy little settlement, not much larger than a good negro quarter. There was only one narrow street three or four hundred yards long. The houses were mostly old-looking, built of rock in the roughest manner possible. A few of them were plastered houses. They were all one story. Gov. Clarke lived in a one-story plastered house with two rooms. The fences around their truck patches (gardens) were a kind of wicker- work made of posts stuck into the ground, and brush wattled into them. For miles around it was a prairie country. Back from the river some two or three miles, there was a large spring, and near it a windmill that did most of the grinding for the settlement. I went out there several times. When the wind blew "hard, it ground very fast. Most of the people were French. Even the negroes spoke French. Gov. Clarke was very anxious that I should buy there. He advised me to look no fur ther. He said that with so many large rivers com ing in near there, and such a rich, fertile country, CHOUTEAU'S FARM. 33 it must some day be a large place. He told me there was a Frenchman named Chouteau who had a great deal of land there, and was very anxious to sell a thousand acres. He said the Frenchman needed every thing but land. I went to see him, and Clarke sent his clerk along with me to inter pret. He was almost as black as a negro, lived in a low, squatty brick house, almost without furni ture. It had benches in place of chairs. He was very anxious to sell, and only asked me three dol lars an acre for a thousand acres. I concluded to look further over the Territory. We got a pilot, and travelled several hundred miles over the coun try north and south of the Missouri River, and returned to St. Louis. Chouteau sent to me sev eral times to urge me to buy of him, and Clarke persuaded me to it very strongly. If I had only taken his advice ! I had $3,000 in a belt around me ; but by this time I had concluded I would not take off my belt and pay out my money for all the land in the Territory. You could raise abundance of every thing, but could get nothing for it. There was no such thing as a steamboat on any Western river. Such a thing wasn't thought of then. Keel and flat-boats were the only kind of navigation. The people told me how they did. When they had a surplus of bacon, flour, and venison, they would load up a flat-boat and take it to New Or- 34 JEFFERSON AT MONTICELLO. leans. It took four or five months to make the trip, and they got very little for their load. It was a solemn sight to see a boat start off. The people would assemble on the bank of the river, and bid their friends farewell. It was very uncertain whether they would ever see them again, for they were going into a dead, sickly place, and they had to walk all the way back through an Indian country. "I returned to Virginia without making any purchase, remained a few years longer with Mr. Jefferson, and then removed my family to Ken tucky, and rented a farm until I could look over the country and satisfy myself. I went to St. Louis and looked over the State again, but could not make up my mind to settle there. Chouteau was still anxious to sell, and Clarke anxious that I should buy ; but I concluded that Kentucky was far enough West, and that I would go back and buy there." Could Capt. Bacon have looked into the future, he would have purchased the thousand acres which are now covered by the city of St. Louis. It is now very easy to. see how he missed an immense fortune. "If our foresight was as good as our hindsight, it would be an easy matter to get rich." But Capt. Bacon is not particularly to be pitied in this regard. He purchased, at two dollars per THE KENTUCKY WIDOW. 35 acre, a thousand acres of much better farming land, where he now resides, to which he has since made additions, until he now has about four thousand acres. This, with a large amount of most valuable stock, and (as his neighbors tell me) a good many thousand dollars at interest, make a fortune so ample as to leave very little room for reasonable regret in regard to his decision at St. Louis. Moreover, there were potent reasons for that decision. Gov. Clarke, in his prophetic portraiture of the brilliant future that was before St. Louis, and in all his other earnest and eloquent persua sives, was opposed by pleadings that he wot not of. He was engaged in an unequal contest. Capt. Bacon was a widower. His wife had died in Kentucky. Kentucky, so famed as " the dark and bloody ground," is not less famed for the unerring execution of other than Indian archers. Many a passing traveller has received their darts, — has been taken captive. Capt. Bacon had seen a Kentucky widow. He shall tell the rest. We were sitting around his large old-fashioned fireplace, as was our wont. Mrs. Bacon, who at seventy-six is hale and hearty, and as active as most ladies at thirty or forty, was sitting in one " corner " by her window, busy with her knitting, and absorbed with the conversation. Capt. Bacon was near her, his face all aglow with his own 3$ JEFFERSON AT MONTICELLO. / reminiscences of long-gone years, and the writer was in the other corner, with pencil and note-book in hand. With a smile that indicated the most perfect satisfaction with the whole result, Capt. Bacon gave the following "explanation" of his failure to make the St. Louis purchase : " The fact is, sir," said he, " I believe I should have bought in St. Louis, if it had not been for the old lady here. I had seen her. The last night I was in St. Louis, I determined I would go back and marry her, if possible, and settle here. We have now lived together nearly forty years, and I believe neither of us is tired of the union, or anxious to secede." CHAPTER III. MONTICELLO. the mountain, mansion, grounds, flowers, shrubbery, terraced garden fruit, vegetables — letter of instructions from washington in regard to stock, crops, accounts, shrubbery, etc. — the estate — dif ferent plantations — premiums to overseers and servants — copy of mr. jefferson's instructions on leaving home for Washington. Capt. Bacon says: — "Monticello is quite a high mountain, in the shape of a sugar-loaf. A winding road led up to the mansion. On the very top of the mountain the forest trees were cut down, and ten acres were cleared and levelled off. This was done before I went to live with Mr. Jefferson. The house in the picture that you showed me, (Frontispiece,) is upon the highest point. That picture is perfectly natural. I knew every room in that house. Under the house and the terraces that surrounded it, were his cisterns, ice-house, cel lar, kitchen, and rooms for all sorts of purposes. His servants' rooms were on one side. They were very comfortable, warm in the winter and cool in the summer. Then there were rooms for vegetables, 38 JEFFERSON AT MONTICELLO. fruit, cider, wood, and every other purpose. There were no negro and other out-houses around the mansion, as you generally see on plantations. The grounds around the house were most beautifully ornamented with flowers and shrubbery. There were walks, and borders, and flowers, that I have never seen or heard of anywhere else. Some of them were in bloom from early in the spring until late in the winter. A good many of them were foreign. Back of the house was a beautiful lawn of two or three acres, where his grandchildren used to play a great deal. His garden was on the side of the mountain. I had it built mostly while he was President. It took a great deal of labor. We had to blow out the rock for the walls for the dif ferent terraces, and then make the soil. I have some of the instructions that Mr. Jefferson sent me from Washington now. It was a fine garden. There were vegetables of all kinds, grapes, figs, and the greatest variety of fruit I have never seen such a place for fruit. It was so high that it never failed. Mr. Jefferson sent home a great many kinds of trees and shrubbery from Washington. I used to send a servant there with a great many fine things from Monticello for his table, and he would send back the cart loaded with shrubbery from a nur sery near Georgetown, that belonged to a man named Maine, and he would always send me direc- LETTER OF INSTRUCTIONS. 39 tions what to do with it. He always knew all about every thing in every part of his grounds and garden. He knew the name of every tree, and just where one was dead or missing. Here is a letter that he sent me from Washington : "'Washington, Nov. 24, 1807. " ' Sir, — Davy has been detained till now, the earth having been so frozen that the plants could not be dug up. On the next leaf are instructions what to do with them, in addition to which I in close Mr. Maine's instructions as to the thorns. He brings a couple of Guinea pigs, which I wish you to take great care of, as I propose to get this kind into the place of those we have now, as I greatly prefer their size and form. I think you had better keep them in some inclosure near your house till spring. I hope my sheep are driven up every night, and carefully attended to. The finishing every thing about the mill, is what I wish always to have a preference to every kind of work. Next to that, my heart is most set on finishing the gar den. I have promised Mr. Craven that nothing shall run next year in the meadow inclosure, where his clearing will be. This is necessary for our selves, that we may mow the clover and feed it green. I have hired the same negroes for another year, and am promised them as long as I want 40 JEFFERSON AT MONTICELLO. them. Stewart must be immediately dismissed. If he will do those jobs I mentioned before he goes, he may stay to do them, and have provisions while about them. Joe may work in the way you proposed, so that the whole concern may be to gether. I place here the statement of debts and remittances : DEBTS. £8 Is. U. - $26 92 Jacob Cooper, John Peyton, Dr. Jamieson, James Oarr, corn, Thomas Burras, 18 hogs, Richard Anderson, flour, John Rogers, beef and corn, James Butler, flour, . Do. beeves, . Robt. Burras, 20 barrels corn, Robt. Terril, 100 do. Do. 10,000 lbs. fodder, Your own balance, REMITTANCES. Oct. 12. Remitted, Nov. 9. Do. . . , Dec. 6. By Mr. Craven, . To the order of Kelly, Jan. I shall remit Feb. Do. 21 12 7 10 3 = 72 04 0 = 35 00 . 35 00 20 75 . 13 00 117 00 . 10 00 85 00 . 35 00 175 00 . 50 00 133 33 $808 04 . $101 00 . * 110 00 . 200 00 33 83 . 260 00 103 71 $808 04 " ' By these remittances and payments made and to be made, you will perceive that the whole will LETTER OF INSTRUCTIONS. 4^ be paid off by the first week in February. Mr. Craven called on me the 17th, with your order to pay him $100 the first week in December ; but he said you would receive $200 of his money, and that he should be extremely distressed if he could not get the whole sum here. On that I gave him my note to pay $200 to his order the first week of next month, and you are to use his $200 instead of what I intended to remit you at that time. Last night I received from Mr. Kelly your order to pay him $133i To reconcile these two transac tions, you can use $100 of Craven's money towards paying the debts. Pay Mr. Kelly $100 of it, in part of your order on me, and I will remit $33^-, according to his order, by which means every thing will be brought to rights. I shall write to him on this subject, and shall be glad to learn that this arrangement is made, and is satisfactory. " ' I tender you my best wishes. " ' Th. Jefferson.' " ' If the weather is not open . and soft when Davy arrives, put the box of thorns into the cellar, where they may be entirely free from the influ ence of cold, until the weather becomes soft, when they must be planted in the places of those dead 42 JEFFERSON AT MONTICELLO. through the whole of the hedges which inclose the two orchards, so that the old and the new shall be complete, at 6 inches' distance from every plant. If any remain, plant them in the nursery of thorns. There are 2,000. I send Mr. Maine's written in structions about them, which must be followed most minutely. The other trees he brings are to be planted as follows : " ' 4 Purple beaches. In the clumps which are in the southwest and northwest angles of the house, (which Wormley knows.) There were 4 of these trees planted last spring, 2 in each clump. They all died, but the places will be known by the re mains of the trees, or by the sticks marked No. IV. in the places. I wish these now sent to be planted in the same places. " ' 4 Robinias, or red locusts. In the clumps in the N.E. and S.E. angles of the house. There were 2 of these planted last spring, to wit, 1 in each. They are dead, and two of them are to be planted in the same places, which may be found by the re< mains of the trees, or by sticks marked V. The other 2 may be planted in any vacant places in the S.W: and N.W. angles. " ' 4 Prickly ash. In the S.W. angle of the house there was planted one of these trees last spring, and in the EW. angle 2 others. They are dead. 3 of those now sent are to be planted in their LETTER OF INSTRUCTIONS. 43 places, which may be found by the remains of the trees, or by sticks marked VII. The fourth may be planted in some vacant space of the S.W. angle. " ' 6 Spitzenberg apple trees. Plant them in the S.E. orchard, in any place where apples have been planted and are dead. " ' 5 Peach trees. Plant in the S.E. orchard, wherever peach trees have died. " ' 500 October peach stones ; a box of Peccan nuts. The nursery must be enlarged, and these planted in the new parts, and Mr. Perry must im mediately extend the paling so as to include these, and make the whole secure against hares. " ' Some turfs of a particular grass. Wormly must plant them in some safe place of the orchard, where he will know them, and keep other grass from the place.' " I think,", said Capt. Bacon, " there were three hundred acres inclosed in the tract about the house. Mr. Jefferson would never allow a tree to be cut off from this. There were roads and paths winding all around and over it, where the family could ride and walk for pleasure. How often I have seen him walking over these grounds, and his grandchildren following after him as happy as they could be. " The estate was very large. I did know the exact number of acres, for I have paid the taxes a 44 JEFFERSON AT MONTICELLO great many times. There was about ten thousand acres. It extended from the town lots of Char lottesville to beyond Milton, which was five or six miles. It was not a profitable estate ; it was too uneven and hard to work. Mr. Madison's planta tion was much the most profitable. It was divided into four plantations, — Tuffton, Lego, Shadwell, and Pantops. There was a negro quarter and a white overseer at each of these places. A negro named Jim was overseer of the hands at Monti cello. " We used to get up a strife between the differ ent overseers, to see which would make the largest crops, by giving premiums. The one that deliv ered the best crop of wheat to the hand, had an extra barrel of flour ; the best crop of tobacco, a fine Sunday suit ; the best lot of pork, an extra hundred and fifty pounds of bacon. Negro Jim always had the best pork, so that the other over seers said it was no use for them to try any more, as he^ would get it any way. An overseer's allow ance of provisions for a year, was : pork, six hun dred pounds ; wheat flour, two barrels ; corn meal, all they wanted. They had gardens, and raised their own vegetables. The servants also had re wards for good conduct. " I had written instructions about every thing, so that I always knew exactly what to do. Here INSTRUCTIONS. 45 are the instructions he gave me when he went to Washington : " ' The first work to be done, is to finish every thing at the mill ; to wit, the dam, the stone still wanting in the south abutment, the digging for the addition to the toll mill, the waste, the dressing off the banks and hollows about the mill-houses, mak ing the banks of the canal secure everywhere. In all these things Mr. Walker will direct what is to be done, and how. " ' The second job is the fence from near Nance's house to the river, the course of which will be shown. Previous to this a change in the road is to be made, which will be shown also. "'As this fence will completely separate the river field from the other grounds, that field is to be cleaned up ; the spots in it still in wood are to be cut down where they are not too steep for culture ; a part of the field is to be planted in Quarantine corn, which will be found in a tin can ister in my closet. This corn is to be in drills 5 feet apart, and the stalks 18 inches asunder in the drills. The rest of the ground is to be sown in oats, and red clover sowed on the oats. All ploughing is to be done horizontally, in the man ner Mr. Randolph does his. 4g JEFFERSON AT MONTICELLO. " ' 180 Cords of coal wood are next to be cut. The wood cut in the river field will make a part, and let the rest be cut in the flat lands on the meadow branch south of the overseer's house, which I intend for a Timothy meadow. Let the wood be all corded, that there may be no decep tion as to the quantity. A kiln will be wanting to be burnt before Christmas ; but the rest of the wood had better lie seasoning till spring, when it will be better to burn it. " ' When these things are done, the levelling of the garden is to be resumed. The hands having already worked at this, they understand the work. John best knows how to finish off the levelling. " ' I have hired all the hands belonging to Mrs. and Miss Dangerfield, for the next year. They are nine in number. Moses the miller is to be sent home when his year is up. With these will work in common, Isaac, Charles, Ben, Shepherd, Abram, Davy, John, and Shoemaker Phill ; making a gang of 17 hands. Martin is the miller, and Jerry will drive his wagon. " ' Those who work in the nailery, are Moses, Wormly, Jame Hubbard, Barnaby, Isbel's Davy, Bedford John, Bedford Davy, Phill Hubbard, Bart- let, and Lewis. They are sufficient for 2 fires, five at a fire. I am desirous a single man, a smith, should be hired to work with them, to see that INSTRUCTIONS. 47 their nails are well made, and to superintend them generally; if such an one can be found for $150 or $200 a year, though I would rather give him a share in the nails made, say one-eighth of the price of all the nails made, deducting the cost of the iron ; if such a person can be got, Isbel's Davy may be withdrawn to drive the mule wagon, and Sampson join the laborers. There will then be 9 nailers, besides the manager, so that 10 may still work at 2 fires ; the manager to have a log house built, and to have 500 lbs. of pork. The nails are to be sold by Mr. Bacon, and the accounts to be kept by him ; and he is to direct at all times what nails are to be made. " ' The toll of the mill is to be put away in the two garners made, which are to have secure locks, and Mr. Bacon is to keep the keys. When they are getting too full, the wagons should carry the grain to the overseer's house, to be carefully stowed away. In general, it Will be better to use all the bread corn from the mill from week to week, and only bring away the surplus. Mr. Randolph is hopper-free and toll-free at the mill. Mr. Eppes having leased his plantation and gang, they are to pay toll hereafter. " ' Clothes for the people are to be got from Mr. Higginbotham, of the kind heretofore got. I allow them a best striped blanket every three years. Mr. 48 JEFFERSON AT MONTICELLO. Lilly had failed in this ; but the last year Mr. Free man gave blankets to one-third of them. This year 11 blankets must be bought, and given to those most in need, noting to whom they are given. The hirelings, if they had not blankets last year, must have them this year. Mrs. Randolph always chooses the clothing for the house servants ; that is to say, for Peter Hemings, Burwell, Edwin, Critta, and Sally. Colored plains are provided for Betty Brown, Betty Hemings, Nance, Ursula, and indeed all the others. The nailers, laborers, and hirelings may have it, if they prefer it to cotton. Wool is given for stockings to those who will have it spun and knit for themselves. Fish is always to be got from Richmond, by writing to Mr. Jefferson, and to be dealt out to the hirelings, laborers, work men, and house servants of all sorts, as has been usual. " ' 600 Lbs. of pork is to be provided for the overseer, 500 lbs. for Mr. Stewart, and 500 lbs. for the superintendent of the nailery, if one is em ployed; also about 900 lbs. more for the people, so as to give them half a pound a-piece once a week. This will require, in the whole, 2,000 or 2,500 lbs. After seeing what the plantation can furnish, and the 3 hogs at the mill, the residue must be purchased. In the winter, a hogshead of molasses must be provided and brought up, which INSTRUCTIONS. 49 Mr. Jefferson will furnish. This will afford to give a gill a-piece to everybody once or twice a week. " ' Joe works with Mr. Stewart ; John Hemings and Lewis with Mr. Dinsmore ; Burwell paints and takes care of the house. With these the overseer has nothing to do, except to find them. Stewart and Joe do all the plantation work; and when Stewart gets into his idle frolics, it may sometimes be well for Moses or Isbel's Davy to join Joe for necessary work. " ' The servants living on the top of the moun tain must have a cart-load of wood delivered at their doors once a week through the winter. The fence inclosing the grounds on the top of the moun tain must be well done up. This had better be done before they begin the fence down the moun tain. No animal of any kind must ever be loose within that inclosure. Mr. Bacon should not fail to come to the top of the mountain every 2 or 3 days, to see that nothing is going wrong, and that the gates are in order. Davy and Abram may patch up the old garden pales when work is going on from which they can best be spared. " ' The thorn hedges are to be kept clean wed at all times. Mr. Dinsmore is to be furnished with bread grain from the mill. The proportion of corn and wheat is left to his own discretion. He 4 50 JEFFERSON AT MONTICELLO. provides his own provisions, and for Mr. Nelson and Barry. " ' There is a spout across the canal near the head, which, if left as at present, will do mischief. I will give verbal directions about it. " ' As soon as the Aspen trees lose their leaves, take up one or two hundred of the young trees, not more than 2 or 3 feet high; tie them in bundles, with the roots well covered with straw. Young Davy being to carry Fanny to Washing ton, he is to take the little cart, (which must be put into the soundest order,) to take these trees on board. 3 Boxes in my study, marked to go by him and Fanny and her things. She must take corn for their meals, and provisions for themselves to Washington. Fodder they can buy on the road. I leave $6 with you, to give them to pay unavoid able expenses. If he could have 2 mules, without stopping a wagon, it would be better. They are to go as soon as the Aspen leaves fall " ' The nailers are to work on the dam till fin ished, and then go to their shop. The verbal di rections which I gave Mr. Bacon respecting Car roll's farm, will be recollected and observed. "'ADDITIONAL MEMORANDUMS FOE ME. BACON". " < When the work at the mill is done, and the fence mended, up on the top of the mountain, take INSTRUCTIONS. 51 as much time with your hands as will fill all the gullies in the field north of the overseer's house, (called Belfleld,) with bushes, "tobaccO'out of the top of his hat. Mr. jieffersonJ'-!$a?dghed arid said, ' It comes from, a very shm^gSpJa^fi /v: " GovernoY'Raridolph was a very poor manager. He often had to sell off negroes to pay his debts. Here is a bill of sale for a woman I bought of him. She belonged to an excellent family of servants. He wished me to take another woman instead of her, but I preferred her decidedly, and would not do it, and, as he was obliged to raise the money, he let me have her. " ' BILL OF SALE. " ' I hereby convey to Edmund Bacon, for the sum of five hundred dollars, namely, in cash five hundred dollars, and in his note of hand % due on demand, a full and indefeasible right, title, and estate in a female slave, Maria, daughter of Iris, born at Edgehill, this day put into his possession, and I, for myself, my heirs, executors, administra tors, &c, the said title to the said slave do forever warrant and defend to the said Bacon, his heirs or <3 Qv. ^ ^ \ U.J ^ ^i -3 'J f A . 4^$'* "5i^^w ? jH' ^ <3 tl?4 V^W ».\\U ^Ml^M: MARIA'S BILL OF SALE. i)1 assigns. Witness my hand and seal this October 9th, 1818. " ' Th. M. Randolph. [seal.] " ' Done in presence of "'Daniel Caldase, " ' William F. Caedtn, " ' James O. Wallees.' [See Facsimile.] "While he was Governor his debts troubled him a great deal. I often loaned him money, and he often applied to me to help him raise it from others. When he must have it, and could get it in no other way, he would be obliged to sell some of his negroes. Here is one of his letters to me. " It is superscribed : " ' Me. Edm. Bacon, by Phil. " ' Deae Sie : It is so absolutely necessary to me to have as much as $150 by to-morrow evening, to send by express to pay into the Bank of U. S., and Bank of Virginia in Richmond, before 3 o'clock on Wednesday next, that I am forced, against my will, to importune you farther with the offer of the little girl at Edgehill. Do you think it would be possible for us to borrow that money between us by 3 o'clock to-morrow ? I should have set off down to-day, but the hope of succeeding to-morrow f 98 JEFFERSON AT MONTICELLO. so as to do by sending, has stopped me. I am obliged to be in Richmond on the Board of Public Works week after next, and my presence is more wanted now at Edgehill than Varina. Besides, my wife is really ill to-day. Could you prevail on your mother to lend as much money ? " ' Your friend, "'Th. M. Randolph. " ' Mr. Bacon. May 9, 1819.' [See Facsimile.] " I raised the money for him, and the next day paid him two hundred dollars for Edy. She was a little girl four years old. He gave me this receipt : " ' Received from Edmund Bacon two hundred dollars for Edy, daughter of Fennel, now at Edge hill, and I bind myself to make a complete title in the said Edy to the said Bacon. Witness my hand, this May 16, 1819. "'Th. M. Randolph.' [See Facsimile.] " He was finally unable to meet his obligations, failed completely, and lost every thing. Mr. Jeffer son, in making his will* had to take especial care to prevent Mr. Randolph's creditors from getting what property he left for Mrs. Randolph. - * See Mr. Jefferson's Will in the Appendix. ^ SJ ^ s. CHARLES S. BANKHEAD. 99 " Before he died his mind became shattered, and he pretty much lost his reason. He had no control of his temper. I have seen him cane his son Jeff, after he was a grown man. Jeff, made no resist ance, but got away from him as soon as he could. I have seen him knock down his son-in-law Charles L. Bankhead with an iron poker. Bankhead mar ried his daughter Anne. She was a perfectly love- i ly woman. She was a Jefferson in temper. He was the son of a very wealthy man who lived near Fredericksburg. He was a fine-looking man, but a , terrible drunkard. I have seen him ride his horse into the bar-room at Charlottesville and get a drink of liquor. I have seen his wife run from him when he was drunk and hide in a potato-hole to get out of clanger. He once stabbed Jeff. Randolph be cause he had said something about his abuse of his sister, and I think would have killed him, if I had not interfered and separated them. " One night he was very drunk and made a great disturbance, because Burwell, who kept the keys, would not give him any more brandy. Mrs. Randolph could not manage him, and she sent for me. She would never call on Mr. Randolph at such a time, he was so excitable. But he heard the noise in the dining-room and rushed in to see what was the matter. He entered the room just as I did, and Bankhead, thinking he was Burwell, be- 10ft JEFFERSON AT MONTICELLO. gan to curse him. Seizing an iron poker that was standing by the fireplace, he knocked him down as quick as I ever saw a bullock fall. The blow pealed the skin off one side of his forehead and face, and he bled terribly. It if had been a square blow, instead of glancing off as it did;, it must have killed him. " Bankhead came to me one Court day at Char lottesville and told me he did not want me and one of our overseers that was with me to leave him that day. He did not tell us what he wanted, and we had no idea. We saw that he did not get drunk that day as usual, and we were surprised at that. Towards night he came to us and said he wanted us to start home with him. We rode out of town some distance towards Monticello, and he got off his horse and hitched him to the fence, and re quested us to hitch ours and stay with him. We still had no idea of what he was about, or what he wanted of us. At length Phil. Barbour and Wm. F. Gordon rode along. Gordon had been em ployed in a suit against Bankhead, and in making his speech he had taken a lawyer's privilege and said a good many severe things about him, for which he had determined to fight him. Bankhead went out immediately in front of Gordon and requested him to get down ; said he wanted to speak to him. Gor don made some excuse, and declined. Bankhead CHIVALRY— A FIGHT. IQI asked him again, and Gordon, who seemed to have no idea what he wanted, gave some reason that I have forgotten, and again declined. Bankhead then told him he had insulted him, and began to curse him with all his might. He told him that he was armed, and that if he did not get down, he would bring him down— he would shoot him ; ' but,' said he, ' if you will get down, I will throw away my pistols, and agree to fight you with nothing but what my mother gave me.' It was no use for Gor don to refuse, nor for us to try to prevent the fight. He got off his horse, and he had hardly touched the ground, before at it they went, and I never in all my life saw such a fight. They fought and fought, and neither seemed to get the least bit of advantage over the other. They clinched several times, and tried to throw each other down, but both were too strong and supple. Neither could get the other down. I never did see as even a match. I think they must have fought a half an hour, and both of them were as bloody as butchers, when I told Phil. Barbour it would never do for us to let them fight any longer — we must separate them. So he took hold of Gordon, and I took hold of Bankhead, and we just pulled them apart. " Bankhead got the worst of it. One eye was badly injured, and I think never did get entirely over the hurt. Bankhead was the stoutest, but 102 JEFFERSON AT MONTICELLO. Gordon had the best wind. I often heard him de scribe the fight, and laugh about it afterwards. He said he thought of crying ' Enough ! ' several times,, but Bankhead kept him so busy he hadn't $&&,-*:. i Q' d-\ ,** "I^lspugh^Pmnegro woman and her two chil- dren-^f 'Bankheird. Here is his receipt : *'feTfiis' writing proves that I have sold and re ceived payment for a negro woman named Winny, and her two children, and that I promise and am bound to give a bill of sale for s'd negro's, hav ing received payment. " ' As witness my hand, &c. "'Chas. L. Bankhead. "'Test, "'Thos. Wells. " ' is* July, 1814.' " [See Facsimile.] ^ Oix « CHAPTER VIII. ME. JEFFEESON's SEEVANTS, mr. jefferson an indulgent master — not willing to have his servants overworked, or whipped — nails stolen by jim hubbard his peni tence and forgiveness — favorite servants — the house servants — in the room when mrs. jefferson died his promise not to marry again — mr. Jefferson's instructions in regard to his cider — sally hemings crossed the ocean with maria jefferson — their stay in london with mrs. adams — mrs. adams' letters — ursula, john hem ings, joe fosset — a fugitive slave — servants freed by mr. jeffer son — his views of slavery. " Me. Jeffeeson was always very kind and indul gent to his servants. He would not allow them to be at all overworked, and he would hardly ever allow one of them to be whipped. His orders to me were constant, that if there was any servant that could not be got along with without the chas tising that was customary, to dispose of him. He could not bear to have a servant whipped, no odds how much he deserved it. I- remember one case in particular. Mr. Jefferson gave written instructions that I should always sell the nails that were made in his nailery. We made from sixpenny to twenty- 104 JEFFERSON AT MONTICELLO. penny nails, and always kept a supply of each kind on hand. I went one day to supply an, order, and the eight-penny nails were all gone, and there was a full supply of all the other sizes. Of course they had been stolen. I soon became satisfied that Jim Hubbard, one of the servants that worked in the nailery, had stolen them, and charged him with it. He denied it powerfully. I talked with Grady, the overseer of the nailery, about it, and finally I said, ' Let us drop it. He has hid them somewhere, and if we say no more about it, we shall find them.' I examined his house, and every place I could think of, but for some time I could find nothing of the nails. One day after a rain, as I was following a path through the woods, I saw muddy tracks on the leaves leading off from the path. I followed them until I came to a tree-top, where I found the nails buried in a large box. There were several hundred pounds of them. From circumstances, I knew that Jim had stolen them. Mr. Jefferson was at home at the time, and when I went up to Monticello I told him of it. He was very much surprised, and felt very badly about it. Jim had always been a favorite servant. He told me to be at my house next morning when he took his ride, and he would see Jim there. When he came, I sent for Jim, and I never saw any person, white or black, feel as badly as he did when he saw his mas- HIS SERVANT JIM HUBBARD 105 ter. He was mortified and distressed beyond meas ure. He had been brought up in the shop, and we all had confidence in him. Now his character was gone. The tears streamed down his face, and he begged pardon over and over again. I felt very badly myself. Mr. Jefferson turned to me, and said, 'Ah, sir, we can't punish him. He has suffered enough already.' He then talked to him, gave him a heap of good advice, and sent him to the shop. Grady had waited, expecting to be sent for to whip him, and he was astonished to see him come back and go to work after such a crime. When he came to dinner — he boarded with me then — he told me, that when Jim came back to the shop, he said, ' Well, I'se been a-seeking religion a long time, but I never heard any thing before that sounded so, or made me feel so, as I did when master said, " Go, and don't do so any more ; " and now I'se deter mined to seek religion till I find it;' and sure enough, he afterwards came to me for a permit to go and be baptized. I gave him one, and never knew of his doing any thing of the sort again. He was always a good servant afterwards " Mr. Jefferson had a large number of favorite servants, that were treated just as well as could be. Burwell was the main, principal servant on the place. He did not go to Washington. Mr. Jeffer son had the most perfect confidence in him. He 10g JEFFERSON AT MONTICELLO. told me not to be at all particular with him— to let him do pretty much as he pleased, and to let him have pocket money occasionally, as he want ed it. " Once or twice every week while Mr. Jefferson was President, I opened every room in the house, and had it thoroughly aired. When I was so busy that I could not attend to this myself, I would send the keys to Burwell, and he would air the house, and was, if possible, more particular than I was. He stayed at Monticello, and took charge of the meat-house, garden, &c, and kept the premises in order. Mr. Jefferson gave him his freedom in his will, and it was right that he should do it. " The house servants were Betty Brown, Sally, Critta, and Betty Hemings, Nance, and Ursula. They were old family servants, and great favorites. They were in the room when Mrs. Jefferson died.* She died before I went to live with him, and left four little children. He never married again. They have often told my wife, that when Mrs. Jefferson died, they stood around the bed. Mr. Jefferson sat by her, and she gave him directions about a good many things that she wanted done. When she came to the children, she wept, and could not speak for some time. Finally she held up her hand, and spreading out her four fingers, she told him she * Mrs. Jefferson died in 1782. MRS. JEFFERSON'S DEATH IQ^ could not die happy if she thought her four chil dren were ever to have a step-mother brought in over them. Holding her other hand in his, Mr. Jefferson promised her solemnly that he would never marry again. And he never did. He was then quite a young man, and very handsome, and I suppose he could have married well ; but he always kept that promise. " These women remained at Monticello while he was President. I was instructed to take no control of them. They had very little to do. When I opened the house, they attended to airing it. Then every March we had to bottle all hio cider. Dear me, this was a job. It took us two weeks. Mr. Jefferson was very particular about his cider. He gave me instructions to have every apple cleaned perfectly clean when it was made. Here are his instructions : "'We have saved red Hughes enough from the north orchard to make a smart cask of cyder. They are now mellow, and beginning to rot. I will pray you, therefore, to have them made into cyder immediately. Let them be made clean one by one, and all the rotten ones thrown away, or the rot cut out. Nothing else can ensure good cyder.' "Sally Hemings went to France with Maria 10g JEFFERSON AT MONTICELLO. Jefferson when she was a little girl. Mr. Jefferson was Minister to France, and he wanted to put her in school there. They crossed the ocean alone. I have often heard her tell about it. When they got to London, they stayed with Mr. Adams, who was Minister there, until Mr. Jefferson came or sent for them. I have read a beautiful letter that Mrs. Adams wrote to her sister, Mrs. Cranch, about her. Here it is : " ' I have had with me for a 'fortnight a little daughter of Mr. Jefferson's, who arrived here with a young negro girl, her servant, from Virginia. Mr. Jefferson wrote me some months ago that he expected them, and desired me to receive them. I did so, and was amply repaid for my trouble. A finer child of her age I never saw. So mature an understanding, so womanly a behavior, and so much sensibility, united, are rarely to be met with. I grew so fond of her, and she was so attached to me, that, when Mr. Jefferson sent for her, they were obliged to force the little creature away. She is but eight years old. She would sit, some times, and describe to me the parting with her .aunt, who brought her up, the obligations she was under to her, and the love she had for her little cousins, till the tears would stream down her cheeks ; and how I had been her friend, and she MRS. ADAMS' LETTERS. 109 loved me. Her papa would break her heart by making her go again. She clung round me so that I could not help shedding a tear at parting with her. She was the favorite of every one in the house. I regret that such fine spirits must be spent in the walls of a convent. She is a beau tiful girl, too.' * " Ursula was Mrs. Randolph's nurse. She was a big fat woman. She took charge of all the chil dren that were not in school. If there was any switching to be done, she always did it. She used to be down at my house a great deal with those children. They used to be there so much, that we very often got tired of them ; but we never said so. They were all very much attached to their nurse. They always called her ' Mammy.' " John Hemings was a carpenter. He was a first-rate workman — a very extra workman. He could make any thing that was wanted in wood work. He learned his trade of Dinsmore. He made most of the wood-work of Mr. Jefferson's fine carriage. Joe Fosset made the iron- work. He was a very fine workman ; could do any thing it was necessary to do with steel or iron. He learned his trade of Stewart. Mr. Jefferson kept Stewart several years longer than he would otherwise have done, in order that his own servants might learn * Mrs. Adams' Letters, vol. ii., p. 179. HO JEFFERSON AT MONTICELLO. his trade thoroughly. Stewart was a very superior workman, but he would drink. And Burwell was a fine painter. He painted the carriage, and always kept the house painted. He painted a good deal at the University. " Mr. Jefferson freed a number of his servants in his will. I think he would have freed all of them, if his affairs had not been so much involved that he could not do it He freed one girl some years before he died, and there was a great deal of talk about it. She was nearly as white as any body, and very beautiful. People said he freed her because she was his own daughter. She was not his daughter ; she was 's daughter. I know that. I have seen him come out of her mother's room many a morning, when I went up to Monticello very early. When she was nearly grown, by Mr. Jefferson's direction I paid her stage fare to Philadelphia, and gave her fifty dol lars. I have never seen her since, and don't know what became of her. From the time she was large enough, she always worked in the cotton factory. She never did any hard work. " While Mr. Madison was President, one of our slaves ran away, and we never got him again. As soon as I learned that he was gone, I was satisfied that he had gone with Mr. Madison's cart to Wash ington, and had passed himself off as Mr. Madi- MR. JEFFERSON'S VIEWS OF SLAVERY. Ill son's servant. But Jeff. Randolph did not believe it. He believed he had hid himself somewhere about the plantation, and he hunted everywhere for him. .Finally he said he was sure he was hid in the loft of the stable where we kept our mules. I told him it was no use to look ; but he would do it, and while crawling over the hay-mow, he tumbled through. I thought the mules would tread or kick him to death, but when he came out he said the mules were as badly scared as he was, when he fell among them, and did not move or hurt him at all. We afterwards learned that he went off with Mr. Madison's servant, as I had sup posed. No servants ever had a kinder master than Mr. Jefferson's. He did not like slavery. I have heard him talk a great deal about it. He thought it a bad system. I have heard him prophesy that we should have just such trouble with it as we are having now.* * Capt. Bacon is a stanch Union man, utterly opposed to the whole secession movement. CHAPTER IX. ME. JEFFERSON AT WASHINGTON — HIS L1BEAEY. capt. bacon's visits to mr jefferson in washington — appearance of the city the president's house — its domestic arrangements — ser vants from monticello — steward — cook — carriage driver — visitors — dinners — market — expense — moving home mr. jefferson's goods and servants — snow-storm — capt. bacon mistaken for the president — mr. Jefferson's reception on the way — anxiety to see "old tom" — his reception at home his library sale to congress — re moval to washington sixteen wagon loads — his lounge — writing- table bible-reading chancellor wythe's library. " I visited Mr. Jefferson at Washington three times while he was President. My first visit was soon after his inauguration. I went to take his carriage horses. The second time I went he had got very much displeased with two of his servants, Davy and Fanny, and he wished me to take them to Alexandria and sell them. They were married, and had got into a terrible quarrel. Davy was jealous of his wife, and, I reckon, with good rea son. When I got there, they learned what I had come for, and they were in great trouble. They wept, and begged, and made good promises, and VISITS TO WASHINGTON. H3 made such an ado, that they begged the old gentle man out of it. But it was a good lesson for them. I never heard any more complaint of them; and when I left Mr. Jefferson, I left them both at Mon ticello. " The last time I visited Mr. Jefferson in Wash ington, I stayed there sixteen days. This was when I went to help him settle up his business, and move home his goods and servants. He had eleven servants with him from Monticello. He had a French cook in Washington named Julien, and he took Eda and Fanny there, to learn French cookery. He always preferred French cookery. Eda and Fanny were afterwards his cooks at Mon ticello. " Some days I was very busy attending to pack ing up his goods, getting in his bills, and settling up his business. Other days I had very little to do, and I would go up to the Capitol. I haven't been in Washington since the British played the wild there in the war of 1812. When I was there, the President's house was surrounded with a high rock wall, and there was an iron gate immediately in front of it, and from that gate to the Capitol the street was just as straight as a gun-barrel. Nearly all the houses were on that street. I took a great deal of pleasure in going to the Capitol and hear ing the debates. 8 114 JEFFERSON AT MONTICELLO. " Mr. Jefferson often told me that the office of Vice-President was far preferable to that of Presi dent. He was perfectly tired out with company. He had a very long dining-room, and his table was chock-full every one of the sixteen days I was there. There were Congressmen, foreigners, and all sorts of people to dine with him. He dined at four o'clock, and they generally sat and talked until night. It used to worry me to sit so long, and I finally quit when I got through eating, and went off and left them. " The first thing in the morning there, was to go to market. There was no market then in Wash ington. Mr. Jefferson's steward was a Frenchman named Lamar. He was a very smart man, was well educated, and as much of a gentleman in his appearance as any man. His carriage driver was an Irishman named Dougherty. He would get out the wagon early in the morning, and Lamar would go with him to Georgetown to market. I have all my life been in the habit of getting up about four o'clock in the morning, and I went with them very often. Lamar told me that it often took fifty dol lars to pay for what marketing they would use in a day. Mr. Jefferson's salary did not support him while he was President. " We got loaded up ready to start home, and I left Washington on the third of March. Mr. Jef- ME JEFFERSON'S JOURNEY HOME. H5 ferson stayed to attend the inauguration, but over took us before we got home. I had three wagons from Monticello — two six-mule teams loaded with boxes, and the other four sorrel Chickasaw horses, and the wagon pretty much loaded with shrubbery from Maine's nursery. The servants rode on these wagons. I had the carriage horses and carriage, and rode behind them. " On our way home we had a tremendous snow storm. It snowed very fast, and when we reached Culpepper Court House it was half-leg deep. A large crowd of people had collected there, expect ing that the President would be along. When I rode up, they thought I was the President, and shouted and hurrahed tremendously. When I got out of the carriage, they laughed very heartily at their mistake. There was- a platform along the whole front of the tavern, and it was full of people. Some of them had been waiting a good while, and drinking a good deal, and they made so much noise that they scared the horses, and Diomede backed, and tread upon my foot, and lamed me so that I could hardly get into the carriage the next morn ing. There was one very tall old fellow that was noisier than any of the rest, who said he was bound to see the President — 'Old Tom,' he called him. They asked me when he would be along, and I told them I thought he would certainly be along 116 JEFFERSON AT MONTICELLO. that night, and I looked for him every moment. The tavern was kept by an old man named Shackle- ford. I told him to have a large fire built in a private room, as Mr. Jefferson would be very cold when he got there, and he -did so. I soon heard shouting, went out, and Mr. Jefferson was in sight. He was in a one-horse vehicle — a phaeton — with a driver, and a servant on horseback. When he came up, there was great cheering again. I mo tioned to him to follow me ; took him straight to his room, and locked the door. The tall old fellow came and knocked very often, but I would not let him in. I told Mr. Jefferson not to mind him, he was drunk. Finally the door was opened, and they rushed in and filled the room. It was as full as I ever saw a bar-room. He stood up, and made a short address to them. Afterwards some of them told him how they had mistaken me for him. He went on next day, and reached Monticello before we did, so that I did not see the large reception that the people of Albemarle gave him when he got home.* * Mr. Jefferson was present at the inauguration of his successor, and soon afterwards set out for home. The inhabitants of the county of his birth and residence (Albemarle) had proposed to meet and escort him to Monticello, with imposing ceremonies. He quietly put aside the request, by declaring that he could not decide on the day of his return, and he added : HIS LIBRARY. H^ " Mr. Jefferson d a very large library. When the British burnt Washington, the library that be longed to Congress was destroyed, and Mr. Jeffer- " But it is a sufficient happiness to me to know that my fellow- citizens of the country generally entertain for me the kind senti ments which have prompted this proposition, without giving to so many the trouble of leaving their homes to meet a single individual. I shall have opportunities of taking them individually by the hand at our Court House and other public places, and of exchanging assur ances of mutual esteem. Certainly it is the greatest consolation to me to know, that in returning to the bosom of my native county, I shall be again in the midst of their kind affections ; and I can say with truth that my return to them will make me happier than I have been since I left them." The proposed ovation gave way to an address, and it was thus an swered : " To the Inhabitants of Albemaele County, in Virginia. " April 3, 1809. " Returning to the scenes of my birth and early life, to the soci ety of those with whom I was raised, and who have been ever dear to me, I receive, fellow-citizens and neighbors, with inexpressible pleasure, the cordial welcome you are so good as to give me. Long absent on duties which the history of a wonderful era made incum bent on those called to them, the pomp, the turmoil, the bustle and splendor of office, have drawn but deeper sighs for the tranquil and irresponsible occupations of private life, for the enjoyment of an affectionate intercourse with you, my neighbors and friends, and the endearments of family love, which nature has given us all, as the sweetener of every hour. For these I gladly lay down the distress ing burden of power, and seek, with my fellow-citizens, repose and safety under the watchful cares, and labors, and perplexities, of younger and abler minds. The anxieties you express to administer to my happiness, do, of themselves, confer that happiness ; and the Hg JEFFERSON AT MONTICELLO. son sold them his. He directed me to have it packed in boxes and sent to Washington. John - Hemings, one of his servants, made the boxes, and Burwell and I packed them up mostly. Dinsmore helped us some, and the girls, Ellen, Virginia, and Cornelia would come in sometimes and sort them out, and help us a good deal. There was an im mense quantity of them. There were sixteen wagon loads. I engaged the teams. Each wagon was to carry three thousand pounds for a load, and to have four dollars a day for delivering them in Washington. If they carried more than three thousand pounds, they were to have extra pay. There were all kinds of books — books in a great many languages that I knew nothing about. There were a great many religious books among them — measure will be complete, if my endeavors to fulfil my duties in the several public stations to which I have been called, have obtained for me the approbation of my country. The part which I have acted on the theatre of public life, has been before them, and to their sentence I submit it ; but the testimony of my native county, of the individ uals who have known me in private life, to my conduct in its various duties and relations, is the more grateful, as proceeding from eye witnesses, and observers, from triers of the vicinage. Of you, then, my neighbors, I may ask, in the face of the world, " Whose ox have I taken, or whom have I defrauded ? Whom have I oppressed, or of whose hand have I received a bribe to blind mine eyes therewith ? " On your verdict I rest with conscious security. Your wishes for my happiness are received with just sensibility, and I offer sincere prayers for your own welfare and prosperity." [Eandall"o Life of Jkffebsos, vol. iii., pp. S05, S06.] HIS BIBLE READING. H9 more than I have ever seen anywhere else. All the time Mr. Jefferson was President I had the keys to his library, and I could go in and look over the books, and take out any one that I wished, and read and return it. I have written a good many letters from that library to Mr. Jefferson in Wash ington. Mr. Jefferson had a sofa or lounge upon which he could sit or recline, and a small table on rollers, upon which he could write, or lay his books. Sometimes he would draw this table up before the sofa, and sit and read or write ; and other times he would recline on his sofa, with his table rolled up the sofa, astride it. He had a large Bible, which nearly always lay at the head of his sofa. Many and many a time I have gone into his room and found him reading that Bible. You re member I told you about riding all night from Richmond, after selling that flour, and going into his room very early in the morning, and paying over to him the new United States Bank money. That was one of the times that I found him with the big Bible open before him on his little table, and he busy reading it. And I have seen him reading it in that way many a time. Some people, you know, say he was an atheist. Now if he was an atheist, what did he want with all those religious books, and why did he spend so much of his time reading his Bible ? 120 JEFFERSON AT MONTICELLO. "When Chancellor Wythe died, he willed to Mr. Jefferson his library. It was very large, and nearly filled up the room of the one he sold to Congress. Mr. Jefferson studied law with Chan cellor Wythe. They thought a great deal of each other. CHAPTER X. ME. JEFFEESON'S HOSPITALITY, HIS VISITORS — MR. MADISON — HIS APPEARANCE AND CHARACTER — MR. MONROE HIS ABILITY LETTERS A BAD MANAGER — WHAT MADE HIM PRESIDENT — THE THREE EX-PRESIDENTS TOGETHER — OTHER VISITORS CAME IN GANGS — THEIR HORSES, AND WHAT THEY CONSUMED MRS. RANDOLPH'S TROUBLE TO ENTERTAIN THEM MR. JEFFERSON'S REASON FOR GOING TO POPLAR FOREST — REASONS OF BIS FAILURE GOV. WILSON C. NICHOLAS — THOMAS J. RANDOLPH REASONS FOR LEAVING MR. JEFFERSON — THE PARTING SUB SEQUENT CORRESPONDENCE — CAPT. BACON'S OPINION OF MR. JEFFERSON — CONCLUSION. " Me. Jeffeesow always had a great deal of com pany. He enjoyed seeing his friends very much. Mr. Madison was very often at Monticello. He generally stayed there when he attended Court at Charlottesville. He was a fine man. He had a very solid look. I always thought he looked like a Methodist preacher ; he wore his hair as they did then. Mr. Monro 3, too, was at Monticello a great deal. I have seen him hundreds of times, and done a great deal of business with him. I sold him the nails, from Mr. Jefferson's nailery, for his house. I have had a great many letters from him. He was a miserable writer. Mr. Jefferson and Mr. Madi- 122 JEFFERSON AT MONTICELLO. son both wrote a plain, beautiful hand, but you could write better with your toes than Mr. Monroe wrote. I have heard Governor Morris say, that on.ce,--after Mr.rMonroe had transcribed a paper, he could not read n. (Laughed heartily.) Here are two of Mr. Monroe's letters : ~~us Sie,— There has been a mistake in the kind of nails which I have written for. I cannot say whether you or I have made it. I wanted sixteen- penny nails, and eightpenny. Mr. Fogg will want some of the latter kind for his hog'ds, which I will thank you to add to those already written for. " ' I expect to pay you the cash at Court, or to make an arrangement to suit you. " ' Your very obedient servant, "'Jas. Moneoe. " ' Mr. Bacon. ' January 8, 1810.' [See Facsimile.] " ' Sie, — I have rec'd, by the boy, three pounds nineteen and seven pence, the balance due me of the fifty dollars sent you this morning, after paying £11 0*. 5d. due Mr. Jefferson for nails. The state ment is perfectly correct, and I am happy that it was in my power to accommodate you with the money. " ' I am respectfully yours, "'Jas. Moneoe. "'Feb. 7, 1810.' ;> ?tftaf \ i 4 ^ x 4 t ^. 1 44 1 r ;i I THE THREE EX-PRESIDENTS. 123 " Mr. Monroe was ail indifferent manager — was nearly always in debt. He once applied to me to oversee for him, and offered me more than Mr. Jef ferson was paying me ; but I said, ' Sir, I would not leave Mr. Jefferson for any price.' ' Then,' said he, ' you must help me to get a man. You know what I want.' I recommended a man to him, and he employed him. " Mr. Monroe was not the equal of Mr. Jefferson or Mr. Madison ; and Chapman Johnson, Vaul W. Southall, Wm. F. Gordon, and Phil. Barbour were enough better lawyers than he. Everybody knew that. But he made the purchase of Louisiana, and that made him President. It was thought that he managed that matter remarkably well. I well re member the firing of guns and great rejoicings there were when the news of that purchase first came. It made Mr. Monroe so popular, that he was elected President almost without opposition. " It used to be very interesting to the people to see the three ex-Presidents together. I have often seen them meet at Charlottesville on Court day, and stand and talk together a few minutes, and crowds of people would gather around them and listen to their conversation, and follow them wherever they would go. I remember one Court day I had been helping Scott, the Kentucky drover, sell his mules, as I knew all the people. He made fine sales that 124 JEFFERSON AT MONTICELLO. day, and when he had got through, he felt remark ably well, and insisted on treating the company. When he came out of the bar-room he saw a large crowd collected together, and wanted to know what it meant. I told him Mr. Jefferson, Mr. Madison, and Mr. Monroe were there. ' The three Virginia Presidents ! ' he shouted, and off he ran to see them. I have seen two other Presidents, Jackson and John Quincy Adams. Adams was a fine little fellow. He had a solid look. "After Mr. Jefferson returned from Washing ton, he was for years crowded with visitors, and they almost ate him out of house and home. They were there all times of the year; but about the middle of June the travel would commence from the lower part of the State to the Springs, and then there was a perfect throng of visitors. They travelled in their own carriages, and came in gangs — the whole family, with carriage and riding-horses and servants ; sometimes three or four such gangs at a time. We had thirty-six stalls for horses, and only used about ten of them for the stock we kept there. Very often all of the rest were full, and I had to send horses off to another place. I have often sent a wagon-load of hay up to the stable, and the next morning there would not be enough left to make a hen's-nest. I have killed a fine beef, and it would all be eaten in a day or two. There was GANGS OF VISITORS. 125 no tavern in all that country that had so much company. Mrs. Randolph, who always lived with Mr. Jefferson after his return from Washington, and kept house for him, was very often greatly per plexed to entertain them. I have known her many and many a time to have every bed in the house full, and she would send to my wife and borrow all her beds — she had six spare beds — to accom modate her visitors. I finally told the servant who had charge of the stable, to only give the visitors' horses half allowance. Somehow or other Mr. Jef ferson heard of this ; I never could tell how, un less it was through some of the visitors' servants. He countermanded my orders. " One great reason why Mr. Jefferson built his house at Poplar Forest, in Bedford County, was that he might go there in the summer to get rid of entertaining so much company. He knew that it more than used up all his income from the plantation and every thing else, but he was so kind and polite that he received all his visitors with a smile, and made them welcome; They pretended to come out of respect and regard to him, but I think that the fact that they saved a tavern bill had a good deal to do with it, with a good many of them. I can assure you I got tired of seeing them come, and waiting on them. I knew just about as much about Mr. Jefferson's business as he did himself, 126 JEFFERSON AT MONTICELLO. and I knew that he could not stand it long. You know that he failed. This was after I left him, but I knew that it was bound to come. He had to pay $20,000 for Gov. Wilson C. Nicholas, whose daugh ter Jeff. Randolph married. I knew all about that matter. I went to see Gov. Nicholas a good many times on that business. Mr. Jefferson struggled on with that $20,000 several years, but that and his company finally broke him. After Gov. Nicholas broke, he came to live with Jeff. Randolph, and died there. I helped lay out his corpse, and had his grave dug. " When the Governor died, he was very much in debt. People that he owed did not believe he was dead — they thought it was a trick to get rid of them. They came long distances, and would come to see me about it, and I had hard work to make them believe that he was dead and buried. While he was Governor, he once sent out an agent to meet the droves of hogs that were coming in to Richmond, and buy them up ; and the butchers were compelled to buy them all of him. They were so mad that he had taken this way to make money out of them, that one night they covered the fence with hogs' entrails all around his house. After that they used to call him the ' Hog Gov ernor.' " When I left Mr. Jefferson, his grandson, Jeff. iJLi ^ „ /^t*. it /ir**- ^ f tJ&*~ tytfc^ £~SU .-^ ¦ l^jX w^ &r>/ ^fe^ /r^^ A-*--tysi £jp%. 7 ^