Library of 
 The University of North Carolina 
 
 COLLECTION OF 
 
 NORTH CAROLINIANA 
 
 ENDOWED BY 
 
 ♦ JOHN SPRUNT HILL 
 
 of the Class of 1889 
 
 -JlSb 
 
 -f,?^ 
 
 w 
 
UNIVERSITY OF N.C. AT CHAPEL HILL 
 
 000321 95 160_ 
 
 This book must 
 be taken from 
 Library building. 
 
 Form No. 471 
 
 UE.^WS 
 
 Hr/9-^,-v^t' 
 
HISTORY OF 
 ANDREW JACKSON 
 
HISTORY OF 
 ANDREW JACKSON 
 
 PIONEER, PATRIOT, SOLDIER, 
 POLITICIAN, PRESIDENT 
 
 BY 
 
 AUGUSTUS C. BUELL 
 
 AUTHOR OP^ 
 PAUL JONES, FOUNDER OF THE AMERICAN NAVY 
 
 WITH PORTRAITS 
 
 IN TWO VOLUMES 
 VOLUME II 
 
 NEVl^ YORK 
 CHARLES SCRIBNER'S SONS 
 
 1904 
 
Copyright, 1904, by 
 CHARLES SCRIBNER'S SONS 
 
 Published, 0;=tober, 1904 
 
 TROW DIRECTORY 
 
 PRmilNQ AND BOOKBINDINQ COMPANY 
 
 NEW YORK 
 
CONTENTS 
 
 CHAPTER I 
 
 PAGE 
 
 Battle of New Orleans i 
 
 CHAPTER n 
 After the Great Victory 32 
 
 CHAPTER HI 
 British Designs in Louisiana 70 
 
 CHAPTER IV 
 Honors for a National Hero 98 
 
 CHAPTER V 
 Governor of Florida <, .122 
 
 CHAPTER VI 
 Presidential Candidate 151 
 
 CHAPTER VII 
 Elected to the Presidency 178 
 
 r- V 
 
 0^ 
 
vi CONTENTS 
 
 CHAPTER VIII 
 
 PAGE 
 
 Policy of the New Administration . . . .207 
 
 CHAPTER IX 
 Union and Nullification 233 
 
 CHAPTER X 
 Re-elected to the Presidency 264 
 
 CHAPTER XI 
 
 War with the United States Bank . . . .294 
 
 CHAPTER XII 
 Foreign Affairs and Retirement 329 
 
 CHAPTER XIII 
 Party Leader at the Hermitage 356 
 
 CHAPTER XIV 
 Character and Personality 383 
 
 Index 4^3 
 
HISTORY OF 
 ANDREW JACKSON 
 
HISTORY OF 
 ANDREW JACKSON 
 
 CHAPTER I 
 
 BATTLE OF NEW ORLEANS 
 
 General Pakenham held his last council of war the 
 evening of January 7th. It was made up of Generals 
 Keane, Gibbs and Lambert and Colonels Thornton and 
 Mullens. Admirals Cochrane and Malcolm were also 
 present. The situation was discussed thoroughly and 
 minutely. Among the facts developed was that the real 
 weakness of General Jackson's force had been to some 
 extent ascertained. At all events, the ridiculous exag- 
 gerations that had hitherto been believed were largely 
 discounted. The British general had also found out that 
 a great part of the American army was raw militia, and 
 also that many of these were very imperfectly armed, 
 if at all. 
 
 We need not seek very far for his sources of informa- 
 tion. Almost every Spaniard in and about New Orleans 
 was hostile to the United States and, therefore, friendly 
 to the British. Some of them knew that British con- 
 quest meant permanent occupation under the guise of 
 restoring and protecting the interests of Spain ; for Great 
 
 Britain had always denied the validity alike of Spain's 
 Vol. II.— I I 
 
2 HISTORY OF ANDREW JACKSON 
 
 recession of Louisiana to France by the secret treaty 
 of San Ildefonso and of Napoleon's sale of the territory 
 to the United States; and the Spaniards thought that 
 British occupation might in some degree restore the pro- 
 consulships they had formerly enjoyed. They were, 
 therefore, throughout the campaign, a nest of spies and 
 sedition-breeders. Completely to prevent them from 
 carrying on covert communication with the British was 
 impossible. Through them General Pakenham learned 
 finally — when it was too late — the vast numerical in- 
 feriority of General Jackson's army to his own. He 
 learned from them also of the great preponderance the 
 militia held in the American force.* No British officer 
 of rank enough to be present at that council of war 
 nad any experience that qualified him to comprehend the 
 difference between ordinary militia and the grim marks- 
 men of Kentucky and Tennessee who defended more 
 than half of the American line. General Keane, indeed, 
 
 * A story has found much historical credence to the effect that the British 
 general was led to select for attack the left half of the American lines, by 
 ad\ice of a "deserter," who informed him that the force stationed there was 
 "raw militia, without uniforms and armed only with hunting-guns"; also 
 that, after the sad experience of two attacks upon this "raw militia," the 
 British soldiers conceived that the soi-disant "deserter" was a spy sent by 
 General Jackson to lure them on to ruin; and finally that the British sol- 
 diers, without court-martial or even orders from their proper commanders, 
 "seized the fellow and hanged him to a tree \\'ithin plain sight of the American 
 lines!" 
 
 This story seems to have found credence with Dr. Frost, Judge Walker, 
 Mr. Parton and others who have written about General Jackson since his 
 death. It did not attract the attention of earlier writers, was not ob- 
 served by men who WTOte from the viewpoint of eye-witnesses on either 
 side, and escaped the notice of General Jackson himself and of the surviving 
 British general, Lambert — neither of whom reports such occurrence oflS- 
 cially. It escaped even the hawk -like vision of Ogihy on one side and 
 the keen sense of the dramatic that characterized Captains Cooke and Cos- 
 tello and Mr. Burroughs on the other. Moreover, it represents the rank 
 
BATTLE OF NEW ORLEANS 3 
 
 had monitory memories of December 23d, and Colonel 
 Mullens knew enough about American riflemen to say, 
 when direct assault was decided upon : "Gentlemen, my 
 regiment [the Forty-fourth] will have the head of col- 
 umn to-morrow. You are sending it to execution!" 
 
 But Keane was reminded that December 23d was a 
 night-battle — a mere Indian fight, so to speak; while 
 Mullens was silenced by an almost angry retort from 
 General Gibbs, who exclaimed : 
 
 "Gentlemen, I have no patience with anyone who 
 argues that the men who stormed Ciudad Rodrigo and 
 Badajos can be halted by, much less repulsed from, a 
 low log breastwork manned by a backwoods rabble!"* 
 
 Poor Gibbs! He was fated to know better within a 
 few hours! 
 
 We have seen that in a previous council of war, Gen- 
 
 and file of a British army as resorting to what might be termed ''lynch 
 law." 
 
 To any one conversant with the discipline and the systematic adminis- 
 tration of military law in the British army, this would seem intrinsically 
 improbable, without other negative evidence. The true reason why General 
 Pakenham selected the left centre of Jackson's position as his point of assault 
 was doubtless stated by Captain Hill in his narrative: "Previous operations 
 and reconnaissance had developed the fact that no artillery was mounted in 
 that part of the American lines; also that the ditch there was narrower and 
 the parapet lower than elsewhere. Besides, two Spanish residents of New 
 Orleans, who made their way out of the American cordon during the night 
 of the 6th [Messrs. Galvez and Alzar — Author.] had informed General 
 Pakenham most positively that the whole left half of the works was held 
 by mihtia imperfectly organized, not regularly armed and totally unprovided 
 with bayonets." 
 
 This was true. But it is perfectly certain that neither Mr. Galvez nor 
 Mr. Alzar was hanged; because both were sent on to Havana a day or two 
 after the battle, and both returned to New Orleans soon after the procla- 
 mation of peace. The origin of the story is quite obscure. It did not appear 
 in any contemporaneous account, and its first publication seems to have 
 occurred in 1824. 
 
 * Papers in the court-martial of Colonel Mullens. 
 
4 HISTORY OF ANDREW JACKSON 
 
 I? 
 eral Pakenham decided upon "regular approaches." In- 
 vestigation proved that parallels could not be laid in the 
 water-soaked soil of the delta ; and the experience of 
 January ist demonstrated the futility of sugar hogs- 
 heads for sap-rolling. Only one mode of approach was 
 left : that mode was in column of assault, with breasts 
 bared. 
 
 Among the things resolved upon at this council of 
 war was that a lodgment should be effected upon the 
 right bank of the river. So long as the little Carolina, 
 with her ''cargo of cannon," was afloat and the simi- 
 larly bristling Louisiana was capable of action, they could 
 command the river and thereby prevent any attempt of 
 the British to throw a force across it. But now the 
 Carolina was no more and the Louisiana had been put 
 out of action by the howitzer-battery on the levee. 
 Therefore it was resolved to send Colonel Thornton over 
 with a force made up of the Royal Marines, the Eighty- 
 fifth Light Infantry and small detachments from other 
 parts of General Lambert's reserve, with instructions to 
 take the line that had been intrenched there, capture 
 Commodore Patterson's annoying battery of i8-pounders 
 and sweep up the river-bank toward the city. The fact 
 that only 980 men were assigned to Thornton for this 
 important duty is somewhat conclusive evidence that 
 General Pakenham had at last been correctly informed 
 as to the real strength — or weakness — of his adversary; 
 convincing circumstantial testimony that the Spanish 
 spies inside of the American lines had done their work 
 well. 
 
 Thornton was doubtless the ablest and — except, per- 
 haps, Gibbs — the most dashing officer in the British force 
 
BATTLE OF NEW ORLEANS 5 
 
 at New Orleans. Wounded and captured by some Mary- 
 land farmers armed with shot-guns while reconnoitring 
 at Bladensburg six months before and exchanged for 
 Commodore Barney, he was now naturally ambitious 
 to efface the stain of such a mishap in such a ''battle" 
 as Bladensburg. 
 
 Jackson himself was not destitute of information. 
 During the night of January 6th three deserters from the 
 British came into his lines. Nominally they were prison- 
 ers, having voluntarily surrendered to our outposts, to 
 whom they stated their real purpose. They were all 
 Irishmen ; one from the Fourth Foot, one from the Royal 
 Fusiliers and one from the Ninety-fifth Rifles. Literro- 
 gating them separately, the General found that, though 
 belonging to different regiments, stationed on different 
 parts of the picket-line and coming in at different hours, 
 they all told the same story. Their information cor- 
 roborated what Jackson himself had inferred from his 
 own observations during the afternoon of the 6th. 
 
 He had spent most of that afternoon in the little 
 observatory on top of the Macarte house watching the 
 British camp, two and a half miles away, through a long 
 pilot-glass borrowed from Commodore Patterson. Part 
 of the time the Commodore was with him. They had 
 noticed unusual activity in the British camp which they 
 interpreted to mean signs of a decisive movement. The 
 Commodore thought it might mean an intention to with- 
 draw from their position and abandon the campaign, at 
 least from that base of operations. He suggested that 
 perhaps the British commander had decided to abandon 
 Lake Borgne as an avenue of approach and make a new 
 movement of army and fleet in concert up the river. 
 
6 HISTORY OF ANDREW JACKSON 
 
 Jackson did not believe this to be the British plan. He 
 thought they were packing up their heavy baggage and 
 camp-equipage for a movement toward New Orleans 
 which would involve storming his lines. 
 
 The three deserters, unanimously and without prompt- 
 ing or collusion, corroborated Jackson's inferences. They 
 told him that at roll-call, the morning of the 6th, the 
 commander of every company had assured his men that 
 the army would be in New Orleans within forty-eight 
 hours and all their hardships and privations would be 
 ended. 
 
 Jackson asked them if their company officers had held 
 out to them the promise or prospect of sacking the town, 
 as Wellington's army in Spain had done at Badajos, 
 Ciudad Rodrigo and San Sebastian. 
 
 They answered that no such promise had been made 
 in so many words, but the universal belief among Paken- 
 ham's soldiers was that they were to have their way for 
 at least twenty-four hours after the city should be taken. 
 
 Jackson said "the British soldiers would be welcome 
 to do what they pleased when they took the town!" 
 
 From his own observations the afternoon of the 6th 
 and the corroborative statements of the deserters that 
 night, the General thought the attack might come some 
 time the 7th and was prepared for it. But when Satur- 
 day wore away, with nothing more formidable than con- 
 tinued bustle and hubbub in the British camp, he con- 
 cluded that Sunday, the 8th, would prove to be the chosen 
 day. All these preliminaries make a long story, but it 
 is not half so tedious as the waiting was to those weather- 
 beaten and unkempt frontiersmen who nursed their long 
 rifles and bided their time. Gibbs had described them 
 
BATTLE OF NEW ORLEANS 7 
 
 graphically and, from the 'Regular" point of view, truth- 
 fully, when he called them "a backwoods rabble." But 
 they were more intent upon acts than upon appearances, 
 more bent on execution than on ''style." All they wanted 
 was — as Coffee wrote to his wife — to "see the redcoats 
 within fair buck-range!" 
 
 Sunday morning, January 8th, dawned through some- 
 what more than the usual veil of fog and mist over 
 the banks of the lower river at that time of year. At 
 sunrise by the almanac the keenest eye could not pene- 
 trate the gloom a hundred feet from the works. In 
 anticipation of this the outposts had been doubled soon 
 after midnight and also connected with the works by 
 lines of signal-men in readiness to transmit, as rapidly 
 as human voices could repeat it from one to another, the 
 first note of alarm. But none came. All that the out- 
 posts and vedettes reported was, from about four o'clock 
 on, muffled sounds as of troops moving and assembling 
 under cover of the dense fog. 
 
 "About three o'clock, or as soon as the modification 
 of positions on the left of our line was completed," 
 said General William O. Butler,* in a reminiscence re- 
 lated to the author in 1874, 'T went as fast as I could 
 
 * At New Orleans General Butler was a captain and brevet-major in the 
 regular army. After the battle of December 23d, he was serving tempo- 
 rarily as militar}'' secretary or aide-de-camp to General Jackson, in place of 
 his elder brother, Major Thomas L. Butler, also of the regular army, 
 who had been assigned to other duty. The next year he became per- 
 manent chief-of-staff to General Jackson and served as such in the second 
 invasion of Spanish Florida. In the Mexican war he was major-general 
 and succeeded General Scott in command of the American forces in the 
 city of Mexico. Born at Harrodsburg, Kentucky, in May, 1791, he died at 
 Carrollton, in August, 1880, in his ninetieth year. In 1874, when the 
 author visited him, he was eighty-three, with every faculty perfect, physically 
 as well as mentally. 
 
8 HISTORY OF ANDREW JACKSON 
 
 toward the Macarte house to report. I met the General, 
 with a group of staff-officers, just descending from the 
 porch. I reported simply — 'It is done, sir. General 
 Adair is in the designated position.* 
 
 " ^Anything particular going on ?' he inquired in a 
 careless way. 
 
 " 'Nothing, sir, except that the outposts report some 
 signs of activity in their front,' I replied. 
 
 '' *Yes, yes,' he rejoined quickly and with great ani- 
 mation, 'they mean to attack in force this morning. But 
 I think they will wait for the fog to scale up. They 
 will hardly come on till they can see where they are 
 going. Our fellows or the Indians would think this fog 
 a good thing if they wanted to make an attack, but it 
 would be contrary to the rules the English fight by.' 
 
 "No one offered any suggestion. The General gave 
 directions in a low tone to each member of the staff 
 and they went away in different directions. He himself 
 walked from the Macarte house to the nearest point 
 on the line, which was Battery No. 3, about two hundred 
 yards. He was accompanied by Captain Humphrey, 
 chief of artillery, Mr. Livingston and myself. His or- 
 derly, Billy Phillips, also followed, leading the General's 
 horse in readiness for him to mount instantly, should 
 occasion require. When we reached the battery, which 
 was the one held by the Baratarian smugglers, General 
 Jackson observed that they were making coffee in an 
 iron pot over a small fire. 
 
 '' That smells like better coffee than we can get,' the 
 General remarked. Then, turning to Dominique You, 
 he inquired : 'Where do you get such fine coffee ? May- 
 be you smuggled it?' 
 
BATTLE OF NEW ORLEANS 9 
 
 " *Mebbe so, Zhenerale,' rejoined Dominique with a 
 grin. The Baratarian chief then offered the General a 
 small tin-cupful from the pot. It was black as tar and 
 its aroma could be smelled twenty yards away. Jackson 
 drank it with gusto, thanked Dominique and then walked 
 slowly toward the left of the line. T wish I had fifty 
 such guns on this line, with five hundred such devils as 
 those fellows are at their butts!' he said, as soon as we 
 were out of ear-shot from Battery No. 3. 
 
 'The General walked slowly along the line, stopping 
 often to talk with officers and men. It was about three- 
 quarters of a mile from Battery No. 3 to the place where 
 our line went into the swamp. He was nearly an hour 
 going over it. After some talk with General Coffee, 
 who was at the edge of the swamp, General Jackson 
 started back toward the right. When he reached the 
 point where Adair's and Carroll's lines joined, which was 
 near the last battery — No. 8 — he stopped, sat down on 
 a log and dictated some orders which Mr. Livingston 
 and I wrote down. At this time the men were getting 
 their breakfast." 
 
 [At this point, as this was a newspaper interview, the 
 author asked General Butler what the men had for break- 
 fast the morning of the 8th of January.] 
 
 '*0h," he replied, "they had plenty, such as it was: 
 bacon, corn-bread, and some of them sweet potatoes. 
 The Creole soldiers mostly had coffee. It was not a 
 ration then, and since the blockade became effective, it 
 and tea also were scarce and high-priced. But the Cre- 
 oles managed to get some. It was sent or brought to 
 them by their friends in the city. The Tennesseeans 
 and Kentuckians did not have much coffee. But there 
 
lo HISTORY OF ANDREW JACKSON 
 
 was plenty of whiskey and they drank grog with their 
 breakfasts. 
 
 "It was astonishing to see how many men — private 
 soldiers — the General could call by name. He knew 
 almost every Tennesseean and at least half the Kentuck- 
 ians. His manner with them was easy; a modern gen- 
 eral would call it familiar. Still he was dignified, and 
 they all seemed to understand him. I remember his 
 rallying one of the young Robertsons — grandson of the 
 old pioneer. Robertson was quite young. He belonged 
 to Polk's company [of Carroll's command — Author]. 
 *Joe/ said the General, 'how are they using you? 
 Wouldn't you rather be with Aunt Lucy [meaning his 
 mother] than with me?' 
 
 " 'Not by a d d sight, General,' young Joe stoutly 
 
 replied. 'But I wouldn't mind if Aunt Lucy was here 
 a little while!' Jackson laughed, patted the boy on the 
 shoulder and said : 'Stick to 'em, Joe. We'll smash 
 h — 1 out of 'em and then you can go home to Aunt 
 Lucy.' This was one of many similar scenes that morn- 
 ing — or any other time when he went along the line. 
 
 "By this time, according to the almanac, it ought to 
 have been broad daylight, but the fog was so dense you 
 couldn't see more than forty yards in any direction. It 
 was a weird scene. The little fires the men had made 
 behind the breastwork smouldered. The men themselves 
 in the gray mist looked like ghosts. At this moment 
 Major Latour joined us, coming to report to Jackson 
 that the new work he had ordered done on the redoubt 
 was finished and that the works on the other side of the 
 river were in defensible condition. Latour, like most 
 civil engineers, was a weather-prophet, and familiar with 
 
BATTLE OF NEW ORLEANS ii 
 
 that country. He said the fog would Hft in an hour and 
 explained the signs that caused him to think so. 
 
 "The General then sent his orderly, mounted, to the 
 Macarte house to fetch Commodore Patterson's pilot- 
 glass, which he had forgotten when he came away. 
 Quite a breeze from the northwest now sprang up, and 
 as the works ran about northeast and southwest it 
 drifted the fog toward the enemy. All at once two shots 
 were heard in quick succession, sounding muffled-like 
 through the fog, from the edge of the swamp some 
 distance in front of the lines. They were not repeated. 
 After listening a few minutes, Jackson said: 'Some of 
 my Choctaws, I reckon. That's where they ought 
 to be now.' This afterward turned out to be right. 
 Two Indians crawling on their bellies, where they could 
 see for some distance under the fog, caught sight of the 
 legs of two British soldiers on double-picket and fired 
 at them. No one seemed to be hurt, as the pickets ran 
 away. Finally, just as Orderly Phillips got back with 
 the pilot-glass, the fog began to lift rapidly. In a few 
 minutes the head of the British column could be dimly 
 seen. It appeared about two hundred files long — that 
 would, for regiments the size of theirs, be a formation 
 four ranks deep. They were about six hundred to six 
 hundred and fifty yards away ; too long a range for our 
 small-bore rifles, which, as you know, carried round bul- 
 lets of forty-five or even sixty to the pound of lead, and 
 were not effective more than four hundred yards at the 
 outside. 
 
 "Generals Jackson, Carroll and Adair and Major La- 
 tour, Mr. Livingston and I got up on the parapet. In 
 a minute or two the enemy began to move. Two rockets 
 
12 HISTORY OF ANDREW JACKSON 
 
 were fired, one toward us and one toward the river. 
 That is their signal for advance, I beheve/ General Jack- 
 son said. He then ordered all of us down off the parapet, 
 but stayed there himself and kept his long glass to his 
 eye, sweeping the enemy's line with it from end to end. 
 In a moment he ordered Adair and Carroll to pass word 
 along the line for the men to be ready, to count the 
 enemy's files down as closely as they could, and each 
 look after his own file-man in their ranks; also that 
 they should not fire until told, and then to aim above 
 the cross-belt plates. 
 
 "The men were tense, but very cool. A buzz of low 
 talk ran along the line for some minutes. The enemy's 
 front line was now within five hundred yards, and the 
 centre of their formation was almost exactly opposite 
 Carroll's left company or Adair's right one. Then — 
 boom! went our first gun. As well as I can remem- 
 ber after so many years, it was fired from the long 
 brass 12-pounder in Battery No. 6, which was com- 
 manded by old General Fleanjeac, a French veteran who 
 had served under Napoleon in Italy and Egypt, at the 
 Pyramids and Marengo, but who, being implicated with 
 Moreau, was exiled by Napoleon and came to Louisiana 
 about 1802 or 1803. 
 
 'Then all the guns opened. The British batteries, 
 formed in the left rear of their storming column nearer 
 the river, were still concealed from us by the fog, but 
 they replied, directing their fire by the sound of our 
 gims. It was a grand sight to see their flashes light up 
 the fog — turning it into the hues of the rainbow. 
 
 "Still the enemy came on, but no sound from the 
 rifle-line; no fire but that of artillery on either side. 
 
BATTLE OF NEW ORLEANS 13 
 
 Our Batteries Nos. 7 and 8 were on the rifle-line. No. 
 7 had an old Spanish i8-pounder and a 6-pounder. 
 No. 8 had but one gun — a 6-pounder. The smoke 
 from these hung in front of the works or drifted 
 slowly toward the enemy without lifting much in the 
 damp air. Adair noticed this and said it was worse 
 than the fog; that the smoke would spoil the aim of the 
 riflemen when their turn came. Carroll agreed with 
 him. Then General Jackson ordered these two batteries 
 to cease firing, whereupon the smoke soon lifted and 
 the head of the enemy's column appeared not more than 
 three hundred to three hundred and fifty yards off, and 
 coming on at quickstep, with men in front carrying a 
 few scaling-ladders. 
 
 ^'Suddenly one rifle cracked a little to the left of where 
 I stood. A mounted oflicer on the right and a little in 
 front of the British head of column reeled in his saddle 
 and fell from his horse headlong to the ground. What 
 followed in an instant I cannot attempt to describe. The 
 British had kept right on, apparently not minding the 
 artillery fire much, though it was rapid and well-directed. 
 They were used to it. But now, when every hunter's 
 rifle, from the right of Carroll's line to the edge of the 
 swamp where Coffee stood, was searching for their vitals, 
 the British soldiers stopped! That was something new, 
 something they were not used to! 
 
 *'They couldn't stand it. In five minutes the whole 
 front of their formation was shaken as if by an earth- 
 quake. Not one mounted oflicer could be seen. Either 
 rider or horse or both, in every case, was down; most 
 of them dead or dying. I had been in battle where 
 rifles were used up on the Northwest frontier under 
 
14 HISTORY OF ANDREW JACKSON 
 
 Harrison. But even so, I had never seen anything 
 Hke this. 
 
 "In less than ten minutes the first Hne of the enemy's 
 column had disappeared, exposing the second, which v^as 
 about a hundred yards in its rear. You see, their for- 
 mation was columns of brigade in battalion front, and 
 there were three battalions — or regiments — in the col- 
 umn, each one formed four ranks deep. The plain was 
 so level and their formation in line so dense that to a 
 certain extent the front or leading battalion afforded 
 some cover to the one following, and so on. When their 
 leading battalion, which we now know to have been the 
 Forty-fourth Regiment, was practically destroyed, the 
 next one, which was the Seventh Regiment, had been 
 already a good deal shaken by the halt and carnage in 
 the first and by the headlong' flight of the survivors 
 around or through its ranks, and so the Seventh Regi- 
 ment broke almost as soon as they got the full weight 
 of our rifle-fire. This left exposed in turn their third 
 regiment of the column, which was the Fourth or King's 
 Own Foot, and they, too, succumbed after a very brief 
 experience. Almost as incredible as it may seem, this 
 whole column, numbering, I should say, 2,500 or 2,600 
 men,* was literally melted down by our rifle-fire. To 
 put it another way, this column had been to all intents 
 destroyed and the work was done in less than twenty 
 minutes from the first rifle-shot. No such execution by 
 
 * The exact number of this first column of assault, as shown in Chapter 
 xiv., Vol. I., of this work was 2,392. But at the time of our interview (1874) 
 neither General Butler nor the author knew the British official figures. 
 In fact, one of Jackson's biographers (Dr. Frost, writing as late as 1845) 
 makes this first column of attack "at least double" the entire American 
 force. 
 
BATTLE OF NEW ORLEANS 15 
 
 small arms was ever done before and I don't believe it 
 ever will be done again." 
 
 In offering the foregoing description by General Butler 
 of the beginning of the battle of New Orleans, it is 
 proper to remark that the original form was a news- 
 paper '"interview," and in that form occurred numerous 
 questions by the journalist. But for the present historical 
 use these questions have been omitted and the text of 
 the venerable soldier's reminiscences has been put in the 
 shape of a continuous narrative. 
 
 We may now listen to Ogilvy, who saw things from 
 the ranks: 
 
 ". . . After the other officers got down off the 
 breastwork," he says, "General Jackson stood up there 
 alone, surveying the enemy, then nearly half a mile off, 
 through a long spy-glass. There was no firing anywhere 
 on our line, but the cannon to our right were thundering 
 right along. The enemy's cannon began to fire, too, 
 through the fog at first, and their flames lit it up in a 
 wonderful way, though their guns themselves could not 
 be seen. The enemy's infantry did not fire a shot, but 
 came on with fixed bayonets. 
 
 "During the few minutes' wait for them to get close 
 enough a comical thing occurred. In the left company 
 of Carroll's Tennesseeans was a grizzly old sergeant 
 named Williams — Sam Williams. He was, I believe, 
 the oldest man in the Tennessee line, being over fifty, 
 and when quite a boy he had been under Shelby at 
 King's Mountain, thirty-five years before. Old Sam was 
 celebrated all through West Tennessee as a singer of 
 darky songs and often enlivened camp with them. On 
 
1 6 HISTORY OF ANDREW JACKSON 
 
 this occasion, when he saw General Jackson's tall, slen- 
 der form standing straight as a ramrod alone on top of 
 the breastwork, he struck up a camp-meeting song well 
 known in those days. It was this : 
 
 Dah Gaberil stannin' by de gate ; 
 
 Hy'm a-watchin' down be-loh-h, 
 Dah jis one a' minnit fob tub wait, 
 
 Fob tub beab dat Trumpet blow-w ! 
 
 Chorus. 
 
 Den ob. Honey, we's a-cumin' — a-cumin'; 
 
 Goody Lawdy ! a-cumin' fob sbob ! 
 We's ebery one a-cumin', a-cumin', 
 
 When we beabs dat Trumpet blow ! 
 
 "Old Sam didn't get any further. Jackson, turning 
 half around, looked at him benignantly. But Carroll, 
 who stood near him, exclaimed: 'Shut up, Sam! If the 
 redcoats ever once hear you trying to sing they'll run — 
 run like h — 1! And we want 'em to come on!' Old 
 Sam was silenced. But he had spoken — or sung — the 
 truth. We were, *ebery one, a-comin', when we heard 
 the trumpet blow' ! In a minute or two. General Jackson 
 got down off the breastwork. 
 
 " They're near enough now, gentlemen,' he said to 
 Carroll and Adair. An officer in gay regimentals and 
 riding a splendid gray charger was near the centre and 
 a little in front of the British line. General Adair walked 
 a few steps to where a man — the ensign of his right 
 company — stood with his thumb on the lock of his rifle, 
 and said to him : 
 
 " 'Morg, see that officer on the gray horse?' 
 
BATTLE OF NEW ORLEANS 17 
 
 " *Yes, sir.' 
 
 " ^ Snuff his candle!' 
 
 "The officer was then about forty rods [220 yards] 
 off. Before the words were quite out of Adair's Hps, 
 Morg's rifle cracked Hke a stage-driver's whip. The offi- 
 cer leaned forward, grasped the mane of his horse, then 
 toppled sideways and fell head-first to the ground. 
 
 "Then, as quickly as one can draw a breath, the order, 
 'Fire! Fire ! !' rang along the whole line, and the breast- 
 work, from the extreme right of Carroll's Tennesseeans 
 to the swamp, was almost one solid blaze. We were 
 formed four deep, in open order, with plenty of room 
 to move to and fro. As fast as one line fired, its men 
 would step back to the rear and load. By the time the 
 fourth line had fired the first one would be ready again, 
 and so on. There were nearly two thousand rifles in 
 the whole line — 1,986, I believe, was the exact number 
 who could see the enemy. A few of Coffee's men were 
 deployed out into the swamp, where the thick cypress- 
 trees and long moss completely hid the enemy from their 
 view. 
 
 "However, their fire was not needed. The enemy's 
 column did not last much more than fifteen minutes. By 
 that time half of them or more lay dead or wounded 
 on the ground, no officer on horseback could be seen, 
 and such as had escaped death or wounds were running 
 as fast as their legs could carry them to the rear — any- 
 where to get out of reach of those awful rifles ! Some of 
 our men got excited and talked about leaping over the 
 breastwork to follow them. But these were sternly sup- 
 pressed by all the officers and by the more sensible and 
 prudent men in the ranks also. To have gone out in the 
 Vol. II.— 2 
 
1 8 HISTORY OF ANDREW JACKSON 
 
 open field then, with their second cohimn and all their 
 reserves unhurt, would have been the undoing of 
 us! . . . 
 
 "The man who fired first was Morgan Ballard. The 
 British officer was afterward ascertained to be Brigade- 
 Major Whitaker, of General Gibbs's Brigade." 
 
 We may now turn briefly to the British side: When 
 the council of war at Villere's mansion broke up about 
 nine o'clock, Saturday night, the 7th of January, the 
 officers who had taken part in it proceeded at once to 
 perfect preparations for the assault at daylight which, 
 after much debate, had been unanimously agreed upon 
 as the only practicable plan. 
 
 All the necessary orders were given to the different 
 commands and each regiment' was in position when the 
 troops lay down with their muskets at their sides to 
 bivouac — many of them for the last time — on the damp 
 ground. At four a.m. the whole force was roused. 
 Captain Cooke describes the scene at that hour: 
 
 "... I do not remember ever looking for the 
 first signs of daybreak with more intense anxiety than 
 on this eventful morning. . . . The dew lay heavy 
 upon the soft, damp ground, and the soldiers, throw- 
 ing aside their useless intrenching tools, were laying 
 hold of their arms to be up and ready at a moment's 
 warning. How can I convey a thought of the intense 
 anxiety of the mind when a solemn and sombre silence is 
 broken by the intonation of cannon and the work of 
 death begins? . . . The morn was chilly, all was 
 tranquil as the grave and no camp-fires glimmered. 
 
 "The persistency of the fog materially confused the 
 
BATTLE OF NEW ORLEANS 19 
 
 preliminary movements of the first column of attack. 
 The front rank of the Forty-fourth Foot was to carry 
 scaling-ladders, which were to be brought to them by a 
 detachment of the Second West India (negro) Regi- 
 ment. But for more than an hour after the appointed 
 time no colored troops bearing ladders appeared. They 
 had started from head-quarters at the right moment, but 
 got lost in the fog and gloom. At last a part of them 
 found their destination. But there was not half enough 
 ladders. Fascines for filling up the American ditch had 
 also been ordered up, but none were forthcoming. 
 
 *Two rockets in quick succession — one thrown toward 
 the American lines and one toward the river — were to 
 be the signal for advance. These rockets were thrown 
 while the fog was yet so dense that only the one sent 
 toward the Americans could be seen from General Gibbs's 
 position, and even that only made a sputtering trail of 
 bluish light through the mist. Seeing, of course, that it 
 was a mistake, Gibbs stood fast. It was perfectly plain 
 that the elements and not general orders would fix the 
 moment of actual advance that morning." 
 
 Mr. Burroughs, who, though not a combatant officer 
 and having no command, was with Gibbs's head-quar- 
 ters, says: 
 
 "At last the fog rose enough to make the enemy's 
 lines visible. This was within a few minutes of eight 
 o'clock, but I can't recall which way — before or after. 
 Without waiting any longer for the rest of the ladders 
 and the fascines, General Gibbs ordered the advance. 
 The troops moved off with precision at route step. The 
 enemy's line was about six hundred yards distant at the 
 start. The artillery on both sides had been playing for 
 
20 HISTORY OF ANDREW JACKSON 
 
 some minutes when the infantry began to move. The 
 American guns were mostly massed on the right of their 
 hne, and as our attack was directed against their left, 
 their guns had but little effect except as against the left 
 flank of our column, and that was not serious. The 
 column pressed steadily on. 
 
 "At three hundred yards from the works the troops 
 trailed arms and broke into quickstep. Brigade-Major 
 Whitaker, near the right and in advance of the column, 
 was attending to the alignment. A single rifle-shot came 
 from the American line. Major Whitaker fell from his 
 horse, shot through the head. And at a distance of 
 nearly three hundred yards! As if to warn us of the 
 fate in store! He happened to be looking to the right 
 at the moment, exposing the left side of his head to the 
 terrible marksman. The bullet cut about half its diam- 
 eter in the upper rim of his left ear, passed through his 
 head, out at the right temple, and went on. 
 
 "Instantly the whole American line, from the swamp 
 to a point past its centre toward its right, was fairly 
 ablaze. In less time than one can write it, the Forty- 
 fourth Foot was literally swept from the face of the 
 earth. In the wreck and confusion that ensued within 
 five minutes the regiment seeemed to vanish from sight 
 — except the half of it that lay stricken on the ground! 
 Every mounted officer was down at the first fire. No 
 such execution by small arms had ever been seen or 
 heard of. Then the destruction smote the Fourth Foot 
 and Seventh Fusiliers. General Gibbs strove heroically 
 to hold the men to their work and to urge them forward. 
 In vain. Never before had British veterans quailed. But 
 it would be silly to deny that they did so now. There 
 
BATTLE OF NEW ORLEANS 21 
 
 was something in that leaden torrent that no men on 
 earth could face. Before a quarter of an hour had 
 elapsed the entire column was broken and disorganized. 
 In twenty minutes from the first shot it was in full re- 
 treat that lacked little of precipitate flight. 
 
 "General Gibbs made herculean efforts to stop and 
 rally them. In the course of half an hour or so he 
 succeeded in rallying and reforming most of the Fourth 
 and the Seventh who were not disabled — perhaps six 
 hundred or so of both regiments together. But the For- 
 ty-fourth was past help. Nothing could be done with 
 them. They ran until completely out of range and then 
 huddled in small squads away in the rear. Even then 
 they seemed deaf to orders, entreaties and threats alike. 
 I had heard and read of troops being 'panic-stricken.' 
 This was the first time I ever witnessed it. And they 
 were British troops, too; veterans of many a desperate 
 field! . . . 
 
 ''Subsequent examination of the field gave a clew to 
 the cause of panic. It was the wonderful accuracy and 
 murderous effect of the American fire. The casualties 
 by cannon-fire were very few. Nearly all fell to the 
 rifles. Of those killed an appalling proportion, particu- 
 larly at the point nearest the lines, were shot through 
 the head. The American hunting-rifles carried small 
 balls. One of our ounce musket-balls melted up and 
 poured in their moulds would make three of them. But 
 through the head or viscera they were as fatal as any. 
 Hitting in the face or forehead, they made little purple 
 spots, from which blood oozed slowly, but life went out 
 as the ball went in! I had seen many battle-fields in 
 Spain and the East, fresh with carnage. But nowhere 
 
22 HISTORY OF ANDREW JACKSON 
 
 had been such a scene as the spot where the Forty-fourth 
 was butchered. Yet it was to be repeated on even a 
 larger scale in a few minutes. 
 
 ''Hardly had the wreck of the first column cleared 
 away when General Pakenham, in person, with General 
 Keane, put the second column in motion. The Ninety- 
 third Sutherland Highlanders, over a thousand strong, 
 led this column. General Pakenham, as he rode past 
 their flank, took off his hat to them. Spurring his horse 
 up to where Colonel Dale stood, he exclaimed, waving 
 his hat : 'Come on with the tartan !' " 
 
 "The Subaltern," who was on another part of the 
 field, says — in substance and without literal quotation — 
 that the unprecedented behavior of British veterans on 
 this occasion could be accounted for only by the sudden- 
 ness of the disaster and the Unexpected rapidity of the 
 destruction. No troops could be expected to withstand 
 a fire that cut down half of a full battalion in fifteen 
 minutes. Nothing in the previous experience of British 
 troops anywhere in the world, he says — except, possibly, 
 the defeat of Braddock — was calculated to prepare men 
 for such a trial. That they could not endure it was 
 simply human nature. Discipline vanishes in the face 
 of such a phenomenon. The Americans themselves, he 
 declares, would not have stood it any better than the 
 British did — if as well. It would be folly for any gen- 
 eral to expect his men to stand or advance unbroken 
 until the last one should fall. British troops will, notori- 
 ously, stand harder punishment and brave fiercer slaugh- 
 ter than any others ; but they, too, have their limits. And 
 this rifle-fire at New Orleans was the absolute limit for 
 human flesh and blood. To shrink from it did not imply 
 
BATTLE OF NEW ORLEANS 23 
 
 want of valor, because to face it was madness. To see 
 that did not require the eye of a general. It was an 
 inevitable thing that the humblest man in the ranks could 
 see and realize in all its horror. 
 
 English critics have questioned the accuracy of the 
 statement that General Pakenham saluted Colonel Dale 
 in phrase so dramatic as ''Come on with the tartan!" 
 They say that Pakenham was the pink of military pro- 
 priety, utterly free from gush or sentimentality, and likely 
 to be more frigid on such an occasion than at any other 
 time. Lieutenant, afterward General, Malcolm M. 
 Forbes, a subaltern in the color company, heard the re- 
 mark and was the authority upon which Burroughs 
 repeated it. General Pakenham may have been a "frigid 
 man," as the critics say. But it is equally true that the 
 situation which confronted him there was calculated to 
 thaw out almost anything. 
 
 Colonel Dale was one of the bravest of men ; a veteran 
 of many hard-fought fields. But the fate of the first 
 attack — so singular and so sudden — had filled him with 
 foreboding. In the brief interval he had found time 
 hastily to dictate, in a few dozen words, to the adjutant 
 of his regiment, Lieutenant Graves, his last will and 
 testament. He made no mistake. Within twenty min- 
 utes from the dictation a rifle-bullet made Graves an 
 executor. 
 
 The great column moved forward proudly, as if on 
 parade, its bright colors flaunting in the gentle breeze, 
 its uniforms and gay trappings glittering in the now 
 clear rays of the morning sun. General Pakenham, sur- 
 rounded by his full staff, leading the color company, 
 waving his hat and cheering. For a few minutes the 
 
24 HISTORY OF ANDREW JACKSON 
 
 fatal breastwork was silent, except the batteries near the 
 levee. Those on the front of the rifle-line w^ere made 
 to cease firing as before. Suddenly two or three rifles 
 cracked near the junction of Carroll's left with Adair's 
 right, from the line of Polk's Tennessee company, form- 
 ing Carroll's extreme left. 
 
 General Pakenham reeled in his saddle, his hat dropped 
 from his head to the ground and two members of his 
 staff helped him to dismount. A half-ounce bullet had 
 grazed his left forearm and passed into his abdomen 
 just below the short ribs, about four inches to the left 
 of the pit of the stomach. Another had passed through 
 the opening of his coat-collar at the throat, but was 
 deflected by the leather stock he wore. 
 
 Instantly following these shots the sharp, angry 
 crashing of many rifles rang 'along the American line. 
 The effect was quick and deadly, but for a moment the 
 unshaken Highlanders breasted it and came on. 
 
 The British veterans, maddened rather than dismayed 
 by their gallant commander's fate, pressed forward with 
 steady stride and ranks aligned as if it w^ere regimental 
 review. A savage crackling, almost like the snarling of 
 angry beasts, began away up on the right of Carroll's 
 Tennesseeans. It crept along down the line. Quick, red 
 little spouts of flame, that forked at the end like serpents' 
 tongues! Sudden, short little crashes almost merging 
 one with another ! Lazy little wreaths of whitish smoke 
 in pale eddies on the air! Odors of sulphur and a faint 
 scent of something like blood! Was it the incense of 
 a victory or was it the fumes of hell? 
 
 But what of those charging veterans out in front? 
 Some of them had braved the deep-moated castle of 
 
BATTLE OF NEW ORLEANS 25 
 
 Badajos; they had swarmed over the dark walls of Ciu- 
 dad Rodrigo in mockery of French bayonets and in con- 
 tempt of French cannon. Hitherto they had proved able, 
 as the Great Duke said of them, to "go anywhere and 
 do anything!" They were the best soldiers on earth: 
 resistless, all-conquering, invincible. For years they had 
 never marched but to conquest; had never fought but to 
 vanquish. They did not know the meaning of any word 
 but victory. They were the pride of England. 
 
 But what was this they had met at last? Why was 
 it that their once firm ranks now reeled and staggered 
 so? What manner of new, strange death was this? 
 Was it in the air they breathed; did it rise like a 
 miasm from the damp ground under their feet; did it 
 descend like unseen lightning-bolts from the clear sky 
 above ? 
 
 Ah! no matter how or where or whence. It was 
 death that searched out the vitals of strong, brave men 
 — impalpable, intangible, almost unfelt — it was so swift 
 and so sure! 
 
 *This is not battle," the British veterans said to one 
 another as they died, "it is butchery! The Destroying 
 Angel is among us, in our ranks, over our heads, under 
 our feet, all around us; everywhere!" 
 
 When the first attack came on the Tennesseeans and 
 Kentuckians had maintained order, keeping their ranks 
 and standing on the ground behind their breastwork 
 which, in the average of its height, sheltered them to 
 the waist. But now, facing and resisting the second 
 attack, they began to show some signs of disorder — 
 
 that fierce disorder which comes from the mastery of 
 
 ■ **• 
 
 ,/ 
 
26 HISTORY OF ANDREW JACKSON 
 
 exultant valor over calm prudence. All along the line 
 the riflemen began to mount the breastwork, singly or 
 in squads, exposing themselves full length and loading 
 and firing on top of the parapet instead of from behind 
 it. It seemed as if now, when their blood was up, they 
 disdained cover and wanted to give their brave assail- 
 ants a better chance at them. 
 
 This made Andrew Jackson frown. He said to his 
 aides : *Tass the word along the line to all company 
 officers to make their men observe order and keep the 
 ranks behind the works." To the men within sound of 
 his voice he gave the order in person. 
 
 But it was easier said than done. The pioneer blood 
 of Tennessee and Kentucky was boiling, and the fumes 
 of battle were etherizing their caution. ''Personal safe- 
 ty" were words without meaning. The one word they 
 knew then was ''Dare!" 
 
 At this moment Jackson was on that part of the line 
 where Carroll's left company joined Adair's right, and 
 Carroll was with him. 
 
 "The only thing I fear now, William," he said, "is 
 that when the enemy break, as they must do in a few 
 seconds, some of these desperate youngsters of mine will 
 want to go over the works and get at them!" 
 
 The Tennessee company, on whose line — or in whose 
 ranks — Jackson stood, was Captain Charles Polk's. Just 
 then the British began to give way on their left and to 
 waver perceptibly all along their front. From the breast- 
 work the Americans could see the few surviving British 
 officers frantically trying to make their men advance, 
 sometimes striking them with the flat of their swords. 
 But their line reeled more and more until, finally, the 
 
BATTLE OF NEW ORLEANS 27 
 
 color company of the Highlanders being annihilated 
 down to three men, the centre broke in confusion. 
 
 Young Robert Polk, ensign of his uncle's company, 
 a curly-headed youth of nineteen or twenty, sprang upon 
 the breastwork and the bright blade of his Indian toma- 
 hawk glittered above his bare head as he yelled : ''Come 
 on, boys! Follow me! Let's charge 'em! Let's get 
 
 among 'em!" 
 
 ''Down, sir, down!" roared Jackson in the voice of 
 a mad bull. ''Back to your post!" 
 
 Young Robert Polk jumped down off the parapet ! 
 Jackson fumbled with his hands about his waist. As 
 if surprised, he found he had on no belt or side-arms of 
 any kind— only the cane he held in one hand. In a half- 
 helpless sort of way, he turned to his aide-de-camp: 
 "Kindly lend me your pistols for a moment, Captam." 
 
 Captain Butler took two heavy rifled pistols from his 
 belt and handed them to his chief. 
 
 "Now," said Jackson in a voice that no one ever for- 
 got who heard it, and with a wicked glint in his great 
 gray eyes, "I'll shoot the first man who dares go over 
 the works! We must have order here!" 
 There was order. 
 
 The Highlanders, though staggered by the volley 
 which immediately followed the fall of General Paken- 
 ham, and which killed or wounded all five of the staff 
 oflicers who were with him, still pressed on for a minute 
 or so. But when the second volley from the rifle-line 
 smote their bosoms, they halted and stood stock-still. 
 No troops could advance in the face of such a storm of 
 lead— and Scottish Highlanders had not yet learned how 
 to run! They were at their wits' ends. No sleet like 
 
28 HISTORY OF ANDREW JACKSON 
 
 this had ever driven in their faces — not even the winter 
 blasts of their native moors. That was only the driving 
 gusts of frozen snow. But this pitiless sleet from Ken- 
 tucky and Tennessee was cold lead, and it killed or crip- 
 pled every one in its awful way! 
 
 However, the halting, staggering and breaking of the 
 Highlanders, when two-thirds of their number had been 
 laid low, did not put an end to the second attack. The 
 gallant Gibbs was just behind them with the Twenty- 
 first Royal Scots Fusiliers and the Forty-third Monmouth 
 Light Infantry. Gibbs had brought up what he could 
 rally of the remnant from the first attack to support the 
 second. Keane had been wounded at the first fire and 
 Gibbs was now second in command. 
 
 Seeing the Highlanders stop and shiver as the leaden 
 sleet of that "backwoods rabble" drove into their faces, 
 Gibbs halted the Fusiliers and the Forty-third and sent 
 aides at breakneck speed, ordering the w4ngs of the 
 Twenty-seventh and Eighty-ninth Dublin to close in left 
 and right on the column. Just then one of Pakenham's 
 staff — Major Shaw^ — reached him, bareheaded and 
 bloody. 
 
 "They have killed General Pakenham, sir," said Shaw, 
 "and you are now in command." 
 
 "What's the matter with the 'Sawnies'? Why don't 
 they go ahead?" asked Gibbs. 
 
 "I don't know, sir; but the Highlanders cannot be 
 urged to go further. They are nearly destroyed al- 
 ready!" 
 
 "Go tell them, then, to get out of my way or I will 
 run over them ! I'll wipe out that nest of Yankee hornets 
 with the Fusiliers and the Forty-third!" 
 
BATTLE OF NEW ORLEANS 29 
 
 But the Highlanders did not "get out of the way," 
 and they were in such confusion that it was impossible 
 to charge through their disordered mass. 
 
 Gibbs then took the desperate resolve to oblique his 
 column around their right flank. With "left shoulders 
 forward" the devoted Fusiliers and Monmouthshires 
 swept round the flank of the surging Highlanders at 
 the double — Gibbs leading them in person, his big black 
 stallion curvetting splendidly. It was but a fleeting pic- 
 ture. The moment he appeared at the head of his ob- 
 liquing column, horse and rider fell together; the horse 
 shot in the forehead and instantly killed, Gibbs with 
 four bullets in him — one just to the right of the right 
 nostril, one nearly in the middle of his throat, one in 
 the breast about three inches above the pit of the stom- 
 ach, and one in the left groin — any one of the four 
 necessarily fatal! 
 
 It was the "backwoods rabble!" 
 
 But, with all his bravery and all his fierce daring, 
 Gibbs might have died more like a soldier than he did. 
 They bore him to the rear, cursing his fate, cursing his 
 dying commander, and he died that night with male- 
 dictions on his lips. 
 
 Almost at the moment when Gibbs fell. General Lam- 
 bert, who had arrived with the reserves, took the head 
 of column and tried to lead it on. All these things hap- 
 pened in less time than it takes to think about them. 
 The dozen shots sent at Gibbs and his staff were in- 
 stantly followed by a volley from the whole rifle-line with- 
 in range. It fairly withered the Seventh Fusiliers, who 
 broke beyond rallying, and those who could run fled in 
 all directions. This exposed the front of the Forty-third, 
 
30 HISTORY OF ANDREW JACKSON 
 
 who in their turn got another rifle-blast that shrivelled 
 up their ranks as flame shrivels dry leaves. They fol- 
 lowed the example of the Fusiliers, Even the reserves 
 that Lambert brought up came in for a share of the 
 "glory," though at such long range that their sacrifices 
 were slight in comparison. Their commander was 
 severely wounded, though not wholly disabled. 
 
 Almost simultaneously with the advance of the first 
 column of main attack, a detachment of the Ninety-fifth 
 Rifles attempted to penetrate the swamp with -a view of 
 flanking Coffee's position on the left — or, at least, to 
 threaten it. This movement soon developed Jugeat's 
 Choctaws, who had been deployed some distance in ad- 
 vance of the lines as outposts or skirmishers. A lively 
 skirmish ensued in the edge of the cypress timber, and 
 Coffee sent Donelson's company to re-enforce Jugeat. 
 The Tennesseeans and Indians drove the British Rifles 
 back on the plain about the time the second main attack 
 collapsed. It is worthy of note that of the whole loss 
 in Jackson's force on the left bank, the Choctaws suf- 
 fered more than one-third — losing eight men out of the 
 total twenty-one. 
 
 While all these events were taking place in the centre 
 and on the right of the British line. Colonel Rennie, 
 with a column made up of marines and detachments 
 from the Twenty-seventh and Eighty-ninth Regiments, 
 something over 900 strong, stole up under cover of the 
 levee and the smoke from Jackson's batteries near the 
 river. They charged the redoubt and the line immedi- 
 ately to our left of it, held by the Seventh Regulars, a 
 small battalion of Louisiana militia, all armed with 
 smooth-bore muskets, together with Beale's remnant of 
 
BATTLE OF NEW ORLEANS 31 
 
 thirty-two New Orleans City Riflemen. It is worthy of 
 note that on the front defended by the riflemen of Ten- 
 nessee and Kentucky — the ''backwoods rabble" — though 
 twice assailed by the main force of the enemy in heavy 
 column, no British soldier ever got nearer to the breast- 
 work than eighteen rods, by actual measurement. And 
 every one who got that near stayed there. But Rennie 
 and his flanking column of nine hundred-odd, charging 
 the front held by the regulars and the Louisiana militia, 
 got up into the ditch ; and Rennie himself with two or 
 three other officers and a few marines, got clear over the 
 breastwork. But they died there. That w^as the dif- 
 ference between smooth-bore muskets in the hands of 
 either regulars or militia and the rifles of Kentucky and 
 Tennessee sighted by the pioneer veterans of Tippe- 
 canoe, the Thames and the Horseshoe Bend. And even 
 Rennie's attack, delivered far to the right of the rifle- 
 line as it was, did not escape the biting marksmanship 
 of Carroll's Tennesseeans. As soon as Carroll saw 
 Rennie's column stealing along the levee, he ordered 
 his two companies on the right — Claiborne's and Thomas 
 Polk's — to oblique at the double to the right and fire 
 into the exposed flank of the force, which, under com- 
 mand of Brigade-Major King, was some distance to 
 the right of Rennie's main column. The Tennesseeans 
 numbered about 140 or 150. Most of them got up on 
 top of the breastwork. When their rifle-barrels came 
 to the level and the little jets of flame darted from their 
 miuzzles, the ''right flank of Rennie's column seemed 
 to sink into the earth" — as an eye-witness (Captain 
 Wright) said in his oration long afterward. 
 
CHAPTER II 
 
 AFTER THE GREAT VICTORY 
 
 The battle of New Orleans was over. What was 
 left of the proud army that so exultantly and so con- 
 fidently surged at sunrise up against that "low log 
 breastwork, manned by a backwoods rabble," sadly and 
 sullenly retreated out of range and almost out of sight. 
 But what mementoes of ambition's folly had they left 
 behind ! 
 
 There were places on that field where the formation 
 of British battalions could be traced by the dead as they 
 lay in ranks ! Of the color company of the Forty- fourth 
 Essex Regiment, 97 strong at the start, six were alive 
 and unhurt at the finish. The color company of the 
 Ninety-third Sutherland Highlanders went into action 
 103 strong and came out with three "whole skins"! 
 
 Viewing the British army by regiments, the Forty- 
 fourth went into action 816 strong. It was within rifle- 
 range eighteen or twenty minutes. When Lieutenant 
 Ormsby — the sixteenth officer in lineal rank — rallied its 
 remnant a mile in the rear, the Forty-fourth lined up 
 134 muskets, and Ormsby was one of five commissioned 
 officers left out of thirty-one. 
 
 The Sutherland Highlanders charged with 1,008 men 
 in line. They were under fire less than thirty minutes. 
 Lieutenant Forbes, the seventeenth officer in lineal rank, 
 rallied 132 of them an hour later, in the rear. 
 
 32 
 
AFTER THE GREAT VICTORY ;^;^ 
 
 The Monmouth Light Infantry tried to follow Gibbs 
 around the right flank of the Highlanders with 862 
 men. That night 217 answered roll-call. 
 
 The Seventh Fusiliers, going in with 780, got out with 
 266 fit for duty. 
 
 The Twenty-first Fusiliers, its front covered by the 
 Ninety-third in the second attack and taking advantage 
 of the earliest chance to retreat, managed to save 395 
 out of 790. 
 
 The Fourth King's Own, enjoying a similar advan- 
 tage of position and opportunity, escaped with the com- 
 paratively trifling loss of 397 out of 796. 
 
 This would indicate losses aggregating 3,717. But 
 some of these were stragglers or unwounded prisoners. 
 The actual casualties by gunshot were something over 
 3,000. 
 
 Soon after the battle ceased, a truce to bury the dead 
 and care for the wounded was agreed upon at the re- 
 quest of the British commander. Even in this sad mo- 
 ment, cruel with the anguish of defeat and excruciating 
 with the agony of disaster, Lambert did not forget his 
 surly contempt for the "militia general" who had con- 
 quered him. His note requesting the truce was signed 
 simply "Lambert." Jackson sent it back to him with 
 a polite message to the efifect that he could not entertain 
 such a proposal unless its signature afforded better evi- 
 dence of authority than the one before him. Lambert 
 accepted the rebuke and sent another note signed "John 
 Lambert, Major-General in Command." The truce 
 being agreed upon, a "dead-line" was drawn 300 yards 
 from the breastwork, inside of which no British soldier 
 
 was allowed to come. Our soldiers carried the British 
 Vol. II.— 3 
 
34 HISTORY OF ANDREW JACKSON 
 
 dead to the line and delivered them to their comrades 
 for burial. The British wounded were taken into our 
 lines and thence to the city, wdiere public buildings, 
 churches and many private residences were turned into 
 hospitals for them. The wounded British soldiers were 
 uniformly grateful to the men who had conquered them 
 and now did their best to help them. But many of the 
 officers, particularly the younger ones, were sullen to 
 the point of boorishness. One incident may illustrate: 
 The accomplished Lieutenant William Wickliffe, of Ken- 
 tucky, with two comrades of less culture and refinement 
 — but of no less manly instinct and native chivalry — was 
 helping off the field Lieutenant Brooke — son of a lord 
 and nephew of a duke — badly wounded. Wickliffe and 
 his comrades were clad in dirty buckskin hunting- jackets, 
 their hair was long and 'their faces and hands were 
 begrimed with burnt powder. 
 
 *'Are there no regular officers in your army? I 
 would like to be attended by gentlemen!" said the sprig 
 of English aristocracy. 
 
 "Let's leave the conceited to wallow 
 
 in his own blood!" exclaimed one of Wickliffe's com- 
 rades. 
 
 ''No," said Wickliffe; "don't mind his impudent 
 tongue, Jim. His wound makes a gentleman of him — 
 nothing else could!" 
 
 The task of removing the British dead to the truce- 
 line was a ghastly one. Most remarkable of all was 
 the corpse of a tall Highlander, that lay at the point 
 where the Ninety-third broke. He was a color-sergeant 
 and had carried the King's color of the regiment. Two 
 
AFTER THE GREAT VICTORY 35 
 
 bullets had gone through his head. One struck him just 
 over the left eye and passed out back of the right ear. 
 The other hit him between the right nostril and eye 
 and came out through the left ear. As either wound 
 must have been instantaneously fatal, it was clear that 
 the two bullets struck him together ; though, taking the 
 •angle at which they crossed in his brain in connection 
 with his distance from our rifle-line — about twenty-five 
 i-ods — it was apparent that the two deadly marksmen 
 who simultaneously "drew their beads" on his head must 
 have been at least thirty-five rods apart in our line. 
 
 ''A little lead wasted there!" was the grim comment 
 of one of the Tennesseeans who helped carry the corpse 
 to the truce-line. 
 
 More than three hundred who had lain down for 
 safety surrendered, unwounded, after the battle. 
 
 The wounded who were picked up and taken to the 
 city numbered more than 1,200, and for weeks New Or- 
 leans was pretty much one great hospital. Many of the 
 wounded soldiers — particularly the Irishmen among 
 them — contrived to stay in this country when the pris- 
 oners were released after the news of peace came. 
 
 While these decisive events were so rapidly occurring 
 on the left bank of the river, a combat of wholly different 
 character and result was w^aged on the right bank. Colo- 
 nel Thornton had his picked column of 900 men — light 
 infantry and marines — ready to cross the river by the 
 time the council of war, the evening of January 7th, 
 adjourned. This was about nine o'clock. But, through 
 delay in getting the boats to the place of embarkation, 
 it was midnight before the first detachment could start. 
 
26 HISTORY OF ANDREW JACKSON 
 
 There were only half enough boats, and therefore two 
 trips had to be made. The sailors who rowed the boats 
 did not allow enough for the current and the result was 
 that they landed on the right bank over a mile below 
 the designated point. The first detachment landed about 
 four o'clock, and it was nearly seven when the rest of 
 the force joined them. 
 
 Thornton formed his force with the Eighty-fifth Light 
 Infantry on his left, about 400 strong, the Royal Marines 
 — about 300 — in the centre and the sailors — 250 — on his 
 right, next the river bank. On the river and keeping 
 abreast of the land force were three large boats, or sail- 
 ing launches, under Captain Roberts of the navy, each 
 armed with one small carronade or boat-gun in the bow. 
 
 The American force consisted of less than 400 Ken- 
 tucky militia, under Colonel* Davis, and about 300 Louis- 
 iana militia, under Major Amand. A battery of one 
 i2-pounder and two 6-pounders had been mounted in 
 the old brick-kiln which Major Latour had converted 
 into a sort of redoubt two days before, and these guns 
 were manned by Philibert's and Nixon's companies of 
 the Louisiana militia. 
 
 About three hundred yards in the rear of these lines 
 was Commodore Patterson's battery of i8-pounders, but 
 these were mounted to fire across the river. The commo- 
 dore, however, anticipating an attack by land, got two 12- 
 pounders out of the Louisiana during the 7th and mount- 
 ed them in a re-entrant work or traverse, to fire down 
 the road. During the night of the 7th, General David 
 Morgan, in command on the east bank, had posted 180 
 Kentucky and 150 Louisiana militia, under Colonel Davis 
 and Major Tessier, on a line three-quarters of a mile in 
 
AFTER THE GREAT VICTORY 37 
 
 front of his intrenched position, at the point where the 
 plain between river and swamp is narrowest. This Hne, 
 except a feeble abatis of cypress branches, was not 
 
 fortified. 
 
 Thornton attacked it vigorously and the militia gave 
 way, retreating rapidly and in disorder upon the fortified 
 lines. The British, in close pursuit, soon came under 
 the guns of the "brick-kiln battery" and Morgan's main 
 force in the slight breastwork. The total of this force 
 was not more than 350. Morgan tried to rally the fugi- 
 tives at his lines, without much success. Thornton was 
 soon upon him with a flanking movement on the right 
 which doubled back his line toward the river, capturing 
 the brick-kiln battery and compelling the rest of the 
 militia to join the fugitives from the first line. 
 
 Commodore Patterson's two 12-pounders now came 
 into action. They were well served by the Louisiana's 
 sailors and, as they partly enfiladed the plain, Thornton's 
 advance was for a few moments checked. But his ex- 
 treme left — the Eighty-fifth — kept reaching around 
 toward the rear of the commodore's battery, and he 
 was soon forced out of it, after spiking his guns and 
 throwing his powder into the river. 
 
 Thornton now paused for a few minutes to reform his 
 line, and then resumed his advance. Morgan and Davis 
 in the meantime had partially rallied their militia, and 
 the Louisianians fired severe straggling volleys with 
 some effect. Adjutant Stephens, of Davis's regiment, 
 with about 120 Kentuckians also made a front against 
 the British advance. The re-enforcements sent over from 
 the city by Jackson, under the French veteran Humbert, 
 now began to arrive on the field, and Morgan, with 
 
38 HISTORY OF ANDREW JACKSON 
 
 about 600 men, took post behind the Canal Boisgeveau, 
 which was really a more defensible position than his 
 intrenched line had been, except that he had no artillery 
 left. 
 
 After a quick reconnaissance of this line, Thornton 
 was preparing to attack it when Captain Dickson, of the 
 royal artillery, reached him from the left bank with 
 tidings of the awful defeat and butchery the main army 
 had suffered, and orders from General Lambert to ex- 
 tricate himself and recross the river as best he might. 
 Thornton, though confident of his ability to go ahead 
 as against the force in his front, knew that Jackson 
 would be now free to re-enforce Morgan from the left 
 bank to any required extent, and that he could hope for 
 no aid from the routed and slaughtered regiments of 
 the main army. He therefore withdrew from his ad- 
 vanced position without serious trouble and fell back to 
 his landing-place, which he held the rest of the day. 
 Under cover of night he re-embarked his troops and 
 rejoined the main army on the left bank. The Amer- 
 icans did not molest him, but during the night reoccupied 
 their line of works, and Commodore Patterson had his 
 battery in working order again early in the morning of 
 the 9th. 
 
 This affair has been called "disgraceful" by most 
 American writers. General Jackson, in his official re- 
 port, severely censures the behavior of the militia — par- 
 ticularly the Kentuckians under Colonel Davis. But, 
 upon dispassionate examination of all the facts, it is 
 difficult to see that anything else could reasonably have 
 been expected. The militia, Louisianians and Kentuck- 
 ians alike, were armed with nothing better than old 
 
AFTER THE GREAT VICTORY 
 
 39 
 
 Spanish escopetas or fowling-pieces. They were also 
 quite inferior in numbers. The ''works" for their pro- 
 tection were of the flimsiest character and, being incom- 
 plete on the right — or next the swamp — were easily 
 flanked. 
 
 The fact that the militia, poorly armed and unsteady 
 as they w^ere, inflicted a loss of io8 killed and wounded 
 upon the British force, including Colonel Thornton him- 
 self severely wounded, indicates that they must have 
 tried at least to hold their ground. But, on the other 
 hand, the fact that they themselves lost only five killed, 
 fourteen wounded and nineteen "missing," suggests that 
 they did not take any extraordinary risks. The British 
 Government apparently set a high value on Thornton's 
 "victory." He was the only officer in their army to be 
 promoted "for gallant and successful services at New 
 Orleans, January 8, 1815"; and the only "trophy" of 
 that battle ever displayed in England was the State flag 
 of the First Louisiana Militia, which for many years 
 adorned a nook in the British Admiralty head-quarters 
 at Whitehall. It was taken, in Thornton's attack, by the 
 detachment of Royal Marines under Major Adayre. 
 Rather a lonesome memento for such an important cam- 
 paign! 
 
 The most singular thing, historically, about the battle 
 of New Orleans is the confusion that seems to exist in 
 the minds of those who have tried to describe it, on 
 three points : First, the numbers effective on each side ; 
 second, the relative execution done by the different arms 
 of service; and, third, the actual casualties of the British 
 army. 
 
40 HISTORY OF ANDREW JACKSON 
 
 On no one of these three points do any two historians 
 agree. But the one point on which they most nearly 
 approach agreement is that nearly all the execution was 
 done by Jackson's artillery — which, excepting the two 
 small regular batteries present, neither of which had 
 more than forty trained men, was a nondescript lot of 
 old guns of all calibres, mainly worked by men who had 
 never seen a cannon in action before. However, this 
 fact does not prevent all the historians — from Frost to 
 Walker and Parton — from ''mowing the British ranks 
 down with grape-shot" and all that kind of thing. True, 
 most of the historians admit that there were some rifle- 
 men present, under Coffee, Carroll and Adair, but these 
 are classed as "militia," and credited with little else than 
 firing their rifles through the smoke of the all-destroying 
 artillery. It is, of course,* useless to discuss such a 
 question with such writers. The trouble is that most 
 men who try to describe battles in historical writing 
 never saw one themselves, do not know^ and cannot real- 
 ize W'hat a battle is, and might not recognize one if they 
 saw it — unless they happened to get hit ! The relative 
 forces engaged have already been set forth in these pages : 
 The British strength from reports on file in the Adju- 
 tant-General's ofiice of Great Britain, and the American 
 force from General Eaton's memorandum compiled from 
 reports of company commanders, the 9th of January. 
 
 As for the losses, it is not disputed that Jackson's 
 force on the left bank of the river lost eight killed and 
 thirteen wounded. But, as already remarked, no two 
 American historians agree as to the losses of the British 
 or as to the arm of service that chiefly caused such 
 casualties. Undoubtedly the most authentic solution is 
 
AFTER THE GREAT VICTORY 41 
 
 to be found in the "consolidated return" of the Medical 
 Director of the British army. This return, made some 
 time after the battle — in fact, after the peace — when all 
 prisoners had been released and all who could survive 
 their wounds had recovered or been discharged for per- 
 manent disability, classifies the casualties under four 
 heads : First, Killed outright ; second. Died of Wounds ; 
 third, Wounded and permanently disabled: and. fourth, 
 Wounded and temporarily disabled. Without going into 
 details, the summary of the report is as follows : 
 
 Killed on the field 381 
 
 Died of wounds 477 
 
 858 
 
 Wounded and permanently disabled (dis- 
 charged) 1.251 
 
 Wounded and temporarily disabled (re- 
 turned to duty) I..-2I7 
 
 2,468 
 
 Total 3,326 
 
 Now, in order to understand the full meaning of this 
 classification, it is necessary to know what the British 
 system was in those days. Soldiers were enlisted then 
 in the British army for ''long service/* That meant for 
 life or until numerical reduction of the strength, when 
 the army was to be placed o^ a ''peace footing." Under 
 that system "permanently disabled" meant loss of limb 
 or other injury absolutely incapacitating the soldier for 
 further service of any kind. "Temporarily disabled" 
 meant wounds that might heal : but whether the healing 
 took a week or a year made no difference. ^loreover. 
 
42 HISTORY OF ANDREW JACKSON 
 
 "slight wounds" found no place in the medical and sur- 
 gical reports of the British army of those days. 
 
 With regard to the causes of death and wounds at 
 New Orleans, the British Medical Director says that: 
 "Of the total number (3,326), about 3,000 were struck 
 by the small bullets the American sharpshooters used in 
 their rifles; the rest (say 326) by the missiles of artil- 
 lery or by the ounce balls used in regulation muskets." 
 
 These may be minor facts in the sum total of Amer- 
 ican battle history as written by men who never saw a 
 battle or even smelled the powder of one at a safe dis- 
 tance. But some conception of their value is requisite 
 to a properly patriotic appreciation of that great day in 
 the American calendar of heroism — the 8th of January. 
 
 One of the greatest of French military writers has 
 said : "The vanquished at Nfew Orleans pursued the real 
 art of war to the logical conclusion. The victors there 
 triumphed by total disregard of every precept taught and 
 of every principal inculcated in European or any other 
 civilized warfare. Attacked secundem artem, they re- 
 sisted in defiance of all rules. They had little or no 
 discipline. Every man seemed to fight as if the whole 
 issue of the combat depended on him. But one thing 
 they certainly could do and they did it : They killed 
 everybody zvlio came zvithin the range of their rifles.'' 
 
 This writer speaks of "rifles." He says nothing about 
 cannon. He had studied the data which actually ex- 
 hibit w^hat was done. And, so doing, he unconsciously 
 offers irrefragable evidence that the men who won the 
 battle of New Orleans and saved the Louisiana Pur- 
 chase — next to Yorktown the most momentous single 
 fact in our warlike history — were not the motley crews 
 
AFTER THE GREAT VICTORY 43 
 
 who stood behind Jackson's old smooth-bore cannon, but 
 the Tennessee and Kentucky riflemen. 
 
 When men accompHsh such thnigs and achieve such 
 ends against such odds and despite such obstacles, the 
 world likes to know of what stuff they were made. One 
 of them has given to history a word-picture of his com- 
 rades. The artist was Judge Ballard, of Kentucky. In 
 1815 he was a rifleman at New Orleans; m 1828, a 
 circuit judge. When Jackson was runnmg for Pres- 
 ident in the latter year he delivered an oration on Jack- 
 son and his Men," in the course of which he said : 
 
 Apart from the ordinary impulses of patriotism actuating 
 men who defend their country's soil against an invader, here 
 Is in the heart of hearts of these men a deeper feeing a mos 
 akin to fanaticism. Most of them had been born wlnle yet th 
 shadow of the Indian tomahawk hung over Kentucky. Their 
 baby eyes had seen the glare of burning cabins, their young 
 ears had heard the savage war-whoop, and not a few of hem 
 had gazed upon the mutilated remains of fathers, mo hers, 
 brothers or sisters slain and scalped at their own thresholds. 
 
 They knew that all through the dark and bloody infancy of 
 their beloved State British instigation had been at the back 
 of the red demons who wrought all those horrors, and for th s 
 they held the British Government responsible. The redcoats 
 they now saw in front of them represented that G-er— 
 They had had many chances at the savages ^^flom the Br t sh 
 instigated, but this was the first chance they had ever had at the 
 B ilish instigators! So here they transferred to the serried 
 ranks before them all the deadly hate, all the pitiless revenge 
 and all the mortal animosity which had been burned into their 
 souls toward the Indians. 
 
 Now consider that men so actuated were marksmen among 
 whom it was considered i.fra dig. to shoot at a ^eer standing 
 still- who lost caste among their fellows if they hit a wild 
 
44 HISTORY OF ANDREW JACKSON 
 
 turkey anywhere in the body or broke the skin on a squirrel in 
 "barking" him off a limb. Consider, further, that men so 
 actuated and so endowed with skill in use of deadly weapons 
 were not merely brave, but that courage was their instinct, 
 congenital, imbibed with mother's milk; that in their code no 
 allowance was made for cowardice, even as a remote possibil- 
 ity, and bravery was considered a matter of course, involving no 
 particular merit whatever; that the imminent presence of dan- 
 ger or of death itself never shook their fortitude, disturbed their 
 equanimity, impaired their judgment nor affected their calm de- 
 liberation in the slightest degree. One must take account of 
 all these facts before a fair idea can be formed of the character 
 of the obstacle which stood between the British army and its 
 objective point the 8th day of January, 1815. These men were 
 not merely soldiers. They were not soldiers at all in the regu- 
 lar or technical sense of the term. 
 
 Yet the world never saw so orderly and obedient a body of 
 men assembled for warlike purpose. And the world never saw, 
 nor probably ever will see again, such a helpless and pitiable 
 wreck as they, in a few minutes, made of a force more than 
 double their number; the pick and flower of a veteran army 
 hitherto victorious in all lands, irresistible and invincible every- 
 where ! * 
 
 * General Jackson once expressed his opinion of the army he had at New 
 Orleans somewhat more tersely than Judge Ballard did. In 1833 a work 
 called The Military Memoirs of the Duke of Wellington (Sherer's, we 
 believe) was published in London, and a copy found its way into the hands 
 of Mr. Blair, then editor of the Globe. Mr. Blair showed it to the President 
 — or gave it to him to read; and called his attention particularly to a remark 
 ascribed to the Duke concerning the quality of his army in Spain. The 
 remark was: "That was the best army ever seen. It was an army that 
 could go anywhere and do anything." 
 
 Mr. Blair suggested that the troops composing that army — or some of 
 them — on a famous occasion signally and disastrously failed to make good 
 the Duke's boast. 
 
 "Well, Blair," said Jackson after a moment's deliberation, "I never pre- 
 tended that I had an army that 'could go anywhere and do anything.' But 
 at New Orleans I had a lot of fellers that could fight more ways and kill 
 more times than any other fellers on the face of the earth!" 
 
AFTER THE GREAT VICTORY 45 
 
 After the expiration of the truce, January 9th, the 
 two armies maintained their respective positions : the 
 British in their old camp at Villere's, the Americans in 
 the Hues they had defended. The skirmishing between 
 outposts went merrily on, though perhaps less sanguinary 
 than before the battle, because, on the 9th, General Jack- 
 son withdrew Jugeat's Choctaws from the swamp and 
 gave them indefinite furlough to visit their compatriots 
 in the reservation, full of honors and loaded with plun- 
 der — all but scalps. The artillery in the American 
 works continued to cannonade the British positions that 
 were within range, inflicting little damage but a vast 
 deal of discomfort, faithfully and somewhat lugubriously 
 recorded by "The Subaltern" and Captains Cooke, Hill 
 and Costello in their narratives. 
 
 General Jackson did not relax an iota of his vigilance 
 or of preparation to meet another movement, no matter 
 in what direction. He knew that re-enforcements for 
 the British army were constantly arriving by sea. 
 Though he had advices from Washington, of date as 
 late as December 15th, based upon reports from Ghent 
 about November 5th, that negotiations for peace were 
 in full progress, he did not believe either that they would 
 be successful or that any peace made at Ghent would 
 affect any conquests the British might achieve within the 
 Louisiana Purchase. Day by day, from papers found 
 on the persons of British officers, from the rodomontade 
 of Spaniards and from other sources, information reached 
 him that the enemy's purpose, so far as concerned Louis- 
 iana, had been conquest and permanent occupation in the 
 ostensible behalf of Spain, irrespective of any stipula- 
 tions that might be signed at Ghent. 
 
46 HISTORY OF ANDREW JACKSON 
 
 This ominous information, acting upon his natura* 
 hatred and distrust of England and everything Enghsh, 
 impelled him to even increased precautions. He knew 
 that, terribly punished as it had been, the British army 
 on the soil of Louisiana was still far superior to his own 
 numerically; that it was backed by the most powerful 
 fleet ever assembled in the Gulf; and from these facts he 
 reasoned that British obstinacy would not be likely to 
 abandon wholly so vast a purpose even under stress of 
 such a disaster as the 8th of January. Hence he main- 
 tained martial law^ in full rigor and made every provision 
 possible with his slender resources to guard against fur- 
 ther attack. 
 
 These conditions lasted without change for ten days. 
 Finally, during the night of January i8th. General Lam- 
 bert withdrew the British army from its ill-fated camp 
 at Villere's, and before nightfall on the 19th was safe 
 through the swamp to Bienvenue landing, under the gims 
 of that part of the fleet w^hich could get into Lake 
 Borgne. 
 
 Some writers have converted into history — so-called 
 — a sample of French vivacity to the effect that the 
 departure of the British was first discovered by the vet- 
 eran Humbert, who, the story goes, ''called Jackson's 
 attention to the fact that the enemy's outposts, on the 
 morning of the 19th, were dummies — and not only that, 
 but proved it by the fact that crows were to be seen 
 flying and alighting on the ground all about them." 
 
 This is an interesting story. But the truth is that 
 the first to report the retreat of the British army was 
 Major Hinds, who came into Jackson's head-quarters 
 at daybreak, the 19th, and reported that his mounted 
 
AFTER THE GREAT VICTORY 47 
 
 patrol had already occupied the advanced lines of the 
 enemy's camp, at the same time asking permission to 
 pursue them with his own squadron and Captain Ogden's 
 troop of the First United States Dragoons. It was not 
 at that moment light enough for the veteran Humbert 
 to have seen "crows" at a distance of two miles, even 
 had he been looking for them. Jackson authorized 
 Hinds and Ogden to pursue the enemy closely enough 
 to observe their movements, but not to attack their rear 
 or proceed farther than the limit of firm ground ; and in 
 no event to expose their cavalry to the fire of the enemy's 
 rear-guard. 
 
 During the day the General, with his stafY, visited the 
 deserted camp, and on his return to head-quarters issued 
 orders for his army to retire from the Chalmette lines 
 — which the almost continuous rains had now converted 
 into a quagmire. A picket-guard was still maintained 
 at the lines, but the main body of the army removed to 
 dryer and more commodious cantonments between the 
 city and Lake Pontchartrain. 
 
 Under such conditions, and without means of know- 
 ing what was being done elsewhere, Jackson and his 
 army kept camp around New Orleans and grimly awaited 
 developments. 
 
 During the period between the battle and the embark- 
 ation of the British army, the latter continued to receive 
 belated re-enforcements. On the 20th of January, the 
 day after the retreat from Chalmette, transports arrived 
 bringing two regiments of infantry — the Fortieth and 
 Forty-ninth; but they did not debark from their ships. 
 The Fortieth Regiment had sailed from Plymouth the 
 8th of December, only sixteen days before the Treaty 
 
48 HISTORY OF ANDREW JACKSON 
 
 of Ghent was signed and when the British Cabinet knew 
 perfectly well that it would be concluded. 
 
 Jackson had a party of Baratarian scouts, who kept 
 him constantly advised of the movements of the British 
 — re-enforcements and all. Beginning with the arrival 
 of a battalion of infantry on transports the day the battle 
 was fought and ending March loth, three days after the 
 British commander received official notice of peace, the 
 total of re-enforcements arriving in British transports 
 was five regiments of infantry, three companies of gar- 
 rison artillery and a company of sappers and miners, or 
 engineer troops — aggregating 5,600 strong. And of 
 these, the very last — those arriving March loth — had 
 sailed from Barbadoes, February i8th, under orders 
 dated in London, December 22d, two days before the 
 treaty was signed! 
 
 Jackson was not so fortunate in the matter of re- 
 enforcements as the British were. Except recruits to 
 fill up the ranks of the Seventh and Forty-fourth Regu- 
 lars and the batteries of Humphrey and Spotts, no re- 
 enforcements came to him. But he did enjoy a little 
 good fortune in another direction. The British soldiers 
 killed or wounded the 8th of January left about 1,200 
 serviceable muskets, with accoutrements complete, on the 
 field where they fell. This supply of ^'ordnance mate- 
 rial," obtained by a kind of "requisition" which never 
 fails to "draw," enabled him, the day after the battle, 
 to arm his Kentucky and Louisiana militia cap-a-pie, 
 thereby, with his wholesome system of discipline, con- 
 verting them into first-rate soldiers. 
 
 The total force of British troops sent against New 
 Orleans, including the belated re-enforcements arriving 
 
AFTER THE GREAT VICTORY 49 
 
 after the battle, was 14,400 of all ranks, including the 
 naval brigade. Jackson's maximum force, after he had 
 armed his Kentucky militia with British muskets and all 
 his regular recruits had reported for duty, was 5,780 
 men. 
 
 The Treaty of Ghent was, indeed, signed the day be- 
 fore Christmas, fifteen days before the battle of New 
 Orleans; but not until the nth of February did the news 
 of it reach New York, and it was the evening of the 
 13th when the tidings were known at Washington. 
 The news of the victory, embodied in Jackson's mod- 
 est despatch, did not reach Washington till the 4^h of 
 
 February. 
 
 'Time and space" had not been "annihilated" in those 
 days. The travel of news was measured at sea by the 
 speed of sail-ships ; on land by the swiftness and endur- 
 ance of horseflesh. 
 
 The distance between Europe and America was thirty- 
 odd days by the most successful navigation. That be- 
 tween Washington and New Orleans was nineteen days 
 by the fleetest horses ; and the route for more than two- 
 thirds of the way was wilderness. 
 
 Authentic or official news of the treaty arrived at 
 New Orleans by courier from Washington the 13th of 
 March, seventy-nine days after its signing at Ghent and 
 sixty-four days after the battle. 
 
 Under these insuperable conditions of time and space 
 the war lasted, so far as Jackson's army was concerned, 
 until March 13th; and, at least until the British invaders 
 embarked on board their ships, which occurred the 27th 
 of January, there could be no relaxation of readiness 
 Vol. II.— 4 
 
50 HISTORY OF ANDREW JACKSON 
 
 for further attack or of vigilance in guarding against it. 
 
 IMartial law was still rigorously maintained, resulting 
 in serious clashes between the commander-in-chief of 
 the army and the civil authorities — legislative and judi- 
 cial. Of these affairs it is necessary to say here only 
 that General Jackson proved as capable of repressing 
 political turbulence as he had been of repulsing military 
 force, and his sway was as supreme after the rescue of 
 the city as before it. 
 
 For this he was indebted mainly to the men who had 
 won the victory — the veteran riflemen of Tennessee and 
 Kentucky. Whether the regulars he had — less than 700 
 strong — would have been sufficient to overawe the tur- 
 bulent elements to be dealt with is a question. But 
 when the regulars were re-enforced by about 2,400 rifle- 
 men, who never missed anybody and who, as everyone 
 knew, would obey orders to the letter, there was no 
 doubt as to Jackson's ability to meet any emergency of 
 any kind in any quarter. 
 
 Meantime the news of victory w^as speeding north and 
 east as fast as horseflesh could carry it. Bill Phillips, 
 who had brought the news of the war to Nashville in 
 18 1 2, was selected by the General to carry there the 
 tidings of its greatest and last triumph. We do not 
 know^ whether he rode the pace in 181 5 that he 
 did in 18 12, but he had the news in Nashville the 14th 
 of January. In due time the tidings were unfolded in 
 Washington, Philadelphia, New York and New Eng- 
 land. Enthusiastic rejoicing was everywhere — even in 
 Boston. The disunion convention at Hartford a few 
 months before was forgotten in the general clamor of 
 popular joy. The administration at Washington, just 
 
AFTER THE GREAT VICTORY 51 
 
 "convalescing" from the shock of the previous July, was 
 well enough to rejoice with its characteristic conserva- 
 tism. But if Mr. Madison did not yield to enthusiasm 
 — which was foreign to his nature — his warmer-blooded 
 wife did. She illuminated the building used as a tem- 
 porary executive mansion in lieu of the White House 
 the British had burned; and more than one American 
 reflected that doubtless the hands which set fire to our 
 Capitol and White House were now mouldering in the 
 wet graveyard at Chalmette. 
 
 Among the characteristic "letters from camp to the 
 folks at home" was one written by David Buell, under 
 date of "Camp at Chalmette, La., Jan. 14, 181 5," ad- 
 dressed to his father, Ezra — the Revolutionary veteran 
 of Morgan's riflemen, etc. — at Esopus, Ulster County, 
 New York. In the main it was a description of the 
 battle as seen from the line of Captain MacAfee's com- 
 pany, Adair's brigade, and need not be reproduced here 
 because it would be little more than a repetition of the 
 narratives of General Butler and Private Ogilvy, already 
 set forth. But the conclusion was amusing: 
 
 You may recollect that in your answer to my letter from 
 Sandusky, giving some account of our battles under Harrison 
 in the Northwest, you said : " Oh, yes ; you Western fellows do 
 pretty well so long as you have nothing in front of you but 
 Indians and Canadian militia. Wait till you get hold of some 
 British Regulars, such as we old Revolutioners had to deal 
 with. Then talk !" 
 
 I presume you remember that. Well, this is to inform you 
 that "we Western fellows," as you call us, "got hold of some 
 British Regulars" down here the other day ! 
 
 You will probably see something about it in the papers be- 
 fore this can reach you ! Your Affectionate Son, 
 
 Dave 
 
52 HISTORY OF ANDREW JACKSON 
 
 The rejoinder of the Revolutionary veteran, if any, 
 is not of record in the family archives. 
 
 The value of Jackson's victory was not confined to its 
 momentous importance as the salvation of the Louisiana 
 Purchase. That would have been, indeed, enough. But 
 it went far beyond that. It saved not only Louisiana, 
 but the self-respect of the American people. Generally 
 speaking, the news of it and of the Peace at Ghent 
 reached the Atlantic seaboard about the same time. 
 Without it the Peace would have seemed exactly what 
 it was — an act of British grace. With it, the Peace 
 took on the air of American conquest, and has held that 
 air ever since. 
 
 With the retreat of the British and the withdrawal 
 of Jackson's army from the Chalmette lines to comfort- 
 able cantonments on the outskirts of New Orleans, a 
 new life for the soldiers began. They came from the 
 lines toilworn, tired, dirty, ragged and unkempt; ex- 
 hausted by unceasing vigilance, many of them ill or 
 ailing with the distempers incident to living in the mias- 
 ma of the lower Mississippi and sleeping in the mud. 
 Between the 9th of January and the 23d, only fourteen 
 days, no fewer than 500 of them had been sent to hos- 
 pital with fever or dysentery, and some died. When it 
 is borne in mind that these were frontiersmen, inured 
 to every conceivable hardship, privation and exposure 
 to the elements, the trials that could kill them may be 
 imagined but not described. 
 
 Jackson himself had fully shared the rigors which he 
 asked his men to endure; staying with them in the 
 squalid and half-submerged camp or bivouac and never 
 
AFTER THE GREAT VICTORY 53 
 
 even so much as taking a day's trip to the city until 
 his soldiers could go with him and share his relief. 
 But, though the departure of the enemy left them free 
 to rest their weary bodies and restore their enfeebled 
 health, there was still plenty for them to do. Jackson 
 rightly calculated that there could be no real safety for 
 Louisiana until peace should be formally declared, the 
 last British soldier withdrawn from our soil and the 
 last English ship out of sight from our shores. The 
 invasion itself had been conceived in perfidy, executed 
 by stealth, and its real objects treacherously veiled. 
 The fact that it culminated in disaster the like of which 
 had never before been seen and in ignominy as abject 
 as its conduct had been base, afforded no sure guarantee 
 that it would not be tried again. 
 
 Jackson had before him an object-lesson : When Lam- 
 bert re-embarked his beaten and shattered army he did 
 not sail with it aw^ay to seek rest or peace on British 
 soil. He took his great armada and his remaining le- 
 gions around to Mobile and assailed the feeble defences 
 of that harbor, taking Fort Bowyer, with its puny gar- 
 rison — outnumbered more than a hundred to one — the 
 nth of February, only two days before the official news 
 of peace was delivered to the admiral and the general 
 in command. Dealing with such a foe, there could be 
 no safety but in the most sleepless vigilance, no security 
 but in the most perfect readiness to meet him at any 
 time and on any terms. 
 
 These were Jackson's reasons for persistence in the 
 restraints of martial law, which he openly announced 
 his intention to maintain until the formal ratification of 
 the treaty by the Senate; which alone could relieve the 
 
54 HISTORY OF ANDREW JACKSON 
 
 armed forces of the government from responsibility for 
 the protection of our soil. They were sufficient reasons 
 and a great majority of the people of Louisiana, both 
 French and American, quietly, if not cordially, acqui- 
 esced in the situation. A few small politicians of both 
 races, however, demurred, and carried their protest to 
 the extent of attempted resistance, legislative and judi- 
 cial alike. On the i8th of February, news of the sign- 
 ing of the treaty became known in New Orleans. It 
 came through British channels. There was nothing 
 about it of which the American commander could prop- 
 erly or safely take the slightest cognizance. 
 
 The origin of this report was that, soon after the 
 British army retired to its ships. General Jackson sent 
 Edward Livingston and Messrs. Shepherd and White, 
 of New Orleans, under a flag of truce, to General 
 Lambert on a mission to arrange a cartel for exchange 
 of prisoners and also to restore to General Keane 
 his sword, which had been found on the field where he 
 was wounded in the battle of the 8th. General Keane 
 had requested the return of the sword, if found, because 
 it was valuable to him as a memento of previous service. 
 The envoys were hospitably received on board the flag- 
 ship Tonnant; but as the British were about to attack 
 Mobile, they were detained in order to prevent them 
 from carrying any information to the American com- 
 mander. 
 
 On February 13th, Admiral Malcolm received a 
 marked copy of the London Times dated six weeks 
 before, which contained a bare announcement that the 
 treaty of peace had been signed at Ghent, December 
 24th. Mr. Livingston and his companions were re- 
 
AFTER THE GREAT VICTORY 55 
 
 leased the next day, and arrived in New Orleans the 
 19th. Of course they spread the news. But no official 
 advices had reached General Jackson. The British com- 
 mander did not view it as a reason for discontinuing 
 operations against Mobile. 
 
 Neither commander doubted that it was based upon 
 fact, but neither could accept it as an official reason for 
 suspending hostilities. General Jackson, foreseeing that 
 the news of peace, irregular as its source might be, 
 would make the mercurial people of New Orleans restless 
 under the restraints imposed, issued a general order the 
 moment the news was imparted to him, in which he 
 besought the troops to be patient until the good news 
 might receive official verification. In the same order 
 he said to the people: 
 
 *'You must not be thrown into a false sense of security 
 by hopes that may prove delusive. It is by holding out 
 such that an artful and insidious enemy too often seeks 
 to accomplish what the utmost exertions of his strength 
 will not enable him to effect. To place you off your 
 guard and attack you by surprise is the natural expedient 
 of one who, having experienced the superiority of your 
 arms, still hopes to overcome you by stratagem." 
 
 This general order, while it reconciled the troops to 
 the situation, produced little or no effect on the populace. 
 They clamored for the disbandment of the militia and 
 abrogation of martial law at once. On February 21st 
 the Louisiana Gazette published a paragraph in which 
 it was stated that "a flag has just arrived from Admiral 
 Cochrane to General Jackson officially announcing the 
 conclusion of peace at Ghent between the United States 
 and Great Britain, and virtually requesting a suspension 
 of arms." 
 
56 HISTORY OF ANDREW JACKSON 
 
 General Jackson at once sent a communication to the 
 editor denouncing the statement as untrue and requiring 
 pubhcation of the correction, which was done, though 
 with bad grace. This part of the affair was ended. 
 But in the Ga::ette of March 3d, and in the Journal de 
 Louisiane, an article appeared in French, signed "Citoyen 
 de la Louisiane, de I'origin frangais." It was an open 
 and undisguised appeal to the French people of the city 
 and State to resist the authority of the American gen- 
 eral. The tone was moderate and, so far as concerned 
 his military operations, highly complimentary to Gen- 
 eral Jackson, 
 
 The General acted as soon as Mr. Livingston had 
 translated the article for him. Sending for the editor 
 to appear at head-quarters, he demanded the name of 
 the author. The editor said the author was M. Louail- 
 lier, a member of the legislature. Two days later M. 
 Louaillier was arrested by the provost-guard and placed 
 in confinement in the officers' quarters of the barracks. 
 
 Pierre Louis Morel, a French lawyer, as counsel for 
 Louaillier, at once went before Judge D. A. Hall, United 
 States District Judge for the District of Louisiana, and 
 obtained a writ of habeas corpus, which was served on 
 General Jackson the same day. The result was not ex- 
 actly such as the prisoner, his learned counsel and Judge 
 Hall evidently anticipated. Instead of procuring the 
 liberation of M. Louaillier, it produced the following 
 order from General Jackson to Colonel Arbuckle, pro- 
 vost marshal-general : 
 
 Having received proof that Dominick A. Hall has been aid- 
 ing and abetting and exciting mutiny within my camp, you will 
 
AFTER THE GREAT VICTORY 57 
 
 forthwith order a detachment to arrest and confine him and 
 report to me as soon as arrested. . . . 
 
 (Signed) A. Jackson, Maj'r-Gen'l Com'd'g. 
 
 The order was obeyed and Judge Hall was arrested 
 and confined in the barracks, along with Louaillier. The 
 latter was the next day placed upon trial by court-martial 
 under charges and specifications of ''exciting to mutiny," 
 ''being a spy," and several other violations of martial 
 law, amply sufficient to justify capital punishment if the 
 prisoner had been found guilty. 
 
 But nothing more serious than arraignment happened 
 to Louaillier. The General did not wish to try him, but 
 he did intend to use his case as a warning example, 
 knowing as he did that but a few days could elapse 
 before the receipt of official advices of peace which would 
 warrant him in terminating the reign of martial law. 
 
 In the meantime the General contented himself with 
 sending Judge Hall beyond the lines of sentinels with 
 orders to stay outside "until the ratification of peace 
 shall be regularly announced or until the British forces 
 shall have left the southern coast." 
 
 The waiting was not long. On March 13th, General 
 Jackson received from Washington despatches announc- 
 ing the ratification of the treaty by the Senate and en- 
 closing copies of all the documents. Within an hour 
 after the arrival of these papers a general order was 
 posted through all the public places and printed as an 
 official advertisement in newspaper "extras," abrogating 
 martial law, restoring all civil authority and granting 
 immunity for all military offences. 
 
 The next day appeared another general order inform- 
 ing the militia that their services and toils were ended, 
 
58 HISTORY OF ANDREW JACKSON 
 
 and that as soon as they could be paid off and provided 
 .with transport and suppHes they would be sent to their 
 homes. The order concluded with a truly Jacksonian 
 peroration : 
 
 Go, then, my brave companions, to your homes ; to those 
 tender connections and those blissful scenes which render life 
 so dear; full of honor and crowned with laurels that never 
 fade. . . . Continue, fellow-soldiers, on your passage to 
 your several destinations to preserve that subordination, that 
 dignified and manly deportment which have so ennobled your 
 character. . . . Farewell, fellow-soldiers. The expression of 
 your General's thanks is feeble, but the gratitude of a country 
 of freemen is yours — yours the applause of an admiring world ! 
 
 Judge Hall returned at once to the city. Mr. Louail- 
 lier was at liberty. And in a few^ days the volunteer 
 army was disbanded. 
 
 The soldiers had seen the hardest kind of service w^hile 
 hostilities actually raged. After the British army re- 
 tired from their front their daily lot had been easier, 
 their quarters, clothing and food better, and their oppor- 
 tunities for bodily rest and social recreation almost 
 boundless. Whatever may have been the friction be- 
 tween the General and citizens, between the hard hand 
 of martial law and the popular aspirations toward resto- 
 ration of civic freedom, there was no bar to the social 
 relations between the men of the army and the people 
 they had defended. 
 
 With hardly exceptions enough to prove the rule, 
 Jackson's army of New Orleans was an association of 
 gentlemen. This was true alike of the Creoles of 
 Louisiana and the pioneers of Tennessee, Kentucky and 
 Mississippi. Many of the men in the ranks were of 
 
AFTER THE GREAT VICTORY 59 
 
 high social rank at home. In this there was no distinc- 
 tion as between officers and soldiers. The number of 
 rough or questionable characters or of men socially un- 
 presentable was too small to affect the general character 
 
 of the force. 
 
 The regulars were, as they always are, orderly and 
 obedient. But the true moral tone of the army was 
 fixed and regulated by the quality of the Tennessee and 
 Kentucky and Mississippi veteran riflemen under Coffee, 
 Carroll, Adair and Hinds. As they had been the bone 
 and sinew of the army in battle, so now m the less 
 trying and gentler duties of garrison they were its ex- 
 emplars of patience, fidelity and manliness. Except when 
 on duty under arms, the officers and soldiers of those 
 commands always associated on perfectly equal terms. 
 Discipline was a matter of common consent, and there 
 was no such thing as "Regulations." Yet they were 
 "the most orderly and obedient soldiers the world ever 
 saw" ; punishments were unknown, and they stood ready 
 at any moment to destroy, as they already had done, 
 three or four times their number of any troops that 
 could be mustered anywhere on the face of the earth. 
 
 Twenty-five hundred men of that kind were encamped 
 
 in or near a city of about twenty thousand people, whom 
 
 they had just defended against an invader. Of those 
 
 twenty thousand people about half were white, the rest 
 
 negro slaves. The white population of New Orleans 
 
 ini8i5 was more than four-fifths Creole-that is to say, 
 
 French colonists born in this country ; and there were 
 
 a few of Spanish blood. Among the colored population 
 
 were many of mixed breeds of all shades and degrees. 
 
 But the French race predominated over all others as 
 
6o HISTORY OF ANDREW JACKSON 
 
 four is to one, and the esteem in which they held the 
 American frontiersmen who had defended them against 
 the traditional and hated foe of their beautiful mother- 
 land was great indeed. 
 
 Two or three incidents of the time may ser\^e to ex- 
 hibit all : A short distance above the city lived a Creole 
 planter named Sauve. He had two daughters. Among 
 the wounded and captured British officers was Major 
 Mitchell, of the Ninety-fifth Rifle Brigade, and as he 
 could talk French fluently he was a frequent visitor at 
 the Sauve mansion — being on parole. One afternoon, 
 while he was there, three enlisted men belonging to Cap- 
 tain Helms's company of Kentucky riflemen, w^hose 
 camp was near by, called upon the young ladies. 
 
 They were most cordially received and royally enter- 
 tained. But the Kentuckians ^ could not speak French 
 and the English vocabulary of the young ladies was 
 quite limited. So the British major was pressed into 
 the service as interpreter. The Kentuckians were clad 
 in homespun and wore their usual hunting-jackets; but 
 they were none the less self-respecting, bore themselves 
 with native dignity and exhibited much intelligence. 
 
 When they were gone, Major Mitchell said : 'They 
 seem to be clever fellows; but I don't see how such un- 
 couth young men can interest ladies of your culture and 
 refinement. They seem to be of an inferior class." 
 
 "Pardon me, major," said Mademoiselle Eugenie 
 Sauve; ''you know we French girls always worship con- 
 querors!" 
 
 The major did not pursue the topic. 
 
 Undoubtedly the three young Kentuckians were 
 "clever fellows," as the English major said. One of them 
 
AFTER THE GREAT VICTORY 6i 
 
 lived to be governor of a Western State and senator 
 of the United States, another to be United States dis- 
 trict judge— and the name of the third was Crittenden. 
 But in 1 815, one was a sergeant and the other two 
 were privates in Adair's riflemen; and, humble as their 
 rank may have been or howsoever unpretending their 
 attire, they had but a few days before borne a lusty hand 
 in the proceedings to which the lofty English major 
 himself was indebted for the honor and pleasure of ac- 
 quaintance with Mesdemoiselles Sauve. 
 
 One day a mounted courier carried a despatch from 
 head-quarters to the mansion of Colonel Latour, some 
 distance from town, asking that gentleman to call upon 
 the commander-in-chief the next morning. Two wound- 
 ed British officers had been given hospital in the Latour 
 mansion and were now convalescent. They were Cap- 
 tain Erskine and Lieutenant Urquhart. The courier, a 
 sergeant, arrived just as the family were sitting down 
 to luncheon. Colonel Latour, with true Creole hospital- 
 ity, invited the handsome sergeant to join them at table, 
 called him by name, and introduced him to his wife and 
 daughter; also to the British officers. The American 
 accepted all as a matter of course, and bore himself 
 with the dignity of a major-general. The British offi- 
 cers—unlike Major Mitchell— were much interested in 
 the sergeant. When he was gone they commented on 
 his fine bearing and intelligence and expressed aston- 
 ishment that such a man should wear no more exalted 
 insignia than chevrons. 
 
 "Why, bless us!" exclaimed the generous old French- 
 man, ''gentlemen, that boy's father is the richest man 
 in Mississippi Territory, the principal merchant and 
 
62 HISTORY OF ANDREW JACKSON 
 
 banker of Natchez, and my partner in business! The 
 boy himself has been educated by private tutors here in 
 New Orleans, and had just begim the study of the law 
 in Mr. Livingston's office when the war broke out. He 
 has been all through Jackson's campaigns in the Creek 
 country and in Florida and here with ]\Iajor Hinds's 
 IMississippi mounted rifles. And I beg to tell you that 
 most of the young men of Hinds's command would grace 
 epaulets if there were enough to go round." 
 
 'Tt certainly is a wonderful army," was the only com- 
 ment of Captain Erskine. 
 
 Lieutenant Urquhart then remarked : "I noticed in his 
 conversation with Madame and Mademoiselle that he 
 spoke French fluently and well." 
 
 ''Of course! Why not? His principal tutor was the 
 most eminent French savant in New Orleans, the la- 
 mented Touro, whose instruction in all branches of edu- 
 cation was carried on in French. He is only an orderly 
 at head-quarters here, but his father is one of General 
 Jackson's most intimate friends." 
 
 A few days after the battle, while the army yet lay 
 in the Chalmette lines awaiting the pleasure of the British 
 force still in camp at Villere's plantation, a well-built 
 youth, about nineteen or twenty years old, belonging 
 to Carroll's command, was on sentry-post at the breast- 
 work, pacing up and down with a long rifle carelessly 
 thrown over his right shoulder. The officer of the day 
 was a captain in the Forty-fourth United States In- 
 fantry. General Jackson came along in his usual way, 
 on foot, inspecting the lines. Seeing this boy on duty, 
 the General stopped and talked with him two or three 
 minutes in a familiar way, and finally handed him a 
 
AFTER THE GREAT VICTORY 63 
 
 letter, which the young fellow read and then handed it 
 back to the General, who resumed his tour of inspection. 
 
 The regular officer, who had witnessed the interview, 
 went to the youthful soldier and asked his name. 
 
 *'My name is Hays, sir." 
 
 "You seem to be acquainted with the General. 
 
 **0h, yes, sir. He is my uncle— that is, you know, 
 my uncle up home in Tennessee!" 
 
 The officer, amused, asked: 
 
 "Your uncle, up home in Tennessee, you say; and 
 
 what is he here?" 
 
 "Oh, here he is the General, sir!" 
 
 To further inquiries the boy responded that he was 
 the youngest son of Mrs. Jackson's sister, Mrs. Hays, 
 and that he had lived a good part of his boyhood at the 
 Hermitage with "Uncle Jackson and Aunt Rachel." He 
 then explained to the officer that the letter General Jack- 
 son showed him was from "Aunt Rachel" and contained 
 some messages from his own family. Finally, the officer 
 remarked: "And so you are General Jackson's nephew 
 and a private soldier here. I wonder that he doesn't do 
 
 better by you." 
 
 "Well, sir, that doesn't make any difference to him. 
 So long as Fm here with a gun, he's satisfied!" 
 
 Such was the rank and file of the army that made 
 the 8th of January immortal and saved the Louisiana 
 
 Purchase. 
 
 The Louisiana campaign of 1814-15. fi"om the purely 
 military point of view, was the worst failure and in- 
 volved the most sickening disaster that ever befell the 
 arms of Great Britain. And it was also more utterly 
 destitute of redeeming feature or consolatory incident 
 
 ir 
 
64 HISTORY OF ANDREW JACKSON 
 
 than any other defeat recorded in British warHke an- 
 nals. Braddock in 1755 had been avenged by Wolfe in 
 1759. Even the clouds of misfortune that gathered about 
 Burgoyne and Cornwallis in the fates of Saratoga and 
 Yorktown had here and there streaks of silver to varie- 
 gate their gloom. At the 'worst, both these beaten gen- 
 erals surrendered armies worn out by fighting and by 
 privation to superior forces of fresh troops, exultant with 
 victory and animated by all the omens of conquest. But 
 the British expedition against Louisiana recoiled with 
 awful loss from the face of a foe almost absurdly in- 
 ferior in numbers, organization and equipment; and, 
 worst of all, retreated by stealth without inflicting upon 
 its adversary as a whole punishment equal to one-fourth 
 of the slaughter meted out to single companies in its 
 own line. 
 
 Amazing as this result was, calm analysis shows it 
 to have been perfectly logical. From beginning to end, 
 not one British calculation came out in the manner ex- 
 pected. Every contributory part of the grand plan mis- 
 carried. Not one event occurred as it had been pre- 
 conceived. Every movement, from the rendezvous at 
 Negril Bay to the assault on the Chalmette lines, was a 
 month late. The general strategy was halting, strag- 
 gling and indecisive. The tactics on the spot were dila- 
 tory and nerveless at the beginning, and the initiatory 
 blunders were converted into crimes by desperate folly 
 and hopeless sacrifice at the end. 
 
 The physical resources which England placed at the 
 disposal of her chosen general were superior to any she 
 had ever before lavished upon the commander of an 
 expedition for permanent conquest. No British com- 
 
AFTER THE GREAT VICTORY 65 
 
 mander — except Wellington in Spain — had ever before 
 been provided with an army of invasion 14,000 strong, 
 backed at its sea-base by a fleet of thirty-six ships carry- 
 ing over 8,000 seamen and marines. Pakenham's army 
 exceeded in numbers the whole American force actually 
 under arms south of the Potomac and Ohio Rivers; and 
 it outnumbered the total force that by any possibility 
 could be assembled to oppose it, face to face, by nearly 
 three to one. The fleet of Admiral Cochrane, in available 
 ships of all rates and in the number of seamen and 
 marines effective, exceeded the entire regular navy of 
 the United States. 
 
 The soldiers were those who had conquered Napoleon. 
 The sailors were those who had expelled from the ocean 
 every European flag. Yet General Pakenham's 14,000 
 British veterans were repulsed by Jackson's 5,000 Amer- 
 ican volunteers; and Cochrane's grand fleet met no more 
 formidable adversary on its own element than Ap Cates- 
 by Jones's five little gun-boats in Lake Borgne. 
 
 But the errors of the British general and admiral did 
 not end with delays in concentration of force or with pro- 
 crastination in approaching our coast. They wholly mis- 
 calculated the character of the country they proposed to 
 invade and distinctly misapprehended the conditions of 
 nature to be encountered. The general relied to a very 
 considerable extent upon the resources of the region to 
 be invaded for provisions, for land transport, and even 
 for cavalry and artillery horses. None could be found. 
 The physical conditions were imperfectly known. No 
 topographic maps of the region existed. No general 
 reconnaissance whatever was made. The only informa- 
 tion General Keane could gather upon which to base his 
 Vol. II.— 5 
 
66 HISTORY OF ANDREW JACKSON 
 
 selection of a landing-place and route of operations was 
 that derived from spies belonging to the Spanish popu- 
 lation or from members of Lafitte's Baratarian colony. 
 The Spaniards were ignorant. The Baratarians, whose 
 fealty to the American cause soon afterward became 
 apparent, systematically deceived the British general. 
 
 Whether Pakenham, had he been in command on the 
 first landing, would have adopted the same general plan 
 that Keane did, may be doubted. General Jackson al- 
 ways believed that if Pakenham had been there at the 
 beginning, he would have approached the city by way of 
 Lake Pontchartrain instead of the Bienvenue route. The 
 Pontchartrain approach would have given him water- 
 carriage to a point within five miles from the city, in 
 its left rear, and a good, dry road leading to the town 
 from Fort St. John. General Jackson would have se- 
 lected that approach had he been attacking instead of 
 defending New Orleans. However, it is hardly worth 
 while to discuss these "ifs." When General Pakenham 
 reached the scene the die had already been cast for him 
 by Keane, and he had nothing to do but make the best 
 of it* 
 
 Much had been expected from the fleet, but it could 
 do nothing more than operate by boat expeditions and 
 
 * When Lafayette visited this country in i824-'25 he was General Jack- 
 son's guest at Nashville. Colonel Charles Dupin, a French military writer 
 of that period (author of The Armed Strength of Europe, Napoleon's 
 Logistics and other works), says that Lafayette and Jackson discussed the 
 Louisiana campaign exhaustively. The General informed his illustrious 
 guest that when Pakenham lay inert for a whole week after the abortive 
 artillery duel of January tst, he believed that it meant a determination to 
 withdraw from the Chalmette front and move upon the city by the northern 
 or Pontchartrain approach. Lafayette agreed with Jackson that this was 
 the unavoidable inference and expressed astonishment that it was not done. 
 
AFTER THE GREAT VICTORY 67 
 
 land its marines to serve with the army. The prevailing 
 northerly winds prevented it from coming up the river, 
 and even had that obstacle been removed, none of the 
 line-of-battle ships or larger frigates could have got 
 through the passes by reason of their deep draught. To 
 send ships of the line on an expedition against New Or- 
 leans was therefore a waste of naval strength from any 
 point of view. They could not operate in concert with 
 the land forces and there was no need of an imposing 
 sea-force to confront any naval armament the United 
 States then possessed. But most absurd of all the Brit- 
 ish blunders was the extravagant overrating of their 
 adversary in numbers and equipment. This was un- 
 questionably the error that paralyzed all their earlier 
 operations. For that impression they-or perhaps it 
 would be quite as accurate to say the Americans-were 
 indebted to the Baratarian smugglers. The British be- 
 lieved these freebooters implicitly. They knew that the 
 American government had made war on the smugglers, 
 denounced them as outlaws and pirates, and had severa 
 of them under indictment in prison without bail and 
 awaiting trial at the very time of the British expedition. 
 But the Baratarians were Frenchmen ; and not even per- 
 secution-as they viewed it-at the hands of the Amer- 
 icans could wean them from the inveterate hatred they 
 bore by heritage toward England and the English. 
 
 Under all these conditions the British invasion of 
 Louisiana began with blundering caution, and then, when 
 the Americans had, by means of it, found time to perfect 
 their defences, their assailants turned suddenly to the 
 other extreme of blundering audacity which proved 
 suicidal. 
 
68 HISTORY OF ANDREW JACKSON 
 
 So far as concerned actual combat, the night-battle 
 of December 23d was the real crisis in the defence of 
 New Orleans and the Louisiana Purchase. The 8th 
 of January was its logical sequel, its necessary culmina- 
 tion. To any man who has had experience in warfare, 
 the first impressions produced by visual survey of the 
 battle-field of January 8th are the utter simplicity of 
 plan, the lack of manoeuvre and the narrow limitations 
 of the combat itself. 
 
 A perfectly flat plain, destitute of cover and free from 
 obstruction to attacking troops. This plain narrowed to 
 less than a mile of practicable front. Its flanks impreg- 
 nably defended by a deep, wide river on one side and 
 an impassable swamp on the other. The defence a 
 straight line of heavy breastwork manned by a small 
 but handy and compact force of the most perfect marks- 
 men the world ever saw. The assailing force compelled 
 to move in the face of a fire that no troops could endure. 
 The assailed, practically relieved from peril, free to em- 
 ploy their skill to the utmost, and to convert repulse into 
 downright butchery. No similar conditions had ever 
 existed elsewhere on so large a scale, and in all proba- 
 bility never will exist again anywhere. On the whole, 
 the Louisiana campaign was a phenomenal blunder and 
 the battle of New Orleans a miracle of misfortune on 
 the British side. Viewed in the cold blood of the pro- 
 fessional soldier and stripped of all enthusiasm, about 
 all that need be said of General Jackson's share in the 
 achievement is that he was shrewd enough to gain the 
 utmost profit from every blunder of the enemy and brave 
 enough to minimize to the last degree every weakness 
 of his own. No other general ever had such an oppor- 
 
AFTER THE GREAT VICTORY 69 
 
 tunity. It is doubtful if any other general that ever 
 lived— even Napoleon— could have improved such oppor- 
 tunity so well. And the fate of General Pakenham was 
 the most striking exemplification modern history affords 
 of the truth of the classic aphorism : ''Quern viilt perdere 
 Jupiter prius dementat." 
 
CHAPTER III 
 
 BRITISH DESIGNS IN LOUISIANA 
 
 In conclusion of the last chapter we said that General 
 Jackson's army of New Orleans ''saved the Louisiana 
 Purchase." Few people of all the millions who in this 
 year of grace, 1904, celebrate the centenary of that colos- 
 sal transaction between Napoleon Bonaparte and Thomas 
 Jefferson, realize the significance of those words. To 
 most people in the Twentieth Century the memory of 
 New Orleans is that of glorious misfortune; a great 
 victory gained after peace had been made; a brilliant 
 page of history stained with blood shed in vain. Com- 
 mon — almost universal — as that view may be, there 
 never was a more perfect fallacy. Viewed in the light 
 of its actual influence upon the map of North America 
 and the fortunes of this Republic, it was the most im- 
 portant battle ever fought between Great Britain and 
 the United States. It was, indeed, fought after the 
 war of 18 1 2 was over. On the face of things, that fact 
 had the aspect of a misfortune. But that was really 
 a minor consideration. 
 
 The real, vast, enduring value of the battle of New 
 Orleans lay in the fact that it prevented another war. 
 
 In foregoing pages we have from time to time men- 
 tioned the Louisiana campaign of 1814-'! 5 as an at- 
 tempt at territorial conquest with a view to permanent 
 
 70 
 
BRITISH DESIGNS IN LOUISIANA 71 
 
 occupation by the forces of Great Britain. But thus far 
 we have adduced no positive evidence. Here we shall 
 endeavor to establish the fact. 
 
 At the outset it is of official history * that the con- 
 centration of land and naval forces at Negril Bay, Jamai- 
 ca, was not ordered until after the peace commissioners 
 had assembled at Ghent. The War Office minute em- 
 bodying the order to General Pakenham "to proceed to 
 Plymouth and embark there for Louisiana to assume 
 command of the Forces operating for the reduction of 
 that Province'' was dated November 4, 18 14. The 
 peace commission had then assembled at Ghent. Why 
 did the British Cabinet, in its order to General Paken- 
 ham, describe Louisiana as a ''Province"? The fact 
 that it was a State of the American Union was as well 
 known to the British Government as to our own. Was 
 New York or Ohio or Pennsylvania ever described in 
 any British official document of that period as "a Prov- 
 ince"? Twenty days after the date of General Paken- 
 ham's final order to "embark at Plymouth, etc.," the 
 combined armament designed for "the reduction of the 
 Province of Louisiana" rendezvoused at Negril Bay, 
 Jamaica. These coincidences at such wide distances 
 could not have been fortuitous. 
 
 Twenty-two days after the date of Pakenham's orders 
 the combined armament set sail for the coast of Louis- 
 iana. The fleet carried more than an army. The Nar- 
 ratives of The Subaltern and Captain Cooke, reputable 
 officers of the Eighty-fifth and Forty-third Light In- 
 fantry respectively, tell us that there was on board the 
 fleet "a complete civil government staff" to be installed 
 
 * See Bathurst Papers, State Paper Office, London. 
 
72 HISTORY OF ANDREW JACKSON 
 
 in place of the State government of Louisiana at the 
 moment of occupation. One of them, with a spice of 
 humor, informs us that one member of this "civil govern- 
 ment staff" was "a worthy colonial official whose con- 
 fidence in the success of the expedition led him to resign 
 the comfortable position of Collector of Barbadoes to 
 take the larger and more lucrative post of Collector for 
 the (to-be) Crown Colony of Louisiana." And he even 
 imparts to us the interesting particular that "this worthy 
 official was accompanied by his family, consisting of five 
 attractive and marriageable daughters, who, during the 
 somewhat protracted voyage, made no secret of their 
 aspirations to leadership in the refined and aristocratic 
 society of New Orleans." 
 
 "They were fine girls," says the gallant captain, 
 "whose native charms were made bewitching by that 
 gentle languor which life in a tropical clime never fails 
 to bestow upon young women of English birth; and the 
 two younger ladies — still in their teens — were natives 
 of sunny Barbadoes itself." It is easy to imagine how 
 the natural chivalry of an officer, bronzed and seasoned 
 in the harsh school of the Iron Duke's Peninsular Cam- 
 paigns, must have been quickened at the prospect of 
 promoting the social aspirations of such a houseful of 
 beauty and "tropical languor." 
 
 The "civil government stafY" for the "Province of 
 Louisiana" which Admiral Cochrane's fleet brought 
 along consisted of a lieutenant-governor, the Hon. Mr. 
 Elwood, transferred from Trinidad ; a collector of cus- 
 toms, already mentioned, from Barbadoes ; an attorney- 
 general, an admiralty judge and a secretary for the col- 
 ony sent from England direct ; with a "superintendent 
 
BRITISH DESIGNS IN LOUISIANA 73 
 
 of Indian affairs," Mr. Dockstadter, transferred from 
 Upper Canada.* 
 
 The British Government had also arranged with 
 Spain for free trade with the Indians in all Spanish 
 possessions north of the Rio Grande! Spain, of course, 
 was then completely under the feet of England, in the 
 Southwest as well as in Florida. 
 
 Besides his general orders at Plymouth, Pakenham 
 brought with him a proclamation approved by the Home 
 Government or Colonial Office. This proclamation was 
 to be published as soon as the British army should oc- 
 cupy New Orleans. It promised protection to every- 
 body, general amnesty to all previously engaged in hos- 
 tilities, and proclaimed the sovereignty of England, in 
 behalf of Spain, over "all the territory fraudulently 
 conveyed by Bonaparte to the United States." 
 
 It denied the validity of the secret treaty by which 
 Spain receded Louisiana to France in 1800. It denied 
 Bonaparte's right to act for France in 1803. And finally, 
 it "denounced the pretensions of the United States to 
 sovereignty under the alleged purchase from Bonaparte." 
 
 That proclamation was in printed form at British 
 head-quarters the night before the battle, and its con- 
 tents were well known to many British officers. The 
 night after the battle it disappeared. Every copy of it 
 was burned! 
 
 All this evidence was obtained from British prisoners 
 taken in the battle of January 8th. But it lacked one 
 link to make the chain perfect. That was evidence of 
 
 * This eminent Indian administrator was a son of the notorious Colonel 
 Dockstadter, of Tory fame in the Revolutionary annals of the Mohawk 
 Valley. 
 
74 HISTORY OF ANDREW JACKSON 
 
 specific design and fixed policy on the part of the British 
 Government.* In the absence of such evidence the Cab- 
 inet of St. James might, in emergency, declare that the 
 scheme of a ''crown colony" and the proclamation itself 
 were the acts of General Pakenham — to be approved if 
 he succeeded or disavowed if he failed. The needed 
 link was supplied long afterward. But before proceed- 
 ing to consider it, either as to its origin or its bearing 
 upon the facts just set forth, let us briefly mark the 
 evidence of events, as gleaned from captured papers and 
 captive ofiicers and soldiers : 
 
 The expedition was to sail, according to plan, from 
 Jamaica the 4th of November, to land in Louisiana not 
 later than the 20th. Had that part of the plan been 
 carried out, they would have found no opposition except 
 the handful of regulars and the Louisiana militia — less 
 than 1,600 all told — and not even a breastwork to bar 
 the way of 10,000 British veterans. But, delayed by 
 the non-arrival of Keane's brigade from Plymouth, Eng- 
 land, they did not sail until the 24th and 26th of No- 
 vember. Even at that, they were delayed a week by 
 contrary w^inds in the Gulf and did not get fairly afoot 
 within striking distance of New Orleans until December 
 23d. Meantime Coffee's Tennesseeans and Hinds's 
 Mississippians had arrived — about 700 strong. The next 
 day Carroll's Tennesseeans came — with strength of 
 nearly a thousand, and of fine quality. With these forces 
 General Jackson w^as able to hold them at bay until the 
 
 * This aspect of the Louisiana campaign, for some unexplained reason, 
 seems to have been either overlooked or studiously ignored by American 
 writers. Benton refers to it more pointedly than any other ; but he says 
 only that if the British had taken New Orleans, another war would have 
 been necessary to expel them from the Mississippi Valley. 
 
BRITISH DESIGNS IN LOUISIANA 75 
 
 Kentuckians could get there, from the 4th to the 7th 
 of January. Of the latter, only about 1,200 or 1,400 
 were immediately effective, but they proved to be 
 
 enough. 
 
 The British plenipotentiaries at Ghent knew all about 
 these plans, and gauged their ^'diplomacy" according to 
 them, supposing they would be executed very nearly to 
 the letter. On this basis Mr. Goulburn and his colleagues, 
 when they signed the treaty at Ghent, December 24th, 
 had every reason to believe that Pakenham's army was 
 already in full possession of New Orleans and that the 
 ''Crown Colony of Louisiana" was firmly established. 
 
 It was for this that they had been "pettifogging for 
 time," as lawyers say, ever since the 25th of October. 
 The British plenipotentiaries did their duty well, as they 
 understood it. And their belated army did its duty as 
 well as it could under the distressing conditions it 
 unexpectedly encountered. So much for British plans. 
 The final link in the chain of evidence was supplied 
 by General Jackson himself. In the fall of 1875 the 
 author, then a staff correspondent of the Missouri Re- 
 publican, visited Governor William Allen, of Ohio, at 
 his farm near Chillicothe. During the visit, which was 
 of three days' duration, the venerable statesman's con- 
 versation—when not upon agricultural subjects— was 
 mainly reminiscences of his earlier public life. All was 
 interesting; some of it historically valuable, particularly 
 those parts relating to the British invasion of Louisiana 
 and the Northwest Boundary question— which latter 
 topic may be brought forward in its appropriate place. 
 
 What Governor Allen said on the former subject we 
 reproduce here, exactly as it was printed in 1875 : 
 
76 HISTORY OF ANDREW JACKSON 
 
 Near the end of Gerteral Jackson's second administration, 
 and shortly after the admission of Arkansas to the Union, 
 I, being Senator-elect from Ohio, went to Washington to take 
 the seat on March 4th. 
 
 General Jackson — he always preferred to be called General 
 rather than ]\Ir. President, and so we always addressed him 
 by his military title — General Jackson invited me to lunch with 
 him. No sooner were we seated than he said : "Mr. Allen, let 
 us take a little drink to the. new star in the flag — Arkansas!" 
 This ceremony being duly observed the general said : "Allen, 
 if there had been disaster instead of victory at New Orleans, 
 there never would have been a State of Arkansas." 
 
 This, of course, interested me, and I asked : "Why do you 
 say that. General?" 
 
 Then he said that if Pakenham had taken New Orleans, 
 the British would have claimed and held the whole Louisiana 
 Purchase. But I said : "You know, General Jackson, that the 
 treaty of Ghent, which had been signed fifteen days before the 
 battle, provided for restoration of .all territory, places and pos- 
 sessions taken by either nation from the other during the war, 
 with certain unimportant exceptions." 
 
 "Yes, of course," he replied. "But the minutes of the con- 
 ference at Ghent as kept by Mr. Gallatin represent the British 
 Commissioners as declaring in exact words : 
 
 " 'We do not admit Bonaparte's construction of the law of 
 nations. We cannot accept it in relation to any subject-matter 
 before us.' 
 
 "At that moment," pursued General Jackson, "none of our 
 commissioners knew what the real meaning of these words was. 
 When they were uttered, the British commissioners knew that 
 Pakenham's expedition had been decided on. Our commission- 
 ers did not know it. Now, since I have been Chief Magistrate 
 I have learned from diplomatic sources of the most unquestion- 
 able authority that the British Ministry did not intend the treaty 
 of Ghent to apply to the Louisiana Purchase at all. The whole 
 corporation of them from 1803 to 1815 — Pitt, the Duke of Port- 
 land, Grenville, Perceval, Lord Liverpool and Castlereagh — 
 denied the legal right of Napoleon to sell Louisiana to us, and 
 
BRITISH DESIGNS IN LOUISIANA 77 
 
 they held, therefore, that we had no right to that territory. 
 So you see, Allen, that the words of Mr. Goulburn on behalf 
 of the British commissioners, which I have quoted to you from 
 Albert Gallatin's minutes of the conference, had a far deeper 
 significance than our commissioners could penetrate. Those 
 words were meant to lay the foundation for a claim on the 
 Louisiana Purchase entirely external to the provisions of the 
 treaty of Ghent. And in that way the British Government was 
 signing a treaty with one hand in front while with the other 
 hand behind its back it was despatching Pakenham's army to 
 seize the fairest of our possessions. 
 
 "You can also see, my dear William," said the old General, 
 waxing warm (having once or twice more during the lunch- 
 eon toasted the new star), "you can also see what an awful 
 mess such a situation would have been if the British programme 
 had been carried out in full. But Providence willed other- 
 wise. All the tangled web that the cunning of English diplo- 
 mats could weave around our unsuspecting commissioners at 
 Ghent was torn to pieces and soaked with British blood in 
 half an hour at New Orleans by the never-missing rifles of 
 my Tennessee and Kentucky pioneers. And that ended it. 
 British diplomacy could do wonders, but it couldn't provide 
 against such a contingency as that. The British commission- 
 ers could throw sand in the eyes of ours at Ghent, but they 
 couldn't help the cold lead that my riflemen sprinkled in the 
 faces of their soldiers at New Orleans. Now, Allen, you have 
 the whole story. Now you know why Arkansas was saved at 
 New Orleans. Let's take another little one." 
 
 *To this recital, which may almost be termed 'offi- 
 cial,' " pursued Governor Allen, "the General added 
 that, while yet he was at New Orleans with his army, 
 after the battle, he learned from captured British officers 
 and from other sources that General Pakenham was 
 authorized and prepared to set up a British colonial 
 government in Louisiana, to embrace the whole Pur- 
 chase, as soon as New Orleans should be taken and his 
 
78 HISTORY OF ANDREW JACKSON 
 
 (Jackson's) force there captured or driven away. But 
 he said this information was mainly circumstantial, and 
 as such lacked the kind of confirmation required to give 
 it historical character. That kind of confirmation, he 
 said, was discovered by Mr. Van Buren in his investiga- 
 tion of the Northwest Boundary question soon after he 
 became our Minister to England. And the General said 
 in conclusion : 
 
 " '1 remarked that our commissioners did not know^ 
 the significance of Mr. Goulburn's words. That is true. 
 But they all suspected an ulterior design, though they 
 could not fathom it — all except Mr. Adams. He sus- 
 pected nothing. He believed everything the British com- 
 missioners told him and he would get angry at anyone 
 who might venture to express a doubt as to their perfect 
 frankness and complete good faith.' " 
 
 \Ye are aware that this chapter of history is not to be 
 found in the school-books. But, taking the whole web 
 and woof together, it seems irrefragable. At all events, 
 there is a flavor about it calculated to produce the im- 
 pression that if New Orleans had been a British victory 
 the American people might not now be celebrating the 
 centenary of the Purchase of Louisiana. 
 
 The extent to which these facts were known at the 
 time and on the spot may be inferred from a speech 
 made by one of Jackson's young officers who could speak 
 French, Captain Henry Garland,* at a banquet given 
 
 * Captain Henry Garland was born at Nantes, France, in 1783. His 
 father, a merchant of Norfolk, Virginia, was for many years commercial 
 agent in France for American importing houses. He did not return to 
 the United States until 1799 or 1800. He received all his education in 
 French schools and of course in the French language. On his arrival in 
 this country he was sent to William and Mary College, but did not graduate 
 
BRITISH DESIGNS IN LOUISIANA 79 
 
 by the officers of the Louisiana mihtia to those of Ken- 
 tucky, Tennessee and Mississippi and the regulars, on 
 the eve of the disbandment of Jackson's army. This 
 officer had been selected by his comrades to respond in 
 French on their behalf. 
 
 The guests were welcomed on behalf of the Creole 
 hosts and hostesses by Vicar-General the Most Reverend 
 Abbe Dubourg, Bishop of Louisiana, who made a brief 
 address of welcome, first in English and then in French. 
 In conclusion, the Abbe expressed sorrow that such an 
 awful battle should have been fought and so many souls 
 sent unprepared into the presence of the Creator two 
 weeks after the treaty of peace had been signed on the 
 other side of the ocean. 
 
 This remark changed the whole character of Captain 
 Garland's reply. He spoke in French, of which the fol- 
 lowing is a translation : 
 
 You must not expect eloquence from me because I do not 
 pretend to be an orator. But this occasion, these bright eyes, 
 these beautiful faces, would inspire the dumb to speak. Every 
 man who fought down yonder the 8th of January will rejoice 
 with his last breath that Almighty God, in His Divine Provi- 
 dence, gave him two sacred privileges : First, the privilege 
 
 there. He afterward went to Tennessee, where his uncle was employed as a 
 surveyor and he followed that profession himself until the war of 1812, when 
 he volunteered in Coffee's mounted riflemen, serving with distinction in 
 the Creek war, in the Florida campaign and at New Orleans. Some time 
 after the war of 181 2 he was employed as a surveyor of public lands in 
 Arkansas and Mississippi. One of his collateral descendants, Hon. Augustus 
 H. Garland, was Attorney-General of the United States. Captain Garland 
 is described by his contemporaries as a remarkably handsome man and of 
 unusual mental endownnent. He declined an appointment in the regular 
 army and afterward a nomination to Congress. His last public service of 
 note was in connection with running the boundaries of the reservations in the 
 Indian Territory in i830-'3i-'32. 
 
8o HISTORY OF ANDREW JACKSON 
 
 of defending the pure and sweet womanhood of Louisiana; 
 and, second, the privilege of repulsing from our soil, in utter 
 wreck and dismal ruin, the most treacherous and cowardly 
 invasion ever planned or attempted by a Power that pretends 
 to be civilized ! 
 
 The British Cabinet believed that Louisiana was defenceless. 
 There is a graveyard down yonder that the simple colored peo- 
 ple never go near at night and that they call ''God's Acre." 
 That graveyard tells better than words can, the error of the 
 British Cabinet. They say "dead men tell no tales." But 
 "God's Acre" down yonder tells more tales of English arrogance 
 and folly than could be told by all the orators from Demos- 
 thenes to our times ! 
 
 The most Reverend Prelate in his otherwise well-chosen 
 remarks suggested that it was a pity that such an awful battle 
 should have been fought after the treaty was signed across the 
 wide water. I do not agree with him. It needed that battle 
 to make the treaty good. It made no difference when the 
 treaty was signed. Without that battle it must have been 
 waste paper ! 
 
 The treaty as written did not mean anything. It says that 
 the territorial status quo ante belluin shall be observed. But 
 the British Cabinet held 'Tarriere-pensee" about that. They 
 never admitted Napoleon's right to convey Louisiana to us 
 through President Jefferson. They did not mean to include 
 the Louisiana Purchase in the territorial status quo ante helium! 
 
 You might as well look for wool on a duck's back as for 
 honor in a British Cabinet ! 
 
 The treaty signed in ink the 24th of December was a cheat. 
 But the treaty that the pioneers of Kentucky and Tennessee 
 punctuated with rifle-bullets the 8th of January will stand. 
 The English diplomats at Ghent held, as I have said, "I'arriere- 
 pensee" ! But the British soldiers who lay down to die in front 
 of Kentucky and Tennessee the 8th of January on Chalmette 
 plain were sincere and honest. It was in their life-blood that 
 the real treaty was written ; not in the ink of Ghent. 
 
 The British plan of subjugation was complete. Soon after 
 
BRITISH DESIGNS IN LOUISIANA 8i 
 
 the battle it was learned that General Pakenham had a proc- 
 lamation written, signed and ready to be promulgated the 
 moment his army should enter the city. This proclamation 
 denied the right of Napoleon to sell Louisiana, denounced the 
 pretensions of the United States to its sovereignty, declared 
 that Spain, the rightful possessor, was incapable of maintain- 
 ing her territorial rights and, finally, asserted a provisional 
 occupation by the British forces as a virtual protectorate in 
 behalf of the Spanish crown. The night after the battle this 
 proclamation was burned. It may have been used to illuminate 
 the scene where the corpse of its author was being prepared 
 for shipment to England in a cask of rum.* 
 
 Let us pass now to another branch of the subject. It is 
 commonly known that, the night of January 7th, a council of 
 war was held in the British camp. It is also known to many 
 that, on that occasion, Major-General Sir Samuel Gibbs spoke 
 of General Jackson's army as a ''backwoods rabble." He was 
 right. That's what we are — from the point of view of a British 
 regular. We are "backwoodsmen," because we were born and 
 raised in little log-cabins all along our great frontier. The 
 mothers who gave us milk, made their own clothes and ours, 
 too, of homespun or of buckskin. As soon as we could lift 
 a rifle we had to hunt our meat in the woods. Yes, we are 
 "backwoodsmen." And from the point of view of a British 
 regular, we are a "rabble" too. That is, we are not soldiers 
 in the regular sense of the term. We are not enlisted; we 
 don't get any pay. We are simply assembled, as volunteers, 
 
 * The bodies of Generals Pakenham and Gibbs were disembowelled, 
 placed in hogsheads of rum, in lieu of an embalming process, and sent to 
 England in the same ship that bore the despatches of General Lambert and 
 Admiral Cochrane announcing the result of the battle of January 8th. 
 It is stated in the memorial of Sir Samuel Gibbs, heretofore quoted, that 
 " the bodies arrived in a state of perfect preservation." This ghastly freight 
 and these dismal tidings were carried by the Nymphe, 36 gun frigate. 
 It has been stated on British authority that the Duke of Wellington would 
 not believe the news — which he first saw in the newspapers — until he saw 
 the official confirmation and the remains of his brother-in-law General 
 Pakenham. 
 
 Vol. H.— 6 
 
82 HISTORY OF ANDREW JACKSON 
 
 to defend our country. We have a kind of organization, it is 
 true; but it is as independent companies, composed of neigh- 
 bors, and our officers are simply those men whose characters 
 and experience point them out as natural leaders. In one 
 word, we have no regulations, except those of common-sense; 
 no discipline except that of common consent ; no mastery, one 
 over the other, except that of manhood ! Such are the men 
 who rallied from Tennessee and Kentucky when Andrew Jack- 
 son called. They are just such men as he is, every one ! 
 
 Yes, Ladies and Gentlemen, they are a "backwoods rabble" ! 
 They met, say, three times their number of soldiers who were 
 the Pride of England ! And the "backwoods rabble" laid that 
 "Pride of England" low ! 
 
 Nearly three months have elapsed since the battle. I have 
 been among these men — this rabble — all that time. No boast 
 has been heard from one of them. They are not the kind of 
 men that glorify themselves. They are content to leave their 
 fame to posterity. It will be a long time before their fame 
 can reach its full growth. It is more than two thousand years 
 since Leonidas and his Spartans stood in Thermopylae and 
 fought in the shade of Persian javelins. But their fame has 
 not yet got its growth. So it may be two thousand years 
 before the fame of Jackson's men will have reached full stature. 
 Besides, there is a material difference in the two histories. 
 Leonidas and his Spartans died at Thermopylae. But Jackson 
 and his riflemen are alive at New Orleans ! 
 
 And now just one word more: Most people say that our 
 American Republic was born the Fourth day of July, 1776, at 
 Philadelphia. This is not true. It was only begotten then. 
 It was born when Burgoyne surrendered at Saratoga. It was 
 baptized when Cornwallis yielded at Yorktown. But it was 
 never confirmed, as they say in the religion of the Holy Saviour, 
 until the 8th of last January ! 
 
 That day saw not merely the repulse and destruction of a 
 British army, but it taught the whole world a lesson never to 
 be forgot. It needs not the gift of prophecy to foresee that 
 the battle fought by Andrew Jackson and his "backwoods rab- 
 
BRITISH DESIGNS IN LOUISIANA 83 
 
 ble" there did more than repulse cowardly and treacherous 
 invasion. It taught to all the princes and kings and emperors 
 on the face of the earth that they must let our young Republic 
 alone ! 
 
 It is a common theory that the soldiers of General 
 Pakenham's army believed that their officers would al- 
 low them to sack New Orleans as they had ravaged 
 several towns in Spain taken by storm. Even before 
 the 8th of January, it was freely rumored in Jackson's 
 camp that the "watchword" of the British soldiers was 
 "Booty and Beauty." We have never believed this. 
 At all events, we do not believe that any such incentive 
 was sanctioned by any British officer. But so much was 
 said about it in the public prints for nearly a score of 
 years after the battle that, in 1833, the surviving officers 
 of rank who had been with the British army at New 
 Orleans deemed it proper to publish in the London Times 
 the following statement: 
 
 We, the undersigned, serving in that army and actually pres- 
 ent and through whom all orders to the troops were promul- 
 gated, do, in justice to the memory of that distinguished officer 
 who commanded and led the attack, the whole tenor of whose 
 life was marked by manliness of purpose and integrity of view, 
 most unequivocally deny that any such promise (of plunder) 
 was ever held out to the army or that the watchword asserted 
 to have been given out was ever issued. . . . 
 
 [Signed by] 
 
 John Keane, General. 
 John Lambert, Lieutenant-General. 
 W. Thornton, Major-General. 
 Edward Blakeney, Major-General. 
 Alex. Dickson, Colonel. 
 
84 HISTORY OF ANDREW JACKSON 
 
 On the other hand, there is evidence to show that, 
 whatever might have been the humane impulses of the 
 British officers, some of them doubted their abihty to 
 control the soldiers once let loose in a captured city. On 
 this point the witness is Mrs. Edward Livingston. 
 
 During her husband's absence on board the British 
 fleet, Mrs. Livingston, to while away her lonesome days, 
 gave little parties and dinners to the officers of Jackson's 
 army, including more than once the General himself. On 
 Sunday, February 12th, her guests were Captain Gar- 
 land, of Tennessee, Lieutenant Wickliffe and Ensign 
 Buell, of Kentucky — all of whom could speak French — 
 and two or three others, to meet a number of Creole 
 ladies. Suggested by someone, the conversation turned 
 upon the question whether, if their attack had been suc- 
 cessful, the British army really intended to sack and 
 ravage New Orleans as they had done with Ciudad 
 Rodrigo, Badajos and San Sebastian in Spain. 
 
 "Is there any real proof," asked one of the ladies, 
 "that their watchword was — as has been said — ^Booty 
 and Beauty'?" 
 
 "Well," said Madame Livingston, 'T will tell you my 
 own observation : A British officer. Captain — well, you 
 all know him — was wounded and captured in the battle 
 of December 23d. I took him into my house — this house 
 — and nursed him back to health. He has not been gone 
 from here more than ten days. When the great battle 
 of January 8th began and there was mucli doubt as to 
 its result, there was great fear among our women and 
 girls as to what might be their fate if the British army 
 should take the city. Many of my friends, knowing 
 that I had a British officer in the house, clustered about 
 
BRITISH DESIGNS IN LOUISIANA 85 
 
 me thinking that his presence, wounded as he was, 
 might be a protection against the violence of his sol- 
 diery At that moment we could hear the roar of the 
 cannon and the savage crashing of the Tennessee and 
 Kentucky rifles. We knew not what the end might be. 
 
 So I made bold to ask Captain if he could protect 
 
 our house and ourselves in case his comrades should take 
 the city He hesitated a moment and then said : Ladies, 
 I know those soldiers! I was with them in Spam-at 
 Ciudad Rodrigo and Badajos! If you can leave this 
 town at once, I advise you to go!' 
 
 "We all at once set about preparing to flee. Horses 
 and carriages were ordered post-haste, jewelry, money 
 and other valuables packed up, and. just as we were 
 about ready to set out, a mounted courier came dashing 
 through the streets, his horse all covered with mud and 
 foam, and the courier shouting, as he flew past, Vic- 
 tory' Victory!! Our boys have stove the British army 
 all to pieces'!!' This was one of Major Hinds's Missis- 
 sippi mounted riflemen sent to bring us the good news. 
 
 Captain heard the shouts of the Mississippian, but 
 
 shook his head. T can't believe it, ladies!' he said. 'I 
 still advise you to go.' But we believed it, and we did 
 not go. In half an hour all was confirmed ! The British 
 captain was silent then !" ^ . . , 
 
 All this was in French. When Madame Livingston 
 had finished her recital-or rather when she paused to 
 catch her breath-Captain Garland remarked: 
 
 "Oh, yes, madame. We fellows in the Chalmette lines 
 five weeks ago to-day knew all those things of which 
 you have spoken; and we made up our minds that the 
 mothers and daughters of New Orleans needed de- 
 
86 HISTORY OF ANDREW JACKSON 
 
 fence a little stronger and somewhat more trenchant 
 than that of an English officer already severely 
 wounded!" 
 
 "Seeing is believing," said madame tersely. 
 
 Be the truth what it may, Jackson's riflemen firmly 
 believed that their British assailants meant the worst 
 that could happen to the women they w^ere there to 
 defend ; and there cannot be the shadow of a doubt that 
 such belief caused many a "bead" to be "drawn a little 
 finer" on a British soldier's head than it otherwise might 
 have been. 
 
 If, as British writers have asserted, the "Booty and 
 Beauty" story was an invention of Jackson himself, to 
 infuriate his men, the desired result was attained, 
 though it is not apparent that they needed much 
 prompting. 
 
 The folk-lore of those days was never complete until 
 every great warlike event had its fireside ballad — its log- 
 cabin epic — that the children could learn by heart from 
 their grandmothers. New Orleans was prolific of this 
 spontaneous literature, particularly along the great fron- 
 tier that had furnished its defenders. Among the most 
 interesting of these ballads was one circulated in a 
 printed leafiet among the Tennessee and Kentucky rifle- 
 men when disbanded the i8th of March. It was anony- 
 mous then and so remained for many years until its 
 authorship was traced to young Ogilvy. The original 
 contained thirty-two verses, and for a generation it was 
 the standard "recitation" in every log-house from the 
 Ohio to the Missouri. The following selections will 
 indicate its character: 
 
BRITISH DESIGNS IN LOUISIANA 87 
 
 On Ocean and Shore, 
 
 The Wide World o'er, 
 Old England had Conquered her Way, 
 
 Till the Sun never Shone 
 
 But on Lands her Own 
 And Peoples Beneath her Sway. 
 
 Her Battles were Won, 
 
 Her Conquests were Done, 
 And Every Ocean was White, 
 
 With Sails of her Fleet, 
 
 Till East and West Meet 
 And her Empire Knew no Night. 
 
 When, Greatest of All, 
 
 She had Wrought the Downfall 
 Of Destiny's Favorite One, 
 
 She Turned her Proud Might 
 
 'Gainst Freedom and Right 
 In the Land of the Setting Sun. 
 
 Her Lion-flag Flew 
 
 And her Bugles Blew 
 From Cathay to the Zuyder Zee, 
 
 But Never as Yet 
 
 Had her Legions Met, 
 Old Kentucky and Tennessee ! 
 
 An Army and Fleet 
 
 That Knew no Defeat, 
 She Sent Stealthy over the Wave 
 
 To Surprise a Lone Spot 
 
 That she Fondly Tho't 
 We Could not Defend or Save. 
 
 So, One Fateful Morn 
 When a Year was Born 
 
88 HISTORY OF ANDREW JACKSON 
 
 Hard by the Great River's Tide, 
 
 Her Exultant Ranks 
 
 Charged Along its Banks 
 In Panoply, Pomp and Pride. 
 
 What her Warriors Dreamed 
 When their Bayonets Gleamed 
 
 Along the Great River's Shore, 
 May Never be Told 
 For their Tongues are Cold 
 
 And Hushed Forevermore. 
 
 For a Flood of Lead 
 
 Through Heart or Head 
 From Rifles Long and True 
 
 Swept Over that Plain 
 
 Heapt up with Slain 
 And Soaked with Crimson Dew. 
 
 'Tis True as 'tis 'Said, 
 
 That their Blood was Shed 
 Whilst the Peace Angel Flew over Sea, 
 
 But the Father Above 
 
 Sent no White-Winged Dove 
 Bearing Branch of the Olive Tree. 
 
 We must Honor the Grave 
 
 Of Soldiers so Brave, 
 Howsoever Dark the Crime 
 
 Of the Cunning Knaves 
 
 Who Sent them like Slaves 
 To be Butchered in Far-off Clime. 
 
 Ah ! 'Tis for the Best. 
 
 British Heroes, Rest ! 
 Sleep Under the Cypress Tree ! 
 
 And the Peace ye Sleep 
 
 Let Old England Keep, 
 With Kentucky and Tennessee ! 
 
BRITISH DESIGNS IN LOUISIANA 89 
 
 The foregoing may not have much of the "divine 
 afflatus" about it, but it was the kind of ''poetry" the 
 pioneers Hked to hear their children recite around their 
 humble firesides. 
 
 The last of the volunteers — Hinds's Mississippi 
 mounted rifles — left for home Sunday, March 19th. 
 Jackson's army now consisted only of the Seventh, 
 Thirteenth and Forty-fourth Regular Infantry — the 
 Thirteenth recently arrived from Savannah — and three 
 regular batteries, with Ogden's troop of the First United 
 States Dragoons. But if the army's work was done, 
 the General's was not. He still had to settle the almost 
 innumerable claims of citizens whose supplies had been 
 taken or seized under martial law. And, above all, he 
 had to settle an account with the Federal judiciary of 
 the district, which considered itself as having been sub- 
 jected to lawless outrage at his hands. The first judicial 
 act of Judge Hall after he had once more donned the 
 ermine was to issue, upon the affidavit of Counsellor 
 John Dick, a bench-warrant for the apprehension of 
 Andrew Jackson, to appear March 24th, charged with 
 contempt of court. The General promptly appeared 
 with his counsel, Edward Livingston, and offered to file 
 argument to show why the accused should be discharged. 
 The court ruled as follows : 
 
 1. If the party demur to the jurisdiction, the Court will hear. 
 
 2. If the party's affidavit deny the facts sworn to, or if he 
 wish to show that the facts as charged do not amount to a 
 contempt, the Court will hear. 
 
 3. If the party be desirous to show that, by the Constitution 
 and laws of the United States, or in virtue of his military com- 
 
90 HISTORY OF ANDREW JACKSON 
 
 mission, he had a right to act as charged in the affidavit [of 
 Mr. Dick], the Court will hear. 
 
 4. If the answer contain anything as an apology to the Court, 
 it will hear. 
 
 Upon this ruling, after some colloquial discussion be- 
 tween Judge Hall and ^Ir. Livingston, the latter was 
 allowed to begin the reading of his defence. It soon 
 appeared that the paper was simply a justification of the 
 proclamation of martial law and its enforcement on 
 grounds of military necessity alone and irrespective of 
 the Constitution and the civil laws. The court thereupon 
 interrupted the reading, summarily adjudged General 
 Jackson to be in contempt, and fined him a thousand 
 dollars, to be paid on or before March 31st. 
 
 As the General left the court-room the people seized 
 him, raised him upon their shoulders, bore him into the 
 street and committed other absurd and disorderly acts, 
 including violent denunciation of Judge Hall, Jackson 
 did his best to quiet them and finally escaped to his 
 head-quarters, whence he immediately sent to the mar- 
 shal of the court, by the hands of Major Eaton, his 
 check for the amount of the fine. A movement was 
 immediately started by some of the citizens to reimburse 
 him by raising a popular subscription, limited to one 
 dollar for each subscriber. But by the time they had 
 raised nearly two hundred dollars — Nolte says $164 — 
 the General heard of it and publicly requested that the 
 movement be discontinued. 
 
 As soon as official intelligence of these proceedings 
 reached Washington, the administration censured Gen- 
 eral Jackson with something less than its customary 
 mildness in a letter written by Acting-Secretary of War 
 
BRITISH DESIGNS IN LOUISIANA 91 
 
 Dallas, and asking for a full explanation. In response, 
 the General forwarded the paper which Judge Hall had 
 refused to hear; which closed the incident until he be- 
 came a presidential candidate. The verdict of sober 
 history after nearly a century doubtless sustains Jackson. 
 If it was necessary to maintain martial law after the 
 British had gone back on board their ships and sailed 
 away or until peace was finally ratified, it was also nec- 
 essary to enforce it with as much rigor at one time as 
 at another. The whole doubt in the case is whether, 
 under the circumstances, the maintenance of martial law 
 was justified at a date as late as that of the arrest and 
 temporary exile of Judge Hall. But there has never 
 been doubt in any candid mind as to General Jackson's 
 own sincerity in the belief that the public welfare did 
 demand it. In later years the American people have 
 become accustomed to temporary martial law in great 
 public emergencies or calamities such as conflagrations, 
 floods, pestilence and labor strikes, not to mention war; 
 and the sensitiveness of the people has been blunted. 
 But in 181 5 a different popular sentiment prevailed, pos- 
 sible encroachments of military upon civil power were 
 more jealously viewed than they are now. However, 
 the affair did not affect the General's national popularity, 
 and the name of Judge Hall is retained in American 
 history solely because he once punished Andrew Jackson 
 for contempt of court. 
 
 The General soon found out that it was far easier to 
 adjust his differences with Judge Hall than to settle 
 accounts with the numerous citizens whose property had 
 been seized for public use during the state of siege. 
 His first step in this direction was to establish the rule 
 
92 HISTORY OF ANDREW JACKSON 
 
 that everything which had been seized should be paid 
 for at the market price it bore at the time of seizure. 
 This rule cut both ways. 
 
 Articles of export, such as cotton, which had been 
 begging for buyers at any price while the blockade was 
 on, rose to almost any price that might be asked when 
 foreign commerce was set free. Imported goods, which 
 could hardly be bought at any price during the blockade, 
 became a drug in the market when cargoes began to ar- 
 rive. The result was that the General settled for seized 
 cotton at six cents a pound, w^hen it was selling at four- 
 teen ; he paid twelve, fourteen and as high as sixteen 
 dollars for seized woollen blankets, and similar rates 
 for duck appropriated to make tents, when the same kinds 
 of goods were selling for half those prices or less. 
 
 These conditions sorely afflicted our old friend Nolte, 
 and his lamentations were loud and long. They have 
 reached even to our own time. The entertaining mer- 
 chant may, in his own phrase, depict his own tribula- 
 tions : 
 
 IMy first care, after release from military service, naturally 
 was to look after my business, which now — the end of March — 
 had been neglected three and a half months, or since the mid- 
 dle of December. Recollecting the many kind expressions 
 General Jackson had made to me and to others concerning 
 me, and keeping particularly in mind his remark when my cot- 
 ton was seized, that "we would settle for it as two business 
 men when the trouble was over," I had no doubt of being at 
 least fairly if not liberally dealt with. 
 
 I put in my claim in two parts. The first was for 750 woollen 
 coverings, taken from my warerooms ; the second for 250 bales 
 of cotton taken from the brig Pallas (December 24-25-26). 
 For the blankets I received the price that was current the day 
 
BRITISH DESIGNS IN LOUISIANA 93 
 
 the English landed-$ii a pair. The General remarked that 
 as my goods had been taken to cover the Tennessee troops, I 
 should be paid in Tennessee bank-notes, upon which there was 
 a discount of nearly ten per cent, (as they could be used only 
 in settling Tennessee balances). 
 
 As for the cotton, General Jackson proposed the same basis 
 of settlement, viz.: The price current when the English 
 landed. I asked to be allowed the price cotton was worth 
 then; that is, on the day of payment.* 
 
 I called on the General. He heard me, but that was all. "Are 
 you not lucky to have saved the rest of your cotton by our 
 defence?" he asked. "Certainly, General, as lucky as others 
 in the city whose cotton has also been saved. But the differ- 
 ence between me and the rest is that none of^the others have 
 anything to pay and I have to bear all the loss." 
 
 "Loss !" exclaimed the General. "Why, you have saved all !" 
 
 I saw that an argument was useless with so stiff-necked a 
 man, and remarked to him that I only wanted compensation for 
 my cotton, and that the best compensation would be to give me 
 precisely the quantity that had been taken from me and of the 
 
 same quality. 
 
 To this the General replied that he liked straightforward 
 business, that my proposition was too complicated, that to adopt 
 it would compel him to go into the market as a buyer, etc. He 
 wound up by saying: "You must take six cents (a pound) 
 for your cotton." I endeavored to resume the argument. He 
 cut me off with: "I can say no more. It is done!" Then, 
 assuming an entirely different tone, he said: "Come, come, 
 now, Mr. NoUe, we have been soldiers together ! Let's take 
 
 * Nolte seems to have had a hard bargain in his mind's eye. He had ac- 
 cepted without murmur $ii a pair for his blankets, which was the price 
 when the Enghsh landed. But, as blankets were an article of foreign make 
 and imported, the lifting of the blockade had brought their price down to 
 $6 a pair. Now, when cotton came to be considered, its current price— and 
 that itself nominal rather than actual— while the blockade was in force had 
 been six or seven cents, whereas at the date of settlement active demand 
 for export had run the price up to fourteen cents. The boot, therefore, was 
 on the other leg. 
 
94 HISTORY OF ANDREW JACKSON 
 
 a glass of whiskey and water ! You must be d d dry with 
 
 all your arguing." 
 
 Then, though many were waiting to see him in the next room, 
 he began talking in a pleasant way about what he termed "our 
 efforts and sacrifices to defend the country," the "grand suc- 
 cess that had crowned our efforts," etc., etc. ; and wound up 
 by saying that "a little loss on cotton was nothing compared 
 to the honor of having borne a creditable part in such achieve- 
 ments !" 
 
 Nolte somewhat amusingly remarks that he left head- 
 quarters in a frame of mind about equally balanced be- 
 tween the pleasure caused by the General's military com- 
 pliments and the pain inflicted by his arbitrary business 
 exactions. 
 
 Settlement of the *'war-claims" consumed nearly three 
 weeks. The General declaretl that, so far as he was 
 concerned, everything should be settled equitably. He 
 had no authority to do more than certify claims in his 
 capacity of commander of the Seventh Military District. 
 But he did a great deal more than that. He constituted 
 himself a commissioner to adjust claims and a disbursing 
 officer to pay them, drawing drafts at ten-days sight on 
 the War Department for that purpose. Irregular as all 
 this was, his drafts were honored. No one in Washing- 
 ton seemed willing to question the acts of the victor of 
 New Orleans, the most popular man in the United States 
 and, for the moment, one of the most famous generals 
 in the world. 
 
 The last expression is not extravagant. Napoleon, 
 returning from Elba to eke out the Hundred Days and 
 add the word Waterloo to history, paused now and then 
 a moment to study Jackson at New Orleans. The Duke 
 
BRITISH DESIGNS IN LOUISIANA 95 
 
 of Wellington, chosen by assembled Europe to meet the 
 crisis, could find time even at Brussels to call "for all 
 available information on the abortive expedition against 
 Louisiana." 
 
 Before he knew or even suspected it, Jackson's fame 
 had crossed the Atlantic, and while he was immersed 
 in the ignoble business of settling claims for cotton, for 
 blankets and for corn-meal and bacon, the first generals 
 of Europe were studying his campaigns and analyzing 
 his victories. 
 
 During all this time he was the central figure — one 
 might almost say the victim — of ceaseless festivity. The 
 day after the disbandment of the army, Mrs. Jackson 
 came to New Orleans, bringing their adopted son, An- 
 drew, Jr., then a lusty little fellow of seven. Mrs. Jack- 
 son had never before seen any city more pretentious than 
 Nashville. She was literally a woman of the frontier. 
 Her pioneer life has already been briefly told. She was 
 now (181 5) forty-eight years old; her birthday and 
 that of the General in 1767 being only three months 
 apart — his in March and hers in June. She was short 
 in stature, stout in form and florid in complexion, with 
 dark eyes and black hair, now somewhat threaded with 
 gray. "The benignity of her expression," says Benton, 
 "was indescribable; but it was no more than the radia- 
 tion of her goodness. Providence had denied her off- 
 spring of her own, but she was a mother to all who 
 knew her. She was, of all women ever created, the wife 
 for the man who was her husband. My memory of her 
 covers a period of twenty-five years, from my earliest 
 visit to Nashville until her death. In her house I felt 
 at home next to that of my own mother. She lived 
 
96 HISTORY OF ANDREW JACKSON 
 
 more for others and less for herself than anyone I have 
 known. 
 
 "When she came to Robertson's Station, or 'French 
 Salt Spring/ in 1780, at the age of thirteen, with her 
 father, Colonel John Donelson, she was literally the 
 pioneer girl of the Cumberland Valley. To her last 
 hour she was the pioneer w^oman. Her frankness, her 
 sincerity, her benevolence, her charity, her patience and, 
 above all, her simple piety survived all the storms of her 
 husband's career, all the adulations that success show- 
 ered upon him and her. She lived to see him elected 
 President, but not to share wnth him the honors or the 
 burdens of that great office. I have sometimes thought 
 that General Jackson might have been a more equable 
 tenant of the White House than he was had she been 
 spared to share it wnth him. At all events, she was the 
 only human being on earth who ever possessed the power 
 to swerve his mighty will or soothe his fierce temper." 
 
 To such a woman the society of New Orleans was a 
 revelation. She was, of course, the guest of Mrs. Liv- 
 ingston. The two represented types of womanhood as 
 distinctive as nature and environment can produce : Mrs. 
 Livingston, the highest possible development of the Cre- 
 ole belle; Mrs. Jackson, the ultimate matronly product 
 of the frontier. Entertaining legends linger in Creole 
 tradition of Mrs. Livingston's training of Mrs. Jackson 
 for the social events that awaited her — or that impended 
 over her, as Mrs. Jackson may have thought. Of course 
 the tact and the taste of the Frenchwoman triumphed. 
 Mrs. Jackson was presented to Creole society in her 
 appropriate role as the dignified and matronly spouse 
 of the man whose name was a household word from 
 
BRITISH DESIGNS IN LOUISIANA 97 
 
 mansion to log-cabin or hunter's camp, from the Atlantic 
 to the Mississippi, and from the Great Lakes to the Gulf. 
 The General's devotion to Mrs. Jackson, proverbial 
 as it was at home, had never been so constantly or so 
 lavishly exhibited as in the stately affairs of polished 
 New Orleans. Debonair as he had been in his asso- 
 ciation with the Creole belles, he never missed an oppor- 
 tunity to demonstrate that he considered the short, stout, 
 beaming matron at his side the perfection of her sex 
 and far and away the most charming woman in the 
 world. Even the cynical Nolte, who so far forgot the 
 chivalry naturally to be expected of a brave soldier and 
 a noted duellist as to indulge in some rather amusing 
 comments upon ''Lady Jackson's" appearance on the 
 dancing-floor, was constrained to say that ''the General's 
 devotion to his simple-mannered and homely-gaited 
 spouse showed in him a quality that his official bearing 
 led few to suspect. It was much remarked that, what- 
 ever he might be on the battle-field, he must be a model 
 husband at home." 
 
 Vol. II.— 7 
 
CHAPTER IV 
 
 HONORS FOR A NATIONAL HERO 
 
 Mrs. Jackson's stay in New Orleans was not pro- 
 longed. Arriving March 19th, she was on her way 
 home again the 6th of April, and she took the General 
 with her. At Natchez they were detained a week by 
 a vexatious lawsuit on an attachment growing out of 
 certain litigation then pending between Herman Blen- 
 nerhassett and Aaron Burr. The case was dismissed 
 upon hearing and the distinguished family resumed their 
 journey, arriving at Nashville the 15th of May. Here 
 further honors, speeches and presentations — including, of 
 course, an elegant sword — awaited the idol of the State 
 and hero of the nation. Finally, after the enthusiastic 
 gratitude and pride of his neighbors were exhausted, 
 the war-worn soldier was permitted to retire to his plan- 
 tation and "resume," as he himself expressed it, ''the 
 cultivation of that friendly intercourse with my friends 
 and neighbors which has heretofore constituted so great 
 a portion of my happiness." 
 
 Excepting a brief visit — only nineteen days — in the 
 summer of 18 14, he had been absent from his plantation 
 nearly two years. But he could not see that it had 
 suffered from his inattention to its affairs. After all, 
 he had to admit, by no means for the first time, that his 
 wife was the better planter of the two. He rested four 
 whole months. Relaxation from the tremendous strain 
 
 98 
 
HONORS FOR A NATIONAL HERO 99 
 
 of three campaigns and a dozen battles between the 
 end of September, 181 3, and the end of May, 181 5, 
 brought on indisposition closely bordering upon serious 
 illness. Always fond of the good things of life and 
 congenial fellowship, he did not spare himself in diet 
 or in real rest as much as he ought to have done. But 
 by the middle of October he felt well enough to saddle 
 his horse and start over the mountains for Washing- 
 ton, in obedience to an invitation from the Secretary of 
 War to participate in a conference for the reduction of 
 the regular army to a peace footing and for the division 
 of the country into two grand military districts. 
 
 There were two major-generals, himself and Jacob 
 Brown, of New York, the ''hero of Lundy's Lane." 
 Brown ranked Jackson by date of commission. Jackson 
 ranked Brown — in the popular estimation, at least — by 
 lustre of achievement. The laurels of the Niagara fron- 
 tier looked pale by comparison with those of the lower 
 Mississippi. But there was no titulary "commander-in- 
 chief of the army" then, though Brown became so when 
 the rank was established six years later. 
 
 All along his route from Nashville to Washington 
 the victorious General was showered with attentions. 
 Had he submitted to the wishes of the people he would 
 have been banqueted and toasted at every considerable 
 town on the road. But he told everyone that he must 
 make the best possible time to the Capital and declined 
 all until he came to Lynchburg. There the irrepressible 
 hospitality of Old Virginia had determined that he 
 should stop, and stop he had to. Away down by the 
 North Carolina line a delegation awaited him w4th in- 
 formation that a banquet would be laid for him in the 
 
loo HISTORY OF ANDREW JACKSON 
 
 Piedmont metropolis and, most important of all, that 
 the venerable Thomas Jefferson would come from classic 
 Monticello to preside. 
 
 Jackson was in a hatchet-burying mood then. Rela- 
 tions between Jefferson and himself had been strained 
 ever since that memorable speech at Richmond in 1807. 
 The Sage of Monticello was out of politics now, but 
 the light of his countenance might be a good omen for 
 a man who had, perhaps, some indefinite notion of get- 
 ting in. Anyhow, Jackson accepted the honor of the 
 banquet at which Jefferson was to preside. It was a 
 stately affair. The old Prophet of Pure Democracy, in 
 his seventy-third year, was still at his best. He gave 
 the toast : ''Honor and Gratitude to those who have filled 
 the Measure of their Country's Honor." 
 
 .The terms were general but the application was uni- 
 versally accepted as personal, and by no one more im- 
 plicitly than by Jackson, who in turn volunteered a toast 
 to "Ja^es Monroe, Secretary of War," protege and 
 friend of Jefferson, and his candidate for the presidency 
 the next year! Thus the tomahawk was consigned to 
 its tomb and Democratic harmony restored.* 
 
 The General arrived at Washington November 17th. 
 and then there was more lionizing. In fact, it seems 
 well enough to say at this point, that for the rest of his 
 career Jackson was always banqueted and feted and 
 toasted wherever he went. It may therefore be taken 
 for granted in all cases, and thereby the encumbering 
 of history with its monotonous details be avoided. A 
 
 * This love-feast, however, did not prevent Jcfiferson from saying nine 
 years later, in the full wisdom of eighty-two winters, that Jackson was "tlie 
 most unfit man for the presidency he knew of." 
 
HONORS FOR A NATIONAL HERO loi 
 
 full account of all the dinners and public receptions and 
 toasts and speeches in honor of Jackson on his travels, 
 from 1815 to 1845, would fill a respectable encyclo- 
 paedia. 
 
 The conference at Washington between Secretary of 
 War Monroe and Major-Generals * Brown and Jackson 
 resulted in the creation of the Northern and Southern 
 Military Divisions, the head-quarters of the latter to 
 be at Nashville, with Jackson in command. The strength 
 of the regular army was fixed at 10,000 men. Jackson 
 thought it ought to be 15,000, but did not press his 
 views. He knew more about the conditions on the 
 Southern frontiers than Monroe or Brown did. But he 
 kept his own counsel. They thought the war was over. 
 Jackson knew it was not over and never could be so 
 long as Spain held Florida. In fact, the writings of 
 General Eaton in a guarded way indicate that Jackson 
 believed at the time under consideration that England 
 wanted another war with the United States as soon as 
 she could catch her breath, and that she would use Span- 
 ish Florida as a base from which to keep the Southern 
 Indians stirred up — a view that events proved to be not 
 far from prophetic. Jackson also knew, far better and 
 more clearly than his colleagues, that the existing treaties 
 with the Southern Indians — particularly that of the 
 Hickory Ground with the Creeks— were only temporary, 
 
 * There were two other major-generals on the list, Scott and Macomb. 
 They were retained in the service on the reduction of the army, but received 
 no division commands. Scott was sent to Europe on a professional mission 
 and afterward employed to re^^se the tactics of the army. Macomb was 
 made chief of engineers with the rank of colonel in that arm of the service, 
 but by special act retaining the pay and allowances of his full rank as major- 
 general. 
 
I02 HISTORY OF ANDREW JACKSON 
 
 had been extorted by force, and were now viewed by 
 the Indians with restlessness, if not with resentment. 
 However, the reduction of the army to 10,000 men was 
 unanimously recommended by the conference and 
 promptly ratified by Congress. 
 
 Having discharged this duty, General Jackson spent 
 some time in Washington, laying out a scheme of fron- 
 tier-posts, providing for their erection and supply and 
 arranging to garrison them with the slender force placed 
 at his disposal. Small as the army on its peace footing 
 was and more extensive and turbulent as were the fron- 
 tiers he had to guard, considerably less than half the 
 meagre force left available was allotted to Jackson's 
 Southern Military Division. 
 
 He returned to Nashville in a leisurely way during 
 the months of February arid March, 1816, and went 
 thence to New Orleans in May. 
 
 The ensuing two years may, for the purposes of this 
 work, be passed over somewhat briefly. In the main, 
 Jackson devoted his time and energies to the duties of 
 his military command. These duties then had a wider 
 scope than a similar assignment of a major-general 
 would have now. Besides the establishment of frontier- 
 posts and the distribution of troops in garrison, respon- 
 sibilities of even greater importance were entailed by the 
 Indian situation in the South at the close of the war 
 with Great Britain. The major-general commanding 
 was not only charged with maintenance of peace and 
 security on the long and turbulent frontier, but he was 
 also, ex officio, a member — and the most important mem- 
 ber — of all commissions appointed to treat with the In- 
 dian tribes embraced in the territory of his military 
 
HONORS FOR A NATIONAL HERO 103 
 
 division. During the period under consideration new 
 treaties in accordance with the altered condition of 
 affairs, and made necessary by the expansion of popu- 
 lation and enterprise southward and southwestward, 
 were concluded with the Cherokees, Choctaws, Chicka- 
 saws and that large majority of the Creek nation who, 
 having accepted in good faith the results of the war, 
 remained in the territory of the United States. These 
 treaties were on the whole generous to the Indians. 
 
 As might be expected, Jackson was the actual head 
 of every commission, if not, indeed, the commission 
 itself, de facto. He knew the Indians better than any 
 other white man, and they had more respect for him 
 than for all other white men. They believed implicitly 
 not only in his integrity, but also in his magnanimity. 
 Above all — and that is always to the Indian mind the 
 ultimate argument — they knew the weight of his arm. 
 As a rule, he derived but little assistance from his civil- 
 ian colleagues in negotiating these treaties. In at least 
 one case — that of the Chickasaw treaty of 18 18 — the 
 General's civilian colleague, Governor Shelby, of Ken- 
 tucky, assumed an attitude which in the end compelled 
 the former to give his personal bond for $20,000, to be 
 paid by himself in case the government should refuse 
 to ratify the stipulation for fifteen years' annuity of 
 $20,000 a year. Governor Shelby being averse to more 
 than fourteen years at that rate. General Jackson, 
 knowing that the Chickasaws would accept nothing less 
 than $20,000 a year for fifteen years — or $300,000 alto- 
 gether — took the risk of guaranteeing the additional 
 $20,000, which induced Governor Shelby to sign the 
 treaty. The bond was never called, because the govern- 
 
I04 HISTORY OF ANDREW JACKSON 
 
 ment unhesitatingly ratified the treaty with the fifteen- 
 year clause. 
 
 The lands involved constituted those parts of Tennes- 
 see and Kentucky between the Tennessee and Mississippi 
 Rivers. The Chickasaws did not occupy it, but claimed 
 the territory as a traditional ''hunting-ground," their 
 actual habitat being the northern part of the present 
 State of Mississippi. Governor Shelby, like most Ken- 
 tuckians of that day, believed that the most strenuous 
 Indian policy was the best, if he did not, indeed, hold 
 the theory in later years, tersely expressed by General 
 Sheridan, that ''the only good Indian is a dead one." 
 But General Jackson inclined to a more humane view. 
 On this point Major Lewis, who acted as secretary of the 
 commission, said that the General was always infinitely 
 more patient and conciliatory in dealing with Indians 
 than with white men, and that he would good-naturedly 
 listen to their long harangues and humor their petty 
 caprices to the limit when, had they been white men, 
 their speeches might have been cut short and their 
 caprices dashed aside by a peremptory order. 
 
 The general result of Jackson's Indian treaties was to 
 tranquillize the Southern frontier and make positive and 
 well-defined boundaries between the lands of the Indians 
 and those available for white settlement. And when he 
 had by treaty established an Indian reservation, he com- 
 pelled all white "squatters" within its limits to vacate 
 with a summary promptness that was in later years de- 
 scribed by his political adversaries as "ruthless" and 
 "cruel." But he realized even at that early date that 
 the arrangements he made in iSi6-iy and 'i8 for In- 
 dian occupation of lands east of the Mississippi could be 
 
HONORS FOR A NATIONAL HERO 105 
 
 but temporary. Colonel Robert Armstrong, of Tennes- 
 see, represents him as saying, shortly after the ratifica- 
 tion of the Chickasaw treaty, when his friends congratu- 
 lated him upon the success of the negotiation: 
 
 "Yes, yes; it is good — as far as it goes. But none 
 of these treaties can last more than a score of years. 
 The white race will by that time demand access to every 
 acre east of the river [meaning the Mississippi], and 
 they will have it, too. Nothing can stop them. I feel 
 sorry for the Indians. If the English would let them 
 alone they wouldn't make much trouble. They can lay 
 all their misfortunes at the door of England." 
 
 The effect of this sentiment may be traced all through 
 General Jackson's Indian policy, whether as commander 
 of the Southern Military Division or as President. He 
 sympathized with the Indians to the verge of pity. And 
 he held to his dying day the most ferocious resentment 
 against the English for what he always termed "insti- 
 gating them to their own destruction." 
 
 The minute details of his Indian conferences, councils 
 and negotiations; of their speeches and his own replies; 
 of their demands and his concessions, would fill this 
 volume. They would, however, be more interesting to 
 the student of aboriginal character than to the reader 
 of history in these times. 
 
 During this period General Jackson found time to 
 carry on a somewhat voluminous correspondence, a large 
 part of which has been preserved. Some of it is highly 
 creditable to his intelligence and his grasp of affairs. 
 Some of it serves rather to exhibit his infirmities of 
 temper than the calmness of his judgment. And a 
 little of it is positively discreditable from any point 
 
io6 HISTORY OF ANDREW JACKSON 
 
 of view. Under the first head must be classed his cor- 
 respondence with President Monroe, at the beginning 
 of the latter's administration, upon the condition of the 
 country. This correspondence, in fact, began just before 
 the presidential election of 1816, but the choice of Mr. 
 
 Monroe was such a foregone conclusion that his "ad- 
 
 ... • 
 
 mmistration" may be said to have begim with his nom- 
 ination. In 181 5 some of Jackson's friends had endeav- 
 ored to put him in the field as a candidate. But he met 
 all such overtures with the emphatic declaration that 
 he was for Monroe, first, last and all the time, and that, 
 so far as he was concerned, any mention of his own name 
 in presidential connection could be nothing but ridiculous. 
 Monroe knew this. Besides, he had been Secretary of 
 War during Jackson's Louisiana campaign, and con- 
 ceived for him as a commander the most extravagant 
 admiration. He considered Jackson among the first 
 three generals then living, and did not hesitate to class 
 him with Napoleon and Wellington. 
 
 It is hardly necessary to remark that Mr. Monroe was 
 not a great man. But he was steady, sensible, sincere 
 and safe. He had neither the great intellect and 
 sinuous subtlety of Jefferson, nor the delicate mental 
 organism and shrinking timidity of Madison. But he 
 excelled Jefferson in sincerity and Madison in decision, 
 and he was far superior to both in courage. If he lacked 
 alike the diplomacy of the one and the philosophy of 
 the other, he was a heartier type of manhood than either. 
 Above all, he possessed the rare arts of conciliating with- 
 out deceiving and of being mild in manner without being 
 weak in action. 
 
 These were the qualities that made Monroe's admin- 
 
HONORS FOR A NATIONAL HERO 107 
 
 istration the "Era of Good Feeling," and that re-elected 
 him in 1820 with unanimity broken only by a single 
 electoral vote — a vote churlishly recorded for his Sec- 
 retary of State, John Quincy Adams, by some Rip Van 
 Winkle Federalist from New Hampshire. 
 
 The subject-matter of the Monroe-Jackson corre- 
 spondence is mainly statesmanship in the abstract with 
 incidental reference to current problems of practical ad- 
 ministration. It is marked throughout by a perfect 
 reciprocity of confidence, respect and admiration. Its 
 tone is lofty and it discloses throughout mutual aspira- 
 tions of the purest patriotism. Its most interesting 
 feature in the permanent historical sense is General 
 Jackson's estimate of Mr. Madison and review of Fed- 
 eralism in his letter of January 6, 1817: 
 
 I have read with satisfaction that part of your letter on the 
 rise, progress and policy of the Federahsts. It is in my opin- 
 ion a just exposition. I am free to declare that had I com- 
 manded the Military Department when the Hartford Conven- 
 tion met, if it had been the last act of my life, I should have 
 punished the three principal leaders of the party. I am cer- 
 tain an independent court-martial would have condemned them 
 under the second section of the act establishing rules and regu- 
 lations for the government of the army of the United States. 
 These kind of men, though called Federalists, are really mon- 
 archists and traitors to the constituted Government. . . . 
 Experience in the late war taught me to know that it is not 
 those who cry patriotism the loudest who are the greatest 
 friends to their country or will risk most in its defence. . . . 
 I have, once upon a time, been denounced as a Federalist. 
 You will smile when I name the cause. When your country 
 put up your name in opposition to Mr M. [meaning Madison, 
 in 1808] I was one of those who gave you the preference, and 
 for the reason that in the event of war, which was then prob- 
 
io8 HISTORY OF ANDREW JACKSON 
 
 able, you would steer the vessel of State with more energy. 
 Mr. M. was one of the best of men and a great civilian, I 
 always thought ; but I always believed that the mind of a 
 philosopher could not dwell on blood and carnage with any 
 composure; of course, that he was not well fitted for a stormy 
 sea. 
 
 In his reply to the letter from which the foregoing 
 extracts have been taken, under date of March i, 1817, 
 Mr. Monroe does not advert to General Jackson's views 
 on the Hartford Convention or Mr. Madison. But he 
 informs the General that, had not his friend and Senator 
 from Tennessee, Hon. George W. Campbell, positively 
 assured him that he (the General) did not desire to be 
 Secretary of War, and would be compelled to decline if 
 nominated, he (Mr. Monroe) would have sent his name 
 to the Senate for confirmation to that place in the 
 Cabinet. 
 
 The reasons Mr. Campbell gave for General Jackson's 
 disinclination for the proposed cabinet office were that 
 his means would not enable him to afford the expense, 
 that Mrs. Jackson would not like to live in Washington, 
 and that "he believed, in the present unsettled state of 
 Indian affairs, he could serve the country to better pur- 
 pose by personally concluding with them the treaties al- 
 ready under consideration than by undertaking the 
 administration of the War Department." 
 
 These reasons may have been entertained by General 
 Jackson. But the principal one in reality was not men- 
 tioned. The General believed that war with Spain could 
 not much longer be averted; that such a war must in- 
 volve England ; and he wanted to be in active field 
 service as a major-general when those — to him — un- 
 speakably desirable conditions might eventuate. 
 
HONORS FOR A NATIONAL HERO 109 
 
 The other correspondence mentioned was with Gen- 
 eral Scott concerning- certain remarks the latter had 
 made about Jackson's protest against the sending of 
 orders to subordinate officers in his military division over 
 his head, and with General Adair concerning his (Jack- 
 son's) denunciation, in his official report, of the conduct 
 of the Kentucky militia on the right bank of the river 
 during the battle of New Orleans. 
 
 Concerning the protest General Scott had used the 
 "mutinous language" and had described it as "a repri- 
 mand of the commander-in-chief, the President of the 
 United States; for it is a principle well understood that 
 the War Department, without at least his supposed 
 sanction, cannot give an order to an ensign." 
 
 In the letter admitting the use of such language. Gen- 
 eral Scott analyzed the logic of the situation somewhat 
 elaborately and quite clearly; demonstrating in his own 
 way that the President could not be denied the right 
 of issuing direct orders to officers of the army in all 
 grades, upon suitable emergency, without abridging his 
 Constitutional powers. 
 
 To this moderate and courteous explanation General 
 Jackson, under date of December 3, 18 17, replied at 
 length. His letter evinces a singular struggle in his 
 mind between bad taste and bad temper, leaving the 
 issue between the two quite undecided. If it were the 
 purpose of this work to depreciate the memory of Gen- 
 eral Jackson in history, we should hasten to print the 
 letter verbatim, with adventitious display of italics and 
 small capitals. But, having other objects in view, we 
 shall offer only so much of it as may be needed to show 
 that Jackson's temper got the better not only of his 
 
no HISTORY OF ANDREW JACKSON 
 
 judgment, but also of most other good qualities he pos- 
 sessed. In his conclusion he wrote: 
 
 "For what I have said I offer no apology. You have 
 deserved it all and more, were it necessary to say more. 
 I will barely remark, in conclusion, that if you feel 
 aggrieved at what is here said, any communication from 
 you will reach me safely at this place." [Nashville.] 
 
 General Scott's rejoinder to this explosion was not 
 quite so philosophical as his first letter had been. He 
 was irritated. Jackson's intimation of readiness to 
 afford him "satisfaction" struck him as ridiculous. And 
 in his reference to it he went close to the outer verge 
 of courtesy. There the affair ended; and when the two 
 men met in Washington, six years afterward, their 
 prompt reconciliation proved that the hand of time had 
 smoothed the wrinkled front of war. 
 
 The Jackson-Adair correspondence may be disposed 
 of without quotation. Suffice to say that it was con- 
 ducted in a vein to be expected of an exasperated Ken- 
 tuckian and an infuriated Tennesseean in conflict over 
 a matter in which one considered the honor of his State 
 and the other his own honor assailed. It spent all its 
 force in ink at very long range, and the two old heroes 
 of New Orleans forgot it all and renewed their life- 
 time friendship at their first meeting face to face there- 
 after. 
 
 We may now pass to consideration of affairs that 
 really belong to history. 
 
 The Peace of Ghent had not changed the conditions 
 in Spanish Florida. The Indians there — Seminoles and 
 refugee Creeks — remained as bitterly and as implacably 
 
HONORS FOR A NATIONAL HERO iii 
 
 hostile as ever. They were re-enforced by a considerable 
 number of negroes, most of whom were escaped slaves 
 from Georgia and Louisiana during the war or de- 
 scendants of fugitives from the revolutions in San 
 Domingo. The inevitable Colonel Nicholls had, indeed, 
 gone to England some time after the ratification of 
 the treaty — say, about August, 1815 — carrying with him 
 a number of Seminole and fugitive Creek chiefs together 
 with a ''treaty" between the British Government and 
 those Indians, negotiated by himself, which he asked 
 the British Foreign Office to ratify. The Secretary for 
 Foreign Affairs, Earl Bathurst, refused even to receive 
 Nicholls, much less to entertain his proposals. ''A most 
 singular proposition," he exclaimed, "that the British 
 Government should be asked to ratify a treaty with 
 Indians under the sovereignty of Spain, to be offensive 
 and defensive as against the United States, when Great 
 Britain is at peace with both!" 
 
 This was sound doctrine. But English statesmen had 
 begun to learn some things. Among them was the fact 
 that "alliances offensive and defensive" with American 
 savages against the United States were not only un- 
 profitable, but entailed subsequent burdens. The ex- 
 periment had been tried in the Revolution and again 
 in the war of 1812, with the result that Canada was 
 full of homeless Indians dependent on the King's charity 
 to keep them from starvation. Still, in point of political 
 morals, the treaty of Nicholls with the prophet Francis 
 and Himollomico just after the war of 1812 was no 
 more impudent than the treaty of McKee and Proctor 
 with Tecumseh just before it. The only difference was 
 that Lord Liverpool ratified the latter and Lord Bath- 
 
112 HISTORY OF ANDREW JACKSON 
 
 urst refused to even receive the negotiator of the former. 
 But this difference was the exact measure of the educa- 
 tional effect produced by events between the spring of 
 1812 and the autumn of 181 5 upon the British official 
 mind — such events, for example, as the battle of the 
 Thames and the Horseshoe Bend. 
 
 Nicholls was no new figure at Whitehall or in Down- 
 ing Street either. He had been an officer of marines 
 and was British agent in Spanish Florida from the fall 
 of 1812 to the middle of 181 5. Arms furnished to the 
 Creeks by the British Government through him had 
 been used in the massacre at Fort Mims. Helpless 
 w^omen and children had been scalped there with British 
 knives after British hatchets had been sunk in their 
 heads. And Nicholls had been the British instigator. 
 But now his occupation seem'ed gone. 
 
 Lord Bathurst's estimate of Nicholls and his treaty 
 in September, 181 5, is interesting. To our minister at 
 London, John Quincy Adams, he said this affair need 
 not be noticed. Neither Mr. Nicholls nor his acts of 
 ^'unequivocal and extraordinary hostility toward the 
 United States," as Mr. Adams characterized them, were 
 any concern of the British Government. 
 
 ''Colonel Nicholls," said his lordship, "is a man of 
 activity * and spirit, but a very wild fellow. He did 
 make and send over to me a treaty, offensive and de- 
 fensive, with some Indians; and he is now come over 
 here and has brought over some of those Indians. I 
 
 * There was always some question about Colonel NichoUs's "spirit," but 
 none whatever about his "activity" when he evacuated and blew up Fort 
 Barrancas at Jackson's approach in 1814. Nicholls knew his business. 
 Jackson intended to hang him if he had caught him in 1 814, just as he hanged 
 his legatee, Arbuthnot, in 1818. 
 
HONORS FOR A NATIONAL HERO 113 
 
 sent for answer that he had no authority whatever to 
 make a treaty offensive or defensive with Indians and 
 that this government would make no such treaty. I 
 have sent him word that I could not see him upon any 
 such project. The Indians are here in great distress 
 indeed, but we shall only furnish them with means of 
 returning home and advise them to make terms with 
 the United States as well as they can." 
 
 Lord Bathurst relieved the "distress" of the Indians 
 by making Francis a colonel in the British army (colonial 
 establishment), with full uniform; with a diamond- 
 studded snuff-box, a gold-mounted tomahawk, and 
 some jewels for his daughters, and £500 in gold, pre- 
 sented by the British Government — perhaps while his 
 lordship was entertaining Mr. Adams. The latter, ac- 
 cording to his invariable custom, believed everything the 
 British diplomat told him. He did not seem to recollect 
 that Nicholls had the use of a British frigate to bring 
 himself and his Indians over, and he apparently paid no 
 attention to the fact that the Indians were sent back in 
 the Argus sloop-of-war that had been captured from 
 the Americans during the w^ar. As will soon be ob- 
 served. General Jackson did not coincide with the Brit- 
 ish view of Francis. When he got hold of that chief 
 there was "great distress" indeed. 
 
 Nicholls prudently remained in England. But his 
 tools whom he had trained, such as Arbuthnot, Ambris- 
 ter, the negro Gargon, Hambly,* Woodbine, et al., car- 
 
 * Hambly was a shrewd fellow. With a foresight that was creditable to his 
 sagacity, he offered his services to General Jackson in the capacity of spy and 
 his overtures were accepted. In that role he proved faithful. To him the 
 General was indebted for information that probably could never have been 
 gained from any other source — information not only of great value in the 
 Vol. II.— 8 
 
114 HISTORY OF ANDREW JACKSON 
 
 ried on the work he had begun, the work he himself 
 now considered too dangerous to pursue. At the elev- 
 enth hour the British Government, through Earl Bath- 
 urst, washed its hands of the whole business; but its 
 deluded tools kept on until their necks paid the forfeit 
 — or as many of them as Jackson could catch. 
 
 From 1815 to 1818 these conditions produced a desul- 
 tory border warfare on the frontier of Florida, Georgia 
 and Alabama. Its details are exceedingly prolix, com- 
 plicated and, to some extent, confused. Generally speak- 
 ing, it was a succession of murders and small massacres 
 on one side and indecisive or abortive "expeditions" on 
 the other. Brigadier-General Gaines commanded the 
 military district involved, which formed part of Jack- 
 son's Southern Division. 
 
 At the beginning of 18 18, however, General Jackson 
 made up his mind that the time had arrived for de- 
 cisive action. General Gaines was a mediocre soldier 
 of method and precision, but not calculated for the kind 
 of work Jackson contemplated or for the risks Jackson 
 knew must be taken. So he resolved to take command 
 on the Florida frontier in person. Under date of Janu- 
 ary 6, 18 1 8, he wrote a letter to President Monroe, the 
 tenor of which may be inferred from a very brief extract. 
 After a concise summary of the situation, he said : 
 
 "Let it be signified to me through any channel, say 
 Mr. J. Rhea [member of Congress from Tennessee and 
 one of the General's closest friends], that the possession 
 
 campaign itself, but of momentous weight in the subsequent investigation of 
 Jackson's conduct by the Cabinet and Congress. He was afterward em- 
 ployed as a Spanish and Indian interpreter, became an American citizen 
 upon the annexation of Florida, and remained there during the rest of his 
 life. 
 
HONORS FOR A NATIONAL HERO 115 
 
 of the Floridas would be desirable to the United States, 
 and in sixty days it will be accomplished." 
 
 Jackson had already taken Florida in thirty days, so 
 he was now quite warranted in the belief that he could 
 do it again in sixty. 
 
 This request had a curious history. Mr. Monroe was 
 too ill to transact executive business when he received 
 this letter, but he read it. Then he handed it to Mr. 
 Calhoun (Secretary of War), who returned it with the 
 remark that no one but the President could answer it 
 — or words to that effect. Shortly afterward the Pres- 
 ident sent for Mr. John Rhea, laid Jackson's letter be- 
 fore him and requested him to write a reply. Mr. Rhea 
 did so, and in his reply stated to General Jackson that 
 the President approved the suggestion. In the mean- 
 time, the War Department, by direction of the President, 
 under date of December 26, 18 17, had formally ordered 
 General Jackson to assume command in person on the 
 Florida frontier. General Gaines had estimated the 
 effective hostile force — Seminoles, Creeks and negroes 
 — at about 2,700, well-armed and having an abundance 
 of ammunition. 
 
 The order to General Jackson, among other things, 
 contained these words : 
 
 *'The regular force now there is about 800 strong, and 
 1,000 Georgia militia are called into service. General 
 Gaines estimates the strength of the Indians at 2,700. 
 Should you be of the opinion that our numbers are too 
 small to beat the enemy, you will call on the executives 
 of the adjacent States for such additional militia force 
 as you may deem requisite." 
 
 The Secretary of War also wrote to the governor 
 
ii6 HISTORY OF ANDREW JACKSON 
 
 of Alabama, informing him that General Jackson had 
 been ordered to command in person, with full author- 
 ity to conduct the operations as his judgment on the 
 spot might dictate. A copy of this letter was also 
 sent to Jackson, though it did not reach him until some 
 time after he had acted on the orders of the War De- 
 partment, which he considered sufficient authority for 
 all the objects he had in view. 
 
 ''Billy" Phillips was no longer "the President's express- 
 rider" of 1812. He was now an esteemed personal friend 
 and neighbor of General Jackson and a prosperous plant- 
 er near Nashville. Therefore the orders of the War 
 Department did not reach Jackson until January nth — 
 fifteen days from Washington. Of course the General 
 knew that his letter of January 6th had not reached the 
 President. But he assumed the Secretary of War's 
 order of December 26th to mean that the administration 
 viewed the situation just as he did, and he was glad 
 to have his purpose so opportunely anticipated. When 
 Andrew Jackson had a patriotic object in view he needed 
 less encouragement to set about accomplishing it than 
 any other man in our history. And, when so actuated, 
 he could construe the most diplomatically framed de- 
 spatch from his civil superior into the most complete 
 and sweeping authority to go ahead. Mr. Calhoun's 
 despatch of December 26th did indeed vest in the major- 
 general commanding extraordinary power. But the 
 Major-General "went the Secretary of War one better." 
 He construed it to mean carte blanche. Mr. Calhoun 
 might just as well have sent to him a blank sheet of 
 paper with his name and the words, "by direction of 
 the President," at the bottom of it. 
 
HONORS FOR A NATIONAL HERO 117 
 
 Subsequent proceedings lead us to believe that Mr. 
 Calhoun and the President divined all these things — 
 "knowing their man" as they did. They wanted the 
 Indians and the negro brigands crushed for all time; 
 they knew that could not be done without an invasion 
 of Florida. They desired to maintain an attitude that 
 would enable them, in case of diplomatic embarrass- 
 ment, to shift the responsibility upon Jackson. He knev/ 
 this as well as they did, but he did not care about that. 
 All he wanted was some semblance — something that he 
 could construe into an appearance — of authority. As 
 for the rest, he despised Spain and he hated England. 
 To any student of his character, the rest of the story 
 tells itself. 
 
 His first act was to survey the components of the 
 force at his disposal on the frontier. The ''eight hun- 
 dred regulars" were good — what there was of them — 
 but they were too few. As for the ''thousand Georgia 
 militia," the prospect of relying upon them did not 
 please him. He knew they would be enrolled for only 
 three months. The Creek war had given him all the 
 experience he wanted with that kind of soldiery. Be- 
 sides, while the Creek war was at its height, some 
 Georgia militia had fallen back on the old law of 1795 
 and refused to serve outside the State. Such troops 
 would hardly answer the purpose of an army of in- 
 vasion, not only "outside the State," but actually upon 
 foreign soil. No, Georgia militia would not do. For 
 the rest, Tennessee was "an adjacent State." At all 
 events, as Alabama was still a Territory, Tennessee was, 
 except Georgia, the nearest State to Spanish Florida. 
 He therefore felt empowered by the orders of the War 
 
ii8 HISTORY OF ANDREW JACKSON 
 
 Department to ''call upon the executive of Tennessee 
 for such additional militia," etc. But the governor of 
 Tennessee was absent from the State and could not be 
 immediately reached. History has it that the governor 
 was visiting the Cherokees. As a matter of fact, he 
 was out on a grand hunt in North Georgia. However, 
 he would approve anything that Jackson might do in 
 his absence. Though major-general in the regular 
 army, Jackson was still the same political ''Boss" of 
 Tennessee he had always been. He did not nominate 
 and elect governors to have them "go back on him" in 
 dire emergencies such as this was. 
 
 Therefore he forthwith raised 1,200 volunteers — not 
 militia — "by virtue of orders from the Secretary of 
 War," enlisted them for six months and had them in 
 rendezvous, at Fayetteville, tlie 31st of January. He 
 also had collected there, by the same authority, thirty 
 days' supplies of food, with transportation. Of these 
 1,200 volunteers, at least 800 were veterans of the Creek 
 war or the Louisiana campaign, or both. Every man 
 had his own rifle and rode his own horse. Jackson 
 supplied ammunition and camp equipage from the Unit- 
 ed States stores at his command. When all was ready 
 he appointed Colonel Arthur P. Hayne United States 
 Army Inspector-General of the Southern Military Divis- 
 ion, to command the force, with orders to march to 
 Fort Jackson. There they were to draw fresh supplies 
 and march to Fort Scott, on the frontier, which would 
 be his base of operations. 
 
 Jackson himself, as soon as these preparations were 
 assured, had left his home for the front on January 22d, 
 nine days ahead of Hayne's column. The General took 
 
HONORS FOR A NATIONAL HERO 119 
 
 his route from Nashville to Fort Scott through upper 
 Alabama and Georgia for the purpose of raising a force 
 of friendly Creeks under the half-breed chief, William 
 Mcintosh. Some time before this, Mcintosh, on Jack- 
 son's recommendation, had been commissioned a colonel 
 in the regular army and brevet brigadier-general. 
 
 After many vicissitudes, numerous disappointments 
 and some severe hardships, Jackson reached Fort Scott 
 the 9th of March. He found the place destitute of 
 supplies and his force in danger of starvation. Leaving 
 orders for the Tennesseeans under Hayne and the friend- 
 ly Creeks under Mcintosh to follow him, he pushed 
 on with 1,080 men down the Appalachicola to Prospect 
 Bluff — site of ''Negro Fort" blown up the year before. 
 Here he built Fort Gadsden and here the supplies sent 
 by sea from New Orleans reached his hungry army. 
 Here, also, Colonel Hayne's Tennesseeans and Mcin- 
 tosh's Indians — about 1,000 strong — joined him. These 
 re-enforcements brought his strength up to about 2,800 
 or 3,000, of whom, say, 600 were regulars, 1,000 Ten- 
 nessee volunteers, 400 Georgia volunteers * and 800 or 
 900 Indians under Mcintosh. 
 
 At Fort Gadsden the General waited several days to 
 rest his troops and perfect his supply system. The Ten- 
 nessee volunteers under Colonel Hayne, compelled as 
 they had been to take a roundabout route through west- 
 ern Georgia, had marched nearly a thousand miles be- 
 tween January 31st and March 20th, much of the way 
 through trackless forests, across bridgeless rivers swollen 
 
 * These were all out of the thousand Georgia militia enrolled who 
 would volunteer to leave the State. They were mustered as United States 
 volunteers to serve six months. Jackson had no authority to muster 
 United States volunteers, but he did it. 
 
I20 HISTORY OF ANDREW JACKSON 
 
 with spring floods, and all the time on short allowance. 
 Something of the fibre they were made of may be 
 learned from a paragraph of Colonel Hayne's report 
 announcing the arrival of his column: 
 
 ''In conclusion, the colonel in command is happy to 
 report that there is no sickness among the troops and 
 no men have lagged behind except a few whose horses 
 gave out. These are following on foot and may be 
 expected to join the force in a few days." 
 
 On March 26th the General started with his whole 
 command for St. IMarks. Progress was slow. Nu- 
 merous skirmishes occurred, the fighting on the Amer- 
 ican side being done mainly by Mcintosh's friendly 
 Indians, who held the advance all the time. 
 
 The army reached St. Marks April 6th, and the Gen- 
 eral halted in sight of the town to communicate in a 
 friendly way with the Spanish governor. 
 
 The material part of his ''friendly communication" 
 was a demand for surrender of Fort St. Marks, with 
 an assurance that the American forces appeared on Span- 
 ish territory not as the enemy of Spain, but to chastise 
 and subdue a horde of savages whom "the Spanish gar- 
 rison, from the smallness of its numbers,'' was not able 
 to control. The communication concluded as follows : 
 
 "The subject of my possession of the garrison of St. 
 Marks will be referred to our respective governments 
 for amicable adjustment." 
 
 The governor's reply set forth that, for want of a 
 competent translator, he could not fully understand the 
 General's letter. As to the surrender of the fort, he had 
 no authority for such action and must refer the demand 
 to the governor-general. Florida was then under the 
 
HONORS FOR A NATIONAL HERO 121 
 
 jurisdiction of the governor-general of Cuba. It would 
 take some time to communicate with Havana. General 
 Jackson, therefore, decided to relieve the polite governor 
 of all responsibility, and with that object in view took 
 possession of Fort St. Marks that same afternoon, with- 
 out opposition except a formal protest from the Spanish 
 governor. The first act in the serio-comic drama of 
 General Jackson's "unauthorized" invasion of Spanish 
 territory in time of peace, with troops in pay and under 
 the flag of the United States, was done. The second 
 act proved, in some respects, more interesting. 
 
CHAPTER V 
 
 GOVERNOR OF FLORIDA 
 
 The second stage of the Florida campaign had for 
 its overture a romance and a tragedy. During the 
 period reviewed in the previous chapter the Indians 
 captured near Fowltown a Georgia mihtiaman named 
 Duncan McKrimmon, while he was some distance from 
 camp engaged in fishing. He was taken to the prophet 
 Francis's town, near Fort St. Marks, and there con- 
 demned to be burned at the stake in revenge for four 
 warriors killed in the skirmish at Fowltown. The 
 legend is — and it seems authentic — that, just as the 
 fagots about his limbs were being kindled, a young 
 daughter of Francis, about fifteen years old, assumed 
 the role of Pocahontas and prevailed on her father to 
 spare McKrimmon's life. 
 
 Soon afterward the chief, annoyed by his warriors, 
 who still clamored for their victim, placed the Georgian 
 in the hands of the Spanish commandant at Fort St. 
 Marks for safe keeping. Not long afterward an armed 
 schooner and two small merchant ships appeared in St. 
 Marks Bay with English colors flying. McKrimmon, 
 who had been all the time apprehensive that the Indians 
 would compel the Spanish commandant to give him up 
 to them again for torture, asked to be sent on board one 
 of the British ships, where he knew he would be safe. 
 
 122 
 
GOVERNOR OF FLORIDA 123 
 
 This request was granted. When McKrimmon reached 
 the deck of the armed schooner, he was overjoyed to 
 find her American and to meet Lieutenant McKeever, 
 of the United States navy, in command. McKrimmon, 
 who was an intelHgent and presentable young man, told 
 his story briefly and then informed McKeever that 
 Francis and Himollomico, a Seminole chief, were en- 
 camped three or four miles away waiting for English 
 vessels to bring them arms and ammunition from Nas- 
 sau, New Providence Island. 
 
 McKeever, acting under instructions sent to him from 
 Fort Gadsden by General Jackson, had come round from 
 Appalachicola Bay to St. Marks to meet the army at 
 the latter place with the supplies brought from New 
 Orleans by water. He was a bold, enterprising young 
 officer, and had greatly distinguished himself as second- 
 in-command to Ap Catesby Jones in the desperate de- 
 fence of the gun-boats on Lake Borgne. He now con- 
 ceived the idea of decoying the chiefs on board his 
 schooner. Standing up the bay toward the fort, with 
 a profusion of English colors flying, he soon had the 
 satisfaction of seeing a canoe put off from the shore. 
 As it approached he saw that its occupants were two 
 Indians, both wearing British uniform coats, and two 
 negroes paddling. McKrimmon, taking the pilot-glass, 
 at once informed him that the Indians were the two 
 chiefs. 
 
 When they came aboard, McKeever invited them to 
 his cabin, whither half a dozen sailors, previously se- 
 lected for that duty, followed them, carrying handcuffs. 
 The chiefs were at once seized and put in irons, but 
 not without a desperate struggle, in which the lieutenant 
 
124 HISTORY OF ANDREW JACKSON 
 
 found it necessary to knock Himollomico nearly sense- 
 less with the butt of a heavy boarding-pistol. 
 
 Shortly after the chiefs were secured Francis noticed 
 McKrimmon. **I save -your life," he said in English. 
 "You betray me." 
 
 "No," replied the late captive, "your daughter saved 
 my life; and the officer would have caught you anyhow. 
 But if I can do anything for you, I will, for Malee's * 
 sake." 
 
 While this was going on another canoe approached 
 the schooner, having an Indian girl in the bow and a 
 warrior at the stern paddling. Just as McKrimmon 
 was able to recognize the girl through the glass as 
 Malee herself, the canoe put about and made for the 
 shore, its occupants effecting their escape notwithstand- 
 ing close pursuit by one of the schooner's boats. When 
 she reached the land, Malee seized the warrior's rifle 
 and fired at the pursuing boat. Her bullet passed under 
 the left arm of the coxswain and lodged in the rudder- 
 head, missing the man's side by not more than an inch. 
 Malee and the warrior then escaped into the woods and 
 the boat's crew returned to the vessel. This was part 
 of the romance. f Then came the tragedy. 
 
 * Malee was the girl's Indian name ; but the school-books and pictorial 
 histories usually have it "Milly." 
 
 t When General Jackson withdrew from Florida he left garrisons at Pen- 
 sacola and St. Marks, and gave command of the district to Colonel Arbuckle, 
 of the Seventh Infantr}', with head-quarters at the latter place. The colonel 
 employed McKrimmon as a clerk. The young Georgian learned that Malee 
 — or Milly — Francis had been impoverished by the destruction of her father's 
 village and was living with an Indian family about seven miles up the river. 
 She came to the fort and asked him to intercede with the colonel for the 
 restoration of her father's property, consisting principally of slaves and cattle. 
 But the slaves had run away into the swamps and the cattle had been taken 
 for the use of the army. McKrimmon then offered to marry her and provide 
 
GOVERNOR OF FLORIDA 125 
 
 That same night General Jackson communicated with 
 Lieutenant McKeever and the chiefs were sent ashore 
 the next morning. The General, upon being satisfied 
 of their identity, ordered them hanged without even the 
 formality of a court-martial : Francis for his complicity 
 in massacres during the Creek war and for inciting the 
 fugitive Creeks in Florida; Himollomico for torturing 
 Lieutenant Scott, who had been captured some time be- 
 fore. They were hanged just outside the fort, under 
 the supervision of Lieutenant Rodgers, acting provost- 
 marshal. 
 
 General Jackson refused to listen to any appeal from 
 them. Francis had expressed a desire to see the General. 
 
 for her a home. She at first refused, declaring that it was he who gave 
 Lieutenant McKeever the information that led to the capture and execution 
 of her father. He admitted having informed the Ueutenant that her father 
 was near the place, but protested he had not the remotest idea that General 
 Jackson would hang him. Colonel Arbuckle's family, who joined him at 
 the fort, took an interest in the girl and gave her many presents of food and 
 clothing. They also advised her to accept McKrimmon. Finally she con- 
 sented and they were married by a Presbyterian clergyman at Fort Scott. 
 They lived pleasandy together nearly twenty years. After the annexation 
 of Florida to the United States, McKrimmon took up land on the Suwanee, 
 below the old Indian town, and made a fine plantation. He died about 
 1838, leaving Milly with eight children. One story ran to the effect that 
 he was assassinated by the then hostile Seminoles. Destruction of the crops 
 and catde of the plantation and the loss of her slaves during the Seminole 
 war of 1837-40 reduced Milly to poverty again and she soon afterward 
 died. Most of her children cast their lot with the white people and remained 
 in Florida, though at least two of her sons went with the Creeks to the Indian 
 Territory. Her four daughters are said to have married white men. The 
 children were quarter-breeds, Milly herself being half white. 
 
 Captain Rodgers, of the Tennessee Volunteers, and Mrs. Gibson, wife 
 of Major Gibson, U. S. A., have left written descriptions of her as she ap- 
 peared in i8i9-'20, which represent her as being exceedingly handsome, 
 very sprightly and conversing well in English and Spanish besides her native 
 tongue. She is often mentioned in history as a Seminole, but both her 
 father and mother were half-breed Creeks, her mother being a half-sister to 
 the great chief Weatherford. 
 
126 HISTORY OF ANDREW JACKSON 
 
 Just before the rope was tightened he dropped a scalp- 
 ing-knife from his sleeve and explained that his design 
 was to assassinate Jackson had he been admitted to his 
 presence. Himollomico requested that he might be shot 
 like a man instead of being hanged like a dog. This was 
 reported to the General by Hambly, now acting as inter- 
 preter. "No," said Jackson; "let him hang. I will be 
 more merciful to him than he was to poor Scott and the 
 soldiers and women of the Fourth!'' [Meaning the 
 Fourth United States Infantry, to which the officer and 
 others belonged, and upon whom the doomed chief had 
 inflicted horrible tortures.] 
 
 In Fort St. Marks Jackson found Alexander Arbuth- 
 not. He was a Scotch trader from New Providence, 
 and had supplied the Indians with arms, ammunition, 
 blankets and other articles of, savage traffic. Hambly 
 and Cook, former proteges of Nicholls and latterly clerks 
 or junior partners in the trading firm of Forbes & Com- 
 pany, were the informers against Arbuthnot. At first 
 the Scotch trader was placed in close confinement, the 
 General deciding to await development of more — or 
 better — evidence before proceeding to extreme meas- 
 ures. 
 
 Over a hundred miles from St. Marks was the prin- 
 cipal town of the Seminoles, known as Suwanee. It 
 was built on the right or west bank of the river of the 
 same name — immortalized in song. Between it and St. 
 Marks stretched a flat, heavily wooded country, mostly 
 swamps, which the Indians considered wholly impassable 
 by white men in any considerable force. The chief of 
 this town was Boleck — sometimes spelled "Bowlock" — 
 but better known to history by the traders' sobriquet. 
 
GOVERNOR OF FLORIDA 127 
 
 **Billy Bowlegs." The population was a medley of In- 
 dians, negro brigands and mixed breeds of all kinds and 
 colors, numbering about 2,000, and they carried on a 
 considerable tillage of corn and fruits, besides raising 
 herds of cattle and many hogs. The houses were gen- 
 erally built of logs or bark and, for the time and place, 
 were quite commodious. 
 
 General Jackson stayed at St. Marks only forty-eight 
 hours. Then, rationing his troops for ten days and 
 stripping his column to light marching order, he set 
 out across the supposed impassable swamps for Suwanee, 
 April 9th. On the 13th, Mcintosh overtook and de- 
 feated about 200 Seminoles and negroes under Peter 
 McQueen, killing thirty-seven and taking 104 prisoners, 
 all but six of whom were women and children. The 
 friendly Creeks of Mcintosh's command also took, as 
 that chief said in his report, *'about 700 cattle, a num- 
 ber of horses, a good many hogs and some corn. . . ." 
 
 Among the prisoners was a woman who had been 
 taken in the boat with Scott's party, she being the only 
 one spared. Mcintosh sent her to her husband and 
 father, who w^ere with General Jackson's army in the 
 Georgia volunteers. 
 
 About nightfall on the i6th the army reached Su- 
 wanee, but most of the Indians had escaped. They had 
 been warned by a letter from Arbuthnot to his son, a 
 trader at Suwanee, written the day before Jackson's army 
 took St. Marks. Nearly 3,000 bushels of corn were 
 taken and quite a number of cattle and horses. The 
 army rested two days at the deserted town, which was 
 destroyed. 
 
 During the night of April iSt-h, Robert C. Ambrister, 
 
128 HISTORY OF ANDREW JACKSON 
 
 with another white man, named Cook, and two negroes, 
 were captured. They had come up the river during the 
 day and, unaware of what had happened, fell into the 
 hands of Jackson's pickets a little before midnight. Am- 
 brister was a nephew of Governor Cameron, of the 
 Bahamas, and had been a lieutenant of marines in the 
 British navy. He was one of the British officers who 
 organized and drilled the refugee Creeks under Nicholls, 
 when Jackson first invaded Florida in 1814. He was 
 placed under close guard of a sergeant's file of men, 
 who had orders to shoot him if he attempted to 
 escape. 
 
 When the army returned to St. Marks, arriving there 
 the 226. and 23d of April, Ambrister was placed in the 
 same cell with Arbuthnot, and General Jackson appoint- 
 ed a court-martial to try them for various capital offences 
 set forth in charges and specifications. General Gaines 
 was president of the court-martial, which consisted of 
 twelve other officers besides the recorder. The court sat 
 two days, and on April 28th returned findings and sen- 
 tence that Alexander Arbuthnot be hanged and Robert 
 C. Ambrister shot to death for inciting Indians to make 
 war upon the United States and for aiding and abetting 
 the said Indians in acts of war and murder against peace- 
 able citizens of the United States. But in the case of 
 Ambrister the court reconsidered the sentence of death 
 and commuted it to ''fifty-nine lashes on the bare back 
 and to be confined at hard labor with ball and chain for 
 twelve calendar months." 
 
 The next day General Jackson reviewed the findings, 
 approved that in the case of Arbuthnot, but disapproved 
 the amended sentence of Ambrister and restored the first 
 
GOVERNOR OF FLORIDA 129 
 
 one. He then ordered Major Fanning, of the Fourth 
 United States Artillery, provost-marshal of the district, 
 to see that both sentences were carried into effect. Ar- 
 buthnot was hanged from the gaff of his own schooner, 
 which had been captured by McKeever and brought to 
 St. Marks. He died protesting innocence, declaring that 
 he was being murdered by the power of the United 
 States, and his last words were: "My government will 
 avenge me!" 
 
 Ambrister was shot a few minutes before the hanging 
 of Arbuthnot. He met death with fortitude and made 
 no scene. He declared, however, that fate was against 
 him, that he was not conscious of having violated the 
 law of nations, and that he had never done anythin.g 
 which he did not honestly believe his duty to his country 
 required him to do. 
 
 Leaving Fort St. Marks, April 29th, General Jackson, 
 with his army, arrived at Fort Gadsden the 26. of May. 
 Here he halted to rest and refresh the troops. His force 
 now consisted only of regulars and Tennessee volun- 
 teers. Three companies of the Fourth Infantry and one 
 company of artillery had been left at Fort St. Marks. 
 The Georgia volunteers, together with the friendly In- 
 dians under Mcintosh, had been sent home at the end 
 of the expedition to Suwanee town. After these deduc- 
 tions the army at Fort Gadsden was not over 1,500 or 
 1 ,600 strong ; say 600 regulars and 800 to 900 Tennessee 
 volunteers. Here it should be observed that there were 
 two companies of Kentucky volunteers in General Jack- 
 son's army. They were commanded respectively by 
 Captains Crittenden and Marshall. There was also a 
 
 small company of Mississippi volunteers under Captain 
 Vol. II.— 9 
 
130 HISTORY OF ANDREW JACKSON 
 
 Joseph Bonnell. These independent companies, how- 
 ever, were incorporated in the two Tennessee regiments 
 commanded respectively by Colonels Williamson and 
 Dyer. 
 
 It was the General's intention, after resting his troops 
 at Gadsden a week or so, to distribute the regulars 
 among the various posts and then to proceed by easy 
 marches at the head of his Tennesseeans home to Nash- 
 ville. With all his modesty in other premises. General 
 Jackson undeniably had a strong penchant for ''entering 
 Nashville in triumph." 
 
 He had already issued to the regulars their orders of 
 distribution, and was ready to march with the Tennes- 
 seeans for Fort Jackson, en route home, when, on Alay 
 17th, he received a letter from the Spanish governor. 
 Almost at the same time he received information from 
 Hambly, whom he had sent to Pensacola on a secret 
 mission, that quite a number of Indians — mostly refugee 
 Creeks — were assembled near Pensacola.* Hambly was 
 well adapted to this kind of duty. The Spanish gov- 
 ernor, Don Gonzalez, had known him only as a former 
 clerk to Forbes and Company, British Indian traders, 
 and a protege of Nicholls, but did not know that he had 
 now turned spy and informer to the Americans. 
 
 The Spanish governor's letter was in its tone militant. 
 Among other things he said : 
 
 "It having come to my knowledge that . . . you 
 are now in the province of West Florida, which is sub- 
 ject to my government, I solemnly protest against this 
 
 * In a letter written soon afterward to Senator Campbell, Jackson places 
 the number of these Indians at 550. Hambly's statement, in the subsequent 
 investigation, is "about 300 Indians and some 200 vagabond negroes." 
 
GOVERNOR OF FLORIDA 131 
 
 procedure as an offence against my sovereign, exhorting 
 you and requiring of you in his name to retire from it; 
 since, if you do not retire but persist in your aggressions, 
 I shall repel force by force." 
 
 The effect which the Spanish governor expected or 
 hoped to produce by this truculent language is not 
 known. But the immediate result of it was that the 
 General, instead of marching to Fort Jackson, marched 
 on Pensacola with 600 regulars and 600 Tennesseeans. 
 Here the General's private account to Senator Campbell 
 exhibits a slight disagreement with his official despatches ; 
 but the discrepancy relates to the sequence of events, 
 all happening within a few days, and does not seem 
 material to the main question. Among the things 
 concerning which Hambly informed him — also corrob- 
 orated by Governor Bibbs, of Alabama — were that the 
 Indians seeking refuge at Pensacola were fed by the 
 Spanish governor, that they had committed several mur- 
 ders on the frontier, including the family of a Mr. Stokes, 
 and that the governor himself had intercepted and de- 
 tained the schooner Amelia, laden with supplies for the 
 United States troops at Fort Crawford. 
 
 On May 24th General Jackson entered Pensacola at 
 the head of his army. The governor took refuge in 
 Fort Barrancas. General Jackson approached the fort, 
 from which a few shots were fired. The General then 
 made preparations to storm it, whereupon the governor 
 surrendered with 300 Spanish troops. 
 
 Thus terminated the "Florida war," between the In- 
 dians, British agents and Spain on one hand and General 
 Jackson on the other. There was, as yet, no evidence 
 that the government of the United States had been in- 
 
132 HISTORY OF ANDREW JACKSON 
 
 volved in it at all, except the circumstantial facts that 
 the General had a few regular troops in his army and 
 that the regular navy, as represented by Lieutenant Mc- 
 Keever, had co-operated in a small way. 
 
 On the 31st of May the General placed Colonel Will- 
 iam King, of the Fourth Infantry, in command at Pen- 
 sacola, with a garrison of 400 regulars, ordered Lieu- 
 tenant McKeever to take charge of the coast and harbor, 
 with instructions to permit no Indian supplies to be 
 landed, and made provision for the comfort of the Span- 
 ish governor and his household. He then returned by 
 easy stages to Nashville, where the people received him 
 with the usual public banquet, toasts and applause. 
 
 General Jackson availed himself of the opportunity 
 afforded by the banquet to "declare his platform" in the 
 shape of a ''volunteer toast,"* the significance of which 
 became soon afterward a matter of national interest : 
 
 ''Our Country! — Though forbearance is her maxim, 
 she must show to foreign nations that, under a pre- 
 tence OF NEUTRALITY, her rights are not to be out- 
 raged!" 
 
 This was the 24th of June, 18 18. From that time on 
 the Florida war became the staple topic of American 
 journalism. The newspapers needed a live topic. Mr. 
 Monroe's administration afforded none. It seemed to 
 invite neither praise nor censure. The ''Era of Good 
 Feeling" was in the last degree unfavorable to news- 
 paper enterprise. The demand for great Columbian elo- 
 quence had ceased. The impassioned oratory that stirs 
 men's souls was an utter drug in the patriotic market. 
 General Jackson afforded a welcome relief to this pro- 
 longed intellectual drouth, this editorial arid season. 
 
GOVERNOR OF FLORIDA 133 
 
 Party lines had almost ceased to exist. Old political 
 divisions were nearly extinct. Federalism had gone to 
 its tomb, along with Tecumseh and Pakenham, in the 
 war of 18 1 2. Its ghost still stalked abroad now and 
 then producing nightmares like the Hartford Conven- 
 tion, but its substance was dust and ashes. Mr. Adams 
 was furtively trying to scrape together dry bones enough 
 to form a "nucleus" against 1824; but his efforts attract- 
 ed no particular attention ; at all events, they were not as 
 yet viewed with concern. 
 
 All these deficiencies were instantly met by Gen- 
 eral Jackson. The politicians and the able editors at 
 once drew strict party lines over his name and his ex- 
 ploits. A presidential campaign within a fortnight of 
 election day could not have been hotter. The furor 
 was by no means confined within our own boundaries. 
 English statesmen gathered with long faces in cabinet 
 council to consider the execution of two British subjects 
 on Spanish soil by an American general in time of pro- 
 found peace. English editors, from the London Times 
 to the Halifax Sentinel, frothed at the mouth. The 
 Paris papers, as usual, could foresee nothing but war 
 between England and — General Jackson; a war that 
 might, possibly, involve the United States! The states- 
 men and journals of Madrid for the moment showed 
 imminent signs of throwing off the traditional Spanish 
 lethargy. They, too, viewed General Jackson as the 
 prime enemy of the peace of mankind, but fancied that 
 somehow, sooner or later, the Washington Government 
 might be drawn into the vortex. 
 
 It is safe to say that, in the latter half of the year 18 18, 
 Jackson was the most talked-about and most abused man 
 
134 HISTORY OF ANDREW JACKSON 
 
 in the world — on both sides of the ocean and in several 
 languages. Mr. Monroe and his Cabinet spent most of 
 July and August debating Jackson. The Ministry at 
 St. James's sat up nights over Jackson. Lord Castle- 
 reagh, laid up with gout, sent for the American minister 
 to visit his sick-room for the purpose of considering 
 Jackson as an international issue. Napoleon languished 
 unheeded at St. Helena and the Duke of Wellington 
 dwelt in obscurity at Walmer, by comparison. 
 
 Finally, Congress met; also Parliament. Congress 
 ordered an investigation. The House of Commons in- 
 terrogated the ministry — all about Jackson. Meantime 
 the object of all this world-wide excitation, this poly- 
 glot furor, vegetated at the Hermitage, all but uncon- 
 scious of his exaltation and quite oblivious — to all out- 
 ward appearance — of his own celebrity. In fact, for 
 nearly two months after his return to the Hermitage, 
 the General was so ill or so debilitated that Colonel 
 Hayne had to transact most of the routine business of 
 division head-quarters, and Major Lewis attended to his 
 personal correspondence — the General merely signing 
 orders and letters as he reclined in an easy chair or 
 sat up in bed. 
 
 Finally he recuperated. Christmas Day he gave a 
 dinner to his intimate friends at the Hermitage. They 
 all declared that he hadn't looked so well before in ten 
 years. He referred them to **Aunt Rachel," to whose 
 nursing he ascribed his recovery. ''She pulled me 
 through," he said, ''in spite of myself and the doctors." 
 And one of the "doctors" was at the table! 
 
 On the 4th of January the General sent for Major 
 Lewis, turned over to him a mass of unanswered letters. 
 
GOVERNOR OF FLORIDA 135 
 
 "to be dealt with as the major might see fit," borrowed 
 the major's new overcoat — his own being somewhat 
 shabby — and mounted his best horse for Washington. 
 He rode as far as Knoxville. There, finding the saddle 
 a little too strenuous for his still enfeebled system, he 
 bought a fine pair of horses and borrowed a carriage, in 
 which the rest of the journey was performed. Before 
 leaving the Hermitage he had imparted to Major Lewis 
 
 his conviction that "3. lot of d d rascals, with Clay 
 
 at their head — and maybe with Adams in the rear-guard 
 — are setting up a conspiracy against me. I'm going 
 there to see it out with them." 
 
 The sequel proved that he was right as to Clay, but 
 wofully out of his reckoning as to Mr. Adams. General 
 Jackson arrived at Washington, January 27th, twenty- 
 three days from the Hermitage. He found the ''d d 
 
 rascals" in full blast with their "conspiracy." Fifteen 
 days before his arrival and eight days before he began 
 the journey, the House Committee on Military Affairs 
 had reported four resolutions. They were in effect, 
 though negatively expressed : 
 
 1. Disapproving the execution of Arbuthnot and Am- 
 brister. 
 
 2. Prohibiting military executions unless approved 
 by the President. 
 
 3. Condemning the seizure of Pensacola and Fort 
 Barrancas. 
 
 4. Prohibiting the entry of United States troops upon 
 foreign soil without authorization by Congress, except 
 in pursuit of a defeated enemy. 
 
 These resolutions were debated to the exclusion of 
 all other subjects from January 12th to February loth. 
 
136 HISTORY OF ANDREW JACKSON 
 
 No attempt can be made to give even a summary of the 
 debate. Suffice to say that few debates in Congress 
 have lasted so long, covered such a wide range of law 
 and diplomacy or been conducted by such masters of the 
 art as this one. Even Benton, in his Abridgment of 
 Congressional Debates — a work as compendious as could 
 be made — devotes 117 large pages to it. 
 
 As has frequently happened in Congress, the prepon- 
 derance of eloquence was on one side and that of votes 
 on the other. After such oratory as Clay's had spent 
 its fiercest force, the House sustained Jackson nearly 
 two to one. 
 
 It approved the execution of Arbuthnot and Ambris- 
 ter — 90 to 54. 
 
 It sustained military execution by a commanding gen- 
 eral without approval by the P.resident — 98 to 57. 
 
 It approved the seizure of Pensacola — 91 to 65. 
 
 And it approved the entry of United States troops 
 upon foreign soil — 112 to 42. 
 
 In the meantime the Senate had considered the same 
 subject through a select committee, of which i\Ir. La- 
 cock, of Pennsylvania, was chairman. Should any reader 
 desire to know who Mr. Lacock was, an examination 
 of the Standard Dictionary of American Biography will 
 disclose the fact that, out of twelve lines in which his 
 share of American history is set forth, six and one-half 
 lines are devoted to the important information that he 
 "opposed Andrew Jackson," etc. Jackson, as a maker 
 of that kind of biography in our annals, was prolific. 
 A great many names were rescued from total oblivion 
 by their owners coming in collision with him. 
 
 Mr. Lacock's principal coadjutor was Mr. Eppes, of 
 
GOVERNOR OF FLORIDA 
 
 137 
 
 Virginia. The Standard Dictionary of American Biog- 
 raphy does a Httle better by Mr. Eppes than by Mr. 
 Lacock. It gives him fifteen hnes. But ''opposition to 
 General Jackson" does not seem to figure as Mr. Eppes's 
 chief claim to historical consequence. It is clearly sub- 
 ordinated to the fact that he was a son-in-law of Thomas 
 Jefferson. 
 
 The House, as we have seen, voted on February 10, 
 18 1 9, to sustain General Jackson on all points nearly 
 two to one. The report of Mr. Lacock's select com- 
 mittee of the Senate w^as submitted February 25th — only 
 eight days before the expiration of Congress in its 
 "short session." 
 
 During the interim the General accepted invitations 
 to public receptions and dinners in Philadelphia, New 
 York and Baltimore. An invitation to Boston was de- 
 clined — or rather deferred — for want of time. In the 
 course of his remarks at the New York reception, held 
 in the City Hall, the General, responding to the welcome 
 of Mayor Colden, said : 
 
 'Tn what I have done for my country, had I erred 
 in discharge of my official duty, that error would have 
 originated in the warmth of my devotion to her inter- 
 ests and a misapplication of the means best calculated 
 to promote her happiness and prosperity. But to find 
 that my conduct has been sanctioned by my government 
 and approved by my fellow-citizens is a source of happi- 
 ness unequalled in the occurrences of my life." 
 
 When Mr. Lacock's report was submitted to the Sen- 
 ate it was laid on the table and ordered printed, by 
 vote of thirty-one to three. The three voting no were 
 those members of the committee itself who signed the 
 
ijS HISTORY OF ANDREW JACKSON 
 
 majority report — which, by the way, was mildly, though 
 clearly, censorious. 
 
 On the same day the treaty with Spain, ceding Florida 
 to the United States, was published. 
 
 Congress adjourned sine die without action on Mr. 
 Lacock's report. When the next Congress met, General 
 Jackson memorialized the Senate, asking for definitive 
 action on the subject, declaring that to leave i\Ir. La- 
 cock's report as "unfinished business" of an expired 
 Congress would be unjust to him. But, beyond ordering 
 his memorial and accompanying documents to be print- 
 ed, the Senate declined to further consider the matter. 
 
 Five months before the meeting of Congress, the ad- 
 ministration dealt with the question in cabinet and in its 
 diplomatic relations. The Cabinet was John Quincy 
 Adams, Secretary of State;, William H. Crawford, 
 Secretary of the Treasury; John C. Calhoun, Secretary 
 of War, and William Wirt, Attorney-General. The 
 Secretary of the Navy seems to have taken no part in 
 the discussion. The President and all the Cabinet ex- 
 cept Mr. Adams substantially agreed at the outset that 
 the conduct of General Jackson should be justified; that 
 the General should be complimented; that the invasion 
 should be considered his own act; that it was just and 
 necessary; that it was not authorized by the govern- 
 ment; that Pensacola and St. Marks should be restored 
 to Spain. 
 
 Fortunately the now celebrated characters of Mr. 
 Pickwick, Mr. Tulkinghorn and Captain Bunsby were 
 not then so celebrated as they are now! General Jack- 
 son remarked, when the state of mind of the adminis- 
 tration was accurately explained to him by Senator 
 
GOVERNOR OF FLORIDA 139 
 
 Campbell : "Oh, well, I'm sorry if I have perplexed Mr. 
 Monroe. But I'm willing to leave it to the people. 
 They don't seem displeased. Washington is a poor 
 place to find out what the people think." 
 
 A long and exhaustive correspondence followed be- 
 tween the President and the General, lasting from July 
 to December, 18 18. The President praised the General 
 heartily in one sentence and censured him gently in the 
 next, all through. The General, in the courtliest phrase 
 he could muster, defended his conduct and urged the 
 unprecedented conditions under which he was placed; 
 arguing in effect that he would have been more culpable 
 had he shirked the personal responsibility than he pos- 
 sibly could be for assuming it. 
 
 To the surprise of many — and probably of no one 
 more than General Jackson himself, Mr. Adams sus- 
 tained him wholly and through thick and thin. And this 
 not merely in cabinet council, but in his diplomatic cor- 
 respondence with Seiior Pizarro, the Spanish premier, 
 and Lord Castlereagh's Ministry. His papers in support 
 of General Jackson's policy and in vindication of his 
 acts are among the most masterly products of their kind 
 in our history. He made Sefior Pizarro confess that 
 Spain in Florida was too weak to enforce her obligations 
 of neutrality as between the United States and the hos- 
 tile Indians, who used her soil as a rendezvous of mur- 
 derers and an asylum for brigands. He compelled the 
 British Ministry to admit that Arbuthnot and Ambrister 
 were justly punished. And it was only to give a sem- 
 blance of harmony to the conclusions of our own Cabinet 
 that Mr. Adams consented to acquiesce in the shuffling 
 and evasive attitude assumed by his colleagues. 
 
I40 HISTORY OF ANDREW JACKSON 
 
 It has been stated that Mr. Wirt in the main coincided 
 with Mr. Adams, but yielded his opinions also for the 
 sake of harmony. This, however, was of relatively small 
 importance. Crawford hated Jackson and was afraid 
 that this and other things would give to the General 
 that presidency which, above all earthly things, he 
 wanted for himself. Calhoun liked Jackson, but other- 
 wise held a motive not unlike that which dominated 
 Crawford. He also dreaded to encounter at that stage 
 of his fortunes a conflict with General Jackson's over- 
 whelming personal popularity. Adams disliked Jackson 
 and dreaded the probability he clearly foresaw that the 
 hold he had upon the fancy of the plain people would 
 before long make him President. In fact, Mr, Adams, 
 in 1818, foresaw that Jackson was more likely than any 
 other man to be his own antagonist for the succession 
 to Air. Monroe. 
 
 But such considerations had no weight with Mr. 
 Adams when a great question was at stake involving 
 the integrity of his country and the security of her fron- 
 tiers. Mr. Adams believed with Jackson that Florida 
 was naturally a part of the United States. With Jack- 
 son he deprecated the prolongation of Spain's feeble, 
 illogical and corrupt sovereignty there. And he and 
 Jackson were agreed in the opinion that a show of 
 strength and determination on our part would hasten 
 while confession of weakness or incertitude would post- 
 pone our possession of Florida. As for the questions 
 involved in the execution of Arbuthnot and Ambrister, 
 Mr. Adams simply applied to them the policy of Great 
 Britain herself in cognate cases, which he considered 
 the only sound, virile policy possible. 
 
GOVERNOR OF FLORIDA 141 
 
 As for General Jackson, he was more concerned about 
 the giving up of St. Marks and Pensacola than any- 
 thing else. To Senator Campbell he said '*it only served 
 to humor Spain's vanity, which was all that the rotten 
 old kingdom had left!" 
 
 As the sequel proved, it did **humor Spain's vanity" 
 enough to make her procrastinate nearly two years over 
 the final treaty of cession. And it emboldened her to 
 exact ''compensatory guarantees" on the side of Texas 
 which afterward returned to plague their inventors. 
 
 Thomas Jefferson, from the shady porch of Monti- 
 cello, announced that in his opinion the diplomatic ex- 
 position of Mr. Adams was a diplomatic model of the 
 American school fit for all future guidance. The ven- 
 erable John Adams, standing at the antipodes of political 
 philosophy from Mr. Jefferson, united with his lifelong 
 adversary in praising the master-stroke of his great son. 
 We doubt if ever any state paper in our national history 
 was more uniformly approved by those whose approval 
 is compliment, or more viciously criticised by those 
 whose disapproval is decoration, than was John Quincy 
 Adams's vindication of Andrew Jackson in Spanish 
 Florida. 
 
 From the summer of 18 19 to the spring of 1821, 
 General Jackson pursued the even tenor of his way. 
 His military duties wxre not onerous. He lived at the 
 Hermitage and his aides-de-camp usually brought to 
 him there such papers as required his personal attention. 
 He did not travel much. What time he passed away 
 from home was mostly devoted to visiting the various 
 Indian reservations in his military division, holding 
 
142 HISTORY OF ANDREW JACKSON 
 
 pow-wows with them, listening to their grievances or 
 laying his heavy hand upon such "bad white men" as 
 might venture to trespass on the rights he had solemnly 
 guaranteed to them. No white man then living pos- 
 sessed such influence over the Indians as General Jack- 
 son. No other man in our history has ever been so 
 revered and respected by them as he was, except, per- 
 haps, Sir William Johnson, or, in a more limited sphere, 
 William Penn. 
 
 In the years 1819 and 1820 numerous complaints 
 reached him from the Cherokees, Creeks and Chicka- 
 saws that their treaty-lands were being trespassed upon 
 by white hunters and unlicensed traders. His name had 
 been signed to the treaties that were being infringed. 
 Among his singular mental habits was that of consider- 
 ing himself personally responsible for the execution, in 
 good faith, of any written stipulation bearing his signa- 
 ture, public as well as private — individual as well as 
 official. He therefore considered that those who tres- 
 passed upon the lands secured to the Indians by what 
 he was wont to call ''my treaties," were guilty of a 
 personal indignity or affront to himself. Hence, with- 
 out referring the matter to the government at Wash- 
 ington or even advising the President of the complaints, 
 he issued a ''general order" directing all white men 
 occupying or sojourning upon lands allotted by treaty 
 to Indian tribes within the jurisdiction of the Southern 
 Military Division to remove thence within thirty days; 
 and if any such white man so trespassing had live stock 
 or other property upon Indian lands, he should remove 
 it within forty days, on penalty of arrest and imprison- 
 ment or forfeiture of the property — or both. 
 
GOVERNOR OF FLORIDA 143 
 
 Most of the men affected by this ''order" were well 
 acquainted with General Jackson. It was commonly 
 known throughout the region that orders from the major- 
 general commanding the Southern Military Division 
 were not to be viewed with levity. The squatters did 
 not take the trouble to inquire whether he had any au- 
 thority or not. Neither did the Major-General. He sim- 
 ply acted. So did they. Most of them were off the 
 reservations within the specified time. In some cases 
 the time was extended briefly. In other cases the white 
 men involved had Indian wives and were bona fide 
 residents — adopted members of the tribes. In such cases, 
 upon request of the Indians, the ''squaw-men," as Jack- 
 son designated them, were allowed to remain, but at 
 the expense of their citizenship. 
 
 After a while the Major-General, more as a matter 
 of courtesy than otherwise, informed the War Depart- 
 ment of his action. The War Department approved 
 the policy, but thought the notification ought to have 
 preceded the act, as there were laws for such cases; 
 and the Secretary suggested as much to the General. 
 No further action was taken, however. The squatters 
 were cleared off the reservations and the laws carried 
 into practical effect — though not by exactly the same 
 method the War Department would have observed had 
 it been consulted beforehand. Like the invasion of 
 Spanish Florida, General Jackson had done the right 
 thing the wrong way; but he had done it so thoroughly 
 that the Washington authorities seemed willing to let 
 well enough alone. 
 
 Early in 1821 General Jackson announced to his 
 friends his intention to resign from the regular army. 
 
144 HISTORY OF ANDREW JACKSON 
 
 The dull routine of military service in time of peace 
 was extremely irksome to him. The treaty by which 
 Spain ceded Florida to the United States was completed. 
 All possible points of disagreement with England were 
 disposed of by the commercial treaty of i8i8-'i9. Even 
 the Indians were peaceable everywhere. Not a speck 
 of war-cloud could be seen anywhere upon the inter- 
 national horizon. After a quarter of a century of un- 
 intermittent tempest by sea and land the world over, 
 the sky of destiny smiled in peace and soft breezes of 
 universal amity soothed the passions of men. Jackson 
 evidently viewed such an epoch as one wholly unpro- 
 pitious for a major-general. 
 
 Moreover, the reduction of the regular army, begun 
 in 1816 but never systematically carried out, had been 
 definitely embodied in a reorganization law passed by 
 Congress in the session of i820-'2i. This measure pro- 
 vided for two regiments of dragoons, four of artillery 
 and seven of infantry, with a small corps of topograph- 
 ical engineers. It fixed the maximum strength of troops, 
 batteries and companies at a figure which the General 
 denounced as "absurdly inefifective" and as "mere 
 skeletons." Dragoon troops were limited to forty-eight 
 of all ranks, batteries to fifty-six and companies of in- 
 fantry to forty-five. The grand total, oi^cers and men, 
 did not exceed 8,000. Material changes were also made 
 in the militia laws, by which Federal control was prac- 
 tically abandoned and the whole subject relegated to the 
 several States — which Jackson described as "a scheme 
 to reduce the militia by starvation." On the whole, the 
 military legislation of that Congress struck him as being 
 "evidently based upon Quaker ideas and taking it for 
 
GOVERNOR OF FLORIDA 145 
 
 granted that the enemies of the United States had dis- 
 appeared from the face of the earth." 
 
 Yet a glance at the general history of that period will 
 show that all other civilized powers except Russia were 
 reducing their armaments in a proportion relatively 
 equal to that adopted by Congress. 
 
 Early in May, General Jackson tendered his resigna- 
 tion. It was not accepted until July. But on May 31st 
 he wrote a farewell address to the troops under his 
 command, to be promulgated as soon as he should re- 
 ceive formal notice that his resignation was accepted. 
 A remarkable part of this document was its frank con- 
 demnation of the scheme to reduce the army and its 
 characterization of the policy of Congress as "hasty and 
 ill-timed." Even at that early day it was unusual for 
 a regular officer to denounce the military policy of Con- 
 gress in a formal communication to the troops under 
 his command. Now it would doubtless put a summary 
 end to the officer's military career. Perhaps, however, 
 there are no Jacksons in the regular army now. But 
 a still more surprising feature of this "farewell order" 
 was a "note" appended to it, dated July 21, 1821, the 
 day of its promulgation. This was a review of a gen- 
 eral order issued by the ranking major-general and 
 commander-in-chief of the army, dated Washington, 
 June 1st, and discussing among other things the preva- 
 lence of desertion — particularly among troops serving in 
 the Southern Division. This evil General Brown as- 
 cribed to "an undue severity or to the absence of system 
 in the conduct of officers toward their men." 
 
 General Jackson seems to have viewed this and other 
 
 expressions of similar purport as a personal affront to 
 Vol. II.— 10 
 
146 HISTORY OF ANDREW JACKSON 
 
 himself and the officers serving in the Southern ]\Iihtary 
 Division. Acting upon such a theory he reviewed the 
 order of his superior officer in language admitting of 
 no ambiguous construction, declaring, among other 
 things, that certain statements of General Brown "were 
 not founded on fact," and that his order as a whole 
 was "an unjust attempt to tarnish the well-earned fame" 
 of officers in the Southern ^Military Division. 
 
 Undoubtedly General Jackson had a right to traverse 
 the statements of General Brown if they reflected upon 
 him or his subordinate officers. But he should have 
 addressed his objections either to General Brown or to 
 the Secretary of War — or, if he chose, to the President. 
 But the last audience in the world to whom such objec- 
 tions could be properly addressed were the officers and 
 soldiers of his own command, and the last channel 
 through which they could be properly promulgated was 
 that of an "appendix" to a general order of his own — 
 farewell or otherwise. 
 
 It would be difficult to imagine a performance more 
 thoroughly unmilitary or less regardful of discipline. 
 The whole affair was simply another added to a long 
 category of incidents in which General Jackson, acting 
 upon the spur of the moment, without thought of any- 
 thing except the quickest and most direct action possible, 
 and with the best motives, did right, but did it in the 
 wrong way. That seemed to be something more than 
 a habit. It amounted to an idiosyncrasy. 
 
 For the rest, this "review" took the ground that the 
 true remedy for the evil of desertion was to be found 
 in a change of system as to punishment. On this point 
 General Jackson argued strenuously in favor of restor- 
 
GOVERNOR OF FLORIDA 147 
 
 ing the cat-o'-nine-tails as a disciplinary implement in 
 the army. For desertion in time of peace he suggested 
 a sliding scale of pmiishment : 'Tor the first offence, 
 thirty-nine stripes; for the second, double that number; 
 and for the third, let him feel the highest penalty of the 
 law." Most men in these days would consider that, in 
 advocating the restoration of flogging. General Jackson 
 set his face against the humanity of his time. But it 
 must be borne in mind that 182 1 was an early date in 
 the history of humane thought. The ''cat" was still in 
 force in our navy and had been abolished in the army 
 but a short time previously. And, if he had felt the 
 need of illustrious reference in support of his views, 
 he could have cited the Father of his Country as a 
 believer in the patriarchal mode of military punishment, 
 not to mention Greene, Wayne, Morgan and other heroes 
 of immortal, though subordinate, renown. And here it 
 might be suggested that one of these — General Morgan 
 — had "enjoyed experience" at both ends of the cat-o'- 
 nine-tails, having not only inflicted it as a commanding 
 officer in the Revolution, but also suffered under it as 
 an enlisted man in the old French war. 
 
 General Jackson's resignation was accepted one day, 
 and he was appointed Governor of Florida Territory the 
 next; thus enjoying for only twenty-four hours the 
 sweets of private life. His career as a civil adminis- 
 trator in this instance was brief and uneventful. After 
 numerous and vexatious delays, which he unhesitatingly 
 attributed to "Spanish treachery," the keys of Pensacola 
 were turned over to him by Governor Don Jose Callava, 
 and he assumed civil control of the new Territory which 
 
148 HISTORY OF ANDREW JACKSON 
 
 he had already twice overrun and conquered as a major- 
 general without authority and on his own personal re- 
 sponsibility. He found it a sinecure. Congress, in the 
 act providing a form of territorial government, had 
 carefully relieved the governor of almost every vestige 
 of executive power. The most searching analysis of 
 that law will fail to disclose any power left in the gov- 
 ernor's hands except that of drawing his salary and 
 reviewing the garrison. Possibly the law-makers knew 
 — or suspected — that the first governor would be ex- 
 General Jackson; and they had by this time become 
 tolerably well acquainted with him.* His only act as 
 Governor of Florida which has found conspicuous place 
 in history was the temporary incarceration of the Span- 
 ish ex-governor, Callava, in his own calabozo. This 
 was a characteristic perform^ce, viewed by Spain with 
 helpless horror, and by the American people as a rather 
 drastic comedy. 
 
 Very soon after the transfer of sovereignty and while 
 the Spanish ex-governor and his staff were aw^aiting 
 transportation to Havana, a handsome quadroon w^oman 
 waited upon the territorial judge or alcalde, Henry M. 
 Brackenridge, to represent that she was the heiress of 
 one Nicolas Maria Vidal, that the papers embodying 
 proof of her rights were in the custody of Senor Do- 
 mingo Sousa, adjutant to ex-Governor Callava, and that 
 they were to be carried away to Havana with other 
 
 * John Randolph remarked, while the Florida bill was under considera- 
 tion in the House of Representatives, that "some honorable gentlemen, 
 evidently divining the intention of the President to api)oint an illustrious 
 hero to the governorship of the new Territory, seem filled with a prudent 
 resolve to preclude him from the possible use of it as a base of operations 
 for the conquest of Spanish Cuba." 
 
GOVERNOR OF FLORIDA 149 
 
 documents of the late regime. Judge Brackenridge, 
 having no authority to act, at once referred the matter 
 to Governor Jackson. 
 
 That functionary waited only to hear that a defence- 
 less woman was about to be defrauded of her patrimony 
 by Spanish tyranny. He ordered that the papers be 
 produced forthwith. Sefior Sousa protested that he 
 could not give them up without orders from his superior, 
 Senor Callava. Governor Jackson then extended the 
 scope of his order to include the ex-governor. That 
 ex-functionary peremptorily refused to surrender the 
 papers. He declared them to be the property of the 
 firm of Forbes and Company, British subjects doing 
 business by authority of the Spanish Government, and 
 intrusted to the late representative of that government 
 for safe keeping. 
 
 If Governor Jackson was in earnest before, he be- 
 came infuriated now. Forbes and Company, forsooth! 
 Nobody had better reason to be intimately acquainted 
 with Forbes and Company than he. They had been im- 
 plicated in transactions with Arbuthnot, whom he had 
 hanged. The ''business carried on by Forbes and Com- 
 pany by authority of the Spanish Government" had been 
 that of supplying with arms and ammunition the hostile 
 Indians, who had used those arms in the massacre of 
 Fort Mims, the murder of Lieutenant Scott and his 
 detachment, and a long list of other horrors. 
 
 Further particulars need not be offered here. 
 
 Governor Jackson at once ordered Lieutenant Mountz, 
 of the Fourth Infantry, to take a file of twenty men, 
 arrest ex-Governor Callava, make a final demand for 
 the Vidal papers, and if still refused to confine the ex- 
 
150 HISTORY OF ANDREW JACKSON 
 
 governor in the calabozo. The regular Heutenant obeyed 
 orders to the letter and ex-Governor Callava was thrown 
 into the calabozo, where he passed the night with sev- 
 eral convivial friends, who voluntarily shared his im- 
 prisonment, the asperity of which was largely mitigated 
 by abundant supplies of champagne and cigars. 
 
 The next day Judge Fromentin — a French adventurer 
 from Louisiana whom President Monroe had appointed 
 as temporary or provisional judge for the new Territory 
 — issued a writ of habeas corpus. Governor Jackson 
 ignored the writ and cited the judge to appear before 
 him and answer to a charge of contempt for his (the 
 Governor's) sovereign authority. He, however, ordered 
 the release of Callava on other grounds. Fromentin 
 was not prosecuted for "contempt of Governor Jack- 
 son,'' but he was soon after superseded in the territorial 
 judgeship by Mr. Brackenridge, regularly appointed and 
 confirmed. 
 
 At last the Vidal papers were surrendered. Governor 
 Jackson then directed Alcalde Brackenridge to investigate 
 the case. It was characteristic of Governor Jackson to 
 act first and investigate afterward — if at all. Bracken- 
 ridge's investigation disclosed that the papers were of 
 no value — or less than none, because they showed the 
 Vidal estate to be indebted to Forbes and Company in a 
 small sum. Besides, it appeared that the handsome 
 quadroon woman had no rights in the inheritance, under 
 the laws of the State of Louisiana, where the estate was 
 situate, being illegitimate and born of a slave mother. 
 
CHAPTER VI 
 
 PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE 
 
 Nothing came of this serio-comedy. The Spanish 
 government made no effort to secure redress of Senor 
 Callava's wrongs and Governor Don Andreas Jackson 
 — as the Spaniards called him — reigned supreme. No 
 other episode worth historical mention occurred during 
 Jackson's brief incumbency of the territorial governor- 
 ship. He resigned and returned to the Hermitage in 
 November. The General himself left to history no ex- 
 pression of his own concerning his view of the guber- 
 natorial office. But Mrs. Jackson, in letters to her 
 brother, Colonel John Donelson, and to her friend, the 
 wife of Captain Kingsley of the army,* w^as more com- 
 municative. Her letters possess the double value of an 
 index to her character and of gossipy contributions to 
 "inside history." Keenly as the General may have felt 
 the restraints by which the organic law of the Territory 
 denied him the privilege of "recognizing the claims of 
 his friends," he made no sign — at least none that ever 
 reached the public eye or ear. But he doubtless im- 
 parted his chagrin to Mrs. Jackson. 
 
 In August she wrote to Colonel Donelson: 
 
 I am sure our stay here will not be long. This office does 
 not suit my husband. . . . There never was a man more 
 
 * Historical Society of Tennessee. 
 151 
 
152 HISTORY OF ANDREW JACKSON 
 
 disappointed than he has been. He has not the power to 
 appoint one of his friends ; which I thought was in part the 
 reason for his coming. But it has almost taken his Hfe. Cap- 
 tain Call says it is equal to the Seminole campaign. Well, I 
 knew it would be a ruining concern. I shall not pretend to 
 describe the toils, fatigues and trouble. These Spaniards had 
 as lief die as give up their country. He has had terrible scenes : 
 the Governor [Callava] has been put in the calaboose; which 
 is a terrible thing, really. I was afraid there would be a 
 rebellion, but the Spanish troops were all gone to Havana ; only 
 some officers remaining here yet. Rebellion would have been 
 terrible. You know how he [meaning the General] deals wdth 
 rebellions. Let us thank the Lord there was none. . . . 
 
 We have a hope of setting out by the first of October for 
 home. . . . They all begin to think with me that Tennessee 
 is the best country yet. Tell our friends I hope to see them 
 again in our country and to know that it is the best I ever 
 saw. . . . The glory of high office is nothing. I shall 
 never forget how quickly the leaves withered of the laurel 
 crown they put upon the General at New Orleans ! There is 
 but one Crown that never fades or withers. O, let us all seek 
 it while yet we may. 
 
 In one of her letters to Mrs. Kingsley, Mrs. Jackson 
 said: 
 
 O, that I had the pen of a ready writer that I might give 
 you a correct detail of the great transactions. We having a 
 house prepared and furnished, the General advised me to move 
 down and remain until he could with propriety march in with 
 the Fourth Regiment.* 
 
 Three Sabbaths I spent in this house before the country was 
 
 * Governor Jackson would not enter the town until the Spanish 
 authorities were ready to transfer the government to him But he did not 
 wish Mrs. Jackson to undergo the privations of camp, and therefore he 
 sent her to reside in the town three weeks before he took official posses- 
 sion. 
 
PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE 153 
 
 in possession under American government. In all that time I 
 was not an idle spectator. The Sabbath profanely kept; a great 
 deal of noise and swearing in the streets; shops kept open; 
 trade going on, I think, more than on any other day. They 
 were so boisterous on that day I sent Major Stanton to say to 
 them that the approaching Sunday [the one after the trans- 
 fer — Author] would be differently kept.* And I must say 
 the worst people here are the cast-out Americans and negroes. 
 Yesterday [the first Sunday after the transfer] I had the 
 happiness of witnessing the truth of what I had said. Great 
 order was observed; the doors kept shut; the gambling-houses 
 demolished; fiddling and dancing not heard any more on the 
 Lord's Day; cursing not to be heard. . . . 
 
 While the General was in camp, fourteen miles from Pensa- 
 cola, he was very sick. I went to see him and try and per- 
 suade him to come to his house. But no. All his friends tried. 
 He said that when he came in it should be under his own 
 standard, and that would be the third time he had planted that 
 flag on that wall. And he has done so. O, how solemn was 
 his pale countenance when he dismounted from his horse ! 
 Recollections of scenes and perils of war not to be dissevered 
 presented themselves to view. The inhabitants all speak 
 Spanish and French. Some speak four or five languages. 
 Such a mixed multitude you nor I nor any of us ever had an 
 idea of. There are fewer white people than any other, mixed 
 with all nations under the canopy of heaven almost in nature's 
 darkness. But thanks to the Lord that hath put grace in this 
 His servant to issue His proclamation in a language they all 
 
 * Mrs. Jackson knew what she was writing about. Among the first acts 
 of Governor Jackson was to ordain that, " As the Christian Sabbath is observed 
 throughout the civilized world, in order to remove any doubt which might 
 be entertained with resoect to the powers of the Mayor and Council on this 
 subject, they are authorized to make any regulations on the observance thereof 
 which they may deem proper." 
 
 It is necessary to add only that the "regulations made by the Mayor and 
 Council" were drafted at head-quarters, and no doubt approved by Mrs. 
 Jackson. Pensacola became a "closed town" on Sunday, under the regime 
 of Governor and Mrs. Jackson. 
 
154 HISTORY OF ANDREW JACKSON 
 
 understand. I think the sanctuary is about to be purged for a 
 minister of the gospel to come over to the help of the Lord's 
 cause in this dark region. 
 
 There is a Catholic Church in the place and the priest seems 
 a divine-looking man. He comes to see us. He dined with us 
 yesterday, the Governor and Secretary, French, Spanish, Ameri- 
 can ladies and all. I have as pleasant a house as any in town. 
 
 My dear husband is, I think, not any better as to his health. 
 He has indeed performed a great work in his day. Had I heard 
 by the hearing of the ear I could not have believed ! 
 
 O, for Zion. I am not at rest nor can I be in a heathen 
 land. How happy and thankful should you be in a land of gos- 
 pel light and liberty. O, rejoice and be glad; far more it is 
 to be desired than all the honor and riches in this vain world. 
 Farewell, my dear friend, and should the great Arbiter of fate 
 order His servant not to see her kindred and friends again I 
 hope to meet you in the realms of everlasting bliss. Then 
 shall I weep no more at parting. 
 
 Do not be uneasy for me. 'Although the vine yield no fruit 
 and the olive no oil, yet will I serve the Lord." 
 
 The date of the foregoing letter was July 23d. Two 
 months later she wrote to Mrs. Kingsley again : 
 
 Happy am I to tell you and all my dear friends that w-e are 
 not much longer for this place. The General, I think, is the 
 most anxious man to get home I ever saw. He calls it a wild- 
 goose chase, his coming here. . . . You are in the best 
 country in America. O, how has this place been overrated. 
 Among many disadvantages it has few advantages. Not one 
 minister of the gospel has come to this place yet ; no, not one ; 
 but we have a prayer-meeting every Sabbath. The house is 
 crowded so there is not room for them. Sincere prayers are 
 constantly sent up to the Hearer of Prayer for a faithful min- 
 ister. O, what a reviving, refreshing scene it would be to 
 the Christians, though few in number. The non-professors 
 also desire it. 
 
PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE 155 
 
 You named, my dear friend, my going to the theatre. I 
 went once and then with much reluctance. I felt so little 
 interest in it, however, I shall not take up much time in 
 apologizing. 
 
 At last the tired and disappointed General and his 
 pious and patient spouse once more found the rest and 
 congenial society of their beloved Hermitage a few days 
 before Christmas-tide, 1821. It proved a rest of two 
 years. The brief governorship of Florida passed into 
 memory more as a nightmare than as an experience. 
 For the first time since 1789 Andrew Jackson was a 
 private citizen in the full sense of the term. For thirty- 
 two years consecutively he had held office, civil or mili- 
 tary : Territorial district-attorney for Tennessee ; mem- 
 ber of Congress from the new State; Senator; Supreme 
 Court Judge; Major-General of militia; Major-General 
 in the regular army; defender of the Louisiana Purchase; 
 conqueror and Governor of Florida. A long list of 
 honors, surely. For some men they would have sufBced. 
 For a time he declared and believed that they must 
 suffice for him. 
 
 "I am no longer a strong man," he said to his friend, 
 ex-Senator Campbell, who had recently returned from 
 Russia, where he was American minister from 18 18 to 
 182 1, and who visited him at the Hermitage. 'T can't 
 stand the fatigues and privations I used to. Why, bless 
 us, George, do you realize we are getting old? I'm 
 fifty-four! And God knows I've never spared myself. 
 You are a year younger and have taken better care of 
 yourself. But, after all, we're both getting old — or 
 towards it, anyhow." 
 
 Campbell pooh-poohed the General's pessimism. *'You 
 
156 HISTORY OF ANDREW JACKSON 
 
 are only tired out," he said, ''and a little bit sick. That 
 miserable climate and the wretched filth of a Spanish 
 town have temporarily enfeebled your system. But wait, 
 General, till our own pure air braces you up this winter 
 and something happens to stir your spirit up and you'll 
 soon be your old self again. You are by no means 
 safe from the presidency in 1824 " 
 
 'T really hope you don't think, George, that I am 
 
 d d fool enough to believe that!" interrupted the 
 
 General with something of his wonted warmth. "No, 
 sir; I may be pretty well satisfied with myself in some 
 things, but am not vain enough for that." 
 
 One by one all his closest friends approached him in 
 the same way. To all he returned the same answer. 
 Since about 1818 he had to a great extent lost interest 
 in politics. He had even let go his hold on the throttle- 
 valve of the "Tennessee machine," and his mantle as its 
 "Boss" had fallen upon the broad shoulders of his favor- 
 ite protege. General William Carroll. He really and 
 earnestly hoped to be left alone; to eke out his days — 
 which he believed would be few — in private life. He 
 longed for the repose and seclusion of his now superb 
 plantation; to re-establish his erstwhile supremacy as a 
 stock-breeder and horse-fancier. Since 1804 niost of the 
 outlying land had been sold off, so that in 1821 the 
 Hermitage plantation was a solid tract of about three 
 thousand acres, of which say twelve hundred were under 
 cultivation; the rest magnificent timber. Since 1819 a 
 new brick mansion had been built — a palace in that en- 
 vironment, but which M. Lavasseur, private secretary 
 to Lafayette, when that illustrious French patriot vis- 
 ited General Jackson in 1825, thought would hardly be 
 
PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE 157 
 
 a suitable porter's lodge for the chateau of so great a 
 man in France. 
 
 However, it was a palace to the victor of New Or- 
 leans. A commodious, though plain, ''double house," 
 with wade hall, good-sized rooms, two stories and a 
 lofty attic, thickly shaded lawn, a large garden laid out 
 in gravelled walks and redolent with the perfume of 
 flowers, a wide porch whereon to while aw^ay pleasant 
 evenings or afternoons with good cheer drawn from a 
 capacious cellar amply stocked ; all this, howsoever primi- 
 tive it might seem to M. Lavasseur, was idyllic and 
 luxurious to a pioneer like Andrew Jackson and to the 
 daughter of one like Mrs. Jackson. 
 
 Beyond doubt, General Jackson's firm resolve in 1821 
 to quit public life ''for good and all" was largely due 
 to the influence of his wife. During that winter — in 
 February, 1822 — she wrote to her niece, Mary Donel- 
 son: 
 
 I do hope they will now leave Mr. Jackson alone. He is not 
 a well man and never will be unless they allow him to rest. 
 He has done his share for the country. How little time has 
 he had to himself or for his own interests in the thirty years 
 of our wedded life. In all that time he has not spent one- 
 fourth of his days under his own roof. The rest of the time 
 away, travelling, holding court, or at the capital of the coun- 
 try, or in camp, or fighting its battles, or treating with the 
 Indians ; mercy knows what not, so that it kept him from home, 
 from his own concerns and serving the people as a Christian 
 serves the Lord. 
 
 In all this time and through all such trials I have not said aye, 
 yes or no. It was his work to do, he seemed called to it and 
 I watched, waited and prayed most of the time alone. Now 
 I hope it is at an end. They talk of his being President. Major 
 Eaton, General Carroll, Mr. Campbell, the Doctor [meaning 
 
158 HISTORY OF ANDREW JACKSON 
 
 Bronaugh] and even the Parson [probably meaning the Rev. 
 Dr. Blackburn] and I can't tell how many others — all of his 
 friends who come here — talk everlastingly about his being 
 President. In this as in all else, I can only say, the Lord's 
 will be done. But I hope he may not be called again to the 
 strife and empty honors of public place. 
 
 But neither the General's modest estimate of himself 
 nor Mrs. Jackson's longing for a serene home life made 
 any difference with the programme of the people. From 
 this time on Jackson became a candidate for the pres- 
 idency; a passive one, indeed; so passive that he not 
 only did not seek it, but for a time was almost oblivious 
 of the fact. His candidature was not only non-personal, 
 but it was not even the evolution of a ''favorite son." 
 True,*he was the candidate of Tennessee, but not in the 
 sense in which Clay was the "favorite son" of Kentucky, 
 Adams of Massachusetts, Crawford of Georgia, Calhoun 
 of South Carolina, or DeWitt Clinton of New York. 
 The political parties of earlier days had ceased to exist. 
 The Federalism that Hamilton invented and John Adams 
 exploited into the presidency had disappeared along with 
 Pakenham's soldiers and other wreckage of the war of 
 18 1 2. No party in those days could survive Hartford 
 conventions. The old Republican party, of which Jef- 
 ferson was the prophet, had disappeared in the apostolic 
 succession of Madison and Monroe. It was clear that 
 Virginia had ceased to be the Rome of Republican popes, 
 or, at least, of Jeffersonian pontiffs. No new parties 
 of definitive organization or tangible growth had taken 
 the places of those that were defunct. 
 
 In such a chaos the supremacy of personalism becomes 
 inevitable under any elective or popular form of gov- 
 
PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE 159 
 
 ernment. From this view-point two men stood head and 
 shoulders above the others, though on diametrically op- 
 posite pedestals. They were Adams and Jackson. Mr. 
 Adams was unquestionably the leading American states- 
 man of his time. He had all of his father's intellectual 
 grasp and power, with vastly more than his father's 
 savoir faire. His character had been polished in the 
 schools of Europe and his natural subtlety made keen 
 as a razor by contact with the best-trained and most 
 astute diplomatists of the Old World. All American 
 statesmen in that epoch were more or less provincial. 
 Even Clay, peerless in oratory and with the advantage 
 of having dabbled in diplomacy at Ghent, was still a 
 Kentuckian of the Kentuckians, and had not yet quite 
 got over feeling a bit awkward as soon as he arrived 
 on the Atlantic slope. He was, moreover, a politician 
 of the hour and for the stake in sight, who could never 
 let a trick pass him, no matter how high a card he 
 might have to play to take it. As for Crawford, Cal- 
 houn and Clinton, they were simply ''favorite sons," om- 
 nipotent in their respective States, but little known and 
 less cared about beyond their own provincial confines. 
 
 Jackson held a rank and occupied a position different 
 from all. He was not a statesman. He was not widely 
 known as a politician, though, in his own bailiwick, he 
 had long been a most adroit, masterful and commanding 
 one. But he zi^as known, not only throughout the Union, 
 but far and wide in the civilized world, as the greatest 
 soldier of America. In that capacity his popularity was 
 as overwhelming in Pennsylvania as in Tennessee, in 
 New Hampshire as in Missouri. Without exactly know- 
 ing why, the people of every State and section viewed 
 
i6o HISTORY OF ANDREW JACKSON 
 
 him as the man who, when their national pride was pros- 
 trated and their patriotic self-esteem turned to shame 
 by the disasters of 1814, had revived the one and re- 
 kindled the other by the thunderbolt of unexpected vic- 
 tory he sent reverberating through the land from Chal- 
 mette Plain in 181 5. 
 
 The seven years passed since then had not in the 
 least cooled the blood or lessened the gratitude of the 
 people. Hence it was that, while the States which had 
 ''favorite sons'' nursed them tenderly, the name of Jack- 
 son overleapt alike boundaries of commonwealths and 
 lines of sections. Benton, "Boss" of Missouri and hold- 
 ing the political destinies of the new Northwest as in 
 the hollow of his hand, forgot the deadly brawl of 18 13. 
 He was loud, indeed, publicly in his support of his 
 wife's uncle, Mr. Clay, but he^ quietly advised his friends 
 not to let the Jackson procession pass altogether by them. 
 Pennsylvania, having no "favorite son" of her own, 
 adopted Jackson, without regard to party, by a sort of 
 consensus of the plain people. Sturdy Isaac Hill, in the 
 granite-ribbed Adamsite State of New Hampshire, un- 
 der the shadow of Mount Washington, nailed the Jack- 
 son banner to the mast of his unterrified Patriot. 
 
 During all this furor the General remained perfectly 
 quiescent and apparently unconcerned on his plantation. 
 Mrs. Jackson declared that she "could not remember 
 when she had been so happy. Never before had she 
 enjoyed so much of Mr. Jackson's society. He hardly 
 went away from home at all now. And, best of all, his 
 health was mending wonderfully." In a rather vague 
 way, she realized that "he was talked about for Pres- 
 ident by a goud many people, but she didn't think there 
 
PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE i6i 
 
 was really much danger of his being called away from 
 home again. Of course, she knew that Major Lewis, 
 her near neighbor, and Edward Livingston, her hus- 
 band's good friend in New Orleans, were moving 
 heaven and earth to nominate the General. She knew 
 what Major Lewis was doing because he told her. And 
 she knew what Mr. Livingston was doing because his 
 little daughter of 1815, now grown to young ladyhood, 
 wrote to her about it. As for the rest, she knew but 
 little, because she found little time to read the news- 
 papers and the General did not bother her with the 
 myriad of letters that poured in upon him. 
 
 So things went along through 1822 and till near the 
 end of 1823. Late in the summer of that year General 
 Jackson was forced by local conditions into a positive 
 attitude as a presidential candidate. His nomination for 
 the presidency, according to the custom then in vogue, by 
 the Tennessee legislature was already assured. But there 
 a complication arose in the fact that Senator John Wil- 
 liams, whose term expired March 4, 1823, was a candi- 
 date for re-election. Williams was not only personally 
 and politically adverse to Jackson * in the State, but 
 he was also known to be pledged to the support of Craw- 
 ford. It was know^n that he had already obtained 
 pledges of support from a majority of the legislature. 
 The General's keen instinct of party management taught 
 
 * Williams had been colonel of the Thirty-ninth United States Infantry, 
 and was with Jackson in the last campaign of the Creek war. Jackson 
 named Fort Williams in Alabama for him. But in his report of the battle 
 of Tohopeka, where the Thirty-ninth really behaved well, the General, as 
 Williams thought, failed to give his regiment due credit. Jackson declined 
 to amend his report and Williams, who, upon reduction of the army after 
 the war, went into politics in Tennessee, became his inveterate, and at one 
 time most formidable, enemy in the State. 
 Vol. II. — II 
 
1 62 HISTORY OF ANDREW JACKSON 
 
 him that if the same legislature which nominated him 
 for the presidency should also choose a senator known 
 to be hostile to him and pledged to Crawford, the presi- 
 dential nomination would naturally be viewed as a mere 
 personal compliment, if not a farce. 
 
 Whatever may have been his indifference up to this 
 time, he was not willing to be placed in such a position 
 and the emergency roused all his old-time combative 
 energy. His first thought was to select one of his own 
 adherents to run against Williams as the Jackson can- 
 didate. But a careful analysis of the situation, based 
 upon an actual canvass of- the legislature, showed that 
 but one man in the State could beat Williams, and that 
 one was Andrew Jackson. At first he was not disposed 
 to enter the lists for the senatorship. But all his friends 
 — Eaton, Carroll, Lewis, Rhea, Campbell, Blount and 
 many others — insisted. Finally, seeing no alternative, 
 he consented to run. He beat Williams, notwithstand- 
 ing the ''pledges" the latter had obtained from mem- 
 bers-elect in a personal canvass of the State, by more 
 than two-thirds — only twenty-three out of seventy-four 
 voting for Williams. Twenty-five voted for Williams 
 at first, but before the result was announced, two of 
 them changed their votes to Jackson. A striking evi- 
 dence of the General's hold upon the popular mind in 
 Tennessee was the fact that of the twenty-three who 
 voted for Williams to the end, only three were returned 
 to the next legislature — an object-lesson not soon to be 
 forgotten. 
 
 The General's friends lost no time in publishing this 
 suggestive paragraph of political history throughout the 
 country. It strengthened the hands of the Jackson men 
 
PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE 163 
 
 everywhere. It particularly dismayed the adherents of 
 Crawford, who had confidently expected that the re- 
 election of Williams would break the force of Jackson's 
 nomination as a presidential candidate by the legislature. 
 Isaac Hill dressed the New Hampshire Patriot in the 
 Star-Spangled Banner and claimed, in large headlines, 
 "First Blood for Jackson!" It was, in fact, the first 
 "test-vote" in that presidential campaign. 
 
 The General took his seat in the Senate December 6, 
 1823. It vras not a particularly strong Senate. Benton, 
 H^ayne and Van Buren are about the only names on 
 its roll-call that survive in full splendor the ravage of 
 time. His service in that august body lasted a little 
 less than two years. He sat through the long session 
 of 1823-24 and the short session of 1824-25, includ- 
 ing the brief executive session after March 4th, to act 
 upon the nominations for the new Cabinet. 
 
 The most important event of General Jackson's second 
 term in the Senate was the reconciliation — or rather the 
 resumption of friendly personal relations — between him- 
 self and Thomas H. Benton, interrupted at Nashville 
 ten years before by powder and ball. General Jackson 
 still carried in the back of his left shoulder the encysted 
 token of Colonel Benton's skill with the pistol. Several 
 versions of the reconciliation have been related. That 
 given by Martin Van Buren was imparted to the author 
 of this work by Horatio Seymour in 1876, as Governor 
 Seymour received it from Mr. Van Buren in 1852. 
 
 According to this account there was no scene what- 
 ever. On entering the Senate, General Jackson took the 
 seat formerly occupied by his defeated predecessor. Colo- 
 nel John Williams. The next seat but one was that of 
 
1 64 HISTORY OF ANDREW JACKSON 
 
 Colonel Benton, and Mr. Van Buren was the interven- 
 ing one. This arrangement was changed later in the 
 session, bringing Jackson and Benton in adjoining seats. 
 Mr. Van Buren said that at first the two men bowed 
 ceremoniously but said nothing more than "Good-morn- 
 ing, sir." This was kept up until the committees were 
 announced. Senator Jackson was chairman of the Com- 
 mittee on Revolutionary Claims, and Senator Benton 
 was the leading member on it. A day or two after the 
 announcement of committees, Mr. Van Buren heard 
 Senator Jackson say : ''Colonel Benton, will you inform 
 me as to your earliest convenience for a meeting of our 
 committee?" 
 
 To which Senator Benton replied: "General Jackson, 
 your convenience will be mine. You are the chairman, 
 sir." 
 
 "After that," said Mr. Van Buren, "their intercourse 
 seemed as unconstrained as that between either and other 
 senators. Neither of them was ever very free, certainly 
 not familiar, in his manner toward any other senator, 
 both being inclined to dignity and reserve. At a dinner 
 given by the President soon afterward, I noticed Gen- 
 eral Jackson with Mrs. Benton on his arm, and she 
 was introducing him to other senatorial ladies. Then 
 I knew the re-establishment of friendly relations was 
 perfect, though I hardly imagined that in a few years 
 Colonel Benton would become the personal representa- 
 tive and most powerful champion in the Senate of the 
 President who still carried his bullet. That they ever 
 cordially liked each other, I do not believe. That they 
 profoundly admired each other, I know. That Benton 
 supported Jackson in the Senate more for sake of the 
 
PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE 165 
 
 party than of the man, I beHeve. That Jackson was 
 keenly grateful to Benton for that support on personal 
 as well as on party grounds, he has often assured me." 
 
 Benton, though his chief support in the Senate, never 
 asked many favors of the President. He even politely 
 declined some that were offered. Benton was exceed- 
 ingly punctilious on the score of political morals. Going 
 as he did all lengths in support of Jackson's administra- 
 tion, he held that he himself, of all men, must keep 
 aloof from even the suspicion of being actuated by the 
 hope or enjoyment of patronage. Jackson, somewhat 
 more practical — or perhaps less sensitive — could not at 
 first quite understand Benton's self-isolation from the 
 revv-ards of his fidelity; but after a while came to com- 
 prehend the motive, and his appreciation of it immeas- 
 urably exalted the great Missouri Senator in his esteem. 
 '"Never," said Mr. Van Buren in conclusion, ''was there 
 so perfect a combination of executive and forensic forces, 
 such a reciprocity of diverse though complimentary per- 
 sonalities, as Jackson in the White House and Benton 
 in the Senate chamber!" 
 
 'Tt might not ineptly be suggested in this connection," 
 said Governor Seymour, "that modesty forbade Mr. Van 
 Buren to add 'and himself in the Cabinet' !" 
 
 Of Jackson's work in the Senate there is little record 
 outside the yeas and nays. Neither of the two sessions 
 was marked by great measures. The long session last- 
 ing from December to June preceded a presidential elec- 
 tion, and that is customarily a season for evading rather 
 than promoting important legislation. Jackson was the 
 only candidate for the presidency in the Senate. Of the 
 
1 66 HISTORY OF ANDREW JACKSON 
 
 other three, one was Speaker of the House, one Secretary 
 of State and one Secretary of the Treasury. So Jackson 
 alone was in a position compelhng him to ''make a rec- 
 ord" in legislation, except in case of a tie in the House, 
 when the speaker might be called upon to vote. 
 
 Senator Jackson voted on most roll-calls, and his votes 
 were in themselves "planks of his platform," as far as 
 they went. Generally speaking, they indicated that he 
 favored protection to industries established in the United 
 States and a tariff for revenue on products that had to 
 be imported. His vote "to place frying-pans on the 
 free-list" was obviously a concession to the frontier, 
 where the frying-pan was, perhaps, the most important 
 single utensil of cookery. He voted for every bill to 
 aid internal improvements. He made no remarks on 
 any question. But he explained his attitude on the 
 tariff in a letter to Mr. Colman, a member of the Vir- 
 ginia legislature, dated April 26, 1824. 
 
 This letter was almost immediately published — at 
 Jackson's own instance, most people believed — and he 
 was wont to say to all who inquired that it "embodied 
 his views as well as he was able to express them." For 
 the rest, it has been said that, in the executive session 
 after March 4, 1825, he made quite a speech explaining 
 his reasons for voting against the confirmation of Henry 
 Clay to be Secretary of State in Mr. Adams's Cabinet ; 
 also that he concluded his remarks by stating that there 
 were other things he would say if the session were an 
 open one, but which he did not think a gentleman of 
 personal responsibility would or could say behind the 
 shield of executive secrecy. 
 
 By far the most important public or national measure 
 
PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE 167 
 
 put forth during General Jackson's term in the Senate 
 was one that called for no immediate legislative atten- 
 tion. It was embodied in President Monroe's annual 
 message laid before Congress Tuesday, December 2, 
 1823, three days before the General took his seat. It 
 has passed into history as 'The Monroe Doctrine," and 
 into the polity of this nation as an informal amendment 
 to the Constitution by unanimous consent — or by ''Sus- 
 pension of the Rules." It met with the enthusiastic 
 approval of Senator Jackson. There are evidences in 
 his extant correspondence — rather oracular than ex- 
 plicit — that he anticipated a possible necessity of vindi- 
 cating it by armed force should the Holy Alliance un- 
 dertake to carry into effect its proposed restoration to 
 Spain and Portugal sovereignty over their revolted col- 
 onies in the Western Hemisphere. It is, however, barely 
 possible that Senator Jackson's enthusiasm might have 
 been slightly chilled had he been aware of the fact, then 
 known to very few but now a matter of common his- 
 tory, that the actual originator — or, as Jackson might 
 have said, "instigator" — of the Monroe Doctrine was 
 George Canning, then Premier of Great Britain. How- 
 ever, he learned the fact afterward and, when President, 
 held the doctrine as tenaciously as if there had been 
 no British taint in its origin. 
 
 The presidential election of 1824 was remarkable for 
 three events : 
 
 First — It was illuminated by the advent of the Demo- 
 cratic party as an organized political force of national 
 scope. 
 
 Second — It was the last appearance of the "Congres- 
 sional Caucus" as a mode of nominating presidential 
 candidates. 
 
1 68 HISTORY OF ANDREW JACKSOX 
 
 Third — It was signalized by the agglomeration of all 
 that political flotsam and jetsam alike of Hamiltonian 
 Federalism and Jeffersonian Republicanism under our 
 primitive oligarchical system which four years later took 
 shape and name in the Whig party. 
 
 To these some writer of cynical tendencies might add 
 a fourth innovation — the counting-in of a President not 
 elected. But that is a subject for future consideration. 
 
 The old congressional caucus system, as we have inti- 
 mated, though clearly doomed, still held spasmodic vital- 
 ity enough to name Mr. Crawford, of Georgia, as the 
 Democratic candidate and John Ouincy Adams as the 
 candidate of all other shades of opinion represented in 
 Congress. Mr. Clay and General Jackson were put in 
 nomination by the legislatures of their own and other 
 States or by State conventions. The downfall of the 
 congressional caucus system marked an epoch in party 
 management by giving — or purporting to give — to the 
 people the nominating as well as the electing power, and 
 was therefore the most important of all the innovations 
 of 1824. Whether or not it was an unmixed political 
 blessing and whether its effect in the long run told for 
 better or purer party management is a question for the 
 political philosopher rather than for the personal biog- 
 rapher. Our own view — if it be of any passing interest 
 — has always been that while in one sense it apparently 
 expanded the power of the people in exercise of choice, 
 it, in another and more practical sense, actually crippled 
 their potency by lodging the real exercise of choice in 
 the hands of irresponsible ''managers," generally self- 
 constituted, and thereby superseded a system of repre- 
 sentative centralism that, with all its faults, was tangible, 
 
PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE 169 
 
 by one of personal Boss-ism, which is elusive in form 
 and impalpable in substance. However, as the congres- 
 sional caucus system is dead beyond resurrection, dis- 
 cussion of its relative merits would be little else than 
 unprofitable, even if interesting, political archaeology. 
 
 The campaign was not particularly strenuous. That 
 is to say, there was comparatively little vituperation. 
 No one of the four candidates was denounced by his 
 opponents as a usurper, a thief, a gambler or a murderer. 
 Mr. Crawford was the candidate of what little still lin- 
 gered of the Jeffersonian apostolic succession. Mr. 
 Adams was the candidate of the accumulated wealth, 
 the large commercial aspiration and enterprise and the 
 growing culture of the country — elements more respect- 
 able in character than potent in number ; and Mr. Adams 
 was their natural, almost inevitable, exponent. He put 
 forth no effort to secure either nomination or election, 
 but maintained throughout the canvass that cold, almost 
 repellent, reserve in public character and manners which 
 was so singularly antipodal to his geniality and good- 
 nature in private life. 
 
 Jackson and Clay were the candidates of the people, 
 of the masses, who now for the first time struggled to 
 expand the right of suffrage and to transfer the sceptre 
 from narrow and effete Virginia or Massachusetts to the 
 broad and brawny West. Jackson was, as he under- 
 stood it, a Democrat. On all occasions he was wont to 
 proclaim himself a believer in the doctrines expounded 
 by Jefferson. But whatever his theories were — or per- 
 haps it would be more perspicuous to say, whatever he 
 may have thought they were — Jackson in practice was 
 a territorial expansionist; a believer in a strong central 
 
I70 HISTORY OF ANDREW JACKSON 
 
 government; he despised the weakness of individual 
 States and the impotency of their mihtia in the emer- 
 gencies of war : he favored a strong regular army ; he 
 was for increase of the navy from his first congressional 
 vote in 1796 to his last message in 1837; whenever he 
 conscientiously conceived the national safety or the in- 
 tegrity of the Union to be imminently jeopardized, he 
 was capable of suspending the Constitution, overriding 
 the civil laws, suppressing legislatures, arresting courts, 
 and exiling judges; under such conditions he could in- 
 vade foreign territory on his own responsibility, subju- 
 gate with the national forces the colonies of European 
 governments with whom the United States was at peace, 
 and execute culprits by general order or by fiat of court- 
 martial without reference or appeal. And then, the mo- 
 ment the emergency was ovei*, he could relapse into the 
 most submissive of patriots, the most law-abiding of 
 citizens. In short, whatever he may have fancied him- 
 self to be theoretically. General Jackson was in practice 
 what would now be termed an Imperialist of the deepest 
 dye. And that was what gave to him his marvellous 
 hold on the imagination and the ambition of the plain 
 people.* 
 
 From the beginning of Jefferson to the end of Monroe 
 the people had heard men of words only. In Jackson, 
 for the first time in a generation, they sazi' a man of 
 
 * This undercurrent of sentiment was once aptly voiced by William Allen 
 in the speech which elected him to the Senate from Ohio in 1836: 
 
 "They tell us that Andrew Jackson is a man to be feared by the American 
 people — that his lease of power is dangerous to American liberty! Gentle- 
 men, let me suggest that no man so dreaded by the enemies of America as he 
 is need be feared by our people; no man so destructive to those who have 
 tried to destroy us can be dangerous to the liberties he has defended!" 
 
PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE 
 
 171 
 
 acts. They did not trouble themselves with elaborate 
 analysis of the acts. They simply applauded the results 
 without question and apotheosized the actor without 
 argument. 
 
 As for Mr. Clay, the author confesses utter incapacity 
 to comprehend his character, to estimate his motives or 
 to analyze the mental processes through which he 
 reached conclusions. We have already suggested that 
 he was ''a man who always played for the stake in 
 sight, and who never let a trick pass him, no matter 
 how high the card he might have to play to take it." 
 That expression exhausts our ability to fathom Mr. Clay. 
 
 The campaign dragged along. General Jackson did 
 not await the adjournment of Congress, but started for 
 Tennessee nearly a month before it. Arrived at home, 
 he took but little personal part in the struggle. As a 
 rule, he acknowledged the numerous letters and papers 
 sent to him. Excepting his letter to Mr. Colman, already 
 mentioned, and a few letters to editors in his own State 
 which were published, he was silent. Toward the close 
 of the campaign he began to believe his election possible. 
 There is nothing to indicate that he considered it prob- 
 able except the fact that, when he started for Washing- 
 ton, the 4th of November, he took Mrs. Jackson with 
 him, and they travelled in state, with the great family 
 coach drawn by four splendid horses of the Hermitage 
 thorough-bred stock. Editors and orators opposed to 
 him afterward contrasted this display of grandeur with 
 the republican simplicity of Jefferson, riding to the Cap- 
 ital from Monticello on the back of a plantation nag 
 without pedigree. Such criticisms deserve historical 
 mention only as examples of silliness rampant. 
 
172 HISTORY OF ANDREW JACKSON 
 
 General and Mrs. Jackson, with their aristocratic 
 
 equipage, arrived at \\'ashington the night of December 
 
 6th. News of the result of the election kept about even 
 
 pace with them. But few ''scattering returns" were yet 
 
 wanting when they reached the Capital. The general 
 
 result was known. Neither one of the four candidates 
 
 had received a majority, either electoral or popular. 
 
 The House of Representatives, voting by States, must 
 
 render the constitutional decision provided for such cases. 
 
 By the middle of December the official returns were all 
 
 in, showing the result in the Electoral College to be 
 
 1 99 votes for Jac^n, 84 for Adams, 41 for Crawford 
 
 I and 37 for Clay. General Jackson had also received a 
 
 I large plurality^f the popular vote. Counting by States 
 
 I as units, for voting in the House of Representatives, 
 
 ' Jackson had 11, Adams 7, and Crawford and Clay 3 
 
 each. 
 
 Under such conditions the country and the candidates 
 alike waited anxiously for the operation of the constitu- 
 tional provision, which would that year (1825) take 
 place the 9th of February. General and Mrs. Jackson 
 took apartments in the same house with Lafayerte and 
 his suite, and the General resumed his seat in the Senate. 
 Mrs. Jackson, in a letter * to one of her friends in 
 Nashville of December 2^^. 1824, describes the meeting 
 of the General and Lafayette : 
 
 My dear husband is in better health than when we came. 
 We are boarding in the same house with the nation's guest, 
 Lafayette. I am delighted with him. All the attention, all the 
 parties he goes to never appear to have any effect on him. 
 
 ♦Parton, Vol. III., pp. 52-53. 
 
PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE 173 
 
 In fact, he is an extraordinary man. He has a happy faculty 
 of knowing those he has once seen. 
 
 For instance, when we first came to this house, the General 
 said he would go and pay the Marquis the first visit. Both 
 having the same desire and at the same time, they met on the 
 entry of the stairs. It was truly interesting. The emotion of 
 Revolutionary feeling was aroused in them both. At Charles- 
 ton General Jackson saw him on the field of battle ; the one a 
 boy of twelve, the Marquis twenty-three.* He wears a wig 
 and is a little inclined to corpulency. He is very healthy, eats 
 hearty, goes to every party, and that is every night. 
 
 In the same letter Mrs. Jackson speaks of Washington 
 as ''a great city," says she "cannot do justice to the 
 subject," and observes that "the extravagance is in dress- 
 ing and running to parties." But she "must say they 
 regard the Sabbath and attend preaching, for there are 
 churches of every denomination and able ministers of 
 the gospel." 
 
 This was Mrs. Jackson's first trip east of the moun- 
 tains since, as a girl of twelve, she left Virginia with 
 her father in 1779. Her presence at parties and dinners 
 was much sought; her plain, matronly ways captivated 
 everyone and she quite evenly divided social honors with 
 her famous husband. She had, however, no taste for 
 the gayeties of the Capital and longed for her own serene 
 Hermitage. She was beyond question the only Amer- 
 
 * Mrs. Jackson seems a little confused in her history here. Lafayette 
 was in Charleston from the i8th to the 24th of June, 1777, but not at 
 any time thereafter during the Revolution. And he never participated 
 in any of the fighting at qr about that city. General Jackson must have 
 seen him there in June, 1777. There is no other historical mention of 
 the fact. But there is record that young Jackson was at Charleston in 
 the summer of 1777, with his Uncle Crawford, helping to handle a drove of 
 cattle from the upper country. 
 
174 HISTORY OF ANDREW JACKSON 
 
 ican woman that ever lived who had no ambition to be 
 mistress of the White House and "the first lady of the 
 land." 
 
 The question of the presidential succession had been 
 simply taken from the popular tribunal and focused at 
 Washington. No one could foresee the final result. The 
 stake was great and the game desperate. It soon be- 
 came evident that neither Mr. Clay nor Mr. Crawford 
 could be chosen by the House. Mr. Clay was barred by 
 the constitutional limitation of ''the highest three." A 
 brief canvass showed that Mr. Crawford could never 
 get the necessary thirteen unit votes of States. Among 
 the singular provisions of our Constitution is that, in 
 case of failure to choose a President by majority of the 
 Electoral College, the choice sliall be made by the House 
 of Representatives elected two years before. This pro- 
 vision might reverse the will of the people in more ways 
 than one. The House elected two years before might 
 not represent the popular will as expressed in the presi- 
 dential election. It was so in this case. Mr. Adams 
 had seven States to his credit and General Jackson had 
 eleven States, as determined by the electoral vote of 
 1824. But the vote in the House elected in 1822 was 
 thirteen States for Adams and only seven for Jackson. 
 Mr. Crawford had only three States by the electoral 
 vote of 1824. But he received the vote of four States 
 in the House, chosen in 1822. 
 
 This apparent anomaly is easily explained by saying 
 that the majority of each State delegation in the House 
 determines how the unit vote of that State shall be cast 
 in an election of a President by the House. It some- 
 
PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE 175 
 
 times happens that the majority of States in the House, 
 by unit rule, is adverse to the majority in the Electoral 
 College by collective vote. It was so in 1824. Though 
 Mr. Adams had only seven States by electoral vote, he 
 had eight by unit vote in the House. Though General 
 Jackson had eleven States by electoral vote, he had only 
 seven by unit vote in the House. And though Mr. Craw- 
 ford had only three States by electoral vote, he had four 
 by unit vote in the House. But Mr. Adams needed five 
 more than his normal eight. They were made up by 
 Kentucky, Ohio and Missouri, which had cast their elec- 
 toral votes for Clay, and by Maryland and Illinois, which 
 had voted for Jackson in the Electoral College. North 
 Carolina, whose electoral vote was for Jackson, voted 
 for Crawford in the House. 
 
 Mr. Adams was thus elected by constitutional major- 
 ity in the House. The result was accepted with little 
 comment at first. There was no mystery about the 
 votes of Maryland and Illinois for Adams in the House 
 because their delegations were controlled by majorities 
 favorable to him. The same explanation would suffice 
 for the change of North Carolina from Jackson to Craw- 
 ford. But there was mystery about the vote of the 
 three Clay States — Kentucky, Ohio and Missouri — for 
 Mr. Adams. It was popularly supposed to be cleared 
 up when Mr. Adams, after his inauguration, nominated 
 Mr. Clay to be his Secretary of State. The executive 
 session of the Senate, when this nomination was con- 
 sidered, is said to have been stormy. Fifteen votes 
 were recorded against confirmation. Among them was 
 that of Senator Jackson. We have mentioned his ex- 
 planation of the vote on a previous page. 
 
176 HISTORY OF ANDREW JACKSON 
 
 According to the reports that leaked out — as the se- 
 crets of executive session always do when any matter 
 of superlative importance is under consideration — the 
 principal speech against the confirmation of Mr. Clay 
 was made by John Randolph. Among other things, 
 the Virginia Senator related the fable of the wolf 
 and the lamb playing together with result that the 
 wolf swallowed the lamb. In this case, however, 
 the lamb had eaten up the wolf. Afterward, and pub- 
 licly, Randolph proclaimed it to be ''a coalition between 
 the Puritan and the blackleg!" at which the whole coun- 
 try laughed except Mr. Clay, who made it the subject 
 of a private meeting with Senator Randolph at Bladens- 
 burg, the bloodless result of w^hich made absurd what 
 at first was only ludicrous. 
 
 Then resounded from one .end of the country to the 
 other a hue-and-cry of "Bargain and sale" ; of "Treason, 
 stratagem and spoils" ! Briefly, the theory was that Mr. 
 Clay had bartered the unit votes of Kentucky, Ohio and 
 Missouri in the House for the portfolio of State; that 
 Mr. Adams had paid that portfolio as the price of those 
 votes. The only evidence was that Mr. Clay held the 
 office. There was collateral evidence that certain friends 
 of General Jackson had been mysteriously advised that a 
 pledge of the Secretaryship of State to Mr. Clay through 
 his friends would secure the same votes for General 
 Jackson. 
 
 It is no part of our purpose to revive, or even review, 
 that unsavory political legend in these pages. For 
 nearly fourscore years it has been thrashed over ad 
 nauseam. It has been used to point moral and adorn 
 tale in every recital of the sly games of American polit- 
 
PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE 177 
 
 ical chicanery from that day to this. In short, it has 
 been awarded a permanent place in the annals of political 
 casuistry. Let it rest there. The real place earned by 
 John Quincy Adams in our history has been irrevocably 
 judged by other and less noisome standards. Mr. Clay's 
 standards may be different. But it is certain that two 
 are always needed to make a bargain. And whatever 
 may be thought of anyone else, no man whose judgment 
 of historical characters is worth a hearing will ascribe 
 such a capability to John Quincy Adams. 
 
 However, General Jackson believed it; believed it to 
 his last day; believed it as implicitly of Adams as of 
 Clay. It soured his already suspicious nature. It bred 
 in his soul enmities that racked his imagination to the 
 end and hatreds that inflamed his soul to the moment 
 of its flight from his body. From the practical point 
 of view it made him, from the 9th of February, 1825, 
 an active, earnest, unsparing and, so far as it in him 
 lay to be so, an unscrupulous candidate, where before 
 he had been only a passive, almost indifferent one, 
 Vv'holly in the hands of his friends. Saturated with 
 such animosities and strung to vehemence with such 
 resolves. General Jackson went home to Tennessee in 
 June, 1825, and resigned his seat in the Senate. From 
 that moment the words ''Jackson" and ''Democracy" be- 
 came synonyms and political contests in this country 
 resolved themselves into pitched battles. 
 
 Vol. II.— 12 
 
CHAPTER VII 
 
 ELECTED TO THE PRESIDENCY 
 
 Lafayette was among General Jackson's first visit- 
 ors after his arrival home. The great French patriot 
 had left Washington some time before Jackson did and 
 arrived in Nashville by way of the Ohio and Cumber- 
 land Rivers, after a triumphal tour through Pennsylvania, 
 Ohio and Kentucky. After a public reception and ban- 
 quet at Nashville, at which General Jackson, as the ''first 
 citizen of the State," did the honors, Lafayette spent a 
 few days at the Hermitage. .Major Lewis says ''most 
 of their conversation was about the American and French 
 revolutions and the Louisiana campaign, together with 
 a good deal about Napoleon. The subject of the late 
 election was not mentioned. The marquis compared 
 New Orleans to Waterloo, with the conditions reversed, 
 which highly gratified the General. M. Lavasseur, not 
 being familiar with the mode of living in this country, 
 was constantly surprised at the simple habitations of 
 our people, even the most eminent, and their plain style 
 as compared with his own countrymen of high rank. 
 But the marquis, who knew the Americans of old, was 
 quite at home and thoroughly enjoyed Tennessee." 
 
 During the rest of the year 1825, and a good part of 
 1826, General Jackson gave little attention to public 
 afifairs. He was now fifty-six years old. Flis health, 
 
 precarious at best for the past twenty years, had begun 
 
 178 
 
ELECTED TO THE PRESIDENCY 179 
 
 to improve. His old enemy, dysentery, ceased from 
 troubling. He lived more regularly than in former years 
 and was more careful of his diet. The long, wearisome 
 journeys and marches, often with scanty or unwhole- 
 some fare and inadequate shelter, that so strained his 
 system and sapped his vitality in former years, were 
 ended now. Even his mental activity, hitherto so un- 
 flagging, was abated somewhat in this period. He wrote 
 but little, and that mostly on private subjects. Occa- 
 sionally he answered some inquiry or corrected some 
 error in the discussion of "treason, stratagem and spoils" 
 that filled all the newspapers for more than a year after 
 the inauguration of Mr. Adams. He gave more atten- 
 tion to his plantation than ever before and materially 
 increased and improved his breeding herd and stud. 
 
 Among other improvements he cleared off a consid- 
 erable tract on which the best of the timber had been 
 cut, thereby adding about two hundred acres to the 
 estate under cultivation. He gained not only in strength 
 but in weight. Judge Ballard, of Kentucky — the rifle- 
 man of New Orleans — who visited him in the spring 
 of 1826, remarks that he had "never seen the General 
 look so well-fed and well-groomed." 
 
 But all this time a shadow was creeping over the 
 hearthstone of the Hermitage. Soon after the return 
 from Washington in 1825, Mrs. Jackson began to de- 
 velop spells of dizziness or vertigo. She had grown 
 very stout of late years, there was an evident accumu- 
 lation of fatty matter about her heart, she became short 
 of breath, and could not stand much active exertion. 
 It became known to her physician, family and friends 
 that she was threatened with fatty degeneration of the 
 
i8o HISTORY OF ANDREW JACKSON 
 
 heart. Yet she was the same marvellous housewife as 
 ever and as tireless in the offices of neighborly benevo- 
 lence and charity. Her efforts to Christianize the Gen- 
 eral were redoubled. She used to tell him that she was 
 not long for this world, and she hoped her last moments 
 might be soothed by seeing him an earnest and devout 
 member of the church. He promised — but always in- 
 definitely. She had given up all hope of a serene old 
 age. with her ''dear husband" by her side in the peace 
 and comfort of her beloved Hermitage. She knew that 
 the General intended now to try conclusions again with 
 his adversaries for the presidency, and that he would 
 keep on trying till he conquered or died. That warning 
 letter of his to Colonel George Wilson of August i8, 
 1824, was always before her. In that letter the General 
 suggested to Colonel Wilson -a paragraph for publica- 
 tion : 
 
 General Jackson's course requires neither falsehood nor 
 intrigue to support it. He has been brought before the nation 
 by the people without his knowledge, wishes or consent. His 
 support is the people. And so long as they choose to support 
 him he will not interfere. He will neither intrigue nor com- 
 bine with any man nor set of men, nor has he ever so combined 
 or intrigued. . . . It is the people's cause. 
 
 This suggestion, made in 1824, was looked upon by 
 Jackson's supporters as prophecy in 1825, when it was 
 first published broadcast. Mrs. Jackson recognized in 
 it or between its lines a declaration by the General that 
 he considered himself the chosen exponent of ''the peo- 
 ple," and she knew he would never shirk the responsi- 
 bilities of such an attitude. She therefore ceased her 
 pleadings for retirement to private life and left her bus- 
 
ELECTED TO THE PRESIDENCY i8i 
 
 band to work out the ends of destiny his own way. A 
 Presbyterian of the foreordination school, she had be- 
 come convinced that the General was predestined to the 
 presidency, and she believed he must therefore achieve 
 it. But she dreaded the consequent necessity of living 
 in Washington, with its "extravagance in dressing, its 
 incessant parties and dinners, its vanities and frivolities," 
 so repugnant to her primitive Christianity. But she 
 bowed to the inevitable, as she viewed it, W'ith the calm 
 resignation of a faithful servant of the Lord. 
 ^ In the fall of 1826 General Jackson began the presi- 
 den^al campaign of 1828. He did not begin it with 
 a brass band. His first step was to organize a small, 
 compact and highly efficient 'liead-quarters staff" in his 
 own State. The next was to create in every other State 
 a similarly compact and efficient Jackson group to ma- 
 nipulate the popular preference for him into a positive, 
 dirigible political force. This was the beginning of that 
 "organized Democracy" which, aside from the two acci- 
 dental interruptions of Harrison in 1840 and Taylor in 
 1848 — both transitory — controlled the Federal govern- 
 ment from 1829 to 1 86 1. Among the fanciful theories 
 of General Jackson was that wdiich he often expressed 
 in the w^ords, "I am not a politician." It was quite as 
 fanciful as his equally iterated proclamation that he "be- 
 lieved in the doctrines of Jefferson." He was a poli- 
 tician; the most forceful and successful, if not the ablest 
 and most subtile, this country has ever known. And 
 what he really "believed in" was not the "doctrines of 
 Jefferson," but the Will of Jackson. We do not be- 
 lieve that the devoutest Jackson Democrats — among 
 whom, by the way, the author of this w^ork is by 
 
1 82 HISTORY OF ANDREW JACKSON 
 
 heredity — will try to dispute these propositions at this 
 distance. 
 
 "General Jackson's ideas of political management," 
 said the venerable Francis P. Blair to the author in 
 1873, ''^vere best summed up in his own words : 'To 
 give effect to any principle you must avail yourselves 
 of the physical force of an organized body of men. This 
 is true alike in war, politics and religion. You cannot 
 organize men in effective bodies without giving them 
 a reason for it. And when the organization is once 
 made, you cannot keep it together unless you hold con- 
 stantly before its members the reasons why they are 
 organized.' These are indeed," pursued Mr. Blair, *'the 
 broadest generalizations. But in them is embraced every 
 detail known to the management of political parties." 
 
 Jackson was a politician orr a very large scale. The 
 infinite details he was willing to leave in the hands of 
 subordinates, but each of these must know his place, 
 and he himself must always command. His system was 
 not one of argument or persuasion. He was as imperi- 
 ous in a political as in a military crisis. And all through 
 his career, in forum as in field, the element of personal 
 control and responsibility was pre-eminent. Those who 
 supported him must do so with all their might and 
 without question or quibble. Those not willing to sup- 
 port him on such terms he preferred to see on the 
 other side. 
 
 We have already described him as the "Boss" of Ten- 
 nessee. In 1826 he enlarged that role to the Boss-ship 
 of the national Democracy. What he accomplished with 
 such a "physical force" at his command the world knows 
 by heart. But just how he did it is not so intimately or 
 
ELECTED TO THE PRESIDENCY 183 
 
 so widely known. By the end of that year his general 
 organization was perfect. His personal staff at home 
 in Tennessee was made up of Major Lewis, Senator 
 Eaton, Governor Carroll, and one or two others, with 
 the veteran George W. Campbell as general counsellor 
 and adviser. Major Lewis was his neighbor; a man of 
 culture and literary tastes, possessed a large and pro- 
 ductive estate, and was personally devoted to Jackson. 
 He had been chief quartermaster on the General's staff 
 in the campaigns of 1812-15, and in that capacity had 
 disbursed immense sums — '*in final settlement for 
 which," the General used to say with great satisfaction, 
 ''the government appeared the major's debtor in the 
 sum of three cents, which was never paid !" 
 
 Major Lewis, though not quite so prominent in other 
 respects as Eaton, Carroll or Campbell, was more di- 
 rectly and intimately useful to Jackson than any of 
 them. He was the confidential secretary, who looked 
 after the correspondence, revised the General's letters^ 
 which was no light task, but for which his skill as a 
 writer eminently qualified him; and, generally speaking, 
 groomed the rugged old war-horse on all occasions of 
 public appearance and display. It is doubtful if General 
 Jackson could have found in the whole country another 
 man so exactly adapted to his peculiar needs at such 
 a momentous time as William B. Lewis was. 
 
 John Henry Eaton was a native of Tennessee, but was 
 educated at the University of Virginia. He inherited 
 considerable wealth, and, though a lawyer of thorough 
 reading and more than ordinary ability, he never prac- 
 tised to any extent, his income from his inheritance being 
 ample. He was a gentleman of leisure, lived in elegant 
 
1 84 HISTORY OF ANDREW JACKSON 
 
 style and entertained lavishly. He served in a volunteer 
 capacity on Jackson's staff during the war and gained 
 an enviable reputation for enterprise and gallantry. He 
 possessed fair literary ability, though his style, like that 
 of many men educated in Virginia in those days, was 
 somewhat pompous and turgid. His principal work was 
 a Life of Jackson, published at New York in 1824, 
 which has the merit, if any, of being the only biography 
 of the General prepared under his own eye and ex- 
 pressly authorized by him as "d. fair and just account 
 of what I have done." 
 
 In personal bearing Senator Eaton was dignified and 
 impressive, and his manners were the extreme of court- 
 liness and self-poise. He had, moreover, a genius for 
 politics and was invariably selected for delicate missions 
 to the head-quarters of various State organizations in 
 the arduous campaigns waged under Jackson's leader- 
 ship. It was he who won Van Buren over to Jackson, 
 and with him the electoral vote of New York — or a 
 majority of it; he who dethroned Crawford in Georgia 
 and destructively undermined even Clay's supremacy in 
 Kentucky. Eaton would have been a much more im- 
 posing figure in history than he is had he not been fated 
 to live and move and have his being in the portentous 
 shadow of Andrew Jackson. 
 
 Governor — and General — William Carroll was un- 
 questionably, next to Jackson, the most forceful person- 
 ality in Tennessee. His origin and the circumstances 
 of his advent in the Cumberland Valley have been men- 
 tioned in the first volume of this work. In 1826 he was 
 thirty-eight years old and serving the last year of his 
 third term as governor. Carroll was reputed to be the 
 
ELECTED TO THE PRESIDENCY 185 
 
 handsomest man in the State, he had a large fortune 
 amassed by his own efforts, and he spent his money 
 as easily as he made it. In 18 14, when Jackson was 
 appointed major-general in the regular army, Carroll 
 succeeded him as commander-in-chief of the Tennessee 
 militia, serving, as we have seen, with signal honor in 
 the last Creek campaign and at New Orleans. In 18 18, 
 when Jackson retired from the management of the Ten- 
 nessee Democracy, Carroll, by common consent, inher- 
 ited the leadership, and in his hands the "machine" by 
 no means went to decay.* On the other hand, it ran 
 smoothly and vigorously. In 1820 he caused himself to 
 be elected governor and held the place for three terms. 
 The State constitution prohibited more than that number 
 
 * In his manipulation of the "machine," Carroll was much more ruthless 
 than Jackson ever had been. Jackson would occasionally permit an adversary 
 to gain foothold— particularly if he happened to live in East Tennessee. 
 But when Carroll became "Boss" his first stroke was to reduce the mountain 
 stronghold of the enemy. He did it with a thoroughness like unto the 
 subjugation of Athens by Macedon. It was Carroll who, in 1823, more than 
 all others combined, forced Jackson into the senatorial lists to beat Colonel 
 John Williams. And then, as if to remove all doubt as to the conclusive 
 nature of his processes, he caused the defeat of all but three of the legisla- 
 tors who had dared to vote for Williams on joint ballot. It may easily be 
 imagined that the spirit of rebellion disappeared. Singularly enough Car- 
 roll had no ambition for the honors of national office He could have been 
 chosen Senator on any occasion of vacancy between 1820 and the time of 
 his sudden death in 1844. But the governorship of the State, which he 
 held twelve years, together with the power to send his friends to the Senate 
 or the House of Representatives, seemed to fill the measure of his aspiration. 
 His popularity was of the kind that penetrates the humblest log cabin. Of 
 Irish extraction he had all the wit and humor of his race. As we have seen, 
 he could crack a joke at the expense of old Sergeant Sam Williams in the 
 imminent crisis of battle at New Orleans. His powers as a raconteur and 
 at repartee were proverbial. The nature of his relations to the plain people 
 may be inferred from the fact that he was known the length and breadth 
 of the State as "Bill'' Carroll, and was usually addressed with that abbre- 
 viation bv all whom he chanced to meet 
 
1 86 HISTORY OF ANDREW JACKSON 
 
 of terms consecutively. Therefore, in 1826, Carroll 
 caused his friend Sam Houston to be elected, merely 
 to hold the place during the two-years interim which 
 must elapse before he would be again eligible. In 1828 
 Carroll was again elected and held the gubernatorial 
 chair through another constitutional period of three 
 terms until 1834, when he retired from politics and set 
 about retrieving his finances, w^hich more than a dozen 
 years of lavish generosity, uncounted expense and gen- 
 eral neglect had thrown into dire confusion. 
 
 In five years he was richer than ever. Carroll com- 
 bined military, political and business ability in an aston- 
 ishing degree. He was successful in everything he 
 essayed. His education was as thorough as could be 
 without being collegiate, he wrote freely, gracefully and 
 forcibly, and was an orator oi far more than ordinary 
 power. With all his charms of person and manner, how- 
 ever, he w^as never a conspicuous social figure, preferring 
 the association of men and the excitements of war and 
 politics to the gentler pleasures of *'high society." 
 Though he had himself fought on the "field of honor," 
 he opposed duelling on principle, and successfully used 
 his power as governor to substantially suppress the prac- 
 tice in Tennessee. His position in Jackson's political 
 head-quarters staff was analogous to that of paymaster- 
 general of the forces. He looked out for the "sinews of 
 war" whenever any might be needed. It Is true that 
 "the barrel" had not become a force in American politics 
 as early as i826-'27-'28; but "legitimate campaign ex- 
 penses" had to be met then as well as at later periods. 
 
 Ex-Senator and ex-Minister Campbell was as perfectly 
 adapted to his special role of counsellor-general as his 
 
ELECTED TO THE PRESIDENCY 187 
 
 colleagues were to theirs. He was born in 1768, in the 
 then Western District of North Carolina, now Ten- 
 nessee, and was the first white male child born within 
 the present limits of the latter State. Though only 
 twelve years old in 1780, he was present at the battle 
 of King's Mountain with his uncle. Colonel William 
 Campbell. Graduating at Princeton in the class of 1794, 
 he returned to Tennessee and became a successful lawyer 
 and land speculator. He and Jackson became acquainted 
 about 1795, and remained close friends until death 
 parted them. From 1797 to 1802 he was in the legis- 
 lature. From 1802 to 18 18 he was continuously in 
 public life at Washington, as member of Congress or 
 Senator or Secretary of the Treasury; from 1818 to 
 1 82 1 he served as minister to Russia and also as special 
 envoy to Denmark. 
 
 At the conclusion of these public services he was a 
 poor man and had to recoup his fortunes by the practice 
 of his profession. When Jackson retired from the 
 Senate in 1825 the ''machine" offered the succession to 
 Campbell, but he could not afford to live in Washington, 
 and Hugh L. White was chosen. The same reason im- 
 pelled him to decline two offers of cabinet positions by 
 Jackson and also the post of minister to Prussia in 1831. 
 In the last-named year, however, he accepted from Jack- 
 son the office of commissioner finally to adjust the 
 French spoliation claims. His acquaintance with men 
 in national public life and with political methods at 
 Washington was as wide and thorough as that of any 
 man then living. He was a strong speaker and fluent 
 writer and much of the correspondence in the great 
 campaign of 1828 was from his pen. 
 
1 88 HISTORY OF ANDREW JACKSON 
 
 To these four, each perfect in his sphere, might be 
 added the names of Sam Houston, Judge Overton and 
 George Davidson, who from time to time played such 
 parts as might be assigned to them. This was ''the 
 Organization'' in Tennessee. 
 
 The country at large was handled by States, the Jack- 
 son ''machine" in each being constructed with equal skill 
 and a like eye to maximum efficiency. In New York, 
 the manager was that wonderful disciple of Burr, Martin 
 Van Buren, w^th James Watson Webb as the chief and 
 James Gordon Bennett as the first assistant in charge 
 of the journalistic end of the campaign, and with Wil- 
 liam L. !^Iarcy, at the upper end of the Hudson Valley, 
 in a similar capacity. 
 
 The Pennsylvania cohorts were marshalled by Duane, 
 Ingham and Buchanan. Jackson never quite trusted the 
 last-named after an episode in the "treason, stratagem 
 and spoils" uproar of 1825; but his objections were 
 silenced by mutual friends. Even if Buchanan did sug- 
 gest that Jackson could gain Clay's support at the same 
 price Adams was subsequently accused of paying, and 
 even if Jackson had said that the suggestion, guarded 
 as it was, "gave him a shock he never expected to recover 
 from" — yet Buchanan did yeoman work for him in 
 Pennsylvania. Maryland responded to the McLanes and 
 Wilson. The Jackson champion in Virginia was, of 
 course, John Randolph, with a brilliant retinue of 
 Ritchie, the Masons, McCartys, Garlands, the younger 
 Lees and a host too numerous for individual mention. 
 
 In North Carolina the Jackson standard was held aloft 
 by General William Polk, Branch, Stokes, Davie and 
 others. Out of compliment to Mr. Calhoun, who was 
 
ELECTED TO THE PRESIDENCY 189 
 
 the Jackson choice for Vice-President, no ^'machine" 
 was formally set in motion in South Carolina. In Geor- 
 gia an almost similar deference was paid — as William 
 Carroll put it — *'to the memory of the late Crawford, 
 upon whose grave Georgia might lay her vote as chaplet 
 if she wanted to; as there would be enough without it!" 
 
 It was not at first considered worth while to waste 
 much powder on Kentucky. But William Barry, the 
 Butlers, Garrards, Thompsons, Ballards, Amos Kendall, 
 Blair and other Blue-grass Jacksonians could be relied 
 upon to keep Mr. Clay busy. 
 
 The Jackson interests in Missouri were, of course, 
 lodged in the keeping of Benton, whose power was suffi- 
 cient for an effective overflow into Illinois. In Indiana, 
 the brilliant young Edward Hannegan was the main 
 reliance of the Jackson forces, with General Cass close 
 at hand to advise and guide him. In Ohio the "Jackson 
 organization" of 1828 was made up of men less emi- 
 nent * than those we have mentioned ; but it proved 
 effective and carried the State in spite of General Har- 
 rison, who, up to the very day he sailed for Bogota to 
 
 * The only member of the Jackson organization in Ohio for that cam- 
 paign to achieve great subsequent distinction was William Allen, then in his 
 twenty-first year. Young Allen made a hundred and seven speeches, trav- 
 elling on horseback all over the State, besides making incursions into Ken- 
 tucky several times for the purpose of bearding the lion of Ashland in his 
 den. Some of his speeches were published in pamphlet form and attracted 
 the attention of Jackson. In a speech at Cincinnati he replied to General 
 Harrison's arraignment of Jackson's invasion of Florida. This was con- 
 sidered a masterpiece of the campaign. Most of it was reprinted in a 
 supplement to the New York Courier and Inquirer; and Benton wrote a 
 getter complimenting the youthful orator in most extravagant terms — a letter 
 which, in 1875, the then venerable governor exhibited to the author with as 
 much pride as he felt the day it reached him. It led Jackson, the next year, 
 to offer him the position of United States district attorney for Ohio — only 
 to learn that Mr. Allen had not yet been admitted to the bar. Allen's letter 
 
I90 HISTORY OF ANDREW JACKSON 
 
 be our minister there, was sure its vote would be cast 
 for Mr. Adams. 
 
 Edward Livingston and Colonel Planche, the gallant 
 Creole soldier of New Orleans, kept Louisiana in line. 
 George Poindexter was a guarantee for Mississippi. 
 From the Jackson point of view New England was an 
 arid region, but the unterrified Isaac Hill and his New 
 Hampshire Patriot waged gallant battle against hope- 
 less odds for ''the people's hero" among the granite 
 crags, and worried if he did not alarm the steadfast 
 Adamsite editors of that region. 
 
 We have devoted so much space to a detailed account 
 of the Jacksonian national organization of 1828 in order 
 to dispel any lingering suspicion that General Jackson 
 was in earnest when he used to declare himself to be 
 ''no politician." Even now, with all modern improve- 
 ments in travel and communication, it is doubtful if so 
 perfect a national organization could be created in so 
 short a time and of such discordant material. 
 
 There was no question as to candidates for the presi- 
 dency. They were selected by the conditions of the 
 time. On the side of Jackson was the Democratic party, 
 
 of thanks to the President was characteristic. "I am so young," he said, 
 "that I reckon it will be best to let the people have a chance at me before I 
 aspire to appointive office. As I am too poor to visit Washington for pleas- 
 ure, I shall have to wait till the people elect me to Congress, when I may 
 have the honor to meet and thank you in person. " 
 
 He was as good as his word. In 1832, when in his twenty-fifth year, he 
 defeated his father-in-law. Governor Duncan McArthur, for Congress and 
 took his seat when only a few months over the constitutional age of twenty- 
 five. He received the certificate of election, however, from the governor 
 whom he had defeated, a few weeks before he was eligible, by age. The 
 cyclopedias of biography state that he was born at Edenton, N. C, in 1806. 
 The family record, which the author saw at his home in Chillicothe, gives the 
 year as 1807. 
 
ELECTED TO THE PRESIDENCY 191 
 
 then four years old, eo nomine. On the side of Mr. 
 Adams was everything in the country not Democratic. 
 It was still an agglomeration, somewhat more distinctly 
 crystallized than in 1824, but still inchoate. It was not 
 organized, it had no discipline, its very cohesion was 
 negative rather than positive. 
 
 Mr. Adams held the Utopian theory that a President 
 who does anything to promote his own renomination or 
 re-election outside of an acceptable discharge of the 
 duties of the office itself commits an offence against true 
 political morality. This doctrine was not calculated to 
 evoke enthusiasm. From the view-point of a hereditary 
 Jackson Democrat, we cordially admit that no honester 
 man than John Quincy Adams ever lived. But he lived 
 in theory on a plane higher than that with which he 
 had to deal practically. 
 
 For example, after he was inaugurated in March, 
 1825, a great many of the quondam Federalists thought 
 he ought to turn out those office-holders who represented 
 the Jeffersonian apostolic succession which had lasted 
 three double-terms — twenty-four years. We think they 
 were right. But Mr. Adams thought otherwise. In 
 all the civil service below the Cabinet, the foreign ap- 
 pointments and a few places actually personal to the 
 President, he turned out only five — two for actual cause, 
 two to accommodate Mr. Webster and one to make place 
 for a friend of Mr. Clay. 
 
 The result was that when the campaign waxed warm, 
 a good majority of the Federal office-holders, holding 
 over from Monroe and even from Madison, proved to 
 be Democrats still or of Democratic preferences under 
 an un-Democratic administration. Some of them re- 
 
192 HISTORY OF ANDREW JACKSON 
 
 mained quiescent. But the vast majority of them, par- 
 ticularly in the pivotal States of New York and Ohio, 
 displayed what President Cleveland once characterized 
 as ''pernicious activity," and were formidable factors in 
 the opposition. 
 
 Then, the Adams party itself had no cohesive force 
 except a negation. It was held together more by a 
 desire to beat Jackson than to elect Adams — ^though 
 under the circumstances this was cohesive force enough 
 for the moment, because one could not be done without 
 doing the other. On the whole, the support of Mr. 
 Adams was not only unorganized, but it yet even lacked 
 a distinctive party name. It was not the Federalist 
 party, because that had ceased to exist and, besides, ]\Ir. 
 Adams himself, for his support of the war of 1812 and 
 for other reasons, was viewe4 by the old Federalists of 
 his father's day as a Democrat and, in extreme cases, 
 as "3. traitor to his traditions." 
 
 The name ''Whig," though already bruited about, was 
 too new in this country to be found in American polit- 
 ical lexicons, and was often flouted as a servile borrow- 
 ing from English politics. Some argued that it was not 
 borrowed from England at all, but a peaceful perpetu- 
 ation of the term used for short in the Revolution to 
 distinguish patriots from Tories. This was Daniel Web- 
 ster's philology of the word, and it may be accepted as 
 the true one. However, it was new and did not take 
 well. The result was that the anti-Jackson party in 
 1828 became popularly known by the name of the can- 
 didate it supported — "Adamsite." This was by no 
 means a term of opprobrium. At that moment Mr. 
 Adams was greater and more illustrious than the motley 
 
ELECTED TO THE PRESIDENCY 193 
 
 crowd that supported him, and the apphcation of his 
 name in its designation was more of a distinction to it 
 than to him. It really was the "Adamsite party," be- 
 cause the only valid reason for its existence was the 
 fact that it supported him. 
 
 Under such singular conditions the campaign opened 
 with a fury fortunately unknown before or since. Prin- 
 ciples and policies, logical arguments and sensible ap- 
 peals, were scattered to the winds. It instantly became 
 a tournament of billingsgate, a jargon of vituperation, 
 a joust of epithet, and finally degenerated into a common 
 brawl of vulgarity and indecency. The Jackson papers 
 and stump orators could not find much material for 
 criminal indictment against Mr. Adams except the story 
 of treason, stratagem and spoils. Mr. Adams had lived 
 openly in the sight of his country since boyhood. His 
 domestic life was pure beyond even suspicion. His pri- 
 vate business conduct was spotless. His public life — 
 which embraced his whole adult existence — was impreg- 
 nable, with the one exception noted. The worst they 
 could say of him seemed to be that he was cold, repel- 
 lent, self-centred — ungrateful, some said — an aristocrat, 
 bred and trained in Europe more than at home; alien 
 in his tastes; foreign in his temperament; pro-English 
 in his institutional sympathies and anti-American in his 
 social instincts. 
 
 Beyond these things, they said he was weak on the 
 Northwest Boundary question. His tentative agreement 
 with Canning to side-track that issue for twelve years 
 was viewed as a preliminary truce, to be ratified in 
 due time by capitulation — which proved true. The 
 Jackson people declared that he was ready to barter our 
 Vol. II.— 13 
 
194 HISTORY OF ANDREW JACKSON 
 
 Northwestern domain to old England as the price of free 
 codfish for New England. That important element of 
 the Jackson forces who lived, in the phrase of the fron- 
 tier, on "hog and hominy," with now and then a saddle 
 of venison, had no sympathy with the codfish of New 
 England, either as an article of diet or as ''an issue" 
 in national politics. 
 
 The fact was — though few realized it then — that Mr. 
 Adams foresaw, by two generations, what all clearly 
 see now; the inevitable Anglo-American rapprochement. 
 But all these things in 1828 constituted, indeed, a terri- 
 ble arraignment from the A\^estern and Southern point 
 of view. Though grotesquely exaggerated, it had 
 germs of truth. Mr. Adams answered to the descrip- 
 tion — more or less. After all, none of the traits im- 
 puted to him affected his integrity as a gentleman or 
 his rank as a statesman. But they wrought havoc with 
 his popularity as an American, and that was fatal. 
 
 Turning to the side of Jackson, it was clear from the 
 outset that the tactics of the Adamsites were to put 
 him on the defensive. In a campaign of that kind they 
 had one great advantage. Though vastly in the numer- 
 ical minority, the Adamsites possessed at least three- 
 fourths of the American press, four-fifths of the Amer- 
 ican pulpit — so far as the pulpit figured in politics ; seven- 
 eighths of the banking capital, and practically all the 
 external commerce of the country, together with its then 
 developed manufacturing industries. All these great 
 forces in society viewed Jackson as a dangerous enemy. 
 He could be beaten only by loosening the hold he had 
 upon the imagination of the plain people. That could 
 be done only by breaking down his personal character. 
 
ELECTED TO THE PRESIDENCY 195 
 
 This was the real cause of the fury with which he 
 was assailed. Personally Mr. Adams was not respon- 
 sible for the spirit of the campaign. He took no part in 
 it. The dens ex machina was Mr. Clay. This fact was 
 well known to the Jackson men. Two months before 
 election the irrepressible Isaac Hill proclaimed from his 
 eyry among the New Hampshire crags: ''This is Mr. 
 Clay's fight. The country has him on trial for bribery 
 and, having no defence, he abuses the prosecutor." And 
 again : ''Clay is managing Mr. Adams's campaign, not 
 like a statesman of the cabinet, but like a shyster petti- 
 fogging for the defendant in a bastardy case before a 
 country 'squire." 
 
 The reader of old newspaper files and pamphlet col- 
 lections of the Adamsite persuasion, in the absence of 
 other knowledge, would gather that General Jackson was 
 a usurper, an adulterer, a gambler, a cock-fighter, a 
 brawler, a drunkard, and withal a murderer of the most 
 cruel and bloodthirsty description.* General Jackson 
 was not much perturbed by this tirade, so long as it was 
 
 * One day Isaac Hill found a paragraph in a Boston paper stating that 
 General Jackson had committed twelve murders — Dickinson, Arbuthnot, 
 Ambrister, two Indian chiefs and seven of his own soldiers — all in cold 
 blood and in most cowardly fashion. Hill copied the paragraph and added: 
 "Pshaw! Why don't you tell the whole truth? On the 8th of January, 
 1 815, he murdered in the coldest kind of cold blood above fifteen hundred 
 British soldiers for merely trying to get into New Orleans in search of Booty 
 and Beauty!" 
 
 This shot "echoed round" the country. It was copied in every Jackson 
 paper — and in a good many that were not for Jackson. It was read from 
 every "stump" and recited in every tavern. It was printed on three-sheet 
 posters and displayed on barn-doors. When it reached Jackson's eye he 
 remarked: "That Ike Hill must be a devilish funny feller! I'd like to 
 meet him!" He then wrote a letter to Mr. Hill, in which he said, among 
 other things: "They don't seem to have much use for that particular ' mur- 
 der' you speak of." 
 
196 HISTORY OF ANDREW JACKSON 
 
 aimed only at him. Once, when Mr. Blair sent him a 
 paragraph from a Clay organ in Kentucky, of particular 
 virulence, he answered : ''I am no stranger to the war- 
 fare of savages. I have seen the tomahawk and scalp- 
 ing-knife before." 
 
 But the Adamsite organs and some of their orators 
 went beyond the General to assail the good name of his 
 wife and even to slander the memory of his dead mother. 
 That was too much. One of the most virulent assailants 
 of Mrs. Jackson was the ''organ of the Adams admin- 
 istration" in Washington, a paper called the National 
 Journal. General Jackson thought that Mr. Adams had 
 power to stop such slanders, at least in a paper published 
 ''under his own nose," and reputed to be his personal 
 organ. But Mr. Adams did not interfere. From the 
 General's point of view, that 'made Mr. Adams person- 
 ally responsible for the outrage. It was this episode, 
 and this alone, which caused General Jackson, when in- 
 augurated, to refuse observance toward Mr. Adams of 
 the courtesies usual between outgoing and incoming 
 Presidents.* 
 
 This atrocity was also perpetrated by an Adamsite edi- 
 tor in New Jersey, in the form of an anonymous letter. 
 When it came to the notice of Jackson, the grim soldier 
 of Tohopeka and New Orleans was moved to tears. 
 The local effect was different. A stalwart Democrat, 
 
 * Commenting on the incident to Mr. Blair some time afterward, the Gen- 
 eral said : "Of course, no one can say that Mr. Adams was himself a black- 
 guard. But he certainly tolerated the good opinion and support of one, 
 such as it was^ right under his own nose. How much difference there may 
 be between such a wretch and his patron is a question of personal judgment 
 for every gentleman to decide his own way." 
 
ELECTED TO THE PRESIDENCY 197 
 
 meeting the editor the day after pubHcation, demanded 
 to know the name of the author of the anonymous letter. 
 The editor refused to give it. The stalwart Democrat 
 thrashed him within an inch of his life — and then paid 
 a fine of $50, besides thirty-one days in the county jail. 
 The stalwart Democrat, however, subsequently held the 
 office of postmaster at Amboy! 
 
 So the wretched spectacle went on. Never had there 
 been such a presidential campaign. It is to be hoped 
 there may never be such another. On both sides alike 
 it was a disgrace to the manhood and a shame upon the 
 decency of the American people. But when we measure 
 its character, we must bear in mind that it was actually 
 a revolution, with all the passions, the hates and the fury 
 that revolution engenders. After all, only ink was shed 
 instead of blood; only reputations stabbed, not men. 
 All the time the Jackson cause gained ground and the 
 Adams fortunes waned day by day. 
 
 About two months before election, 'Barry, Kendall, 
 Blair, Ballard, the Butlers and others announced to the 
 "general head-quarters staff" that they had shaken Clay's 
 hold on Kentucky to a point where the State could be 
 carried out from under him. Jackson then ordered a 
 general onslaught upon Kentucky from every point of 
 the compass. Even the titanic Benton strode out of 
 Missouri to pitch battle against his wife's uncle on his 
 own blue-grass. William Carroll and John Coffee made 
 a pilgrimage to Harrodsburg to enlist once more their 
 old comrade, John Adair, under the Jackson standard. 
 The suave and stately Eaton flitted noiselessly about the 
 State, making — not speeches, but — well, let the rest of 
 
198 HISTORY OF ANDREW JACKSON 
 
 the sentence be understood.* Judge Overton bore a 
 master hand; such a hand as only a Kentucky pioneer, 
 transplanted to Tennessee, could bear. The son of 
 Daniel Boone f — Nathan — came with Benton from Mis- 
 souri to stir up the memories of the Dark and Bloody 
 Ground. 
 
 Suddenly poor ]\Ir. Clay saw the fine fabric of his 
 pride and his hopes tottering all around him. In a few 
 weeks he was overwhelmed amid the debris of its down- 
 fall. Kentucky went for Jackson. Yet Jackson was 
 *'no politician" ! 
 
 We have devoted to this campaign a space which 
 would be undue but for its unique character in all our 
 history. As already intimated, the real, substantial issue 
 at stake was set aside. That, was the expansion or lib- 
 eration of the elective franchise. It was hardly men- 
 tioned in the canvass- — except here and there in State 
 platforms. Election came and in due time the result 
 
 * There was outcry long and loud from the adherents of Mr. Clay that 
 Jackson "bought the vote of Kentucky by shameless barter of Federal pat- 
 ronage." It is quite true that the men who carried Kentucky for Jackson 
 "out from under the feet of Mr. Clay" were not ignored when the distri- 
 bution of prizes occurred. Whatever Senator Eaton may have done during 
 what the Clay people called his "Kentucky still-hunt," there is no record 
 of promises dishonored. No complaint was ever heard. Whatever he may 
 have done, history is clear as to what he avoided doing. He did not retain 
 any pronounced supporter of Mr. Clay in Federal office. 
 
 t Years before this time, Nathan Boone had visited Nashville and stopped 
 at the Nashville Inn. He had never seen General Jackson. The latter, 
 coming into town from the Hermitage, learned that a son of Daniel Boone 
 was in the city. Hunting him up at once, the General seized him — bag and 
 baggage — and bore him off to the Hermitage, declaring that "Old Dan 
 Boone's dog couldn't stay at a hotel within his reach, to say nothing about 
 a son!" At the time under consideration Nathan Boone was a State Sena- 
 tor in Missouri, and one of Benton's most valued lieutenants. 
 
ELECTED TO THE PRESIDENCY 199 
 
 was announced. Jackson had 178 electoral votes. Mr. 
 Adams received 83, more than two-thirds going to Jack- 
 son. In the popular vote Jackson's majority was even 
 proportionately greater. Both branches of Congress 
 were Democratic; the House overwhelmingly, the Sen- 
 ate safely. The six New England States were solid 
 for Adams — except a single vote in Maine — together 
 with New Jersey and Delaware. The whole West and 
 South, with Pennsylvania, wxre solid for Jackson. New 
 York (20 for Jackson and 16 for Adams) and Mary- 
 land (6 for Jackson and 5 for Adams) were divided. 
 But on the whole, it was "a clean sweep," soon to be 
 followed by another one. 
 
 By Tuesday, December 9th, the returns that had 
 reached Nashville apparently assured the election of 
 General Jackson by 200 electoral votes to 62 for Mr. 
 Adams, it then being supposed that Jackson would re- 
 ceive the entire votes of New York and Maryland. 
 General William Carroll rode out to the Hermitage with 
 the news. He found only Mrs. Jackson at home, the 
 General and Major Lewis having gone down to the old 
 place at Clover Bottom on some business. Carroll al- 
 ways addressed Mrs. Jackson as ''mother." 
 
 So he said : *T suppose, mother, you want to hear the 
 news." 
 
 *'0h, William, I can guess what it is, from all I have 
 been hearing of late, and from your own manner." 
 
 "Yes, the General is elected. He seems to have all 
 the electoral votes except about sixty — over three- 
 fourths! You may as well get ready for moving into 
 the White House." 
 
 Mrs. Jackson was silent for a couple of minutes. 
 
200 HISTORY OF ANDREW JACKSON 
 
 Finally: ''Well, William, Fm glad of it for Mr. Jack- 
 son's sake, because it is his ambition. For me it is but 
 one more burden. Even if I was qualified in other ways 
 to do the honors of the White House, my health is not 
 good enough to bear the strain. I am much farther 
 from being well than you would think just from looking 
 at me." * 
 
 General Jackson and Major Lewis soon returned and 
 the "general head-quarters staff" retired to the library 
 to consider the situation and look over the mass of con- 
 fidential correspondence that General Carroll brought. 
 
 "General Jackson," says Major Lewis, "showed no 
 elation. In fact, he had for some time considered his 
 election sure, the only question in his mind now being 
 the extent of majority. When he finished looking 
 over the summary by States, his only remark was that, 
 considering the odds against him, Isaac Hill had done 
 wonders in New Hampshire. After a while tea was 
 announced. Mrs. Jackson, as usual, led the table-talk. 
 But she did not say anything on the great subject except 
 that she was going to try and persuade one or two of 
 her nieces to go and help her in the social duties of the 
 White House. One was Miss Donelson, her own niece, 
 the other Mrs. Emily, wife of her nephew, Andrew 
 Jackson Donelson, who was to be private secretary. 
 How little anyone suspected the sadness so soon to 
 come." 
 
 By the 17th of December the exact result was known, 
 and the assembled representative people of the whole 
 State at Nashville determined to give a reception, ban- 
 quet and ball the next Tuesday — December 23d — which 
 
 * From General Carroll's eulogy, after her funeral. 
 
ELECTED TO THE PRESIDENCY aoi 
 
 should surpass any social occasion ever seen in the 
 Southwest — surpass even the celebration in New Or- 
 leans, January 8, 1828, of the battle anniversary. But 
 on the 17th of December Mrs. Jackson was seized with 
 faintness, difficult respiration, and other symptoms of 
 heart trouble. Some attributed it to excitement over the 
 triumph of her husband. But it was more probably a 
 reaction from the strain to which her mind had been 
 subjected so long. She rallied, however, and by Satur- 
 day, the 20th, was apparently much better again, though 
 weak. Sunday, the 21st, she did not feel able to attend 
 the little Hermitage chapel, but religious exercises were 
 observed in the mansion. She was able to sit up a little 
 in the afternoon and conversed with her neighbors as 
 cheerfully as usual. Monday she appeared to be much 
 better, but kept her couch most of the day. About dark, 
 Monday evening, she rose without assistance and sat in 
 her easy chair. The General happened to be out of the 
 room at this time. All at once the end came. The 
 General, hearing her cry, was at her side in an instant. 
 He told the attending physician. Dr. Robertson, to bleed 
 her, but the vein in her temple made no response to the 
 lancet. Rachel Jackson was dead. 
 
 The effect of such a bereavement upon General Jack- 
 son cannot be described. For more than sixteen hours, 
 though already worn out with almost sleepless watching 
 by her bedside, he stayed beside the corpse — tearless, 
 speechless, almost expressionless. Finally Carroll, Cof- 
 fee, Rutledge, Lewis and other friends who had flocked 
 in, persuaded him to retire to his own room and try 
 to get some sleep. Addressing General Coffee, he said : 
 ''John, can you realize that she is dead? I certainly 
 can't!" 
 
202 HISTORY OF ANDREW JACKSON 
 
 However, he went to his room and soon fell asleep 
 from sheer exhaustion. Of course, all public demonstra- 
 tions in that region were at an end. Jackson passed 
 all his w^aking hours by his wife's coffin until the funeral. 
 She was buried in a corner of the Hermitage garden 
 amid the rose-bushes she had planted. At the graveside 
 were men whose names can never perish from the pages 
 of American history. With or near them stood the 
 negro slaves of the Jackson household. A lady in the 
 family of Major Rutledge, the General's old aide-de- 
 camp, has placed on record the following picture of the 
 scene : 
 
 In the tall, trembling, grief-stricken man who gazed blankly 
 and with dry eyes upon the lid of that plain coffin-box as the 
 first shovelful of earth descended upon it, and who in his 
 speechless grief could only wring his thin, bony hands and 
 groan, none would have recognized a President-elect of the 
 United States. Among his old friends there was General Adair, 
 Governor of Kentucky, one of his trusty lieutenants at New 
 Orleans. General Adair had come by express invitation to at- 
 tend the grand banquet that was prepared at Nashville, but 
 found a funeral instead. My father had told me that some years 
 before an angry controversy over some official matter occurred 
 between Generals Jackson and Adair. But that trouble had long 
 ago been composed and they were good friends again. General 
 Adair, being one of my father's old friends, was my escort 
 there. 
 
 When General Jackson finally turned away from the tomb 
 he actually tottered so that General Adair let go my arm and 
 took that of his old commander — I verily believe to keep him 
 from falling. He said to Adair, "John, it is very good of you 
 to be here and comfort me now. You have been with me be- 
 fore when I needed you." General Adair could hardly find 
 words, but his eyes filled with tears. He and General Cotfee 
 then walked with General Jackson — one on each side of him — 
 
ELECTED TO THE PRESIDENCY 203 
 
 to the house. General Carroll offered me his arm, and we 
 walked along behind them. There were so many people in the 
 house it was not easy to get through the hall. But finally a 
 way was made, and General Jackson reached the room he used 
 as his private office. There all soon took leave of him except 
 Generals Coffee, Carroll and Adair and Major Lewis. 
 
 As I was leaving the room I noticed that he was brightening 
 up and heard him say, in answer to some remark by one of his 
 generals, "Oh, yes, oh, yes, we're all nothing but poor creatures 
 anyhow. No matter what we gain there is always some loss 
 that takes it all away !" 
 
 If I had not seen, I could not have believed that General 
 Jackson could be so prostrated with sorrow. I had known him 
 since I was a little girl, but only to see him occasionally. 
 From what people continually said about him I thought he was 
 made of iron or his heart of stone. But now I knew better, and 
 from that moment I changed my whole opinion of him. He 
 certainly had been in many cruel scenes. But he could not 
 help it. Duty called him there. By nature I am sure he was 
 a real good, true, tender-hearted man. 
 
 It was a singularly touching coincidence that such a 
 man as Jackson should have had all three * of his im- 
 mortal old lieutenants by his side again at such a mo- 
 ment; so different from the scenes of his glory and 
 theirs ! 
 
 * It is true, as related by the fair writer, that General Adair attended the 
 funeral of Mrs. Jackson. But he happened to be in Nashville at the time 
 on business and not as a guest invited to the great demonstration that had 
 been arranged. The feeling roused between Adair and Jackson by their 
 quarrel in 1817, heretofore noticed, was not yet altogether allayed. While 
 this might have prevented him from attending a personal or political dem- 
 onstration in honor of General Jackson as President-elect, it could have 
 nothing to do with the funeral of Mrs. Jackson, whom Adair had known 
 when his relations with her husband were pleasant and to whom he was 
 personally grateful for many courtesies. Adair was never a warm supporter 
 of Jackson in politics. He served in Congress as a Democrat while Jack- 
 son was President, but always maintained an attitude of independence. 
 
204 HISTORY OF ANDREW JACKSON 
 
 General Jackson believed that the cause of his wife's 
 illness and death was the series of shocks inflicted 
 upon her by the savage malignity of the Adamsite press. 
 Some time after the funeral he went to her tomb, accom- 
 panied by Major Lewis, young Andrew J. Donelson, the 
 latter's wife, Emily, and Mary Donelson. One of the 
 party relates that the General, after arranging the 
 branches of a rose-bush at the foot of the mound, 
 clasped his hands and said, as if talking to himself: 
 "She was murdered — murdered by slanders that pierced 
 her heart! IMay God Almighty forgive her murderers 
 as I know she forgave them! I never can!" 
 
 And he never did. 
 
 Throughout the rest of his life he never spoke of her 
 except as ''that sainted woman." Everyone in whose 
 veins the blood of her family flowed, no matter how 
 remotely, became ''his children." It was a beautiful 
 and a wonderful devotion. 
 
 Time was scant for mourning. The busy world might 
 leave a humble man alone with his grief, but not a 
 President-elect. The funeral occurred the day after 
 Christmas. Only a little over two months intervened 
 between that time and inauguration. In that brief period 
 must occur the journey to Washington, made more diffi- 
 cult than usual by ice in the upper Ohio and snow-drifts 
 in the mountains. The inaugural message must be 
 thought out and prepared. The cabinet must be ar- 
 ranged. Besides these requirements, which of course 
 had similarly confronted every preceding President-elect, 
 there was in Jackson's case a problem more formidable 
 than any of them; a problem not hitherto presented. 
 It was that complete reorganization of the Federal civil 
 
ELECTED TO THE PRESIDENCY 205 
 
 service which, though not specifically put forward as an 
 "issue in the campaign," was well understood by the 
 President-elect and his supporters to be a cardinal— 
 though unwritten— ''plank" in the platform. 
 
 The inaugural message was in general terms dictated 
 by General Jackson, but put together by Major Lewis. 
 It was a disappointing document, failing to meet the 
 hopes of one side and the prognostications of the other. 
 Its tone was dignified, its comment upon public topics 
 conservative, its indications of policy almost vague 
 enough to be called diplomatic. The Jackson people- 
 that is to say, the great mass of voters — had expected 
 a ''ringing" proclamation, such as the old General had 
 been wont to promulgate on the tented field. They were 
 disappointed at its tameness. The Adams people, high 
 and low alike, were looking for a fierce philippic against 
 pretty much everything that was — or had been. They 
 were disgusted with its serene reserve and impassive 
 dignity. On one subject, however, its sound was not 
 uncertain : 
 
 "The task of reform," said the new President, "will 
 require particularly the correction of those abuses that 
 have brought the patronage of the Federal government 
 into conflict with the freedom of elections, and the coun- 
 teraction of those causes which have disturbed the right- 
 ful course of appointment, and have placed or continued 
 power in unfaithful or incompetent hands." 
 
 Whatever the authorship of other clauses may have 
 been, the source of this one was Andrew Jackson. In 
 phrase somewhat subdued to fit the august occasion, it 
 was simply "holding before the members of the organ- 
 ization the reasons why they were organized." Marcy 
 
2o6 HISTORY OF ANDREW JACKSON 
 
 afterward condensed both into an aphorism — blunt and 
 graphic — ''To the victors belong the spoils." 
 
 On all other points the document was purely academic. 
 It proclaimed those doctrines of Jefferson, in which Gen- 
 eral Jackson had always theoretically believed, and it 
 discountenanced, if it did not denounce, most of the 
 policies he had always practised. A reader of that mes- 
 sage who had also read the General's earlier and more 
 vigorously expressed views upon such topics as the need 
 of a strong standing army, the impotence of State mili- 
 tia, the propriety of "protection to home industries," 
 etc., might easily, in absence of other information, 
 have inferred that President Jackson and Major-General 
 Jackson were two distinct individuals, opposed in most 
 tenets of national politics. 
 
 With regard to the tariff, he did, indeed, reserve a 
 thought in favor of ''products essential to our national 
 independence." Such products, whether "of commerce, 
 of agriculture, or of manufactures," he thought should 
 be protected. The probability is that the home products 
 most essential to our national independence were, from 
 his point of view, such things as gunpowder, lead, iron 
 for rifles, muskets, artillery and cannon-balls, cordage 
 and other equipment known as naval stores — or, gen- 
 erally speaking, those commodities indispensable to the 
 national defence. If so, the tariff views cautiously set 
 forth in the message were purely patriotic, but not pa- 
 ternal — as they have been made by later policies. 
 
CHAPTER VIII 
 
 POLICY OF THE NEW ADMINISTRATION 
 
 The inaugural message being prepared, the presiden- 
 tial party left Nashville Saturday, January 17, 1829, 
 on a steamboat, bound down the Cumberland and up 
 the Ohio to Pittsburg; thence by land over that great 
 ''Public Improvement," the National Road. Jackson had 
 travelled that road before. Its benefits, which even the 
 strictest constructionist of the Jeffersonian school could 
 not help perceiving, may have suggested the clause in 
 his inaugural message which read : 
 
 "Internal Improvements. ... So far as they 
 can be promoted by the constitutional acts of the Fed- 
 eral government, are of high importance." 
 
 There is every reason to believe that General Jackson 
 always considered the National Road as not only "of 
 high importance," but perfectly "constitutional." Ac- 
 companying the President-elect to Washington were 
 Major Lewis, Andrew J. and Mrs. Emily Donelson and 
 Miss Hays, a niece of Mrs. Jackson. The young daugh- 
 ter of General Coffee and grand-niece of Mrs. Jackson 
 was to be a member of the party, and had come from 
 Florence, Alabama, where the general lived, for that 
 purpose. But on the eve of her departure the sudden 
 illness of another member of the family compelled her 
 
 to return home. 
 
 207 
 
2o8 HISTORY OF ANDREW JACKSON 
 
 The journey by river was slow and difficult on ac- 
 count of ice. Great crowds flocked to see the presiden- 
 tial boat at every city and town, but in consequence of 
 the general mourning there was no public demonstration. 
 The party arrived at Washington, February 14th, and 
 were temporarily domiciled at the old Indian Queen 
 Hotel, since known as the Metropolitan — a perfectly 
 Vandalic change of name, defiant alike of tradition and 
 euphony. 
 
 Arrived at the Capital, the General was, as always 
 and everywhere, accessible to the people. But he was 
 not communicative. At least, his late opponents thought 
 so. As near the inauguration as March 2d, Daniel W^eb- 
 ster wrote to his brother Ezekiel that ''General Jackson 
 is constantly surrounded by his friends, but seems to 
 keep his own counsel. Very Httle has been given to the 
 public. . . . Probably he will make some removals, 
 but I think not a very great many, immediately." 
 
 Isaac Hill wrote, the last day of February, to his 
 assistant editor : 
 
 I see the General almost every day. He is extremely cordial, 
 and from the way he often repeats and laughs at things that 
 appeared in our columns during the campaign we may flatter 
 ourselves with having a most illustrious reader of our paper. 
 He says little about the future, except in a general way. I 
 infer that in New Hampshire affairs, and possibly in other 
 New England States, my advice may be asked occasionally, 
 but as yet there has been no conference. I do not believe 
 anyone knows his intentions beyond the Cabinet itself and the 
 list of that was printed in the National Telegraph here day 
 before yesterday (February 26) from the General's own 
 manuscript. The paper will reach you before this can. It 
 is, as you will see, a strong cabinet, judiciously distributed: 
 
THE NEW ADMINISTRATION 209 
 
 Van Buren and Ingham from the East; Branch and Berrien 
 from the South; Eaton and Barry from the West 
 
 They tell a funny story here that Wilham Wirt, who has been 
 Attorney-General a good many years, under all sorts of adm n 
 .strafons, and who liked the job, wrote to Monroe, soliciting 
 h.s influence w.th the Genera, to keep him on th pay-ro f 
 Monroe, who or.g.nally appointed Wirt to please Jei^erson 
 adv.sed W>rt to resign. JeiTerson had Monroe appoin Wir as' 
 a reward for h,s prosecution of Burr. Adams had held on 
 h.m for substantially the same reason. But General Jackson 
 does not owe any debts of that kind 
 
 No one knows anything definite as yet about the subordinate 
 offics, except that changes will be made both in the depart! 
 
 s.dera .on of md.vdual merits may permit. To hear the old 
 offic, Is ,n the departments talk, you would think the plac s 
 they hod were their private property, or that the Governmen 
 mus collapse .nstantly they are put out. There is an old man 
 
 n the State Department over twenty years-appointed by Madi- 
 son when Secretary of State under Jefferson. He expressed 
 wonder, the other day in conversation, where the new admtTs 
 trat,on would find a Democrat to translate "diplomatic Fren h" - 
 Th,s was told, as a good joke, to the General. "Oh just HI 
 h.m • sa,d Jackson, "that if necessary I can bring P he- 
 whole Creole Battalion up here! Those French fellows, you 
 
 coats that had just made all the translators here take to the 
 woods for their lives !" 
 
 Old H.ckory has a fund of humor in his make-up. But mos 
 of h.s salhes, like the above, are likely .0 be a little bit creh 
 
 In another letter, written after the inauguration, Hill 
 corned a phrase that has passed into our poh'tical the- 
 saurus as a synonym: 
 Vol. II.— 14 
 
2IO HISTORY OF ANDREW JACKSON 
 
 You may say to all our anxious Adamsite friends that the 
 barnacles will be scraped clean off the Ship of State. Most of 
 them have grown so large and stick so tight that the scraping 
 process will doubtless be fatal to them; but it can't be helped. 
 Just add them to Zeke Webster's and Jerry Mason's list of 
 "Jackson's murders" ! 
 
 This was only personal gossip, as between an editor 
 and his assistant, not intended for the public eye. Just 
 how Mr. Hill connected Jeremiah Mason with campaign 
 libels against Jackson is not clear. Mason was an 
 Adamsite, it is true, but he had nothing whatever to do 
 with newspapers or public speaking, being president of 
 the Portsmouth (New Hampshire) branch of the United 
 States Bank. He may have assisted Ezekiel Webster 
 financially, and Webster did write pamphlets and news- 
 paper articles. Hill was him'self a director of the State 
 bank at Concord, and also its vice-president. Through 
 that connection he may have found means of learning 
 how and to what extent the United States branch bank 
 at Portsmouth, or its president, had been a contributor 
 to the Adamsite campaign fund. 
 
 Perhaps the most amusing incident of this period is 
 one that the author in youth was wont to hear from an 
 ancestral relative. The relative was editor of an ex- 
 ceedingly stalwart Jackson organ in Ulster County, New 
 York. Naturally, he joined the innumerable throng of 
 strenuous patriots who went to Washington to see the 
 People's President inaugurated. The 4th of March, 
 1829, fell on a Sunday. Our relative, notwithstanding 
 his unterrified Jackson Democracy, always went to church 
 on the Sabbath. That particular Sunday he attended 
 the sanctuary where the Adams family was wont to 
 worship. 
 
THE NEW ADMINISTRATION 211 
 
 To his amazement — not to say amusement — the worthy 
 pastor chose for his text some words from the prophecy 
 of Isaiah, foretelHng the destruction of Jerusalem. The 
 words of the text were : ''What will ye do in the solemn 
 day?" Upon this text the learned divine discoursed 
 feelingly and at length. The relative listened to the 
 sermon and then betook himself to the Indian Queen 
 tavern, where he related the text and as much as he 
 could remember of the sermon. The concourse of men 
 who listened to him were undoubtedly some of those 
 whom Judge Story, in a letter written at the time, de- 
 scribes as "a mixture such as I never saw; the subjects 
 of King Mob, who reigns triumphant!" — or words to 
 that efifect. Be this as it may, the stalwart Jacksonians 
 assembled at the Indian Queen agreed with the reverend 
 doctor that it was a ''solemn day" ; one exceedingly 
 solemn for those whom Isaac Hill had already described 
 as the "barnacles" that were to be "scraped clean off the 
 Ship of State." 
 
 The Adamsite organs, now that their cause and their 
 candidate were hopelessly beaten, transferred their scur- 
 rility from General and Mrs. Jackson to the "horde of 
 the unwashed" who had come from all quarters to see 
 the old regime of Virginia and Massachusetts go out 
 and the new regime of the plain people come in. To 
 reproduce their jeremiads — or even to epitomize them — 
 w^ould require the addition of another volume to this 
 work. Suffice here to say that, while there may have 
 been some pretext for the fish-market tone of the Adams- 
 ite press before election, when they may have hoped to 
 win, their persistence in billingsgate after the verdict of 
 the country had been rendered was silly, because impo- 
 
212 HISTORY OF ANDREW JACKSON 
 
 tent, and the next thing to criminal because unpatriotic. 
 The inference was that they thought the vast prepon- 
 derance of citizens whose votes elected Jackson had no 
 right to even aspire to office under him, and that any 
 policy which contemplated the ''scraping off of barnacles" 
 must be seditious, if not treasonable. 
 
 If the Jackson regime had wanted an argimient in 
 favor of the ''clean sweep," it need not have gone beyond 
 calling attention to the temper in w^hich the "barnacles" 
 viewed themselves as owners of the offices they held or 
 the bare proposition of turning them out as a wrongful 
 invasion of vested rights. Most men of sense will admit 
 that governments, so far as they may be establishments 
 for transaction of business, should be conducted on busi- 
 ness principles. To that extent a permanent civil service 
 — or, in plainer phrase, an 'office-holding class — in a 
 popular form of government may be defensible. But in 
 1829 the "ancient barnacles" who had fastened them- 
 selves upon every clerkship and the purblind moles who 
 burrowed under every Federal pay-roll carried their 
 spleen to the rcductio ad ahsurdiim, and deserved expul- 
 sion for their folly if for nothing worse. For such, the 
 4th of March, 1829, was, indeed, "the solemn day" — 
 in the words of the prophet. 
 
 This relative — who, by the way, was a younger 
 brother of David Buell, elsewhere referred to — has left 
 on record a graphic account of a visit to President Jack- 
 son in the autumn of 1829: 
 
 I had a note of introduction from Mr. Webb [James Watson 
 Webb] and also one from Mr. Marcy, who was good enough 
 to mention my service under General Dearborn and General 
 Macomb during the war [of 1812]. I also knew Mr. Van 
 
THE NEW ADMINISTRATION 213 
 
 Buren personally, and he gave me his own card with a few 
 words written on the back of it. With these introductions I 
 easily gained access to the President on a favorable footing. 
 I will give our conversation, as I wrote it down the first thing 
 after I left his presence. He happened to be alone in his 
 executive office when I was ushered in. He looked tired and 
 worn and I noticed his complexion was almost sallow enough 
 for jaundice. But he was alert and active enough despite the 
 feebleness of his appearance. 
 
 I will explain that the object of my visit, besides that of 
 paying my respects, w^as to ask the retention of a postmaster 
 in our county, who, when a volunteer landsman on board the 
 Lawrence, had lost a leg in the battle of Lake Erie. He had 
 been appointed by Mr. Madison in 181 5 and held the office 
 ever since. But he had voted for Mr. Adams in 1824 and 
 1828, and a Jackson man wanted his place. Having been a 
 soldier in the Niagara campaigns and also at Plattsburg, I 
 naturally sympathized with the one-legged man, irrespective 
 of his politics. When I entered the room General Jackson 
 rose from his desk and said abruptly : 
 
 *'How are you, sir? Glad to see you. Can I be of any 
 service to you?" 
 
 I then related as briefly as possible the object of my visit. 
 
 "Lost his leg, you say, in the battle of Lake Erie?" 
 
 "Yes, sir. Permit me to say, further, Mr. President " 
 
 "Mr. Marcy says in his letter introducing you that you were 
 a soldier." 
 
 "Yes, sir. I was on the Niagara frontier from September, 
 1812, to May, 1814, and then went to Plattsburg, where I 
 served till the end of the war." 
 
 "Well, then, call me 'General.' I like it better than any 
 other title when I am talking with soldiers !" 
 
 "I was about to say, General, that this postmaster, Mr. T , 
 
 has a boot and shoe shop in the village, and the post-office, 
 being in his store, helps him in his trade — a consideration 
 worth more to him than the income of the office itself. He 
 is a good man and has a large family. The people there 
 
214 HISTORY OF ANDREW JACKSON 
 
 all like him. But I must tell you that he voted against 
 you " 
 
 "I don't care a bawbee, sir, how he voted, if he lost a leg 
 fighting for the country ! That is vote enough for me, sir. If 
 more men of his politics in the East had exposed their lives 
 for the country as he did in that war, sir, the northern cam- 
 paigns might have been more satisfactory — more glorious to 
 our arms, sir !" 
 
 He said these words with great animation and emphasis, 
 bringing his hand down heavily on the table beside him every 
 time he said "sir." His eyes flashed, the sallowness went out 
 of his face, and a healthy flush took its place, and his voice 
 rang like a bell. 
 
 Then he added : "I don't believe that office is a presidential 
 appointment.''* 
 
 "No, sir, it is not. It is a small office or branch, and comes 
 under the Postmaster-General." 
 
 He then said to his private secretary: "Major, make a 
 memorandum for Colonel Barry that the postmaster at Esopus, 
 New York, is to be retained." 
 
 It then occurred to me to remark that my brother, who was 
 a surveyor in Indiana Territory before the war of 1812, went 
 with the Kentucky troops to New Orleans and served there 
 in General Adair's rifle brigade; mentioning, of course, his 
 first name. 
 
 "Oh, yes, I remember him well. I had him detailed on 
 special duty in the city after the battle. So you are David 
 Buell's brother? I now recollect that he was born in New 
 York. Well, sir, I am glad to meet his brother. Where is 
 he now?" 
 
 * Under the postal laws and regulations then in force the smaller post- 
 offices were treated practically as branches of the nearest important office. 
 The latter would be a presidential appointment; but the lesser ones would 
 be under its jurisdiction and their postmasters were designated by the Post- 
 master-General, usually upon recommendation of the incumbent of the 
 larger office, whose "patronage" was thereby increased. Moreover, one of 
 the innovations of the Jackson regime was that of making the Postmaster- 
 General a Cabinet officer. Prior to that time the General Post-office had 
 been treated as a business concern, without political status. 
 
THE NEW ADMINISTRATION 215 
 
 I explained that he was employed on a canal survey in Ohio. 
 
 He then said : "I know almost every man in that army, sir, 
 by sight, and I believe if they were all here I could call them 
 by name. Every one of them, sir, is my personal friend, and 
 I am his ! Yes, sir; for life, sir !" 
 
 Seeing he was getting excited again, I ventured to suggest 
 that it was remarkable to remember so many men, such a long 
 time. At this a good-natured expression came over his 
 features, and he smiled in a half-quizzical way as he said : 
 
 "Oh, no, sir; there were not so very many of them. The 
 world has got the impression that they must have been numer- 
 ous from what they did. True, it was almost fifteen years 
 ago. But when a man once gets acquainted with such fellows 
 as they were he never can forget them." 
 
 While this was going on a number of callers had been 
 announced and I thought it proper to m^.ke way for them. 
 As I rose to go he held out his hand, and as I took it he 
 placed the other hand on my shoulder and asked: "Now, sir, 
 can I be of any service to you personally?" 
 
 "Not in any official way, sir. I do not want any place. If 
 you will keep my crippled old comrade of the war in his little 
 office, I ask nothing else." 
 
 "I will keep him there, sir, never fear." 
 
 Then he walked to the door with me and at the threshold 
 took me by the hand again, saying: "Remember me cordially 
 to your brother when you see him or write to him. Tell him 
 I would like to see him and talk over the old times if he should 
 happen to come this way." 
 
 As I went out, a dozen or so of gentlemen were in the 
 waiting-room, and from the way they surveyed me it was 
 evident they thought I must have the appointment to some 
 important foreign mission in my pocket. As I thought over 
 the interview I said to myself. So this is the terrible Jackson ! 
 Plain, straightforward, no pomp or reserve about him. Im- 
 pressive he truly was ; but in a kindly, homely sort of way 
 that inspired anything but awe. 
 
 This was the first time I had a chance to talk with him. 
 
2i6 HISTORY OF ANDREW JACKSON 
 
 Of course I had seen him before, but it was in the crush of 
 inauguration, when a regular mob was surging around him. 
 Some time afterward he, without my asking it, appointed me 
 on a commission to acquire more land for barracks at Sackett's 
 Harbor, and also for improving the arsenal at Watervliet. 
 But when I got home from Washington on this occasion and 
 tried to relate my experience with him to my neighbors, they 
 thought — or some of them — that I must be drawing the long 
 bow, because they could hardly believe that so great and 
 famous a man would be so plain and every-day-like in his 
 ways. 
 
 Viewed as a partisan bogey, the so-called ''clean 
 sweep" had been overworked on one side as absurdly 
 as "treason, stratagem and spoils" was on the other. 
 The sweep was by no means clean. It was not, in fact, 
 half-way so. Exclusive of the 8,600-odd post-offices of 
 all classes, the total number 6f Federal offices in 1829 
 did not exceed two thousand. Of these, a considerable 
 number were clerks, marshals and other officials of 
 United States courts ; and only the marshals came within 
 political purview. The others were not disturbed. In 
 one case the clerk of a district court resigned because 
 he had vehemently supported Adams in the campaign 
 and supposed he w^ould have to go. The Attorney-Gen- 
 eral — Berrien — returned the clerk's resignation directly 
 to him with the remark that, if he desired to vacate his 
 position, he must first put his resignation in the hands 
 of the judge of the court. The clerk held his place. 
 Of the 8,600 postmasters, fewer than 500 were removed 
 for political reasons; though, of course, these embraced 
 the most important centres, and involved a considerable 
 number of assistants and clerks. Of the total number 
 
THE NEW ADMINISTRATION 217 
 
 of post-offices in 1829, about 8,000 had no clerical force, 
 but were managed by the postmasters themselves. Such 
 offices as collectorships, territorial governors, secretaries, 
 etc.. Federal district attorneys, United States marshals, 
 commissioners and special agents, were included in the 
 political list and changed. This was also true of the 
 diplomatic and consular representation abroad. 
 
 In the departments at Washington, all the heads of 
 bureaus were removed except the Indian Commissioner, 
 who was retained because General Eaton, Secretary of 
 War, in whose department the Indian office was then 
 embraced, did not wish to dispense with the experience 
 and acquaintance the old commissioner had with the In- 
 dians personally. Not more than half of the Indian 
 agencies were changed. Among the new Indian agents 
 appointed was Robert Polk — the same man whom Gen- 
 eral Jackson had threatened to shoot in the battle of 
 New Orleans for being too brave. 
 
 On the whole, the total number of removals was not 
 over 700, including postmasters. Of course, this was, 
 for that time, an innovation. But it was by no means 
 illogical. The government was then forty years old. 
 The civil service, modelled at the beginning after that 
 of England, was aristocratic, and had already begun to 
 be hereditary. It belonged to the epoch of apostolic 
 succession of cabinet officers to the presidency, the oli- 
 garchy of the congressional caucus and restricted suf- 
 frage. As such it was an anachronism. Its efficiency 
 had decreased with its permanency, and the arrogance 
 of clerks had grown with their sense of security in 
 place from one administration to another. They were 
 ceasing to consider themselves servants of the people and 
 
21 8 HISTORY OF ANDREW JACKSON 
 
 coming to view the public crib as part of their private 
 estate. When removed they cried out that the motives 
 of those who asked for their places were selfish and 
 sordid. They did not seem to realize that the desire of 
 those who are in to stay in is quite as selfish and sordid 
 as the ambition of those who are out to get in. 
 
 The old system that came to an abrupt end in 1829 
 involved the cardinal theory that only a very small, select 
 and self-perpetuating class of men were fit to transact 
 the business of the government, while the rest of the 
 people — the uncounted majority — were fit only to pay 
 taxes for their support. This theory was un-Republican, 
 un-Democratic, oligarchical, almost feudal, and of course 
 it had to go. Its further perpetuity would give the lie 
 to the progress of the nation. That its end came with 
 the advent of Jackson was a mere coincidence. It was 
 bound to come anyhow. 
 
 Yet to the defeated Adamsite party — which for con- 
 venience we may henceforth term ''Whig" — the so-called 
 "clean sweep" afforded political stock in trade. They 
 therefore called it the "Spoils System,!' and on that 
 phrase they rang the changes. There was then and has 
 been ever since a peculiarity of the American mind which 
 makes men who would face the mouth of a hostile cannon 
 without flinching, run like rabbits from an epithet. And 
 it is not in party strife alone that epithet proves a deadly 
 weapon. The average citizen is proud of his country's 
 integrity and cherishes her honor. He is willing to fight 
 for either at any time. But if some hysterical peace 
 society calls him "a jingo," the voice of patriotism is 
 silenced in his soul. Fortunately, among the pests of 
 Jackson's era, the millennial peace-pifBer had not yet 
 
THE NEW ADMINISTRATION 219 
 
 appeared. If he had, the situation would have been hope- 
 less, for Jackson was — or would have been — the ideal 
 
 "jingo." 
 
 In all general policies there must be individual errors. 
 But in this instance the marvel really was that they were 
 so few. Doubtless the most palpable mistake General 
 Jackson made was the recall of General Harrison from 
 the Colombian mission. The hero of Tippecanoe and 
 the Thames had, indeed, done his best for Adams and 
 his worst against Jackson in the campaign. But he had 
 conducted his part of the debate with dignity and always 
 fully acknowledged the debt his country owed to the 
 victor of New Orleans. Before the election— months 
 before — Mr. Adams had chosen General Harrison to 
 represent the United States at the capital of the new 
 South American republic. 
 
 To this selection Mr. Adams was moved by a senti- 
 mental impulse — quite unusual with him. General Har- 
 rison in 18 1 2 had borne a master hand to vindicate the 
 Declaration his father signed in 1776. Mr. Adams 
 thought that such a man would be persona grata in the 
 highest degree to a young republic just freed from the 
 yoke. But General Harrison did not go to Bogota at 
 once. Some believed— and the President among them— 
 that he delayed his departure for the purpose of taking 
 part in the campaign; even to manage the campaign in 
 Ohio against Jackson. But General Harrison always 
 said that he waited until November because he did not 
 wish to make a tropical voyage in midsummer. Harrison 
 sailed from New York for Bogota the loth of Novem- 
 ber, 1828— the Monday after election— on board the 
 sloop-of-war Erie. His route was by sea to the mouth 
 
!220 HISTORY OF ANDREW JACKSON 
 
 of the Magdalena River, thence partly up that stream 
 and partly by land — primitive water carriage and bad 
 roads — to the Colombian capital. The journey occupied 
 just four months. He presented his credentials to Gen- 
 eral Bolivar at Bogota — or rather at Ogana — the loth 
 of March. On that same day, President Jackson, at 
 Washington, signed the letter recalling him! 
 
 This was a blunder; not merely from the political, but 
 from the patriotic point of view. No President ever 
 threw aside so magnificent an occasion for magnanimity 
 as Jackson did when he recalled Harrison. It is quite 
 probable that Harrison would have offered his resigna- 
 tion. But that would have been his fault. In fact, 
 Jackson almost belied his own character in the transac- 
 tion. Those who love to revere the old hero's memory 
 console themselves with the well-founded belief that it 
 was Van Buren, and not Jackson, who really recalled 
 Harrison. There were hosts of Democrats in New York 
 who voted for Jackson in 1828 and 1832 and against 
 Van Buren and for Harrison in 1836 and 1840. They 
 were veterans of the war of 18 12, and resented the in- 
 dignity done to their old comrade, which they laid at 
 Van Buren's door. 
 
 Jackson ought to have viewed Harrison with refer- 
 ence to what he did in the Canada campaign of 181 3, 
 not in the Ohio campaign of 1829. William Allen, who 
 was by no means friendly to General Harrison — except 
 personally — related to the author that when the matter 
 of recalling him was under consideration, Colonel Barry 
 ■ — then Postmaster-General — who had served under Har- 
 rison in all his campaigns, suggested to General Jackson : 
 "If you had seen him as I did at the Thames, you 
 would, I think, let him alone." 
 
THE NEW ADMINISTRATION 221 
 
 *'You may be right, Barry," retorted the President; 
 'T reckon you are. But, thank God, I didn't see him 
 there!"* 
 
 The course of the clean sweep did not run smoothly. 
 Though there was a normal administration majority of 
 three or four in the Senate, some Democratic Senators 
 were unwilling to assume the "thick-and-thin" attitude. 
 Few of these revolted, however, except in extreme cases. 
 Most of those who made a practice of insurrection at 
 the beginning of the administration soon learned better. 
 The few who did not or could not learn retired to pri- 
 vate life at the expiration of their existing terms, except 
 one, w^ho had six years before him. Jackson ''removed" 
 this one — from the Senate to the Federal bench. 
 
 Of the nominations rejected, the most noteworthy was 
 that of the New Hampshire Boanerges, our old friend, 
 Isaac Hill. His name w^as sent to the Senate for Second 
 Comptroller of the Treasury. Like the nominations of 
 other prominent journalists since his time, that of Mr. 
 Hill encountered what is called ''senatorial courtesy," 
 a grim, but invisible, intangible and impalpable fetich, 
 which hovers and hisses above the bald heads of solemn 
 Solons, but which, described in plain English, means that 
 Senators make use of executive session to wreak their 
 private revenges. The New Hampshire Patriot was 
 charged with "abusing Mrs. Adams." Hill's friends in 
 the Senate demonstrated that the "abuse" consisted of 
 
 * Some of General Jackson's superserviceable friends set up the prepos- 
 terous theory that Harrison was recalled at the request of General Bolivar 
 because he (Harrison) advised him to reject the offer of dictatorial powers 
 made by the Colombian Congress at the moment when Harrison arrived at 
 Bogota. This silly tale refutes itself. The letter of recall had left Wash- 
 ington two weeks before General Harrison at Bogota wrote his letter to 
 Bolivar on the subject of the dictatorship. And the average time of com- 
 munication between the two capitals then was four months. 
 
222 HISTORY OF ANDREW JACKSON 
 
 reprinting extracts from a Journal of Foreign Travel; 
 By an American Lady. The writer of the Journal ac- 
 cused Mrs. Adams of aping the manners of nobility and 
 of supercilious conduct toward her own countrywomen 
 when residing with her husband abroad in official 
 position. 
 
 The accusation probably had no better basis than an 
 ambitious woman's pique. We have seen American 
 ladies abroad, whose husbands had recently struck oil 
 or something of that sort, and who considered themselves 
 denied the inalienable rights guaranteed by the Consti- 
 tution whenever the wives or daughters of our ministers 
 or ambassadors could not find time or inclination to be 
 their chaperons or cicerones in foreign capitals. But 
 in any event, Hill had no right, even in that roundabout 
 way, to bring Mrs. Adams's na^ne into the filthy sewage 
 of such a campaign as that was. His offence differed 
 only in quality from that of the Adamsite editors, who 
 traduced Mrs. Jackson. The crime, in either case, was 
 that of bringing the woman's name into newspaper col- 
 umns for a partisan purpose. 
 
 Hill was rejected. Benton voted for him, and so did 
 Edward Livingston. But both explained their votes by 
 saying that perhaps the chivalry of his environment as 
 to the sacredness of a woman's name may not have been 
 so delicate as it was in other parts of the country ! How- 
 ever, the Senate rejected his nomination by a vote of 
 22 to 21, five Senators declining to either vote or pair 
 on the question. 
 
 Jackson resented this more bitterly than any other 
 action of the Senate. He at once set about a scheme 
 to get even. He arranged that Senator Woodbury 
 
THE NEW ADMINISTRATION 223 
 
 should resign and take the Secretaryship of the Navy, 
 in order that the irrepressible Mr. Hill might enjoy the 
 triumph of sitting in that Senate which had voted him 
 unfit to be Second Comptroller. In this as in most other 
 political operations to which he gave his personal atten- 
 tion, General Jackson succeeded exactly according to 
 plan. Mr. Hill was sworn in as a Senator about a year 
 after the Senate rejected him as Second Comptroller. 
 
 It might be interesting to analyze — if we could — the 
 mental processes through which Jackson differentiated 
 the bringing of Mrs. Adams's name by Hill and that of 
 Mrs. Jackson by the Adamsite editors-at-large into the 
 campaign literature of 1828. True, Hill did not asperse 
 the character of Mrs. Adams. He merely quoted the 
 American Lady, who accused her of being what the 
 New England people used to term "stuck-up in her 
 manners." On the other hand, the Adamsite organs 
 accused Mrs. Jackson of marrying her second husband 
 before being legally divorced from the first one; and on 
 that basis they called her an adulteress. The Adamsite 
 organs, in these assertions, did no more than echo the 
 declaration of Charles Dickinson, for which Jackson 
 killed him. Of course, if Hill had aspersed the name 
 of Mrs. Adams as her husband's editorial supporters, and 
 even Henry Clay himself, vilified the name of Mrs. Jack- 
 son, the General would never have tolerated his presence. 
 But Jackson, by his extravagant countenance and support 
 of Hill, seems to have proclaimed indirectly that, accord- 
 ing to his code, the name of a presidential candidate's 
 wife might be dragged through the columns of an op- 
 posing party organ, for the purpose of inflaming the 
 prejudices of voters, provided no aspersion was cast 
 
224 HISTORY OF ANDREW JACKSON 
 
 upon her chastity. If so, it must be admitted that the 
 Hne of distinction was most nicely drawn. On the other 
 hand, it might serve as one among many incidents tend- 
 ing to show that the character of General Jackson was 
 a strange assemblage of antitheses. 
 
 Jackson made several other blunders of a personal 
 nature in the removals and appointments of 1829. Most 
 conspicuous among them was the nomination of Henry 
 Lee to a consulate in France. The Senate rejected the 
 nomination on the ground of unfitness of Lee's personal 
 character, serious charges against him having been sus- 
 tained. Major Lewis, in a letter written soon after the 
 rejection of Lee's nomination, says that his own rela- 
 tives were the cause of it; that they were unwilling 
 that he should be sent abroad as a representative of that 
 illustrious family. Among those who voted against Lee 
 were such friends of Jackson as Senators White and 
 Grundy, of Tennessee; Benton, Edward Livingston, 
 Hayne and Woodbury — the most ardent and powerful 
 supporters he had in all the Senate. Jackson did not 
 find fault with them for voting against Lee. He was 
 less chivalrous with men than with women whom scan- 
 dal pursued, as we shall now see. 
 
 Great as may have been the issue of the ''clean sweep," 
 it soon gave place to an agitation that "shook society" 
 to its foundations. We have already seen that most of 
 General Jackson's troubles — or at least his worst ones — 
 had a woman in the case. The one now about to be 
 considered unquestionably made the most noise and gave 
 him the greatest worry of all — excepting, of course, the 
 one which, unjust and cruel as the imputation was, had 
 hung over his own hearth. 
 
THE NEW ADMINISTRATION 
 
 225 
 
 In January, 1829, about two months before General 
 Jackson appointed him Secretary of War, Senator Eaton, 
 of Tennessee, married Mrs. Margaret O'Neal Timber- 
 lake, of Washington. Mrs. Timberlake was the widow 
 of a purser in the navy who died by his own hand while 
 on duty with the Mediterranean squadron. Her father, 
 William O'Neal, had for a long time kept a private 
 hotel or large boarding-house, much patronized by Sen- 
 ators and members of Congress from the South and 
 West. As a young girl, Miss O'Neal had been well 
 educated, and her association with men and women of 
 culture and refinement who boarded at her father's house 
 had been a social training, in the mental sense, of which 
 she took full advantage. She was petite, pretty, viva- 
 cious and well-read. She knew as much about political 
 affairs as most men, and could discuss questions of state 
 with the ablest of them. 
 
 In fact, when she married Mr. Timberlake, most of 
 those who admired her viewed it as an inferior match, 
 and thought she ought to have cherished loftier aspira- 
 tions. This opinion was more generally held by the 
 men than by the women who were acquainted with Miss 
 O'Neal. Anyone who has passed twenty years in Wash- 
 ington as a newspaper man, or in any other capacity 
 involving the entree to official society, is likely to be 
 aware of the fact that the wife of an American states- 
 man — unless a second wife — is usually somewhat passee, 
 because men do not customarily arrive at the national 
 period of political success until they reach middle age, and 
 a middle-aged woman is always older than a man of 
 equal years. 
 
 The result was that by the time Miss O'Neal became 
 Vol. II.— 15 
 
226 HISTORY OF ANDREW JACKSON 
 
 Mrs. Timberlake, she had been the cause of no httle 
 jealousy on the part of a number of dames whose hus- 
 bands had not been able to conceal their admiration for 
 the sprightly and handsome girl. The dames, therefore, 
 welcomed Mr. Timberlake, and hoped that married life 
 might tone down the captivating manners and the — they 
 thought — dangerous graces of the boarding-house man's 
 daughter. But when Mrs. Timberlake, after a matri- 
 monial experience of four or five years, became a bloom- 
 ing young widow, the perturbations of society were 
 renewed. 
 
 These conditions became acute when Mrs. Timberlake 
 became the wife of Senator Eaton. And when it trans- 
 pired that Senator Eaton was to be a member of the 
 Cabinet, the situation ceased to be endurable. From 
 the view-point of those whor were leaders of society, 
 the sole alternative was to crush Mrs. Eaton at once. 
 General Jackson had not been President quite two weeks 
 when the storm burst upon him. 
 
 On March 22d he received a letter from the Rev. Dr. 
 E. S. Ely, of Philadelphia, informing him that certain 
 allegations of the most serious character against the 
 character of Mrs. Eaton had been imparted to him by 
 a clergyman in Washington, who desired him to com- 
 municate them to the President. Long as the list of 
 allegations was, it contained but two which, if sustained, 
 could be admitted as evidence in court. All the rest was 
 gossip, insinuation and vague whispers of what Mrs. A. 
 had told Mrs. B. in strict confidence — to be divulged only 
 to Mrs. CD., E. and F. 
 
 The two substantive allegations were : 
 
 First — That the Washington clergyman had told Dr. 
 
THE NEW ADMINISTRATION 227 
 
 Ely that a certain physician, then deceased, had told him 
 that Mrs. Timberlake had undergone a premature ac- 
 couchement when her husband had been absent a year 
 or more. 
 
 Second — That, before their marriage, Senator Eaton 
 and Mrs. Timberlake had visited New York and other 
 cities, registering at hotels as husband and wife. 
 
 The Rev. Dr. Ely also declared that the Washington 
 clergyman had told him that Mrs. Jackson herself, when 
 boarding with the General at Mr. O'Neal's house in 
 1824-25, had told him (the Washington clergyman) 
 that she entertained the worst suspicions of Mrs. Tim- 
 berlake. In conclusion. Dr. Ely assured the President 
 that his object in taking up the matter was to ''save his 
 administration from scandal." 
 
 The letter of Dr. Ely received General Jackson's im- 
 mediate attention. Under date of March 23, 1829, he 
 wrote at great length to Dr. Ely, analyzing the state- 
 ments offered and requesting to know the identity of 
 the ''Washington clergyman" in particular. One clause 
 from the General's letter serves to exhibit the spirit of 
 the whole : 
 
 "Would you desire me, my worthy friend, to add the 
 weight and influence of my name, whatever it may be, 
 to assist in crushing Mrs. Eaton, who, I do believe and 
 have a right to believe, is a much injured woman, and 
 more virtuous than some of her enemies?" 
 
 In this letter General Jackson pointed out clearly and 
 with characteristic vigor the inconsistencies and self- 
 contradictions that were apparent in the "evidence" 
 offered against Mrs. Eaton. And he flatly denounced, 
 of his own knowledge, as false and malicious, the dec- 
 
228 HISTORY OF ANDREW JACKSON 
 
 laratlon that Mrs. Jackson had ever suspected ^Irs. 
 Eaton. 
 
 To this letter Dr. Ely replied with reiteration of the 
 hearsays on which his first epistle was based, but de- 
 clined to divulge either the name of the "Washington 
 clergyman" or of any other informant in the endless chain 
 of what ''A told B and B told C that A had heard a 
 man say," etc., which constituted what he called his 
 ''evidence." 
 
 The effect of such a restatement as this upon such a 
 temperament as Jackson's need not be described. He 
 at once concluded that the reverend doctor had been 
 drawn in to serve as the respectable tool of a con- 
 spiracy fomented by Mr. Clay, and none the less foul 
 because most of the co-conspirators happened to be 
 women of high social rank, some of whom he had al- 
 ready described in his first letter to Ely as less virtuous 
 than Mrs. Eaton. Jackson was unwilling to suspect any 
 preacher of malice. While Mrs. Jackson had never suc- 
 ceeded in inducing him to join the church, she had thor- 
 oughly imbued his mind with that essential preliminary 
 to conversion or ''convincement" — a childlike faith in 
 the purity of preachers. He therefore implicitly believed 
 in the good intentions of Dr. Ely, but considered him 
 as a just man wofully deceived. His second letter to 
 the reverend doctor, dated April lo, 1829, was a cate- 
 gorical refutation of the allegations in the doctor's two 
 letters, so far as any of them was tangible; and finally 
 he emphasized his wish to know the identity of the 
 mysterious ''Washington clergyman" from a request to 
 a demand. 
 
 In the meantime he had employed competent men to 
 
THE NEW ADMINISTRATION 229 
 
 investigate the accusation concerning the hotel-registry 
 in New York, the Gadsby's Hotel story and everything 
 else in the case affording the least shadow of clue. The 
 result was always the same. Every trail of "evidence" 
 ended in nothing — not even a consistent rumor. No 
 authority for anything could be found anywhere. The 
 only progress made was that Dr. Ely, wdien fairly cor- 
 nered, wrote a letter to the "Washington clergyman" — 
 Rev. Dr. J. N. Campbell ; no less than the pastor of the 
 Presbyterian Church wdiich General Jackson himself at- 
 tended — and informed him that the time had come when 
 he (Campbell) must take the responsibility. 
 
 Accordingly, the evening of September i, 1829, an 
 interview occurred between the President and the Rev. 
 Dr. Campbell. This interview was witnessed by Colonel 
 Towson and Major Donelson. The President, under 
 dates of September 3d and loth, wrote out an account 
 of it, to the accuracy of which he and the two witnesses 
 present were willing to make oath. Briefly, the result 
 of this interview was to develop the fact that Dr. Camp- 
 bell had given two dates, nearly five years apart, for the 
 alleged premature accouchement ; that his first date was 
 1 821; and that then, finding out that Mr. Timberlake 
 did not leave the United States till the end of 1824, he 
 changed the date to 1826. This barefaced confession 
 of want of real evidence completed General Jackson's 
 disgust. 
 
 But he did not stop even there. He was determined 
 that the members of his Cabinet should know the facts 
 as he had ascertained them. So he called a special 
 cabinet council, at which the Rev. Drs. Ely and Camp- 
 bell were present. This was the evening of September 
 
230 HISTORY OF ANDREW JACKSON 
 
 10, 1829. At this council the Rev. Dr. Ely admitted 
 that the story of the hotel-registry in New York had 
 proved to be wholly false. This left the Rev. Dr. Camp- 
 bell to stand alone as "Chaplain to the Conspiracy." * 
 Upon close examination by General Jackson, Dr. Camp- 
 bell broke down more completely than Dr. Ely had done. 
 The case was then considered closed, and the President 
 evidently believed that Mrs. Eaton's position as a lady 
 of the Cabinet would be conceded. 
 
 It is of course impossible to follow the case in all its 
 bearings or to reproduce the mass of extant letters, state- 
 ments, reports of private investigations, etc., etc., that 
 the affair evoked. They could not be presented in less 
 than a hundred and fifty pages of this volume. The 
 total collapse of the prosecution for want of even a 
 shadow of evidence was viewed with perfect indifference 
 by the women of the Branch, Berrien, Calhoun and 
 Ingham families. If anything, their proscription of Mrs. 
 Eaton gained strength as the prosecution weakened, until, 
 when the last shred of alleged evidence had vanished, 
 they solemnly pronounced her guiltier than ever! 
 
 The sequel proved that General Jackson's knowledge 
 of the female character was extremely shallow. His 
 whole conception of it was based upon his experience 
 with Mrs. Jackson or his own mother — both simple, hon- 
 est pioneer women, as ignorant of the arts and the 
 artifices of "high society" as they were of necromancy 
 or the evil eye. He was therefore utterly incapable of 
 perceiving — much less dealing with — the influences 
 which the ambitions and the devices of women in high 
 official society never fail to exert upon the current of 
 political and diplomatic affairs. 
 
 * Isaac Hill's definition of Campbell's attitude. 
 
THE NEW ADMINISTRATION 231 
 
 This incapacity led him into the grotesquely absurd 
 belief or expectation that the women who had employed 
 the two preachers as instruments in their crusade against 
 Mrs. Eaton, would accept the result in good faith and 
 that social harmony would thereby be restored. He was 
 soon undeceived. The women not only redoubled their 
 hate toward Mrs. Eaton, but they also hated General 
 Jackson for his defence of her — or rather, for his 
 exposure of the hollowness of the plot against her. 
 
 His instincts now, as ever before, impelled him, w^hen- 
 ever a woman appeared as an enemy, to find some man 
 whom he could hold responsible for her conduct. In 
 earlier days he always found summary means of settling 
 such difficulties. But that recourse was denied to him 
 now. He could no longer exact the penalties of phys- 
 ical responsibility. But he held Mr. Calhoun and Sec- 
 retaries Ingham and Branch and Attorney-General Ber- 
 rien morally responsible for the attitude of their wives. 
 Of the Cabinet, Van Buren and Barry alone stood by 
 him. Van Buren was a widower without daughters. 
 The ladies of Barry's household were Kentuckians, as 
 chivalrous as men — and as fearless. 
 
 At first the President resorted to overtures. He wrote 
 a note to Calhoun on the subject. The Vice-President 
 replied that it was a quarrel among women, whose laws, 
 like those of the Medes and Persians, admitted of neither 
 repeal nor appeal. But this diplomatic parry did not 
 save Mr. Calhoun from General Jackson's resentment. 
 Finally, the services of Colonel Richard M. Johnson, of 
 Kentucky, as mediator were invoked. He found Messrs. 
 Branch, Berrien and Ingham wholly helpless in the 
 hands of the women of their families, and the general 
 result of his mediation was to make a bad matter worse. 
 
232 HISTORY OF ANDREW JACKSON 
 
 Meantime » the President took every opportunity to 
 exalt Mrs. Eaton socially. The wife of Mrs. Jackson's 
 nephew. Mrs. Emily Donelson, had been installed as 
 mistress of the White House. She yielded to the influ- 
 ence of the Calhoun. Branch, Berrien and Ingham 
 women. She declined to receive Mrs. Eaton. The 
 President sent her forthwith home to Tennessee. Her 
 husband, who was the President's private secretary, soon 
 followed her. 
 
 Mrs. Eaton now became to all intents and purposes 
 mistress of the White House. She did not live there, 
 but, with her husband — who, as we have noted in a 
 previous chapter, was adept in the art of entertaining — 
 superintended the preparation of all functions and fre- 
 quently appeared as presiding lady on state occasions. 
 Meantime the rebellious cabinet ladies remained unsub- 
 dued. General Jackson had at last found a foe he could 
 not conquer. The incident influenced the whole history 
 of his two administrations. Its effects constantly cropped 
 out from 1826 to 1837. No other woman has ever 
 exerted so great an influence upon the political history 
 of the United States as Margaret Eaton. 
 
CHAPTER IX 
 
 UNION AND NULLIFICATION 
 
 The Democratic or the Jackson preponderance in the 
 House of Representatives that organized December 7, 
 1829, was as 150 to 41. The Senate, as has already 
 been noted, was more evenly balanced, but the opposi- 
 tion on general party questions could rely on about 25 
 out of the 48 senators, or a clear majority of two. On 
 more purely personal questions there was, as yet. no 
 thick-and-thin majority in that body. There had been 
 no development of public policy. Nothing had been 
 done except to remove office-holders and vindicate Mrs. 
 Eaton. The political or partisan aspect of the situation 
 may be described by saying that Mr. Clay had begun 
 the campaign of 1832 as soon as the votes were counted 
 in 1828. 
 
 The first annual message of the new President was 
 not an imposing document. It touched tenderly upon 
 nearly every topic that it touched at all. But it con- 
 tained one clause, the significance of which admitted of 
 no doubtful interpretation. The language of the clause 
 was circumspect and its tone conservative, but its actual 
 portent was unmistakable to those who knew the opin- 
 ions and purposes of the President. Referring to the 
 fact that the charter of the United States Bank would 
 expire in 1836, it suggested: 
 
 Both the constitutionality and expediency of the law cre- 
 ating this Bank are well questioned by a large portion of our 
 
 233 
 
Q34 HISTORY OF ANDREW JACKSON 
 
 fellow-citizens ; and it must be admitted by all that it has 
 failed in the great end of establishing a uniform and sound 
 currency. 
 
 Under these circumstances, if such an institution is deemed 
 essential to the fiscal operations of the government, I submit 
 to the wisdom of the legislature whether a national one, founded 
 upon the credit of the government and its revenues, might not 
 be devised which would avoid all constitutional difficulties, 
 and at the same time secure all the advantages to the govern- 
 ment and the country that were expected to result from the 
 present Bank. 
 
 The President's declaration that the Bank had "failed 
 to establish a uniform and sound currency" was certainly 
 open to question. During the Bank's existence the coun- 
 try had, indeed, been from time to time flooded with the 
 notes of State banks, which varied widely in value out- 
 side the States in which they 'were issued. But neither 
 the Federal government nor the Bank had any power 
 to remedy this evil. If the notes of State banks were 
 not *'a uniform and stable currency" — as they most as- 
 suredly were not, then or at any other period of our 
 history — the fault was not attributable to either the Fed- 
 eral government, which had not then claimed the power 
 to monopolize the issue of paper money, or to the Bank 
 of the United States, which had no more to do with 
 the notes of State banks than with the private due-bills 
 of individuals one to another. Therefore, the Bank 
 should not have been held responsible for a currency 
 over which it had no control. 
 
 Later experience has taught the American people a 
 great truth that was not known — or that would have been 
 fiercely controverted — in 1830: The great truth that the 
 power to issue or authorize paper money must be lodged 
 
UNION AND NULLIFICATION 235 
 
 in the same depository with the power to coin metallic 
 money. Now (1904), after more than forty years' ex- 
 perience of this wise and salutary application of princi- 
 ple, the State bank theory, so far as concerns issue of 
 currency, is as dead as Nullification or Secession. But 
 in 1830 the State bank insanity was rampant, and from 
 it sprang much of the popular hostility to the Bank of 
 the United States. Whether the latter was properly 
 organized or equitably managed is a question the con- 
 sideration of which belongs elsewhere. 
 
 General Jackson's own public record on the subject 
 of the Bank was clear. In 1797 he had opposed in 
 Congress the first bank as proposed and organized by 
 Alexander Hamilton. In 18 16 his military position kept 
 him out of active politics ; but so far as he had expressed 
 his views then, they were known to be against its 
 re-charter. 
 
 The fact that while governor of Florida he had rec- 
 ommended the establishment of a branch bank at Pen- 
 sacola and subsequently had recommended ofiicers for 
 one at Nashville, did not affect his views upon the sub- 
 ject at large. His motive for attacking the Bank in 
 his first annual message has been explained in many 
 ways, some of which are at variance one with an- 
 other. The most probable one is the simplest. He 
 undoubtedly held in 1829 to the opinions that dictated 
 his opposition in 1797, and those opinions were strength- 
 ened by what he had seen — or what he believed — of 
 the dangerous political power the institution wielded. 
 His point that it *'had failed to give the country a uni- 
 form and sound currency" was — as we have already inti- 
 mated — hardly well taken, because it had done that to 
 
236 HISTORY OF ANDREW JACKSON 
 
 a degree most remarkable, considering the vast extent 
 of the country and the imperfect system of communica- 
 tions and exchanges. At the time he wrote the phrase 
 quoted the notes of the United States Bank were a cur- 
 rency as uniform and sound as any paper money the 
 world has ever seen — not excepting those of the Bank 
 of England or our own Treasury notes of to-day. The 
 statement was, therefore, reckless. If the stability of 
 its notes had varied at any time, it was because of con- 
 ditions such as war or threatening complications, which 
 never fail to affect any paper currency; but, whenever 
 there was no disturbing element beyond the control of 
 any fiscal institution, its notes had always been as good 
 on the upper Missouri as on the Delaware, and as good 
 as gold anywhere. 
 
 The alternative that he proposed for it, "a. national 
 bank," was vague. It might mean a system of Treasury 
 notes, resting on the faith of the government, like the 
 present greenbacks or coin certificates based on a Treas- 
 ury reserve, or it might mean a scheme like the present 
 national banking system, having a note circulation se- 
 cured by the obligations of the government — or both 
 combined. He could hardly, however, have contem- 
 plated a national banking system based upon government 
 debt, because he was in favor of extinguishing the latter 
 as soon as the excess of revenues over expenditures 
 would permit. 
 
 It is therefore fair to conclude that he had in mind 
 notes of the Treasury itself or a ''greenback" currency, 
 such as now exists; and it is perfectly clear that he was 
 opposed to any system that lodged the fiscal affairs of 
 the government in the hands of a chartered company, 
 
UNION AND NULLIFICATION 237 
 
 having a limited number of stockholders and, in general 
 terms, a legalized monopoly. If he held the Treasury 
 note theory his views were prophetic. We remember 
 that during what has passed into history as the ''green- 
 back craze," and which lasted with more or less vigor 
 from 1868 to 1878, the advocates of that system, from 
 Thaddeus Stevens and William Allen down, freely quoted 
 from this message and other expressions to claim that 
 Andrew Jackson was the originator of the greenback 
 idea. 
 
 Speculation aside, however, it is clear that Jackson 
 viewed the Bank as a Federalist institution in origin 
 and an anti-Democratic machine in perpetuation. True, 
 it had not been made an issue in either of the two cam- 
 paigns in which he had been a candidate. It had not 
 been mentioned in the canvass of 1824 or in that of 
 1828. In the former there were no issues except the 
 personalities of candidates, and those were so numerous 
 and the shades of political opinion they represented so 
 indistinct that there seemed to be no demand for issues 
 of policy or of principle. In 1828 the contest was again 
 purely personal, but between two candidates only; and 
 the element of personal abuse assumed at the outset such 
 virulence that the introduction of any rational subject 
 for sane discussion must have marred the consistency 
 of its vituperation. 
 
 But that it had been an issue from General Jackson's 
 viewpoint in both campaigns was sufficiently indicated 
 by the fact that he embraced the opportunity presented 
 by his first legislative message to attack it. The result 
 quickly proved that his party had not kept pace with 
 him on that question. Overwhelming as the Democratic 
 
238 HISTORY OF ANDREW JACKSON 
 
 majority in the House was, that body decHned to act 
 favorably upon the Bank clause in his message. The 
 Ways and Means Committee made a report favorable 
 to the United States Bank, and by clear implication con- 
 demned the national bank suggested in the message. 
 Subsequently a set of resolutions indorsing the fiscal 
 policy proposed by the President and declaring against 
 the re-charter of the existing Bank was laid on the table 
 by a vote of 90 to 65, or, on the final call, 89 to 66, 
 one Democrat changing his vote at the last moment. 
 However, this was hardly a test of the President's 
 strength in the House on this question, because several 
 Democrats explained their votes against the Potter reso- 
 lutions by saying that they were premature ; that the real 
 question was three years in the future, and that for 
 Congress to utter a mere threat now could have no effect 
 except to disturb the business of the country — points 
 which were quite widely viewed as well taken. 
 
 The session, though longer than usual, was barren 
 of important legislation. The House originated none 
 of historical import. The time of the Senate was taken 
 up partly by consideration of the numerous executive 
 nominations and partly by the great debate which cul- 
 minated in the immortal tournament between Hayne and 
 Webster, in which was sounded the first plain warning 
 of the "irrepressible conflict" to come. Other incidents 
 of this session were the clear announcement of the Pres- 
 ident's opposition to Federal appropriations for internal 
 improvements, at least until a clear and unmistakable 
 authority to grant them should be conferred on Congress 
 by an amendment to the Constitution ; also the adoption 
 of the policy of removing the Indians westward, which 
 
UNION AND NULLIFICATION 239 
 
 soon after took practical form in the creation of the 
 Indian Territory. The session lasted from December 
 7th till June I St. Seldom has there been a long session 
 of Congress less prolific of legislation and more fruitful 
 of epoch-making debate than this one. In those dis- 
 cussions was, for the first time, clearly developed and 
 frankly defined the ultra view of State-rights, and then 
 w^as openly asserted for the first time in the halls of 
 Congress the doctrine that the sovereignty of the State 
 was original and paramount, while that of the Federal 
 Union was merely delegated and subsidiary. 
 
 On this issue — which, by the w^ay, was thrust to the 
 front more by accident than design — General Jackson 
 announced his own attitude with neither delay nor un- 
 certain sound. Having no voice in debate, he availed 
 himself of a resource he had often used before — a dinner. 
 The 13th of April was Jefferson's birthday. The apos- 
 tle of Democracy had been dead four years. Jackson, 
 who never liked either the man or his philosophy, was 
 now the selected successor of the one and exponent of 
 the other. Jefferson, while coquetting with the theories 
 of Patrick Henry, had ignored them in practice. Now 
 Calhoun and Hayne had set Jefferson aside and pro- 
 claimed Patrick Henry as the true prophet. They had 
 not only declared the purely ministerial character of the 
 Federal Government, but they had also announced their 
 faith that the sovereign State, through the voice of its 
 people, possessed the reserved right to annul the Federal 
 laws. In this he who ran might read the preface of 
 secession and disunion. This Jackson foresaw as clearly 
 in 1830 as he could have seen it in 1861 had he lived 
 so long. 
 
240 HISTORY OF ANDREW JACKSON 
 
 Besides all these patriotic instincts, there was another 
 phase of the situation that appealed to the strongest trait 
 in his character — there was the chance of a fight in it. 
 He had not yet openly broken with Calhoun. But those 
 nearest to his inner confidence knew that he only awaited 
 opportunity that would give him the popular side in the 
 combat. Since he had been President he had learned 
 some truths about Calhoun's real attitude toward him in 
 1819; truths that Calhoun had fondly imagined to be 
 buried in the secrecy of cabinet council. In other words, 
 he had learned that, pretending out of doors to be his 
 friend, Calhoun had been his enemy in Monroe's Cabinet. 
 Not much knowledge of Jackson is required to appre- 
 hend the impression such a revelation of facing both 
 ways must make upon him. Jackson had made up his 
 mind to crush Calhoun befor^e Hayne's avowal of the 
 doctrines and the intentions of South Carolina. The 
 uplifting of the serpent's head in Nullification only gave 
 him a mark to strike at. And he did not spare the blow. 
 
 The Jefferson banquet was a grand one. To the 
 President was, of course, accorded the honor of the first 
 volunteer toast. No one — except his private secretary 
 and the members of his ''kitchen cabinet'' — had the 
 remotest inkling of what was to come. Only Benton, 
 Hill, Lewis and Kendall knew the President's intention. 
 The general drift of the regular toasts, as Benton de- 
 scribes the affair, and of the short speeches that accom- 
 panied them, had been that of an effort to identify Jef- 
 ferson's teachings with the ultra State-rights theory and 
 to make him, not the apostle of Democracy so much as 
 the high priest of Nullification. 
 
 When Jackson rose to tlie privilege of the leading 
 
UNION AND NULLIFICATION 241 
 
 volunteer toast, he straightened to his full height, raised 
 his right hand, looked straight at Calhoun and, amid a 
 hush that was almost breathless, said — in that crisp, 
 harsh tone that had so often been heard above the crash- 
 ing of many rifles — ''Our Federal Union! It Must and 
 Shall be Preserved T * 
 
 Not long afterward, Isaac Hill, who was present, said : 
 
 A proclamation of martial law in South Carolina and an 
 order to arrest Calhoun where he sat could not have come 
 with more blinding, staggering force. All hilarity ceased. The 
 President, without adding one word in the way of a speech, 
 lifted up his glass as a notice that the toast was to be quaffed 
 
 * This famous phrase has been badly mangled by careless reproduction. 
 Most readers in our day, if asked what Jackson said, would answer : " The 
 Union! It must and shall be preserved !" What he did say was : "Our 
 Federal Union!" etc. To apprehend fully the distinction it is necessary to 
 know the spirit of the time in which the words were used. Calhoun did 
 say in his toast merely "The Union." But Jackson called it "Our Federal 
 Union." Jackson's phrase meant a specific political fact and expressed a 
 particular patriotic thought which Calhoun's did not mean or express. 
 Calhoun's "The Union" referred simply to an existing fact, but recognized 
 no reason for its existence. It might have meant "A Union" or "Any 
 Union" or "Some Union." It might have been a thing hated or feared 
 — and many of Calhoun's followers did hate or fear it or both. Maybe he 
 himself did. 
 
 But General Jackson's "Our Federal Union!" could mean but one thing. 
 It meant not only that the Union existed, but also gave two reasons for its 
 existence ; one of statesmanship, the other of patriotism. The phrase was 
 not extempore. He had deliberated over it for days beforehand. He had 
 submitted several forms to excellent judges of phraseology. Benton, Ken- 
 dall, Isaac Hill and Major Lewis were skilled and practical writers, masters 
 of dialectics and acute in "shades of meaning." And they all had approved 
 his own preference for the form he used. Other phrases, framed but dis- 
 carded, were: "Our Union! Let us preserve it!" "The Federal Union! 
 It must be preserved!" "The Union of our fathers! Their sons must 
 defend it!" "The Union of the .States! Perfect and imperishable!" All 
 these were considered and finally set aside, in favor of "Our Federal Union! 
 It must and shall be preserved!" The choice was wise to inspiration, 
 (Reminiscence of Mr. Blair to the Author.) 
 
 Vol. II.— 16 
 
242 HISTORY OF ANDREW JACKSON 
 
 standing. Calhoun rose with the rest. His glass so trembled 
 in his hand that a little of the amber fluid trickled down the 
 side. Jackson stood silent and impassive. There was no 
 response to the toast. Calhoun waited until all sat down. Then 
 he slowly and with hesitating accent offered the second volun- 
 teer toast: 
 
 "The Union! Next to Our Liberty the Most Dear!" 
 Then, after half a minute's hesitation, and in a way that 
 left doubt as to whether he intended it for part of the toast 
 or for the preface to a speech, he added : 
 
 ''May we all remember that it can only be preserved by 
 respecting the rights of the States and by distributing equally 
 the benefits and burdens of the Union. 
 
 The contrast between the terse, quick sentiment of 
 General Jackson and the labored deliverance of Calhoun 
 was almost painful. It was the difference between the 
 crack of a rifle and an old musket flashing in the pan. 
 That Calhoun had been taken by surprise and thrown 
 completely off his feet was apparent to all, and to none 
 so painfully as to his friends or colleagues. The incident 
 itself was quickly over. Other volunteer toasts followed 
 in due succession, but there was no more zest. The 
 company — more than a hundred at the start — dwindled 
 to thirty within five minutes after Calhoun sat down. 
 
 '^General Jackson," says Mr. Hill, ''rose from his seat 
 and went to the end of the room where Benton was. 
 The two engaged in conversation, but it was not about 
 this episode. I could not help thinking — what a differ- 
 ence between 1813 and 1830; between the banquet-hall 
 in Washington and the hallway of the old City Hotel 
 in Nashville! And Jackson still carried Benton's bullet 
 in his flesh!" 
 
 In his Thirty Years in the Senate, Benton describes 
 
UNION AND NULLIFICATION 243 
 
 the scene and its effect. After reciting the two toasts, 
 he comments on that of Calhoun : 
 
 This toast touched every tender part of the new question; 
 Hberty before union; only to be preserved; State rights; in- 
 equahty of burdens and benefits. These phrases, connecting 
 themselves with Mr. Hayne's speech and with proceedings and 
 publications in South Carolina, unveiled Nullification as a new 
 and distinct doctrine in the United States, with Mr. Calhoun 
 as the leader of a new party in the field . . . and revealed to 
 the public mind the fact of an actual design tending to dissolve 
 the Union. 
 
 All this Jackson well knew. He saw that the progress 
 of Nullification must bring on a fight, and he applied 
 to the situation his favorite tactics in w^ar — he forced 
 the fighting. It was like his night-battle of December 
 23d. He did not wait for the enemy to attack him in 
 the morning. He struck the enemy in the dark in his 
 own bivouac. 
 
 Of course, the issue involved then was upon a minor 
 question as compared with the one that soon took its 
 place. It was only an affair of customs; of a tariff. 
 There was nothing in that to kindle the imagination 
 or stir the hearts of the people. It was only when human 
 slavery became the issue that the republic shook to its 
 foundations. But all great things begin small. That 
 Jefferson banquet in Washington, April 13, 1830, set 
 going a contest between two irreconcilable schools of 
 thought; between two doctrines that could not live to- 
 gether under the same flag ; between two forces that must 
 fight until one or the other perished. The contest begun 
 at the banquet lasted thirty-five years and ended at Ap- 
 pomattox. In such a struggle it was a miracle of good 
 
244 HISTORY OF ANDREW JACKSON 
 
 fortune for the right side to have Andrew Jackson at 
 its start and Abraham Lincoln at its finish. 
 
 From that time to the end of the session — seven weeks 
 — Httle was talked of in Washington but Union and 
 Nullification ; Jackson and Calhoun. Few realized the 
 full gravity of the peril. Many viewed it as a blow 
 opportunely struck by Jackson at an aspirant to the 
 presidency whom it was his policy to crush. There was 
 doubt as to w^hich would in the outcome fare worse — 
 the man who struck or who received the blow\ Some 
 believed it would detach all the anti-tariff States from 
 Jackson and drive them to Calhoun. Among these was 
 the last-named gentleman himself. Clay, Webster and 
 other Whig leaders believed the result would be a 
 Democracy divided betw-een Jackson and Calhoun, and 
 a consequent repetition of minority triumphant as in 
 1824. The wish was father to the thought. A Whig 
 paper in New^ York suggested that ''the South had elected 
 Jackson President for the same reason that a farmer 
 fattens a hog — only to kill him." 
 
 To this the inevitable Isaac Hill retorted : "And then 
 you expect to steal the pork again, as you did five years 
 ago." 
 
 News of the ominous banquet sped to South Carolina 
 as well as to New England. Singularly, the Nullifica- 
 tion organs of Charleston and the Whig papers of 
 Boston agreed that it was a Belshazzar's feast and that 
 the handwriting had been seen on the wall. And, what 
 was still more grotesque, these two extremes agreed 
 tliat the Belshazzar was Jackson. This brought forth 
 from Amos Kendall's pen the epigram, afterward fa- 
 mous in the literature of a campaign, that "Clay 'vould 
 
UNION AND NULLIFICATION 245 
 
 be willing to be President of half the Union if he 
 couldn't get the whole of it; and in that, if in nothing 
 else, he and Calhoun were agreed." 
 
 During all this discussion Jackson held his peace. But 
 one expression from him has been authentically recorded. 
 A few days after Congress adjourned, Mr. Potter, of 
 South Carolina, who was about to leave the Capital for 
 his home, called on the President. Mr. Potter was one 
 of the Jackson leaders in the House ; author of the tabled 
 resolutions approving the Bank policy foreshadowed in 
 the President's message. On the point of taking his 
 leave, Mr. Potter asked: 
 
 ''Have you any message for your friends in my State, 
 General?" 
 
 "Nothing in particular that I think of just now ; but — 
 yes, wait a minute! Are those Charleston folks who 
 declared in mass-meeting the other day that the army 
 and navy were not big enough to collect a penny of 
 duties the people didn't want to pay — are they in earnest? 
 Did they mean it ? Or do they realize what their words 
 
 mean 
 
 ?•'• 
 
 "I am afraid they mean it. General!" 
 
 "Well, then, tell them from me that they can talk 
 and write resolutions and print threats to their hearts' 
 content. But if one drop of blood be shed there in 
 defiance of the laws of the United States, I will hang 
 the first man of them I can get my hands on to the first 
 tree I can find!'' 
 
 Mr. Potter's response, if any, is not of record. But 
 an admonition of that kind from Andrew Jackson carried 
 with it at least the weight of a reputation for hanging 
 people which no one could say was not well earned. 
 
246 HISTORY OF ANDREW JACKSON 
 
 It does not seem necessary to pursue the subject of 
 Nullification further at this point. The people of South 
 Carolina observed the advice General Jackson sent to 
 them through the amiable Mr. Potter. They talked and 
 wrote and passed fiery resolutions to their hearts' con- 
 tent, but they did not shed any blood. And Jackson did 
 not hang any of them. The remark he made to Mr. 
 Potter, however, soon found its way into public gossip. 
 
 One day not long afterward. Colonel Hayne said to 
 Benton : "I don't believe he would really hang anybody, 
 do you?" 
 
 ''Well," replied Benton, "before he invaded Florida 
 on his own hook, few people could have believed that 
 he would hang Arbuthnot and shoot Ambrister — also on 
 his own authority — could they? I tell you, Hayne, when 
 Jackson begins to talk about hanging, they can begin 
 to look out for ropes !" * 
 
 Congress adjourned and its members went home to 
 "look after their fences" for the congressional campaign 
 of 1830. The Whigs made no concerted effort to regain 
 control of the House in this campaign. Perhaps they 
 were still appalled by the memory of the avalanche two 
 years before. Thurlow Weed once bluntly declared that, 
 "as the Bank had retired from politics and Jackson had 
 evicted all their place-holders, the Whigs had no source 
 of political income in 1830 and '31." The Democratic 
 majority in the preceding Congress — 150 against 41 — 
 was cut down to 139 against 52; but that signified noth- 
 ing. The United States Bank still had a majority of 
 its own. The senatorial changes consequent upon the 
 election of 1830 added only one to the Jackson strength, 
 
 * Reminiscence by William Allen, related to him by Benton himself. 
 
UNION AND NULLIFICATION 247 
 
 which gave him under normal conditions a vote of 26 
 to 22. But the Senate still retained its distinctive inde- 
 pendence, and was by no means so "reliable" as the 
 House. 
 
 One old condition, and a most important one, was not 
 changed in the composition of the Senate. It still had 
 a majority for the Bank — small, indeed, but safe — 25 
 against 23 on a full vote. The new Congress, of course, 
 would not meet until December, 1831, and the old one 
 would live until March 4th. It proved by no means the 
 last Senate with a United States Bank majority. Late 
 in the short session, Mr. Benton decided formally to 
 open the anti-Bank campaign with a speech, as a text for 
 w^hich he offered a resolution. His object w^as merely 
 to place the topic before the country in order that the 
 new Senate might have plenty of time to hear from the 
 people before meeting in December. Benton always con- 
 sidered this his greatest speech, and in his Thirty Years 
 comments upon it and its effects with undiluted satisfac- 
 tion. 'Tt was a speech," he says, ''to be read by the 
 people — the masses — the millions. ... It has been 
 complimented since as having crippled the Bank, and 
 given it the wound of which it afterward died." The 
 resolution was defeated, as he expected it w^ould be — 
 by 2T, to 20. 
 
 The short session of i830-'3i was otherwise unevent- 
 ful, and when Congress adjourned, the 4th of March, 
 it left the administration wdth nine months of time be- 
 fore it, all its own. 
 
 General Jackson had abundant use for this period of 
 non-interference. He had determined to reorganize his 
 Cabinet completely. There seems to be an impression 
 
248 HISTORY OF ANDREW JACKSON 
 
 that the social troubles of Mrs. Eaton were at the bot- 
 tom of this movement. Mr. Parton, whose investiga- 
 tion and analysis of that episode were more exhaustive 
 than any other we have seen, inclines to that theory. 
 Doubtless the social embarrassments consequent upon 
 the stubborn proscription of Mrs. Eaton by the Calhoun, 
 Branch, Ingham and Berrien women formed a contribu- 
 tory cause for reorganization. But the main cause w^as 
 far deeper and more weighty than could result from 
 any feminine squabble. Besides, at this time (the spring 
 of 1 831) these troubles had practically adjusted them- 
 selves. 
 
 General Jackson's own views on the subject of the 
 social difficulty had been clearly stated in a conversation 
 with the paymaster-general of the army, Colonel Tow- 
 son, whose wife was among tjie principal enemies of 
 Mrs. Eaton and chief, if not only, prompter of the Rev. 
 Drs. Campbell and Ely. On behalf of his wife and her 
 colleagues. Colonel Towson had remonstrated against 
 the selection of Major Eaton before the appointment 
 was officially made. In reply to a question, Colonel 
 Towson told the General that there was no objection 
 to Major Eaton, but that "great objections were made 
 to his wife." 
 
 General Jackson inquired what his wife could have 
 to do with the duties of the War Department. 
 
 Colonel Towson replied in effect that the other cabinet 
 women would not recognize her, which would cause 
 annoyance to all concerned. 
 
 To this General Jackson replied : * 'Colonel, do you 
 suppose that the people sent me here to consult the 
 ladies of Washington as to the proper persons to com- 
 
UNION AND NULLIFICATION 249 
 
 pose my Cabinet ? . . . I shall consult my own judg- 
 ment, looking singly to the interests of the country and 
 not to accommodation of society and the drawing-rooms 
 of this or any other city." 
 
 Notwithstanding this disclaimer, there can be no doubt 
 that the social situation had annoyed the President. 
 Among other things, it had caused Mrs. Emily Donel- 
 son's return to Tennessee in 1830, leaving the White 
 House without a mistress, and with her had gone her 
 husband, the President's useful private secretary. When 
 Mrs. Donelson returned to Nashville, she found herself 
 ^'frowned upon by society" and seriously discountenanced 
 by her own relatives for having, as they expressed it, 
 "played the fool." * 
 
 The result was that in less than six months Mrs. 
 Donelson and her husband returned to the White House; 
 and when she returned she adopted a very different 
 attitude toward the w^omen who had misled her. This 
 had been the greatest of the President's annoyances, and 
 now that it was happily ended, he cared little or nothing 
 for the other social aspects. 
 
 True, the ill-feeling that had naturally grown up be- 
 tween Messrs. Branch, Berrien and Ingham on the one 
 hand and Secretary Eaton on the other resulted practi- 
 cally in a suspension of cabinet councils for nearly fifteen 
 months. But even this was not the real trouble. The 
 
 * Mrs. Polk, the wife of President Polk, described Mrs. Donelson as 
 " one of the best women in the world and, though not brilliant, yet of good 
 mental endowment. But she had not seen the great world until she went 
 to Washington as the ' first lady of the land.' Therefore she was easily led 
 by scheming women of long experience in the society of Washington. ^ Her 
 illusions were soon dispelled and she eageriy embraced the opportunity to 
 enjoy again the position that her illustrious uncle wished her to hold." 
 
250 HISTORY OF ANDREW JACKSON 
 
 three cabinet officers first named were known to be Cal- 
 houn men. In addition to that fact, the General had 
 found out — or believed — that Ingham was secretly a 
 Bank man, and he entertained no flattering suspicions 
 as to the causes of his conversion to the standard of 
 "the Emperor Nicholas," as Mr. Biddle, the Bank's pres- 
 ident and autocrat, was popularly called. Berrien, he 
 believed to be at heart a Nullifier; and it seemed incon- 
 gruous to have at the head of the law department a man 
 w^ho secretly favored the policy of defying and resisting 
 the laws he was sworn to enforce. For Branch the 
 General cherished a kind of sentimental attachment for 
 the reason that a near relative of the Secretary of the 
 Navy had been his school-teacher in boyhood at the Wax- 
 haws Settlement. But upon close contact he had found 
 Branch dull, pompous, incompetent and wholly under 
 petticoat government, not merely in social affairs, but in 
 the official conduct of the Navy Department itself. 
 
 This, however, was not singular, because, with tw^o 
 or three possible exceptions in recent years, all secretaries 
 of the navy have been brought into more or less bondage 
 by the charming and diplomatic wives and daughters of 
 that arm of service. Branch, however, seems to have 
 been an extreme case, if we may rely upon the stories 
 of such veterans of the old navy as Stewart, Shubrick 
 and the elder John Rodgers. Candor, however, compels 
 the author to admit, as a result of thirty years' experi- 
 ence and close observation in Washington, that if any 
 cabinet officer may be exculpated for surrender to femi- 
 nine influence, it is he who has to deal with the ladies 
 of the navy. On the average, they are the brightest 
 and most captivating coterie in the world. 
 
UNION AND NULLIFICATION 251 
 
 Besides these considerations, Jackson had thus far 
 adhered to his original single-term resolution. He was 
 a sick man. The terrible malaria of Washington was, 
 he thought, killing him by inches, and he longed for the 
 pure air and the invigorating climate of his own Ten- 
 nessee. At the Hermitage he was always well. Every- 
 where else he was always ill. He had selected Mr. Van 
 Buren as his successor. Mr. Van Buren believed a 
 secluded nook, such as the English mission, far from 
 the whirl of American politics, would improve his own 
 political health as a presidential candidate in training. 
 Major Eaton, sick and tired of the indignities to which 
 he had been subjected, was anxious to get out of the 
 Cabinet. Colonel Barry did not count in this intricate 
 game, and was therefore left out of the calculation, to 
 hold the General Post-office at his pleasure. The result 
 was, between April and June, 1831, Edward Livingston, 
 of Louisiana, succeeded Mr. Van Buren; General Lewis 
 Cass, of Michigan, took the place of Major Eaton; Sen- 
 ator Woodbury, of New Hampshire, supplanted Mr. 
 Branch; Roger B. Taney, of Maryland, relieved Mr. 
 Berrien as Attorney-General ; while Louis McLane came 
 home from the English mission to take the Treasury 
 Department from Mr. Ingham. 
 
 Incidental to these changes, Mr. Van Buren went 
 to England vice Mr. McLane and Isaac Hill came, in 
 place of Mr. Woodbury, to sit in that Senate which had 
 refused to confirm him as second comptroller the pre- 
 vious year. 
 
 Such a general break-up of such a structure could 
 hardly be expected to pass without injury to someone 
 somewhere. Mrs. Ingham had led the persecution of 
 
252 HISTORY OF ANDREW JACKSON 
 
 Mrs. Eaton. As soon as both were out of the Cabinet, 
 Major Eaton endeavored to hold Mr. Ingham person- 
 ally responsible for the utterances of his wife. Mr. 
 Ingham declined the belligerent overtures of Major 
 Eaton. The latter then lay in wait for his late colleague 
 with a horsewhip. Mr. Ingham used other streets in 
 his travel about town than those upon which Major 
 Eaton was looking for him. Finally, the quest became 
 so acute that Mr. Ingham took to communicating with 
 his own lodgings by w^ay of the alley, backyard and 
 backdoor. He ultimately escaped by chartering a stage- 
 coach and leaving for Philadelphia two hours before 
 daybreak. 
 
 This programme had involved seven different moves 
 on the chess-board. Only one failed. The President's 
 plan was to give the War Department to Senator Hugh 
 White, of Tennessee, thereby making a vacancy in the 
 Senate, to which Major Eaton was ''slated" for election. 
 Mr. \\^hite refused to leave the Senate. He was as 
 friendly now to General Jackson — or pretended to be — 
 as he ever had been when he depended on the "machine" 
 for his political fortune. But he did not like Eaton, 
 and was unwilling to contribute to any scheme for his 
 accommodation. This difficulty might have been over- 
 come. But there was a deeper reason, wdiich he did 
 not reveal until years afterward — w^hich he revealed only 
 when the ''machine," in the strong and ruthless hands 
 of General Carroll and Major Lewis, had crushed him 
 and driven him into feeble and hopeless opposition at 
 the end of his term. 
 
 Then he admitted — or his friends did for him — that 
 he saw the scheme was intended, among other objects, 
 
UNION AND NULLIFICATION 253 
 
 to promote Van Buren's chances for the next presidency, 
 and he hated Van Buren. Mr. White liked Calhoun, 
 and leaned as far as he dared toward the extreme, ultra 
 State-rights doctrine. But he was not prepared to side 
 with Calhoun in an open war against Jackson. He could, 
 however, privately share Calhoun's hatred of Van Buren. 
 He rebelled against Jackson — who had made him. He 
 served out his term in the Senate — to which Jackson 
 had elected him. That was all. White's defection post- 
 poned provision for Eaton nearly three years. In 1834 
 he was made governor of Florida and in 1836 minister 
 to Spain, where Mrs. Eaton's career was brilliant and 
 creditable — in a society where only very able women 
 can shine.* 
 
 We have said that '^only one of seven moves failed." 
 To that possibly another, at least partial, failure should 
 be added. Mr. Van Buren went to England in July. 
 The Senate met in December. Mr. Clay and Mr. Web- 
 
 * In 1873 and until 1879 Mrs. Eaton'^'as living in Washington. In the 
 last-named year she died, aged eighty-three. The Author became acquainted 
 with her in the former year, when she was seventy-seven. She was in mod- 
 erate circumstances, having suffered financial reverses some years before. 
 But she was bright, cheerful, and apparently as entertaining as when in 
 youth she was wont to turn the heads of solemn statesmen and grave 
 diplomatists. With regard to that phase of her life most interesting to 
 American readers she was neither reticent nor communicative. Her favor- 
 ite themes of reminiscence were anecdotes of the great men she had known 
 in her girlhood at her father's hostelry; her own observations in Spain 
 during her husband's residence there as American minister (1836-1840), 
 and personal recollections of General Jackson, Colonel Benton, Mr. Van 
 Buren, Isaac Hill and others. She spoke of those who had persecuted her, 
 with singular gentleness and charity. But she "felt warranted in saying 
 one thing": That the real motive of the crusade against her was the fact 
 that she was the daughter of parents who kept a boarding-house, while three 
 of the four families whose ladies made war upon her were Southern aristo- 
 crats. The assault upon her moral character was a pretext. As for the 
 fourth family (meaning, of course, the Inghams) she said that the woman 
 
 u 
 
254 HISTORY OF ANDREW JACKSON 
 
 ster resolved to defeat his confirmation. They succeeded 
 — with the help of Hugh White and some other Demo- 
 cratic enemies of Mr. Van Buren. They fondly imag- 
 ined that the rejection of the nomination would end his 
 political career. Mr. Calhoun, at the opposite extreme, 
 agreed with them. It made him Vice-President in 1832 
 and President in 1836. A remarkable peculiarity of the 
 ''political management" of Mr. Clay and Mr. Webster 
 was that it invariably served to keep both out of the 
 presidency or the vice-presidency, and more than once — 
 or than twice — helped those they hated worst to get in. 
 Neither of them could understand why the plain people 
 should pass by two such orators as they were to glorify 
 and exalt a "mere rude military chief" or a shrewd 
 politician. 
 
 The ground now^ seemed well cleared of all minor 
 obstructions and open for a fair trial of strength be- 
 tw^een the administration and the Bank; between General 
 Jackson and the "Emperor Nicholas." In this contest 
 the President soon found that he had not gained an ally 
 in his new Secretary of the Treasury, Mr. McLane.* 
 
 in that family may have thought it a convenient way of distracting attention 
 from herself ; though on that score she said she had always preferred to 
 believe that the woman, no matter how bitterly she may have pursued her- 
 self, was better than those who whispered about her. General Jackson's 
 defence of her, she said, was wholly unsolicited and he never took counsel 
 with her at any stage of it. As for her presiding at the White House on a 
 few occasions, it was at his request through her husband, which, as she 
 viewed it, amounted to an order. 
 
 * On this subject we have a characteristic comment from Senator Isaac 
 Hill : "No matter by what name he may go — Federalist or Republican, 
 Whig or Democrat, Unionist or NuUifier — you can't find a real, genuine, 
 simon-pure anti-Bank man anywhere within two days' ride of Nick Biddle. 
 They may profess and pretend, but when the pinch comes, they vote for the 
 Bank or not at all." Mr. Hill was mistaken : Roger B. Taney lived with 
 in the "two days' ride." 
 
UNION AND NULLIFICATION 255 
 
 Notwithstanding the large nominal Democratic ma- 
 jority in the House and the apparent preponderance of 
 so-called Democrats in the Senate of this Congress, the 
 Bank had a "working majority" in each. It was the 
 Congress chosen in November, 1830 — the middle of the 
 administrative term. Its first or ''long" session, begin- 
 ning in December, 1831, would extend into midsummer, 
 1832 — the presidential year. It was known that Gen- 
 eral Jackson had abandoned his one-term intention and 
 would stand for re-election. That he would be re-elected 
 was known to a majority of the American people, and 
 believed by most of the minority — except Clay, Webster, 
 Nicholas Biddle and Calhoun. The charter of the Bank 
 had until March 4, 1836, to run, which would carry it 
 nearly through Jackson's second term. These conditions 
 brought forward the question whether to force the con- 
 test or let it go over till after the election. General 
 Jackson's attitude was known from the two messages 
 in which he had dealt with the subject none the less 
 explicitly because conservatively. Benton, in his great 
 senatorial speech, had announced the position of the 
 Democratic party as such. We have the authority of 
 Edward Livingston, Major Lewis, Amos Kendall and 
 Mr. Blair that both Jackson and Benton were willing 
 to rest the case there until after the presidential contest 
 of 1832. Not that they feared the issue, but they pre- 
 ferred to leave the Bank out of the maelstrom of that 
 campaign as it had been left out in 1824 and 1828. 
 Benton believed that, as compared with the Congress 
 chosen in 1830, the Bank w^ould lose strength in that 
 to be chosen in 1832. He did not anticipate a clear 
 anti-Bank majority in the new Senate, but there was a 
 
256 HISTORY OF ANDREW JACKSON 
 
 chance of making a tie on the floor — 24 to 24 — and as 
 Mr. Van Buren would, beyond doubt, be elected Vice- 
 President, the casting vote would be against the Bank. 
 
 The choice as to postponing or precipitating the con- 
 flict was. therefore, left wholly to the Bank and its 
 friends. Among the managers of the Bank, and also 
 among its supporters in Congress, there was difference 
 of opinion upon the question of expediency. Those op- 
 posed to forcing the fight were in the numerical majority. 
 But those who could not or would not sanction the 
 Fabian policy embraced the vast preponderance of power 
 and ambition. They knew that a bill to renew the 
 charter for twenty years after 1836 could be passed 
 tTirough Congress. They also knew that Jackson would 
 veto it. And there was no hope of a two-thirds vote 
 to pass it, notwithstanding tlT.e objections of the Presi- 
 dent — or "over his head," as the cant phrase is. 
 
 The whole question thus became one of expediency; 
 a game in politics. If Congress passed the re-charter 
 and Jackson vetoed it, then the Bank must either elect 
 a new Congress with a two-thirds majority or beat Jack- 
 son, or go to the wall. No plainer situation could be 
 conceived. 
 
 The Bank people did not waste much time debating 
 the question of expediency. Their councils were soon 
 resolved into a triumvirate — Clay, Webster and Nicholas 
 Biddle. At the outset Mr. Webster, influenced no doubt 
 by the views of Jeremiah Mason — president of the Ports- 
 mouth branch and the ablest man then connected with 
 the system — was in favor of delay. Nicholas Biddle — 
 president of the central or parent Bank and aggressive 
 to a fault — was in favor of forcing the issue. Mr. Clay 
 
UNION AND NULLIFICATION 257 
 
 was the presidential candidate of the Bank people. 
 Therefore, both Webster and Biddle were willing to 
 leave the ultimate decision to him. Mr. Clay was deeply 
 impressed with the gravity of the situation. He needed 
 time for deliberation. His ''deliberation" seems to have 
 been something like that of the old Mohawk Dutchman 
 unexpectedly elected justice of the peace in Herkimer 
 County, New York, many years ago. The first case on 
 his docket was tried without jury, by agreement of the 
 parties. When the evidence was all in and arguments 
 concluded, the 'Squire said: ''Shentelmen, as dis iss my 
 first gase, I shall take four tays to gonsitter der effidence ; 
 but shall finally find shudgment for der blaintiff!" 
 
 The number of days taken by Mr. Clay to consider 
 the situation is not of record, but his decision is. 
 
 He decided that the Bank must force the issue. The 
 reasoning upon which he based his conclusion was char- 
 acteristic. He always figured on States. Any smaller 
 or more simple unit than a State was beneath his notice 
 in a political calculation. He reasoned, first, that Penn- 
 sylvania was the key of the situation; that New York 
 and Ohio would go as Pennsylvania went. Such a com- 
 bination — with Kentucky, which he personally undertook 
 to ''deliver" — would beat Jackson. He reasoned, second, 
 that in a purely Bank campaign, Pennsylvania must go 
 in favor of the Bank because it was a Philadelphia insti- 
 tution, most of its private stock was owned by Pennsyl- 
 vanians, and nearly all business men in the State, irre- 
 spective of party, were under obligations to it. Besides 
 these considerations, the commanding personal and social 
 rank of Mr. Biddle must prove a tower of strength. To 
 all this Mr. Clay might have added— under his breath— 
 Vol. II.— 17 
 
258 HISTORY OF ANDREW JACKSON 
 
 that such a fighting man as Mr. Biddle notedly was 
 would not be likely to let the chance of victory be im- 
 paled upon any point of false economy or be jeopardized 
 by overscrupulous counting of honest pennies in the 
 make-up of a campaign expense-sheet. 
 
 Thus was the die cast. The decision was reached 
 almost simultaneously with the convening of Congress, 
 December 6, 1831. Ten days later the first national 
 convention of a political party ever held in this country 
 assembled at Baltimore to nominate Henry Clay for 
 President and John Sergeant for Vice-President, as the 
 candidates of what may henceforth be styled the Whig 
 party. Mr. Sergeant was chosen for the second place 
 to strengthen Mr. Clay's project of carrying Pennsyl- 
 vania. 
 
 Mr. Sergeant's place in his»own time was more emi- 
 nent than in history. A graduate of Princeton, he for 
 many years stood at the head of the Philadelphia bar — 
 in days when the term ''Philadelphia lawyer" was a 
 proud distinction. He was not only a great lawyer, but 
 a man of refined literary taste and ability, a patron of 
 the fine arts and a promoter of learned societies. His 
 character was, of course, perfectly unassailable. But 
 he had no large political following in the State, nor did 
 he possess the arts or skill of the politician. His place 
 on the ticket gave it no strength that it did not normally 
 possess. 
 
 Three wrecks after these nominations were made, Sen- 
 ator Dallas, of Pennsylvania, a Bank Democrat, offered 
 in the Senate a memorial from the United States Bank, 
 signed by Nicholas Biddle as its president, requesting 
 that Congress renew its charter for the usual term of 
 
UNION AND NULLIFICATION 259 
 
 twenty years, from March 4, 1836. When he offered 
 the memorial, Mr. Dallas made a few remarks express- 
 ing doubt as to whether this was the most opportune 
 time at which to present such a request, but said it was 
 his duty to conform to the wishes of his constituents 
 in the matter of offering petitions or memorials. 
 
 The programme of the Bank people was to pass the 
 re-charter in the Senate first and then put it through the 
 House, believing that to be the best tactical plan, though 
 they were sure of their majority in either branch at any 
 time the vote might be taken. From this time to the 
 4th of July — almost six months— Congress did nothing 
 but debate and investigate the United States Bank. 
 Most of the debating was senatorial. The House did 
 most of the investigating, the chairman of the select 
 committee being ex-President John Quincy Adams. 
 The Senate debated the bill almost continuously from 
 the end of January to the loth of June, and passed it 
 the nth, by a vote of 28 to 25, Bank Democrats vot- 
 ing with the Whigs. Debate in the House was, as 
 usual, limited. The bill was taken up June i6th and 
 passed July 3d, by vote of 108 to 76. Twenty-eight 
 Bank Democrats voted for the bill in the House. From 
 these votes it appeared that the Bank was stronger than 
 the President in both branches of a Congress normally 
 Democratic. On strict party lines, the Senate would 
 have defeated the bill by 25 to 23, and the House by 
 104 to 80.* 
 
 * The Author once asked Governor William Allen how it happened that 
 General Jackson, who was commonly supposed to be an intolerant man, 
 never manifested displeasure toward those Democrats who supported the 
 Bank. He answered that General Jackson never questioned the action of 
 any man in Congress. He never demanded personal fealty from any officials 
 
26o HISTORY OF ANDREW JACKSON 
 
 Apropos of the controversy in Congress over the 
 Bank, much injustice has been done to the memory of 
 General Jackson by writers of really just intent, who 
 seem either to base a whole conclusion upon evidence 
 of a part or to accept as history the literary wreckage 
 of political campaigns and partisan battle-fields. Con- 
 sider, for example, the remark of Dr. Woodrow Wilson, 
 in his History of the American People (Vol. IV., p. 14). 
 ''And so," he says, "a veritable personal government 
 was set up, so far as the Executive and tJic discipline 
 
 except his own appointees. He awarded the proper share of patronage to 
 Democratic members and Senators who he knew would vote for the Bank, 
 and after they had so voted he gave them more. In the whole contest he 
 never tried to influence one vote nor did he even ask any member or Senator 
 how he intended to vote. "I can give you an anecdote in point," pursued 
 the venerable Governor : "About a week before the House voted, a Demo- 
 cratic member from Ohio went to the White House and recommended an 
 appointment to fill a vacancy caused by death. 'Very well,' said the Gen- 
 eral, *I will appoint him to-morrow.' The member then said : 'General, I 
 feel it my duty to tell you that I must vote for the re-charter of the Bank.' 
 " 'I can't help that, sir. But I already knew it. See here — I can 
 take a roll of the House and check off every Democrat who will vote for the 
 Bank. In fact, I have one here' (producing a roll with the names checked 
 
 off). 
 
 " The member looked it over and, pointing to one name, told the General 
 he was mistaken about that man. 
 
 " 'How do you know?' 
 
 " ' Because he has told me that his constituents have sent him so many 
 letters and petitions that he has made up his mind to vote against the bill.' 
 
 " 'He is a lucky fellow,' said Jackson, 'to get the views of his constituents 
 in that way beforehand. There are some other Bank Democrats in the 
 House who will not receive similar information until next fall, I fear.' 
 (Meaning, of course, when they confronted their constituents.) 
 
 "As it turned out, several of the Bank Democrats failed of renomination 
 and two or three were defeated at the polls by anti-Bank Democrats, who 
 were able to beat both them and the regular opposition candidate in a 
 three-cornered contest. In this particular case the General was mistaken. 
 The member referred to did vote against the bill and was returned the next 
 fall by a greatly increased majority. The General then wrote him a con- 
 gratulatory letter." 
 
UNION AND NULLIFICATION 261 
 
 of the Executive's friends in Congress were con- 
 cerned . . ." 
 
 The italics are ours. Dr. Wilson is right, so far as 
 his declaration applies to officers of the executive 
 branch proper ; or, in other words, officers appointed 
 by the President. General Jackson did exact from them 
 a personal fealty and a concurrence with his executive 
 policy as such which, from some points of view, might 
 appear almost military in its stringency. But his rea- 
 sons for this were far from those which might actuate 
 an autocrat by nature or by heredity. He held the the- 
 ory that he, and he alone, was responsible to the people 
 who elected him. He also believed, with decD and sensi- 
 tive conscientiousness, that, though he might delegate 
 to appointees some of the power the people had placed 
 in his hands, he could not equally transfer from his 
 own shoulders to theirs a particle of the personal re- 
 sponsibility the people had imposed upon him. 
 
 It was this keen sense acting upon his high-strung 
 notions of personal honor that led him to view as an 
 outrage upon himself any dereliction on the part of an 
 official whom he had appointed. It was hard to shake 
 his trust in a man who had once won his confidence; 
 but when the evidence became conclusive, that man was 
 invariably relegated to the list of his enemies, and he 
 always hated him with an intensity in exact ratio to the 
 faith previously reposed. Such a trait, we think, is 
 hardly to be viewed as the mere instinct of an autocrat 
 or the impulse of a tyrant. On the other hand, w^hen 
 considered in connection with General Jackson's uni- 
 versally admitted probity and inflexible honesty of mo- 
 tive and of act, it becomes creditable, if not necessarily 
 
262 HISTORY OF ANDREW JACKSON 
 
 admirable. His object in enforcing what Dr. Wilson 
 calls personal discipline was not to enhance his own 
 powers or to promote his own fortunes, but to imbue 
 those he trusted with the sense of honor and of con- 
 scientious responsibility to the public which was his 
 own invariable law of action. But this condition he 
 held as applying to his own appointees alone. 
 
 W^ith regard to Senators and members of the House, 
 his theory was entirely different. He held that Senators 
 were directly responsible to the States and Representa- 
 tives to the constituencies that chose them, in the same 
 w^ay and to the same degree that measured his own 
 responsibility. This was his theory as to the true mean- 
 ing of the term "co-ordination" between branches of the 
 government, and it seems a tenable one. It is true that 
 States and constituencies which supported him often 
 punished Senators and Representatives who opposed him 
 by defeating them at the first opportunity. But there 
 never was an authenticated instance of his own partici- 
 pation in such punitive methods. Even when the Ten- 
 nessee "machine" punished Senator Hugh White for 
 thwarting him, as has been described, the act was 
 neither counselled nor aided by him. To those who sug- 
 gested that it was in his power to restrain the managers 
 of the "machine" — Carroll and Lewis — from punishing 
 Senator White by defeating him, he always retorted that 
 he had no more right of dictation to Carroll and Lewis 
 than to White, even if his own State did happen to be 
 the scene of operations. If, as Dr. Wilson observes, 
 this was "personal government," it seems to have been 
 an expression of that system easily susceptible of valid 
 defence from all points of view and of positive popular 
 
UNION AND NULLIFICATION 263 
 
 approbation from many. That a man of sinister ambi- 
 tion might have turned to destructive effect the marvel- 
 lous ascendancy General Jackson held over the minds 
 and fancies of the people, goes without saying. But he 
 was the exact antipodes of that character, and even the 
 mistakes he made grew out of honest zeal for the public 
 welfare. 
 
CHAPTER X 
 
 RE-ELECTED TO THE PRESIDENCY 
 
 While the Bank bill was still under debate in the 
 Senate, the second national convention of a political party 
 met in Baltimore to renominate Andrew Jackson for 
 President and Martin Van Buren for Vice-President, 
 as the candidates of the Democracy. This occurred 
 the 2 1st of May. The convention contented itself with 
 the nomination of candidates, and issued no ''address 
 to the people" — or what would now be termed a ''plat- 
 form." Isaac Hill says that this omission was in defer- 
 ence to the wishes of General Jackson himself, v/ho had 
 authorized Benton to say, if necessary, that "if the people 
 had not got acquainted with Jackson by this time, an 
 address describing him and formulating his principles 
 could not help them." However, it was not necessary 
 for Benton to say anything. The convention and the 
 people considered Jackson's name a sufficient platform 
 w'ithout comment. 
 
 The act to re-charter the Bank was placed before the 
 
 President, the 4th of July, 1832. He held it under 
 
 review six days, and on the loth returned it to Congress 
 
 without approval and with his objections. The veto 
 
 message w^as one of the longest ever sent to Congress 
 
 by any President. It reviewed the Bank from every 
 
 point of contemplation. It had been "blocked out" and, 
 
 to a great extent, written in final form before the bill 
 
 264 
 
RE-ELECTED TO THE PRESIDENCY 265 
 
 reached the President in enrolled official form. Its sub- 
 stance had been prepared by the President in sections 
 and paragraphs. Its law-points were studied by Attor- 
 ney-General Taney and Edward Livingston. Its finan- 
 cial theories were scrutinized by Louis McLane, himself 
 at heart a Bank man. Questions as to its public expedi- 
 ency, apart from constitutional and technical considera- 
 tions, were in the phraseology of the President himself. 
 As a whole, it may be described as the joint product of 
 the minds of Jackson, Benton, Livirigston and Taney, 
 grouped into literary symmetry by Wilham B. Lewis, 
 Francis P. Blair and Amos Kendall — than whom three 
 cleverer writers were not to be found. It was a docu- 
 ment not only for its own time and place, but for all 
 history. It not only stated the President's objections 
 to the bill before him, but it crystallized for all time all 
 arguments that could be offered against lending the fiscal 
 power and resources of the United States to the use 
 and behoof of any chartered monopoly whatsoever. Its 
 tone was moderate, its temper unruffled, its style lofty, 
 its diction clear, dignified and forceful. 
 
 Both sides hailed it with delight. The partisans of 
 General Jackson considered it as having determined the 
 verdict of the people in their favor beforehand. The 
 partisans of the Bank — not only the fiery and sanguine 
 Clay and the resolute and combative Biddle, but even 
 the cautious and ponderous Webster — viewed it as the 
 hari-kari of Jackson and everything Jacksonian. 
 
 Strange — is it not? — how widely the wisest of men can 
 disagree! From the loth to the i6th of July this mes- 
 sage was debated by both houses of Congress in almost 
 continuous session. In the House of Representatives 
 
266 HISTORY OF ANDREW JACKSON 
 
 the pro-Bank cohorts were led by that consummate "old 
 master," John Quincy Adams. The anti-Bank minority 
 in that body was not so fortunate. They had no leader 
 of towering stature, such as Mr. Adams was. Such 
 men of mental middle-weight as they did have cut little 
 figure in the arena where they were so palpably out- 
 classed. But in the Senate there was a nearer approach 
 to fair play. True, the pro-Bank legion there could put 
 forward such giants of forensic joust as Webster and 
 Clay. But on the other side was Benton — not so pro- 
 found as Webster or so ''magnetic" as Clay, perhaps, 
 but yet a veritable Titan whose physical endurance was 
 as exhaustless as his intellectual resource; always ready, 
 not to be taken aback, seldom staggered, and never 
 thrown down. And close in support of Benton's heavy 
 artillery were the sleepless vigilance, the unerring satire 
 and the biting wit of sardonic Isaac Hill, on the skirmish- 
 line.* 
 
 Toward the end of the debate a fierce altercation oc- 
 curred between Clay and Benton, which only the most 
 energetic interference of nearly the whole Senate pre- 
 vented from resulting in bloodshed. Clay injected into 
 the debate a campaign story of 1828, which represented 
 Benton to have said in the campaign of 1824 that ''if 
 Jackson were elected, Senators would have to legislate 
 with pistols and dirks by their sides." Benton had de- 
 
 * "This is a queer tilt," Senator Hill wrote to /lis friend Mr. Green, of 
 Boston, in the midst of the debate; "with Benton and Clay boxing like two 
 heavy-weight ring-champions, and Webster holding bucket and sponge in 
 Clay's corner!" (Mr. Hill had evidently either been at the old "Boston 
 Corner" ring-side, or had read the pugilistic descriptions of competent sport- 
 ing reporters.) "Or, to change the simile, one might fancy Benton the in- 
 vincible windmill, with Webster and Clay in full tilt against it — if one could 
 only resolve the perplexing doubt as to which is which — the redoubted Don 
 or the devoted Esquire — which Quixote and which Panza!" 
 
RE-ELECTED TO THE PRESIDENCY 267 
 
 nounced this statement when it first appeared, in 1828, 
 as utterly false and malicious. He now applied the same 
 terms to Clay's motive and act in bringing it into the 
 Senate. Clay retorted in effect with "You're another!" 
 
 Finally, when order was restored, Benton said: *T 
 apologize to the Senate for the manner in which I have 
 spoken, but not to the Senator from Kentucky!" 
 
 Clay retorted : ''To the Senate I offer apology. To 
 the Senator from Missouri, none!" 
 
 This scene occurred in the session of July 14th. On 
 the same day, and nearly at the same hour — by a most 
 marvellous coincidence — Drs. Harris, of Philadelphia, 
 and Triplett, of Virginia, extracted from the President's 
 body the bullet Benton had sent there nineteen years 
 before. It was a simple operation. The ball was em- 
 bedded close to the left edge of the shoulder-blade and 
 near the surface. By means of a small incision it was 
 exposed to the forceps and easily removed. It had been 
 but little deformed by its ''tour de force" through the 
 bones of Jackson's left arm and shoulder. It was a half- 
 ounce ball, and quite covered with cyst. In a few mo- 
 ments the wound was dressed, the General was smoking 
 his pipe, and Dr. Harris brought the bullet to him 
 stripped of the cyst and cleaned. The General took it 
 in his hand and surveyed it with interest. Just then 
 Mr. Blair entered the room. The President handed the 
 bullet to him with the remark : "Don't you think, Blair, 
 we ought to give this back to Benton? It belongs to 
 him!" 
 
 Mr. Blair, entering into the General's grim pleasantry, 
 volunteered to mention the subject to Senator Benton. 
 
 "Very well," said Jackson, "the first time you see him, 
 
268 HISTORY OF ANDREW JACKSON 
 
 tell him, with my compliments, that I have kept his lead 
 long enough, and it is now at his service. I have no 
 further use for it!" 
 
 Mr. Blair carried out the joke. Meeting Benton the 
 same evening, he related what had passed and formally 
 tendered to him the bullet. Benton looked at it, but 
 did not accept it. 
 
 "No, Blair," he said, with an air of mock solemnity; 
 "please give General Jackson my compliments, and say 
 that I decline to receive the bullet. It is his property. 
 It may have been mine at one time, but he has now 
 acquired clear title to it at common law — by twenty 
 years' peaceable possession!" 
 
 "Only nineteen years," suggested Mr. Blair. 
 
 "Oh, well," retorted Benton, "in consideration of the 
 extra care he has taken of it — keeping it constantly about 
 his person, and so on — I'll waive the odd year!" 
 
 Mr. Blair reported all this faithfully to General Jack- 
 son, who smiled rather grimly and remarked : "Then I 
 reckon I may as well keep it. It might come handy some 
 time. Benton was a great rascal in his young days — a 
 
 grand rascal, sir ! But he is getting to be a d d good 
 
 old man." 
 
 Not the least astonishing part of this coincidence was 
 the fact that the quarrel between Benton and Clay in 
 the Senate that same day was brought on by an allusion 
 of the latter to the brawl at Nashville in 1813, when 
 Jackson received that bullet from Benton's pistol. 
 
 Soon after the adjournment of Congress, General Jack- 
 son determined to go home and rest at the Hermitage 
 until after election — a period of about three months. He 
 
RE-ELECTED TO THE PRESIDENCY 269 
 
 was impelled by his own illness and by the rapid ad- 
 vance of the cholera epidemic of 1832 toward Wash- 
 ington. His physicians assured him that if the scourge 
 should attack him in his enfeebled and debilitated con- 
 dition, it would prove certainly fatal. But so many little 
 things occurred to detain him from day to day that the 
 9th of August arrived before he could set out. He was 
 accompanied by Francis P. Blair, Mr. Blair's young son 
 Montgomery, then a cadet at West Point ; Amos Kendall, 
 who was going only as far as Louisville; Isaac Hill, 
 going for a brief "missionary tour" in Western Pennsyl- 
 vania and Ohio ; General Cass, Secretary of War ; Major 
 Lewis, and Nicholas P. Trist, his private secretary. 
 Major Donelson remained at the White House, to look 
 after the correspondence, but Mrs. Emily Donelson ac- 
 companied the President — as he was wont to say, *'to 
 keep her old uncle's stockings darned and the old uncle 
 himself out of mischief." 
 
 The political campaign — except in the columns of the 
 newspapers and the pages of pamphlets — dragged some- 
 what for a month or two after Congress adjourned. 
 The Whigs — or the "Bankites," as the Democrats usu- 
 ally called them — had their usual vast preponderance of 
 printer's ink; and in this campaign, as distinguished 
 from that of 1828, they had a large re-enforcement in 
 James Watson Webb's New York Courier and En- 
 quirer — then, beyond question, the leading newspaper of 
 the country. East of the mountains and north of the 
 Potomac the Jackson Democracy had but three papers 
 of national repute—Mr. Blair's Washington Globe, Mr. 
 Van Buren's organ, the Albany Argus, and Isaac Hill's 
 New Hampshire Patriot. West of the mountains and 
 
270 HISTORY OF ANDREW JACKSON 
 
 in the South, the preponderance may have been the other 
 way ; but, excepting two Richmond papers and Jackson's 
 home organ at Nashville, none of them was of any con- 
 siderable note. In the matter of pamphlets and printed 
 speeches, the Bankites had even a greater excess of 
 apparent strength. 
 
 In short, if the tendency of the canvass were to be 
 judged from the literary viewpoint, the Clay ticket was 
 as good as elected before General Jackson reached home. 
 But that contest was not to be decided by printer's ink. 
 Between 1824 and 1832, either by new constitutions or 
 by amendments to old ones, a great mass of new voters 
 had been enfranchised in several States, and some of 
 these were — or had been — debatable. A great majority 
 of these new voters were men who did not read news- 
 papers much, or who, to say the least, were not very 
 susceptible to editorial influence. They were mainly of 
 that humble and hardworking class whom the Clay and 
 Bank organs derisively dubbed "The Great Unwashed"; 
 the hoi polloi of farm, forest and prairie, who cared to 
 read little else than an electoral ticket and, as a rule, 
 wanted that ticket to have the name of Jackson printed 
 on it. 
 
 The General knew this fact. Messrs. Clay, Webster 
 and Biddle seemed oblivious of it. The result was, that 
 while General Jackson journeyed to his home in Tennes- 
 see and stayed there two months in blissful indifference 
 to the clamor of the Northeast, his adversaries were 
 writing congratulatory epistles to each other, speculating 
 as to the extent of the electoral majority that would be 
 returned for Clay and the Bank. 
 
 Before long the sporting fraternity began to share the 
 
RE-ELECTED TO THE PRESIDENCY 271 
 
 confidence proclaimed by the Bankites. We have al- 
 ready expressed a surmise that Isaac Hill, notwithstand- 
 ing his Puritan ancestry and his residence in a staid State 
 of steady habits like New Hampshire, had some ''game 
 blood" in his veins. Returning from his "missionary 
 tour" in the West, we find him, on October 8th, writing 
 to a friend * of gambling proclivities : 
 
 You need not let the Bank braggarts bully you. Take all you 
 can get on New York, Pennsylvania and Ohio for Jackson. 
 Don't bet on stated majorities, but just hang on to the general 
 result. Of course I can't let it be known that I am on the 
 turf myself; but C. F. [meaning Charles Fisk] of New York 
 has some little things placed for me. B. [meaning Benton] 
 and his friends out West are picking up all ofi'ers in that 
 quarter. H. [meaning Mr. Van Buren's friend, Jesse Hoyt] 
 is loaded to the muzzle on New York for Jackson and also for 
 Marcy. I venture he has forty thousand up this minute. 
 
 You ask me how the O. M. [meaning the "Old Man," a name 
 they had for Jackson in their private circles] feels about it. 
 I'll tell you. I left him at Wheeling and the last words he 
 said to me as I got off the boat were : "Isaac, it'll be a walk ! 
 If our fellers didn't raise a finger from now on, the thing 
 would be done just as well. In fact, Isaac, it's done now !" 
 
 The O. M. makes some deep calculations and takes some 
 long chances, but he isn't apt to come out on the under side. 
 You may take a fiver with ciphers to it [meaning, probably, 
 $500] even on each of New York, Ohio and Pennsylvania, for 
 my account and draw if you need the cash. I am figuring for 
 myself on N. H.— through friends, of course. Don't be weak ! 
 Take everything in sight on the lines I have given you. The 
 Bank's men are betting the Bank's money. Verb. sap. 
 
 Mackenzie, the compiler of John Van Buren's racy 
 Correspondence, figures that Jesse Hoyt won $60,000 
 
 * Thomas Green, of Boston and New York. 
 
272 HISTORY OF ANDREW JACKSON 
 
 on Jackson in 1832. and Tom Green — Hill's friend — 
 about $50,000. How much of it may have found its 
 way, circuitously, into the Puritanical pocket of Isaac 
 Hill, we are not informed. 
 
 This letter gives more graphically than a set descrip- 
 tion could do the inside history of that campaign as 
 viewed in the light of the confidence held by Jackson 
 and his friends. Meantime the uproar continued — every- 
 where but at the Hermitage. There all was serene until 
 about the ist of October. Then the old warrior's repose 
 was rudely broken, not by the crash of political battle, 
 but by ill-omened mutterings and mumblings from the 
 State of the Palmetto and John C. Calhoun. 
 
 When General Jackson left Washington, the 9th of 
 August, he intended to stay in Tennessee until after the 
 election. His return was hastened by the threatening 
 aspect of affairs in South Carolina. One day — the 2d 
 of October — a party of his old army friends rode out 
 to the Hermitage. They were William Carroll, gov- 
 ernor of Tennessee ; John Coffee, surveyor-general of 
 Alabama, and William O. Butler, then a leading lawyer 
 of Kentucky, who was in Nashville on professional busi- 
 ness in the United States district court sitting there. 
 They were accompanied by David Buell, who was on 
 his way to begin a survey for improvement of naviga- 
 tion in the Tennessee River. 
 
 They found the General much excited. He had just 
 heard bad news from South Carolina — that the legisla- 
 ture of that State had passed a joint resolution calling 
 and authorizing a State convention, to meet November 
 19th, for the purpose of considering a plan of resistance 
 to the collection of customs under the act approved in 
 
RE-ELECTED TO THE PRESIDENCY 273 
 
 June, 1832, commonly known to legislative history as 
 ''the Clay Tariff." They were all a little surprised when 
 he said, in his greeting : "Gentlemen, nothing could please 
 me so much just at this moment as to see with me four 
 of my old bull-tarriers of New Orleans !" Then, turning 
 to Butler, he said : ''William, I'm sorry that Adair is 
 not here with you. Though he hasn't liked me very 
 well of late years, I'm sure he would be with me in the 
 crisis I fear is close at hand." * 
 
 Without waiting for inquiry, he told them that a 
 special agent had just come from South Carolina with 
 news that the whole State was in such a ferment as had 
 never before been seen, about the new tariff, and that 
 its people seemed almost unanimous for Nullification. 
 He also said that he had two letters from Charleston — 
 the authors of which he did not mention — informing 
 him that the very best citizens of the State were ready 
 to go to any extremes in resistance to the collection 
 of the duties imposed by the new law. Having stated 
 these facts, he pursued : 
 
 "Gentlemen, I never until now believed that Calhoun 
 
 * General Adair — a South Carolinian by birth — was a member of Con- 
 gress from Kentucky at that time and chairman of the Military Committee 
 of the House. He had supported Jackson as against Adams in 1828; but 
 in 1832 he did not desire to oppose Clay. He therefore declined a renomi- 
 nation to Congress in 1832, giving as principal reasons his age — seventy -three 
 years — and the fact that the AVashington climate did not agree with him. 
 When he reached Washington early in December, 1832, to attend the short 
 session, Jackson, instead of inviting him to come to the White House, as 
 Presidents usually do, called upon the veteran at his hotel and had a long 
 talk with him about Calhoun and South Carolina. What passed between 
 them was never known, but Jackson appeared satisfied with the interview. 
 Soon afterward he remarked: "If there is any trouble down there [meaning 
 in South Carolina] I'll have with me my old army of New Orleans — every 
 man and every General!" — Reminiscence of Mr. Blair. 
 Vol. II.— 18 
 
274 HISTORY OF ANDREW JACKSON 
 
 could poison the minds and pervert the souls of that 
 gallant people. But now I see he has done it. Of course 
 I shall he re-elected! It will be my duty, if God spares 
 my life, to enforce the laws of the United States and pre- 
 serve our Federal Union as if is until the 4th of March, 
 1837 — ^more than four years hence. I may have to call 
 on my old army of New Orleans to stand by me! They 
 stood by me once when the country was in danger, and 
 I know they will do it again!" 
 
 ''But, General, do you really believe the situation can 
 become so grave as that?" asked Governor Carroll. 
 
 "I hope not, but I fear it may." 
 
 "What, then, would be your course?" 
 
 "Suppress the rebellion, sir; root out the treason, sir, 
 with ruthless hand ! Assemble a force sufficient to crush 
 any uprising at any point; assume, as constitutional 
 commander-in-chief, the immediate command and take 
 the field in person, sir! Hang every leader and every 
 false counsellor of that infatuated people, sir, by martial 
 law, irrespective of his name, or political or social posi- 
 tion — the higher the worse! Sir, I shall not only crush 
 them by land, but I will station the navy to prevent 
 their escape!" 
 
 "But, General, some of the officers of the army and 
 navy are of South Carolina. Such might refuse to oper- 
 ate against their own State " 
 
 "Such, sir, if such there should be, I will hang with 
 my own hands; without court-martial or benefit of 
 clergy! Yes, sir; with my own hands, sir!" 
 
 Seeing that the old warrior was getting highly ex- 
 cited. General Coffee tried to divert his mind to other 
 topics. But he would not be diverted, and he fiercely 
 pursued : 
 
RE-ELECTED TO THE PRESIDENCY 275 
 
 ''Nothing, gentlemen, could chagrin and pain me so 
 much as to see that foolish people make Webster out a 
 prophet! To see them make his words in the debate 
 with Hayne come true! Of course, they are crazy- 
 crazed by Calhoun! But it is a dangerous lunacy! No 
 cure for it, I fear, but cold lead or hemp!" 
 
 At this, one of the party suggested that probably a 
 firm front on the part of the Federal Government would 
 overawe them, and if once they halted for second thought 
 the crisis would resolve itself. 
 
 ''God grant it! God knows, I hope so. But I fear 
 that they will plunge ahead blindly. For my part, I 
 declare that I will enforce the laws of the United States 
 if I should have to depopulate the State of traitors and 
 repeople it with a better and wiser race!" 
 
 With this, said the narrator, the old General cooled 
 down a little and, with the aid of a timely mint-julep 
 or two, resumed his wonted composure. But during 
 the visit, which lasted most of the afternoon, he was 
 ill at ease and gloomy. 
 
 These were indeed harsh, savage words. Spoken by 
 the average man to four other average men, they might 
 have been viewed as the vainglory of the swashbuckler. 
 But, addressed by Andrew Jackson to four men who had 
 stood behind that 'low log breastwork," among that 
 "backwoods rabble" that "laid low the Pride of Eng- 
 land," they meant all that words could mean. When a 
 man has done things, it is safe to assume that he will 
 do them again. At any rate, it is never safe to take 
 chances on the assumption that he will not do them 
 again. Jackson had hanged men and he had shot men. 
 So, when roused once more by a crisis, graver even than 
 
276 HISTORY OF ANDREW JACKSON 
 
 any he had ever faced before, his talk of hanging more 
 men was something to be viewed as seriously as anything 
 can be. 
 
 It was not likely that the man who, when only a 
 major-general, had executed eleven men by the rope or 
 by musketry, and all on his own responsibility, would 
 halt or hesitate in another emergency of duty when he 
 had in his hands the tremendous power of the presidency, 
 and re-elected, as he was a month later, by an electoral 
 vote of 219 to 49 — more than a four-fifths majority, 
 and by a popular majority of most decisive figure. Bear 
 in mind, too, that the emergency was not merely that 
 of a rebellion against the laws he was sworn to enforce, 
 but a rebellion fomented and led by a man he hated 
 more than he did any other man then living — and he 
 himself one of the bitterest haters that ever lived. 
 
 When due weight is accorded to all these facts, it 
 would be a long stretch of charity to assume that Jack- 
 son's proposal to do some wholesale hanging in South 
 Carolina, in certain contingencies then imminent, was in 
 any sense Pickwickian or for dramatic effect. It is a 
 mercy to American history that his ferocious spirit was 
 not driven to the bitter end of making his grewsome 
 words good. For, if he had been so driven, with one 
 little State under his feet and the solid Union at his 
 back, it were a foregone conclusion that he would have 
 made the words "South Carolina" blots of horror upon 
 the history of mankind. 
 
 It is worth while to note one sentence in this remark- 
 able interview: ''Of course I shall he re-elected f The 
 words were spoken Tuesday, the 2d of October, more 
 than a month before the general election. They showed, 
 
RE-ELECTED TO THE PRESIDENCY 277 
 
 by their utter carelessness, the supreme, subHme confi- 
 dence Jackson had in his own destiny when he was ''in 
 the hands of the people." The pending canvass did not 
 trouble him. He seemed to ignore it altogether. The 
 only thought that gave him concern was that "it would 
 be his duty to enforce the laws of the United States until 
 the 4th of March, 1837." 
 
 Leaving the Hermitage, October 6th, the President 
 was in the White House, ready for business, on the 
 iQtli. They were beginning to annihilate space in those 
 days. Thirteen days between Nashville and Washing- 
 ton without undue hurry was really rapid transit in the 
 autumn of 1832. 
 
 Arrived at the Capital, he set himself singly at the 
 task of heading off treason in South Carolina. He was 
 impatient at the demands of any other executive duties. 
 For the political campaign, then nearing its close, he 
 seemed to care nothing. To him, its result was a fore- 
 gone conclusion. Mr. Blair, who returned with him, 
 relates that one day, about the end of October, he went 
 to the White House to lay before him some important 
 and gratifying private news of the campaign. He took 
 the letters in his hand, glanced over them hastily, handed 
 them back to Mr. Blair with a simple 'Thank you, sir," 
 and then began to talk about South Carolina. Not one 
 word about the canvass. Not one thought of himself! 
 Every thought of the duty before him ! 
 
 "Never before," said Mr. Blair, "had I seen him so 
 utterly absorbed in a single subject to the exclusion of 
 all else. The lines of his face were hard drawn, his 
 tones were full of wrath and resentment which he made 
 no effort to suppress. Anyone would have thought he 
 
278 HISTORY OF ANDREW JACKSON 
 
 was planning another great battle, with the enemy's out- 
 posts in plain sight." 
 
 At the time to which Mr. Blair refers here, the Gen- 
 eral had just received information that the date for the 
 Nullification convention had been fixed for the 19th of 
 November — only three weeks in the future. He at once 
 sent confidential orders to the collector at Charleston 
 for his guidance in case of an attempt to nullify the 
 laws or resist the collection of duties, and ordered Gen- 
 eral Scott to the scene — not with express military in- 
 tructions, but to act as adviser to the collector. 
 
 A little after this time, Samuel Dale, his old scout in 
 the Creek war and Louisiana campaign, visited him at 
 the White House. Dale had come from his plantation 
 in Mississippi, passing through South Carolina en route. 
 In his Memoir, Dale says that all the talk was about 
 Nullification and Calhoun. Dale had never heard him 
 speak so savagely of any man as he spoke of Calhoun. 
 ''I had no doubt," says Dale, ''that he was prepared to 
 hang Mr. Calhoun as summarily as he had hanged the 
 prophet Francis or the chief Himollomico, on any decent 
 pretext." 
 
 In another passage, Dale says : "The iron man trem- 
 bled with emotion and covered his face with his hands 
 while tears dropped upon his knees. I was deeply affect- 
 ed myself. He took two or three turns across the room 
 and then abruptly said: "Dale, they are trying me here; 
 you will witness it. But, by the God of Heaven, I will 
 uphold the laws!" 
 
 He then became calm and gave a homely illustration 
 of the state of things by saying that "if such things were 
 allowed to go on, the country would be like a bag of 
 
RE-ELECTED TO THE PRESIDENCY 279 
 
 meal with both ends open — no matter how you picked 
 up the bag, by either end or by the middle, the meal 
 would all run out!" He proposed, he said, to tie up 
 the ends. 
 
 During his absorption in this subject he was taking 
 a walk one morning and met little Francis P. Blair, Jr., 
 then a lad of eleven years. Frank had a suspicious dis- 
 coloration around one eye. 
 
 ''Hello. Frank," exclaimed the President, ''what's the 
 matter with your eye?" 
 
 "Oh, nothing much, sir. Only just a little trouble I 
 had yesterday, coming home from school !" 
 
 "Well, Frank, Fm having a little trouble too! But, 
 as you can see, they haven't given me a black eye yet !" * 
 
 The election returns came in while the Nullification 
 conclave was assembling and organizing. Blair and 
 Kendall prepared a table showing the result as to the 
 electoral vote — 219 to 49 — and took it over to the White 
 House. Jackson surveyed it rather indifferently at first, 
 but in a moment brightened up. "The best thing about 
 this, gentlemen," he said, w^ith great animation, "is that 
 it strengthens my hands in this trouble!" Not another 
 thought in his brain. A four-fifths majority in the Elec- 
 toral College was valuable only as it gave new strength 
 to his hands for dealing with Nullification and treason. 
 
 * Little Frank Blair was a great favorite with the President, and was to 
 be found at the White House as often as at home. Twenty-nine years after- 
 ward, when as General Blair he was in command at St. Louis and resisting 
 the efforts of Governor Claiborne F. Jackson to take Missouri out of the 
 Union, he remembered the incidents of Nullification. "W'hat a difference 
 there is in Jacksons," he said one day, "and how quick the great one would 
 string up the little one if he were in my place row! But I can't do it, for 
 several reasons. The first reason is, I can't catch him. The others are not 
 important." 
 
28o HISTORY OF ANDREW JACKSON 
 
 But after all, it was that singleness of purpose, that 
 concentration of a powerful will upon one great point to 
 the exclusion of all else, that always made him the mas- 
 ter and the commander he was. 
 
 "He offered no further comment on the result of the 
 election," said Mr. Blair, "except to ask Kendall and 
 me to draw up for him a close analysis of the popular 
 vote by States and important localities as soon as we 
 could get the necessary official data. Tt's the popular 
 vote that's the thing of prime importance, gentlemen/ he 
 said. 'I want to know^ just how the people stand! To 
 them, not to the electors, I must look for support in this 
 trouble.' Then he walked up and down the floor, act- 
 ually wringing his hands and, talking as if to himself 
 rather than to us, he exclaimed : 'Oh, poor South Caro- 
 lina! Deluded people! And. to think it is the State 
 that raised me! Yes, my owm native State!' " 
 
 The fact was that the popular majority in 1832 ran 
 relatively far short of that in the Electoral College. 
 Many of the States in the Jackson column had been 
 carried for him by small majorities. Most of the few 
 voting for Clay had gone for him overwhelmingly.* 
 
 Jackson had carried sixteen States. But in the most 
 populous ones — as New York, Pennsylvania, Virginia 
 and Ohio — his popular majorities had been small by per- 
 
 * The actual popular majority for Jackson over all competitors — Clay, the 
 regular nominee of the Opposition ; Floyd, for whom South Carolina cast 
 her electoral vote ; and William Wirt, the "anti-Masonic" candidate who 
 received the electoral vote of Vermont — was 167,000 in a total vote of 1,100,- 
 000 in round figures. Over Clay alone it was more than 200,000. There- 
 fore, from the General's own point of view, the moral effect of his popular ma- 
 jority was less than that of the electoral. Despite the vast electoral majority 
 and the decisive popular majority given for Jackson himself, and the fact 
 that he had carried sixteen States out of twentv-four, the Senate still had a 
 
RE-ELECTED TO THE PRESIDENCY 281 
 
 centage of the total. Clay's six States all gave him 
 large majorities except his own Kentucky, which Jack- 
 son had carried in 1828. South Carolina voted for 
 neither Clay nor Jackson; but, as if to accentuate her 
 contempt for the Union and all its belongings, she threw 
 her electoral votes away on John Floyd and Henry Lee, 
 who were never formally nominated. 
 
 We have neither space nor patience to discuss in these 
 pages the doctrine of Nullification, either as theoretically 
 expounded by Mr. Calhoun in his labored essays or as 
 practically applied by his infatuated disciples. The final 
 verdict upon that issue, and all others which sprang 
 from it, was pronounced at Appomattox. We take it 
 for granted that no man familiar with that great fact, 
 certainly none who witnessed personally the delivery of 
 the verdict itself, has patience to debate — even as mat- 
 ters of history — the theories which it relegated to the 
 tomb of dead heresies; of heresies that perished, not 
 amid the echoes of the forum, but in the carnage of the 
 battle-field. A funeral sermon should never be preached 
 more than once. 
 
 The history of what the Nullifiers actually did may 
 be quite briefly recorded. Their convention met at Co- 
 lumbia, November 19, 1832. It appointed a general 
 committee of twenty-one members which was author- 
 reliable preponderance in favor of the Bank. In the House, however, the 
 tables had been turned. Benton's speeches, Hill's satires and the Presi- 
 dent's veto message had begun to tell on the people by the time the polls 
 opened in 1832. The result was that the House of Representatives in the 
 Twenty-third Congress for the first time in the struggle had an out-and-out, 
 thick-and-thin Jackson majority and, on a full vote, stood about 130 for 
 Jackson to no for the Bank on any policy the President might propose. 
 This was a great gain in the personal sense ; but legislatively it became 
 powerless by reason of the attitude of the Senate. 
 
282 HISTORY OF ANDREW JACKSON 
 
 ized to draw up an "ordinance" of Nullification. This 
 was a long document. Stripped of surplusage, it as- 
 serted the right of the State to resist the collection of 
 Federal taxes and the further right to withdraw from 
 the Union if the Federal Government should use force 
 to compel observance of its laws. (Clause V., Ordinance 
 of Nullification.) And it designated the ist day of 
 February, 1833, as the date at which the State of South 
 Carolina prohibited the further enforcement of Federal 
 tariff laws within its territory. Senator Hayne was 
 elected governor, and his first message scintillated with 
 that exuberant rhetoric which afterward became a dis- 
 tinctive trait of political literature in the South, but 
 which, however, was permanently discontinued about the 
 9th of April, 1865. 
 
 To the promulgation of this. ordinance Jackson replied 
 with a proclamation, dated December 11, 1832. There 
 was a period in the history of this country when that 
 proclamation should have been printed in every school- 
 reader or handbook of American eloquence — North, 
 South, East and West. And, though the express occa- 
 sion for its wide dissemination for purely educational 
 purposes is past, extracts from it might still be read or 
 declaimed by rising generations with interest and profit 
 as classic passages of pure American patriotism. Its 
 general tenor by no means met the expectations of those 
 who had heard General Jackson's expressions of a less 
 public character on the same subject. It contained no 
 threats, and even its admonitions were softened into en- 
 treaty. Yet there was all through it a distinct undertone 
 of resolution unmistakable to those who knew the man. 
 It really gained strength in substance from its mildness 
 
RE-ELECTED TO THE PRESIDENCY 283 
 
 of form. On the whole, it disappointed Calhoun and 
 his immediate followers, who had hoped — as one of them 
 frankly said — that Jackson would use language calcu- 
 lated to intensify rather than allay the feeling of the 
 people in South Carolina. The North and West, with- 
 out distinction of party, hailed it with enthusiasm. Al- 
 most the only man outside of Calhoun's cabal to decry 
 or depreciate it was Clay. 
 
 "It is not Jackson," he said. '*It is Van Buren and 
 Livingston." 
 
 Then Clay added an epigram which one of Jackson's 
 biographers repeats without quotation marks : "It is Fed- 
 eralism using the language of the Resolutions of '98; 
 such a blending of creeds as Alexander Hamilton might 
 have written for Patrick Henry!" • 
 
 Mr. Clay, however, must be viewed charitably as he 
 stood in December, 1832. He was still counting his 49 
 electoral votes out of 286 cast for all the candidates and 
 was wondering what had happened. Had he been capable 
 of an impartial judgment upon any Jacksonian thing at 
 such a moment, he must have been more than human — 
 certainly a great deal more than Henry Clay. 
 
 The proclamation w^as followed by a special message 
 to Congress requesting more explicit provision of means 
 for enforcing the laws. In this message, though it did 
 not specify the cause for the request, was an admonition 
 that made South Carolina pause — at least to draw one 
 long breath. The pause continued. Congress passed a 
 joint resolution providing the necessary means. Mr. 
 Potter, alone of the South Carolina delegation, voted 
 for it in the House. Mr. Clay voted for it in the Senate, 
 but with the ungracious remark that, though justifiable. 
 
284 HISTORY OF ANDREW JACKSON 
 
 it was not necessary; because, he said, existing laws 
 would prove ample to meet any emergency that could 
 arise — if calmly and prudently administered — and the 
 effect of granting additional powers or means could be 
 nothing more than congressional ratification of threats 
 made elsewhere. 
 
 Howsoever tame or mild Jackson's official utterances 
 may have been, his executive preparations were not quite 
 so gentle. He arranged for express despatches from 
 South Carolina to be sent, in case of outbreak, at a 
 speed that would anticipate regular communication by 
 two days. He had also provided, upon receipt of news of 
 actual outbreak, for the instant arrest of Calhoun on the 
 charge of treason. He was prepared to declare martial 
 law in and about Charleston the moment a vessel and 
 cargo of dutiable goods should be seized under authority 
 of the Nullification ordinance. And upon the first overt 
 act under its provisions he intended to outlaw^ every man 
 who had voted for it or who took any part in its 
 enforcement. 
 
 In some way knowledge of these preparations found 
 its way to Calhoun. Governor Allen informed the author 
 that there was a common belief that Jackson, if he did 
 not actually aid in transmitting this knowledge to Cal- 
 houn and through him, of course, to South Carolina, 
 certainly took no pains to prevent it. The ist of Febru- 
 ary passed without trouble. Ships entered at the port 
 of Charleston and duties were paid upon their cargoes 
 the same as ever. The Nullifiers confined their zeal to 
 loud talk — with one exception. They got up a subscrip- 
 tion and had a medallion struck ofif with Calhoun's 
 vignette on one side and the inscription, 'Tirst Presi- 
 
RE-ELECTED TO THE PRESIDENCY 285 
 
 dent of the Southern Confederacy," on the other. This 
 movement was suppressed by Governor Hayne, and most 
 of the medalHons were destroyed. A few were secreted 
 and saved — to bring high prices in 1861. Congress, 
 after brief debate, passed a new tariff act, providing 
 a "horizontal scale" of reduction of duties, calculated 
 to reduce all rates to twenty per cent, ad valorem in ten 
 years. The passage of this bill was effected by compro- 
 mise in the Senate, arranged and engineered by John M. 
 Clayton, of Delaware, and supported by Clay, Calhoun 
 and Webster. During its discussion, says Benton, Mr. 
 Clayton said to Mr. Clay, who had not yet wholly agreed 
 to it: "These South Carolina people have acted very 
 badly; but they are really good fellows, and it would be 
 a pity to leave them for Jackson to shoot and hang — 
 which he certainly will do if he gets among them!" 
 
 When the compromise bill was finally framed, Calhoun 
 voted for it. That was the end of Nullification with 
 merely the tariff as provocation. The next time it 
 showed its hand, a far greater question was behind it 
 — and an infinitely bigger fight ahead. Most of his real 
 adherents thought the President ought to have vetoed 
 this compromise bill. It was contrived by his enemies 
 in both parties. It passed the Senate, March 2d, when 
 only one whole legislative day of the session was left. 
 It was then "railroaded" — to use a more modern term — 
 through the House in three-quarters of an hour, without 
 debate, and when not one-third of the members knew 
 exactly what its provisions were. It was a clear case 
 of "tub to the whale" ; conceived and put through with 
 the sole object of pacifying South Carolina, regardless 
 of its effect upon the national revenues or industries. 
 
28 6 HISTORY OF ANDREW JACKSON 
 
 As a sop to South Carolina, it was simply the dictate of 
 cowardice, and nothing else. That State had defied the 
 Union. This compromise bill begged her to be good, 
 and gave her a reward for having been bad. It should 
 have been entitled, "A Bill for Peace at Any Price." 
 South Carolina should have been made to feel the power 
 of the Union first. Then the tariff might have been 
 revised afterward, if revision were necessary. The whole 
 result was that, though the State accepted the morsel 
 thrown to her, she did so with augmented contempt for 
 the Union that threw it, and her contempt lived and 
 thrived for infinitely vaster mischief later on. 
 
 Jackson signed the bill and thereby postponed civil 
 war about twenty-eight years. At that moment the w^ar 
 would have been between the Union and one State. The 
 postponement ended in a war between the Union and 
 eleven States. However, the day after signing this bill 
 General Jackson was inaugurated for his second term. 
 He had made peace, but at a ruinous discount against 
 the future.* Few pieces of legislation have embodied 
 
 * We by no means intend to argue that if the doctrine of Secession and 
 Disunion, as it appeared in the guise of Nullification under Jackson, had 
 been crushed, even as he was wont to crush the country's enemies, its subse- 
 quent reappearance as the " Slave-power" would have been prevented. Nor 
 are we quite sure that even a Jackson, had one stood in Buchanan's sho-'S a 
 quarter of a century later, could have breasted the tide of treason in his own 
 Cabinet and almost in his own household that engulfed the weaker man. 
 Yet it is difficult to imagine a more interesting subject of mere speculation, 
 as such, than that of conjecture as to what Andrew Jackson would have done 
 or tried to do with Floyd and Toombs and their coparceners in such a con- 
 spiracy as that which racked and tore the feeble and flaccid administration 
 of Buchanan in its last sad days. As we have already intimated, Jack- 
 son in i83o-'32 had but one rebellious State to deal with. Buchanan was 
 confronted by the revolt of eleven States. The relative conditions were so 
 radically different in all external and in many internal aspects that there 
 seems to be no common plane of comparison or contrast. Yet it is con- 
 
RE-ELECTED TO THE PRESIDENCY 287 
 
 so many diverse elements and interests in compromise 
 as this tariff. It passed the Senate only by the united 
 influence of Calhoun and Clay, who agreed in nothing 
 but hatred of Jackson. In the House it owed its passage 
 to the parliamentary skill and finesse of John Quincy 
 Adams. Every thick-and-thin Jackson man in the Sen- 
 ate and in the House voted against it. The only Jackson 
 man who had anything to do with its enactment into 
 law was the President himself. He did not himself be- 
 lieve it to be a wise measure. Its spirit was contrary 
 to every recommendation he had made on the subject 
 in four annual messages. His approval of it can be 
 explained only upon the ground that the abstention of 
 South Carolina from violence had both surprised and 
 pleased him, and he was now as merciful as he had at 
 first been resentful. 
 
 By no means the least important act of General Jack- 
 son's first administration was his founding of the Wash- 
 ington Globe, an event which, for a quarter of a century, 
 
 ceivable that, had Jackson actually handled South Carolina as he was un- 
 questionably resolved to handle her had she forced the issue on February 
 I 1833, as her convention and its ordinance committee threatened to do, 
 the result must have been an object-lesson which might have caused even 
 such desperate men as Floyd and Toombs to halt or even so gelatmous a 
 man as Buchanan to imagine for a moment that he had a back bone. The 
 real trouble was that when South Carolina in i86o-'6i led off m the move- 
 ment that only an Appomattox could stop, and led her sister States mto a 
 war which could end only by "making a desert and callmg it peace, as 
 Tacitus savs, she was emboldened by exultant reminiscence of havmg 
 bullied a Union with Jackson at its head. What her behavior might have 
 been had she been compelled to remember such a punishment as Jackson 
 certainlv intended to visit upon her, but for the pusillanimous compromise 
 of Clavton, Calhoun and Clay, is yet and doubtless alwavs will remain an 
 interesting theme of historical hypothesis. As one who, in humblest rank, 
 helped to "make the desert" that " they called peace" at last, the Author 
 believes that the event would have been the same in any case. 
 
288 HISTORY OF ANDREW JACKSON 
 
 profoundly impressed the political history of the nation. 
 The greatest service of the Globe to the nation and to 
 human progress at large was that, between 1830 and 
 1845, ^ts influence laid broad and deep the foundations 
 of that Union Democracy which, w^hen its weight was 
 finally thrown into the scale as between the new Repub- 
 lican party of the North and the old slave-holding and 
 State-rights Democracy of the South, prevented dis- 
 union. 
 
 \Mien General Jackson came to Washington to be 
 inaugurated President in 1829, he accepted as the 
 "organ" of his administration the United States Tele- 
 graph, whose editor, General Duff Green, was a friend 
 of Monroe and an ardent admirer of Calhoun. Upon 
 the estrangement of Jackson and Calhoun, in 1830, the 
 Telegraph followed the fortunes of the latter, leaving 
 the administration "organless" at the national Capital; 
 an intolerable situation in those days. Just at that crit- 
 ical moment, General Jackson's attention was attracted 
 to the writings of Francis P. Blair, then a lawyer in 
 Kentucky and a frequent contributor to the press of 
 that region. He asked Amos Kendall — also a Kentuck- 
 ian — about Mr. Blair, and the answer w^as so favorable 
 that he requested Mr. Kendall to sound his friend on 
 the subject of establishing an administration paper at 
 Washington. 
 
 At that time Mr. Blair held the position of clerk of 
 the circuit court of Kentucky, and was president of the 
 Commonwealth Bank, a State cor])oration. He also 
 owned a farm near Frankfort. But he had recently 
 undergone some financial reverses and had paid his debts 
 at considerable sacrifice of property. He had, however. 
 
RE-ELECTED TO THE PRESIDENCY 289 
 
 a little available capital left, and as his character made 
 his credit almost limitless among those who knew him 
 best, he decided to embrace the opportunity. He re- 
 signed his positions in Kentucky, went to Washington, 
 and soon organized a first-class newspaper, to which he 
 gave the name of the Globe. He was at this time ( 1830) 
 thirty-nine years old, of medium height, slender build, 
 and most unassuming manner. An early portrait ex- 
 hibits a refined, intellectual face, suggesting the charac- 
 ter -of the student rather than the practical politician ; the 
 lover of books and belles-lettres rather than the polemic 
 journalist. He was without editorial experience, his 
 previous connection with journalism having been that 
 of a contributor mainly to the columns of the Kentucky 
 Argus, a paper published at the State capital, Frankfort. 
 But he was born to the tripod and, though not entering 
 regular journalism until his fortieth year, he soon made 
 up for lost time. He had the good fortune to secure 
 in Mr. John C. Rives a partner who combined editorial 
 ability with consummate business capacity in newspaper 
 management. 
 
 The friendship of the administration brought to the 
 new venture a good share of the public advertising, then 
 indispensable to newspaper success in Washington. Mr. 
 Blair was opposed to the United States Bank, to Mr. 
 Adams, to Mr. Clay, to Mr. Calhoun and to Nullification. 
 He was in favor of a strong, indissoluble Federal Union, 
 of the Constitution and of General Jackson. Before the 
 Globe had been in existence a year its reputation was 
 national and its influence equal to, if not greater than, 
 that of any other journal in the United States. It was 
 conducted editorially with remarkable force, its style was 
 Vol. II.— 19 
 
apo HISTORY OF ANDREW JACKSON 
 
 dignified without being turgid, and elegant without be- 
 ing stilted or pompous. It possessed to a degree hitherto 
 unknown in American journalism the merit of equal 
 adaptability to the reading-rooms of mansions and to 
 the firesides of log-cabins. It was as popular on the 
 remotest frontier as in the busiest metropolis, and the 
 scholar and the pioneer could alike find equal resources 
 of pleasure and profit in its broad columns. 
 
 General Jackson always had a warm side for men who 
 could write vigorously and who wrote fearlessly. He 
 liked Mr. Blair from the first and on a month's personal 
 acquaintance, though they had never met before, a friend- 
 ship of unusual confidence and cordiality sprang up be- 
 tween them which never wavered for an instant while 
 they both lived. But it was not alone as an editor and 
 public writer that ^Ir. Blair 'was serviceable to General 
 Jackson, nor alone as President that his friendship was 
 valuable to ]\Ir. Blair. Had the two men been simply 
 neighbors in private life, their relations with each other 
 would have been equally confidential and their mutual 
 esteem equally warm. They relied upon each other in 
 all the concerns of life. When anyone asked the General 
 a question he could not readily answer, he would say : 
 "Go and ask Frank Blair. He knows everything worth 
 knowing." 
 
 On broad questions of political policy at home or in- 
 ternational relations abroad ; on estimates of personal 
 character and weight in deciding between rival aspirants 
 for appointment, and from that to purely private affairs, 
 there was no other man in Washington or elsewhere 
 whom the General consulted so often or whose counsel 
 he adopted so confidently as Francis P. Blair. 
 
RE-ELECTED TO THE PRESIDENCY 291 
 
 History, as thus far written, seems to have adopted 
 as fixed truths a greater number of campaign epigrams 
 and epithets with regard to General Jackson than to 
 any other man of equal eminence that ever lived. 'The 
 Kitchen Cabinet" is a case in point. The reader of 
 conventional biographies of the General could not help 
 believing that his official Cabinet was a wholly super- 
 fluous organization, which existing law forced him to 
 provide, but which he otherwise ignored or held in con- 
 tempt; while, on the other hand, he called about him a 
 few personal cronies or kindred spirits, created them 
 into a "Kitchen Cabinet," and, with their assistance, 
 conducted the business of his great office in his own way 
 and theirs. 
 
 The real truth is that General Jackson had no more of 
 that kind of ''cabinet" than every President has. He 
 was no more under the influence of personal or un- 
 official friends than Lincoln, Grant, Cleveland or Mc- 
 Kinley in later days; or than John Adams, Jefferson, 
 Madison or Monroe before him. We omit Washington 
 from this list notwithstanding his noted partiality for 
 the counsels of personal friends so well known that they 
 need not be named; also John Quincy Adams, because, 
 of all our Presidents, he was the least accessible to the 
 public, the strictest in his subdivision of executive pow- 
 ers and responsibilities among his constitutional advis- 
 ers, and the most self-centred in considering and deter- 
 mining upon those affairs properly belonging to the prov- 
 ince of the President at large. These observations must 
 not be understood as implying criticism. Far from it. 
 
 A marked peculiarity of General Jackson's so-called 
 "Kitchen Cabinet" is the fact that no two of his biog- 
 
292 HISTORY OF ANDREW JACKSON 
 
 raphers seem to agree as to its personnel. The same Is 
 true of those who have written about him and his times 
 as part of general history. Exhaustive examination of 
 these works will reveal a total of twenty or more per- 
 sons, many of them somewhat obscure, figuring accord- 
 ing to the fancy of the biographer or historian from 
 time to time as members of that apocryphal conclave. 
 As a rule, however, they are nearly unanimous in the 
 inclusion of Mr. Blair. As for the other "members," 
 the comprehensive reader finds a somewhat embarrassing 
 wealth of choice between Benton, Eaton, Lewis, Hill, 
 Kendall, Polk, Allen, Donelson, Woodbury, Marcy, 
 Buchanan, Hannegan, Forsyth, White, Webb, Henry 
 Lee, Houston, Duff Green, Trist, ct al; not to speak 
 of those members of the real Cabinet credited with pos- 
 session of latch-keys to the kitchen-door, such as Van 
 Buren, Livingston, Cass, Taney and Duane. 
 
 Here are twenty-five names. From these each biog- 
 rapher or historian seems inclined to select a ''block of 
 five," or thereabouts. No great mathematical acumen 
 is required to perceive that the number of practicable 
 combinations in ''blocks of five" out of a total of twenty- 
 five is prodigious. The fact is that almost any five will 
 meet the conditions, provided always that it includes the 
 name of Francis P. Blair at any time after the spring 
 of 1830. 
 
 To this cursory review it seems necessary to add only 
 that long after General Jackson had passed away, an- 
 other and greater President, also of the plain people, 
 and in a crisis far more grave and distressing than any 
 that ever confronted Andrew Jackson, was glad to sum- 
 mon to his aid the almost miraculous knowledge of men 
 
RE-ELECTED TO THE PRESIDENCY 293 
 
 and of affairs possessed by the then venerable Francis 
 P. Blair; and that, in his riper years, the veteran of 
 Jackson's "Kitchen Cabinet" cut a far more conspicuous 
 figure and rendered service to the Union of infinitely 
 more comprehensive and enduring value, in the ''Kitchen 
 Cabinet" of Abraham Lincoln, than in that of Andrew 
 Jackson. 
 
CHAPTER XI 
 
 WAR WITH THE UNITED STATES BANK 
 
 Jackson's second term opened under a cloudless po- 
 litical sky and amid almost unanimous popular acclama- 
 tions. The resolute stand he had taken for the Union 
 won for him the sincere and grateful applause of people 
 who had never before regarded him with any feeling 
 but aversion or apprehension. The stiff-necked old 
 Puritan Federalists of New England, and their hardly 
 less stubborn descendants in New York and Ohio, 
 learned with mingled astonishment and joy that Jack- 
 son had at last used his marvellous personal force and 
 prestige in a cause so good that it brought John Quincy 
 Adams and Daniel Webster to his enthusiastic support. 
 This, they said among themselves, if not the millennium 
 itself, is certainly a foretaste of what that blessed day 
 will be when it does come. Newspapers which, but a 
 few months ago, were filled with schedules of "Jackson's 
 murders," now expanded their columns with praise for 
 the Stalwart Defender of the Constitution and ''Our 
 Federal Union." They forgot what he had written to 
 Monroe about the Hartford convention of 1814 in their 
 rapt contemplation of his manifesto to the Columbia 
 convention of 1833. The fact that a great many of them 
 by this time devoutly wished to forget the Hartford 
 convention itself, doubtless lent zeal to their approval 
 of Jackson's attitude toward that of Columbia. And 
 
 294 
 
WAR WITH THE BANK 295 
 
 something that touched them more tenderly than all else 
 was the story that came from the Capital of personal 
 rapprochement between their own great expounder of 
 the Constitution, Webster, and the terrible Jackson — 
 the man of ''blood and iron," of pistols and muskets and 
 rifles and ropes erstwhile — now suddenly emerged into 
 the sunlight of the true faith as its bulwark against the 
 wave of disunion. 
 
 "Nothing lacks now to complete the love- feast," wrote 
 Isaac Hill to Benton, sardonically, during the famous 
 visit of the President to Boston, "but for Jackson and 
 Webster to solemnize the coalition with a few mint- 
 juleps! I think I could arrange it, if assured of the 
 co-operation of yourself and Blair on our side, and Jerry 
 Mason and Nick Biddle on theirs. But never fear, my 
 friend. This mixing of oil and water is only the tem- 
 porary shake-up of Nullification. Wait till Jackson gets 
 at the Bank again and then the scalping-knives will 
 glisten once more.'' 
 
 Hill was wise in his day and generation. It was a 
 fact that, when Webster in the Senate and ex-President 
 Adams in the House were supporting and carrying Jack- 
 son's request for "more authority to enforce the laws 
 of the United States," the General sent his compliments 
 across Lafayette Square to Webster's house, and with 
 them his closed carriage to convey the Senator through 
 a blinding snowstorm to the Capitol. But it was all 
 over soon. During the subsequent agitation on the re- 
 moval of the deposits, the Jacksonian closed carriage 
 was not seen conveying Senator Webster to the Capitol 
 — or anywhere else — snowstorm or sunshine. 
 
 It must, however, be said that there was never any 
 
Q.^6 HISTORY OF ANDREW JACKSON 
 
 personal ill-feeling between General Jackson and Mr. 
 Webster. He knew that in his correspondence with 
 friends while hot campaigns were going on, Webster 
 had said some harsh things about him; but of these the 
 worst were quotations from Jefferson or Calhoun, and 
 he did not deny that a political opponent had a right to 
 repeat what members of his own party said about him, 
 even though it might be personal. But in any event, 
 he knew that A\'ebster had not only kept aloof from the 
 calumnies heaped upon him by others, but also that the 
 great Senator had more than once used his influence to 
 check that mode of warfare. More than that, he had 
 been informed of occasions when Webster strongly de- 
 nounced the W^hig practice of dragging Mrs. Jackson's 
 name into partisan warfare, and this had touched the 
 tenderest chord in his nature. 
 
 Finally, when the Senator came to his support with 
 all the tremendous power he possessed on the Nullifica- 
 tion issue, called him the "Defender of the Constitution 
 of our country in 1833 as he had been the defender of 
 her soil in 181 5''; and when, in the debate upon the 
 special message of January i6th asking for more com- 
 plete authority, etc., Webster had said that "no measure 
 to strengthen the hands of a brave President for a patri- 
 otic duty could ever fail to find his voice and vote in 
 its favor,'' Jackson's measure of admiration overflowed, 
 and thenceforth no one could induce him to listen to a 
 syllable against the author of such utterances. 
 
 With Clay and Calhoun he was not on speaking terms, 
 and toward one, if not toward both of them, he cherished 
 animosities which, in his code, were better expressed by 
 gunpowder than by language. Toward Mr. Adams he 
 
WAR WITH THE BANK 297 
 
 still entertained some — though not all — of the feeling 
 that prompted him to decline the usual courtesies between 
 Presidents on the occasion of the inauguration in 1829. 
 But there had been no individual reconciliation, or 
 thought of one, on either side. Whenever, in walks about 
 the city, General Jackson and Mr. Adams happened to 
 meet, there was simply a polite, though frigid, sign of 
 mutual recognition, but no words of greeting. But with 
 Mr. Webster there were different relations. Whenever 
 the greatest American soldier and the greatest American 
 Senator chanced to meet, whether on social occasions or 
 in the street, there was always a hearty salutation, a 
 cordial shake of the hand, and a pleasant interchange 
 of *'the time o' day." 
 
 The opinions they held of each other may best be told 
 in their own words: In 1837, shortly after General Jack- 
 son retired from the presidency, Thurlow Weed, hap- 
 pening to meet Mr. Webster in New York, asked him 
 in the course of conversation, what w^as his general esti-" 
 mate of Jackson; his summary of Jackson's character, 
 judged by his career. Mr. Webster replied: "General 
 Jackson is an honest and an upright man. He does what 
 he thinks is right, and does it with all his might. He 
 has a violent temper, which leads him often to hasty 
 conclusions. It also causes him to view as personal to 
 himself the public acts of other men. For this reason, 
 there is great difference between Jackson angry and 
 Jackson in good humor. When he is calm, his judgment 
 is good; when angry, it is usually bad. I will illustrate, 
 Mr. Weed, by quoting Jackson himself: On a certain 
 occasion he advised a young friend of his to 'take all 
 the time for thinking that circumstances would permit; 
 
098 HISTORY OF ANDREW JACKSON 
 
 but, when the time for action came, to stop thinking!' 
 Now, my observation of him leads me to beheve that 
 he 'stops tliinking,' as a rule, a little too soon and is 
 apt to decide prematurely that 'the time for action' has 
 come. These traits have led him into most of his errors 
 in public life. His patriotism is no more to be questioned 
 than that of Washington. He is the greatest general 
 we have and, except ^^^ashington, the greatest we ever 
 had." * 
 
 This is a view of General Jackson which no sensible 
 admirer, or even ardent follower, of him will try to 
 gainsay. The above does not embody all that ^Ir. Weed 
 related of the conversation, but it is enough to exhibit 
 the judicial calmness of Mr. Webster in his estimates 
 of men, 
 
 Jackson's estimate of Webster was no less character- 
 istic. In the height of the Bank war, when Air. Webster 
 was, perhaps, the most potent, if not most vehement, 
 champion of that institution, the editor of a Jackson 
 organ — not Mr. Blair — informed the General that proof 
 could be obtained, showing conclusively that the Bank 
 had bribed, and w^as constantly bribing, the great Senator. 
 
 *T don't believe it," said Jackson, with emphasis ; ''not 
 a word of it, sir! But what is the nature of the informa- 
 tion that you call proof?" 
 
 The editor then explained that not only the parent 
 Bank in Philadelphia, but the branches in Washington, 
 Boston and Portsmouth had standing orders to cash Mr. 
 Webster's checks, whether he had any balance or not. 
 Also that William W. Corcoran, who had charge of the 
 Bank's real estate interests, always appeared as endorser 
 
 * Reminiscence by Thurlow Weed to the Autlior, 1876. 
 
WAR WITH THE BANK 299 
 
 on Mr. Webster's notes negotiated at the Bank. General 
 Jackson listened intently to the charge and also to the 
 details offered by the editor to back it up. At the end 
 
 he said: 
 
 "Well, sir, I admit that what you have shown me 
 would be evidence against some men, but not against 
 Mr. Webster. I have overdrawn my account a good 
 many times. The fact that a man has that much credit 
 at a bank of any kind is a compliment to his integrity. 
 As for supporting the United States Bank, Mr. Webster 
 does so because he believes in it and because the party 
 to which he belongs believes in it and sends him here 
 to defend it. He would support the Bank anyhow, 
 whether he borrowed money of it or not. Mr. Webster 
 may be mistaken. I think he is. But he is not dishonest, 
 and nobody can make me believe that he is." 
 
 The General further declared that he did not believe 
 the private business affairs of any man ought to be 
 brought into political discussion unless they were of a 
 criminal nature or exhibited a general lack of integrity, 
 unfitting him for public trust; also that Mr. Webster, 
 though his opponent, was not his enemy ; and, while he 
 did not pretend to control the utterances of papers that 
 supported him, he could not consider an unfair or un- 
 warranted attack upon any man as legitimate party war- 
 fare, whether its object were friendly to himself or 
 
 hostile. 
 
 On another occasion, while the debate between Web- 
 ster and Hayne was in progress, one of the General's 
 intimate friends came to him from the Capitol and in- 
 formed him that he had just been listening to Webster 
 for about two hours. 
 
300 HISTORY OF ANDREW JACKSON 
 
 "What is he doing with Hayne?'' inquired Jackson. 
 
 "Getting the best of him, I fear, General." 
 
 "I expected that. Hayne is no match for Webster 
 on that kind of a question; and besides, he is on the 
 wrong side!'' 
 
 Of course, Jackson knew that the doctrines of Hayne 
 could lead nowhere but to Nullification, and on that 
 issue he and \\'ebster were agreed. Whether he would 
 have taken a similar view of the great Senator's power 
 in support of anything that he opposed is another ques- 
 tion. But it is at least a refreshing oasis in that wild 
 waste of crimination and recrimination to know that 
 two such colossal public adversaries as Jackson and Web- 
 ster were could maintain friendly relations and hold re- 
 spectful opinions of each other in private capacity. W^e 
 are aware that the foregoing does not accord with a 
 prevalent impression as to the personal relations that 
 existed between General Jackson and Senator Webster, 
 but it is true. 
 
 Another anecdote is apropos here, though out of the 
 chronological order. When Congress adjourned in the 
 summer of 1834, William Allen, then the youngest mem- 
 ber of the House, and already a leader, accompanied 
 President Jackson home to the Hermitage. Mr. Web- 
 ster had become a candidate for the Whig nomination 
 to the presidency then, and naturally his name came up 
 for discussion at the dinner-table. Mr. Allen expressed 
 the opinion that the appearance of Webster in the field 
 must destroy any chance that Clay might have had. 
 
 "Oh, no, William, not that," said Jackson. "Clay 
 didn't need W^ebster in the field to end his chances. 
 He has never had any since the votes were counted in 
 
WAR WITH THE BANK 301 
 
 1832. As for Mr. Webster, he would make a better 
 President than any other Whig I know of, but he has 
 no chance, either." 
 
 ''Why not, General?" 
 
 ''Because he is too far East, knows too much, and is 
 too honest!" 
 
 "But, General, if not Clay in the West or Webster 
 in the East, who, in your judgment, is the probable 
 Whig candidate?" 
 
 "Harrison." 
 
 "Harrison? Why, I haven't heard of that, and I live 
 in Ohio, too, and think I keep my eyes and ears open. 
 Why do you say Harrison?" 
 
 "Because the Whigs have got to take up a soldier. 
 They have tried orators enough. Harrison is the only 
 soldier they have who has ever fought a real battle or 
 won a real victory. Then he is a man whom Clay can 
 use. The old saying is, 'Clay in the hands of the pot- 
 ter.' But Harrison would be potter in the hands of 
 Clay. However, it won't make any difference. My suc- 
 cessor will be a Democrat. But Harrison will run against 
 him. Clay can't get the nomination himself, but he can 
 keep Webster from getting it and can name the man. 
 He can't use Webster and he can, as I have said, use 
 Harrison. To me, the whole game is plain as checkers." 
 
 "What do you think about Harrison's strength, Gen- 
 eral?" 
 
 "As I said, my successor will be a Democrat. But if 
 the Eastern Whigs will unite with the Western ones on 
 Harrison, he will be stronger than any other man they 
 have, simply because he has been a sMdier and has won 
 a victory or two. Still he cannot win. But if they will 
 
302 HISTORY OF ANDREW JACKSON 
 
 unite on him, he will come nearer winning than Clay 
 did two years ago." * 
 
 General Jackson in 1834 clearly outlined the Whig 
 programme for 1836, and also the result. It was evi- 
 dent that he kept close watch upon the progress of events 
 and the personalities not only of men in his own party, 
 but of those in the opposition also. And his sagacity 
 in either direction was equally apparent. Of course, we 
 must in common courtesy credit him with sincerity in 
 his customary declaration that he was ''no politician" ; 
 but that admission, when we survey his prescience as 
 to the practical operation of party logic in his times, 
 must presuppose an entire failure properly to estimate 
 himself. The more tenable solution of the apparent dis- 
 crepancy is that the General's oft-iterated claim of inno- 
 cence in the art political was one of his frequent at- 
 tempts at humor. 
 
 During June, 1833, the President, with Vice-President 
 Van Buren, General Cass, Mr. Woodbury and several 
 members of his official household, made a tour through 
 the Northeastern States. He had not before visited New 
 England and knew very little about that region or its 
 people except as he saw their representatives at the na- 
 tional Capital. New York he knew pretty well, and his 
 acquaintance with Pennsylvania was thorough. But 
 New England, until the spring of 1833, had been to 
 him terra incognita. A favorite boast with him was 
 that his foot "had never pressed foreign soil" ; that, 
 ''born and raised in the United States, he had never 
 been out of the country." It is recorded that he one 
 
 * Reminiscence of Governor Allen, in 1875. 
 
WAR WITH THE BANK 303 
 
 day made this exultant observation in the presence of 
 Mrs. Eaton, whose Irish wit prompted her to inquire: 
 ''But how about Florida, General?" 
 
 "That's so. I did go to Florida when it was a for- 
 eign country; but I had quite forgotten that fact when 
 I made the remark." 
 
 'T expect, General, you forgot that Florida was for- 
 eign when you made the trip !" 
 
 The General was put hors de combat for a moment, 
 but soon rallied. ''Yes, yes, maybe so. Some weak- 
 kneed people in our own country seemed to think so." 
 
 "Oh, well, General, never mind. Florida didn't stay 
 foreign long after you had been there!" 
 
 This was one of his favorite anecdotes for the rest 
 of his life. Whenever he related it, he would add: 
 "Smartest little woman in America, sir; by all odds, 
 the smartest!" 
 
 At the time under consideration, it might almost have 
 been said that Jackson viewed New England as being, 
 if not altogether "foreign," at least quite un-American. 
 "I reckon they won't mob me in Boston, Isaac," he re- 
 remarked to Senator Hill, of New Hampshire, as the 
 party approached the Cradle of Liberty. 
 
 "I'm afraid they will mob you, General," replied 
 Isaac meekly. "But it won't be a circumstance to the 
 trouble you'll get into when we reach New Hampshire!" 
 
 They did "mob him" in Boston. Edward Everett 
 said that only two other men had been received in Bos- 
 ton as General Jackson was. They were Washington 
 and Lafayette. Among the minor hospitalities were the 
 freedom of the city, an entire floor of the principal hotel 
 for the accommodation of himself and his friends, the 
 
304 HISTORY OF ANDREW JACKSON 
 
 governor's coach-and-four was placed at his service, and 
 numerous other offerings for his comfort too numerous 
 to mention. The General particularly observed the 
 polite consideration of the throngs who called upon him. 
 "They do not crush me against the wall,'' he said, ''like 
 those folks in New York. They behave like sensible 
 people — as if they had seen presidents before." 
 
 This opportunity could not escape the satire of Isaac 
 Hill. Democrat as he himself was, he couldn't help 
 suggesting in a sly way : "Well, General, you see there 
 are more Democrats in New York than here." Whether 
 Jackson quite caught Hill's humor is not of record. 
 Hill, who still had a good deal of the Puritan in him, 
 never liked the pushing, rushing and grasping way the 
 New York Democrats had. 
 
 But the crowning glory was the trip to Cambridge. 
 There the General surveyed \vith rapt interest the site 
 of the camp where Washington's army assembled in 
 1775. Standing on the spot where the old head-quarters 
 flagstaff stood, he took off his hat, raised his right hand, 
 and said : "Let us be reverent here. This is the spot 
 where our people first gathered in full force under a 
 great commander to defend their rights. Let us in 
 silence raise our right hands to the memory of Washing- 
 ton and his Patriot army, with the single thought that 
 our right hands shall ever keep the liberty theirs gained!" 
 
 "Few eyes were dry," said John Quincy Adams, com- 
 menting afterward on this scene. What a pity it was 
 that Mr. Adams should have chosen to be a quiet and, 
 to the guest of honor, an unnoticed spectator of an 
 event like that. Jackson did not even know he was 
 there. 
 
WAR WITH THE BANK 30^ 
 
 Then came the dimax : conferment of the degree of 
 Doctor of Laws by Harvard College. Francis Bowen, 
 leader of the Class of 1833, on behalf of the college boys, 
 pronounced a salutatory in Latin. In the exordium he 
 said : ''Harvard welcomes Jackson the President. She 
 embraces Jackson the Patriot." Wild applause greeted 
 this phrase; cheers from the people; college yells from 
 "the boys." The General turned to Levi Woodbury and 
 asked him to translate it. ''You're a college man, Wood- 
 bury," he said. "My Latin is a little rusty. All I can 
 make out is something about patriots." 
 
 Mr. Woodbury, who was a graduate of Dartmouth 
 and a thorough classical scholar, gave him an accurate 
 translation of Bowen's phrase. "A splendid compli- 
 ment, sir, a splendid compliment," said Jackson. "But 
 why talk about so live a thing as patriotism in a dead 
 language?" 
 
 After the ceremony, the undergraduates were all in- 
 trodiiced to the President. As each one took the distin- 
 guished guest's hand, he addressed him by his new title, 
 "Doctor Jackson," to the infinite edification and amuse- 
 ment of the grizzly old warrior. He then made a brief 
 address of thanks and farewell. The only part of it pre- 
 served is that noted down by Mr. Woodbury : "I shall 
 have to speak in English, not being able to return your 
 compliment in what appears to be the language of Har- 
 vard. All the Latin I know is E phirihns nmunr "At 
 which," says Mr. Woodbury, "there was even louder 
 and longer applause than that which greeted Mr. Bowen's 
 happy phrase; but this was probably because the people 
 could understand General Jackson's Latin better than 
 
 they could Mr. Bowen's." 
 Vol. II. — 20 
 
3o6 HISTORY OF ANDREW JACKSON 
 
 Whether or not the people of Boston ''mobbed'' Gen- 
 eral Jackson, he was taken quite ill on the day of his 
 intended departure and was confined to bed. His trouble 
 was the hemorrhage that had so often prostrated him 
 before, but this attack was more serious and stubborn 
 than any previous one. He attributed it to the strain he 
 had undergone during the demonstration in New York. 
 That affair included the usual triumphal procession up 
 Broadway from the Battery to Union Square. It had 
 been arranged that the President and Vice-President 
 should lead the procession in an open carriage. He 
 objected to this and told Colonel Waddell, master of 
 ceremonies, that he wished to go on horseback — ''and 
 I want a horse," he added, "that it takes a man to 
 ride." 
 
 They gave him a magnificent animal, which proved 
 to be rather intractable. The General had a good deal 
 of trouble to keep him off the sidewalks and, as he 
 himself said, "out of the houses." The bit was too mild 
 for such a charger, and the General had no spurs. The 
 result was a severe strain upon his arms and the muscles 
 of the shoulders and chest, which at once caused sore- 
 ness in the region of the lungs. This got worse on the 
 journey to Boston and culminated in the illness. 
 
 His last public function at Boston was a visit to 
 Bunker Hill. 'Tt was a good deal like New Orleans," 
 he said, "only not quite so much of it. But it had the 
 advantage over New Orleans of being the first fight for 
 our Independence, while New Orleans came in at the 
 tail-end of the last." 
 
 From Boston the presidential party went to Concord, 
 New Hampshire, the principal object of that part of the 
 
WAR WITH THE BANK 307 
 
 journey being, as General Jackson privately informed 
 Mr. Woodbury, ''to see if Ike Hill behaved any better 
 at home than he did in Washington." 
 
 The terminus of the trip as planned was to be Port- 
 land, Maine; and the General was very desirous of visit- 
 ing that State, whose unexpected electoral vote for him 
 the year before had been a source of extraordinary grati- 
 fication. But after passing three days at Concord, he 
 became apprehensive of another attack and returned 
 thence direct to the national Capital. The most note- 
 worthy remark he made while in New Hampshire, as 
 preserved by Mr. Hill, was in his response to the com- 
 mittee who received him at the State Capitol. 'Tt gives 
 me great pleasure," he said, ''to visit the State and greet 
 the fellow-citizens of John and Molly Stark." Then he 
 told them that he had the pleasure of being with Presi- 
 dent Monroe at the White House when he signed the 
 special act of Congress granting a pension of $60 a 
 month to General Stark. "I was major-general com- 
 manding the southern division then," he said, "and called 
 on the President to talk over the Indian troubles which 
 led to what some people call my unauthorized invasion 
 of Florida the next year. [Prolonged applause.] W^hile 
 we were talking, Mr. Gouverneur [Monroe's private 
 secretary] brought in some enrolled bills, and the one 
 to pension General Stark was the first in the packet. 
 The President looked at it, handed it to me, and asked, 
 with a twinkle in his eye: 'Do you recommend the ap- 
 proval of this bill. General ? I mean, not in your present 
 capacity as major-general, but as a Revolutionary soldier 
 and comrade of General Stark.' I assured him I did — 
 in both capacities — and he at once signed the bill." 
 [Tremendous applause.] 
 
3o8 HISTORY OF ANDREW JACKSON 
 
 At that time (1833) quite a number of Revolutionary 
 veterans were still living in the Granite State. Isaac 
 Hill's instinct for the dramatic impelled him, at no little 
 expense, to have as many of them as were able to travel 
 brought to Concord from the neighboring towns, ''to 
 meet their old comrade," as he expressed it. A special 
 reception for them was arranged at his own house, his 
 venerable uncle, Abram Hill, being present — a veteran 
 of Bunker Hill, Bennington, Saratoga, and many other 
 hard-fought fields. The whole affair had been privately 
 arranged, and was a "surprise party." The youngest of 
 these New England veterans was over seventy years of 
 age. The oldest one able to be present was "Uncle 
 Jonathan Wells," of Amoskeag, eighty-nine years old, 
 but still hearty. He had served in the navy of the 
 Revolution, and was with Paul Jones in the Ranger and 
 the Richard. When introduced to the General, the old 
 salt looked him over critically and finally observed : 
 "Gin'ral, you remind me a good deal of the Old Commo- 
 dore [meaning, of course, Jones] except you're some 
 bigger'n he was; and from what I've heard and read 
 about you, you are a good deal like him too — in par- 
 ticular about the English! And I want to tell you, 
 Gin'ral, that you and him give them English the two 
 d dest lickings they ever got!" 
 
 The General's eyes were full of tears. "Gentlemen," 
 he said, as soon as he could find voice, "that is the most 
 flattering compliment ever paid me, and I've enjoyed 
 a good many!" He then declared that he could not 
 sufficiently control his feelings to attempt a speech to 
 them. But he had each of them run his finger along 
 a furrow on the left side of his head, concealed bv his 
 
WAR WITH THE BANK 309 
 
 thick hair. 'That is my certificate of service in the 
 Revolution," he said. ''That scar is proof that I re- 
 fused to black a British officer's boots when I was a 
 prisoner of war!" 
 
 General Jackson then mustered the veterans and ascer- 
 tained from each his age. He found that the youngest 
 of them was a man named Abel Chandler, seventy-three 
 years old. His own age was sixty-six, he being in his 
 sixty-seventh year. He therefore claimed the distinction 
 of being the youngest Revolutionary veteran then in the 
 State, which they all admitted. ' 
 
 On his return to Washington he passed through Lowell. 
 There a man approached him and said : "General, I was 
 with you at New Orleans." 
 
 "You must be a Kentuckian, then," he replied, "be- 
 cause I knew personally every man there from Ten- 
 nessee." 
 
 "No, sir; I was born in Ireland, and my parents 
 brought me over when I was four years old." 
 
 "I came very near being born in Ireland, myself. But 
 what command were you in at New Orleans?" 
 
 "I was a regular, sir, in Humphrey's battery." 
 
 "Oh, indeed! A great battery, my good friend; and 
 a most excellent commander. Give me your hand again, 
 sir. I certainly am very glad to see you. Wliat are 
 you doing now, if I may take the liberty of asking?'' 
 
 "I am a stage-driver, sir." 
 
 "Ah! Still serving the public, I see. Good soldiers 
 make good stage-drivers. The same qualities required 
 in both : cool head, quick eye, strong and steady hand I 
 The same qualities, sir! A stage-driver is a most im- 
 portant person, my friend. The lives and limbs of peo- 
 
3IO HISTORY OF ANDREW JACKSON 
 
 pie are constantly in his keeping. I am sure you are 
 as good a protector of your passengers now as you were 
 of our country at New Orleans!" 
 
 The General then took from his pocket a brand-new 
 eagle — ten-dollar gold-piece — of that year, 1833. 
 "Please accept this, sir, as a token of my friendship 
 for you. Keep it. So long as you keep it, you will have 
 something laid by for a rainy day. It's a good thing, 
 to have a little something laid by!" 
 
 From all these incidents, not in themselves of great 
 importance, the inference is clear that General Jackson 
 did not lack the happy faculty of saying the right thing 
 in the right place, notwithstanding his propensity at 
 times, as we have frequently remarked, to do the right 
 thing the wrong way. Few masters of the art of ''re- 
 ception oratory" could have contrived sentiments on the 
 spur of the moment more opportune to the time and 
 place than the little speeches of his New England tour 
 just recorded. He may have thought them out before- 
 hand. Most men who gain great reputations for im- 
 promptu speaking carefully ''premeditate their impromp- 
 tus," as Artemus Ward said. But they were all good, 
 all true and all timely. None of them exhibit Jackson 
 in the character conventionally attributed to him : a char- 
 acter of stiffness, solemnity and distance. On the other 
 hand, they all bespeak a keen camaraderie, ready wit, and 
 most democratic adaptability. Flis acknowledgment of 
 the great compliment paid him by the venerable Mr. 
 Wells was heartfelt. He was intensely flattered by hav- 
 ing his name linked in that way with Paul Jones. He 
 spoke of it afterward to Mr. Hill, Mr. Blair, and others. 
 To Mr. Blair he declared that "the whole corporation 
 
WAR WITH THE BANK 
 
 311 
 
 of admirals in naval history, sir, were not equal to Paul 
 Jones! They surrendered when their ships began to 
 sink. But he just began to light, sir, at that moment! 
 I have read Colonel Sherburne's book about him, with 
 his own letters. [Published in 1825.] The English 
 called him a pirate. I venture to say that they have 
 held opinions of me at times not much different. He 
 was the Washington of our navy; Father of his Coun- 
 try on the sea!" 
 
 Apprehension of further ill-health may have been the 
 cause of General Jackson's sudden return to Washington. 
 But upon his arrival there he was well enough to resume 
 his warfare upon the United States Bank. In fact, he 
 sounded the first note of renewed hostilities while in 
 Boston, vrhence, on June 26th, he wrote a letter to 
 Secretary Duane, unfolding a scheme for selecting State 
 banks to be depositories of the government moneys which 
 he had determined to withdraw from the institution of 
 Mr. Biddle. The primary feature of this scheme was 
 as follows, in his own words : 
 
 ''i. That one bank be selected in Baltimore, one in 
 Philadelphia, two in New York and one in Boston, with 
 a right on the part of the government to add one in 
 Savannah, one in Charleston, one in the State of Ala- 
 bama, one in New Orleans and one in Norfolk . . . 
 to receive the deposits in those places, and be responsible 
 to the government for the whole public deposits of the 
 United States." 
 
 The second clause provided that the "primary banks," 
 as those described in the first clause were called, might 
 select "secondary depositories" — that is, other banks — 
 
312 HISTORY OF ANDREW JACKSON 
 
 to receive public deposits, subject to the absolute will 
 of the Secretary of the Treasury. Other clauses pro- 
 vided for a system of Federal supervision over the books 
 and general accounts of each depository, involving an 
 espionage to which a bank of established business and 
 responsible character would not be likely to submit. 
 Finally, the letter recommended Amos Kendall as a 
 person qualified to conduct the necessary negotiations 
 with the several banks contemplated. 
 
 When the words 'Svithdrawal of public deposits from 
 the United States Bank" are used, it must not be sup- 
 posed that an immediate removal of moneys then on 
 deposit there was contemplated. The proposition was 
 to leave the sum already deposited and check against it 
 from time to time to meet the public needs until it was 
 exhausted, but to cease making deposits on and after 
 a date to be specified. The amount of Federal deposits 
 then in the United States Bank and its branches was 
 between nine and ten millions of dollars. This arrange- 
 ment. General Jackson thought, would give the Bank 
 ample time to adjust its loans, curtail its accommodations 
 and prepare for a wind-up without serious embarrass- 
 ment on the expiration of its charter, March 4, 1836. 
 The General then — not in the Boston letter, but in sub- 
 sequent communications — proposed that if the State bank 
 plan should not prove practicable, a national bank, un- 
 der direct control of the Federal executive, might be 
 created by Congress to operate on a system which, as 
 nearly as his idea can be made out at this interval of 
 time, would have been similar to the present scheme of 
 greenback currency based on specie held in the Treasury 
 and sub-treasuries. 
 
WAR WITH THE BANK 313 
 
 But the whole project was new and indefinite and its 
 description was crudely expressed. Whoever may have 
 been his advisers as to a financial policy, it is clear that 
 none of them was capable of reducing a fiscal project 
 to tangible form in legislative phraseology. But one 
 fact was made perfectly clear: that the President was 
 determined to cease depositing Federal moneys in the 
 United States— or ''Mr. Biddle's"— Bank, and to draw 
 out the amount already there as soon as it could be done 
 without causing unnecessary distress. 
 
 At this point it becomes necessary^ to say that there 
 is no chapter in the history of any great American — 
 not even any other chapter in that of i\ndrew Jackson 
 himself— in which the task of separating the real truth 
 from partisan falsehood, the genuine facts from cam- 
 paign lies, has been so difficult as in Jackson's war 
 against the Bank. There has never been a time from 
 that day to this when two complete, circumstantial and 
 apparently well-authenticated versions of it could not be 
 prepared, each diametrically opposed to the other in 
 letter, aim and spirit. 
 
 Yet we believe that the real truth may some time be 
 learned and told. We shall make no pretensions to the 
 function of arbitrator. It would be absurd for a man 
 whose grandfathers both voted for Jackson whenever 
 they had the chance to assume such a function. But we 
 think that out from under all the interminable rubbish 
 piled up in speeches, congressional and otherwise, pam- 
 phlets, old newspaper files and reports of investigations, 
 at least two great enduring facts may be exhumed: 
 First, that the Bank, in its best days, subserved a useful 
 purpose and, whether ''constitutional" or not, was a pub- 
 
314 HISTORY OF ANDREW JACKSON 
 
 lie benefactor in the fiscal infancy of the country. Sec- 
 ond, that Jackson, conscientiously and on fundamental 
 principle, believed it was wrong to lend the financial 
 power and resources of the country to any chartered 
 monopoly whatsoever on any terms imaginable. 
 
 The Bank and its adherents believed it had a right 
 to fight for its existence, and that the range of permis- 
 sible tactics in self-defence was very wide. Jackson and 
 his followers believed that it was a menace to our insti- 
 tutions; that, therefore, it ought to be destroyed, and 
 that, in the effort to destroy it, the end would to a great 
 extent justify the means. Fortunately or unfortunately, 
 according to the point of view, the head of the Bank, 
 on the one hand, and the head of the administration, 
 on the other, were men of quite similar nature. Both 
 were combative, resolute and imperious. Both were 
 fighting men. Neither wa? a man of compromise. 
 Biddle was as anxious to destroy Jackson as Jackson 
 was to annihilate Biddle. In the end the whole im- 
 broglio resolved itself into something very closely ap- 
 proaching personal combat between two great men, so 
 radically antagonistic and so utterly irreconcilable that 
 both could not hold commanding power in the same 
 country and at the same time. 
 
 In the summer of 1833 the situation was about like 
 this : Jackson knew that the Congress which would meet 
 the 2d of December had a Senate favorable to the re- 
 charter of the Bank and a House opposed to it. He 
 exaggerated the Bank's power to influence legislation — 
 or, as he would put it, "to corrupt Congress by the use 
 of money." He declared time and again by his own 
 words, and his organs proclaimed with his full sanction 
 
WAR WITH THE BANK 315 
 
 and approval, that "the Bank used the people's money 
 to debauch the people's government." 
 
 In support of these charges they adduced what they 
 termed the ''confessions" of the presidents and directors 
 of the Bank and its branches under investigation. These 
 officials had admitted that money was paid out of the 
 Bank for publications to counteract the effect of attacks 
 upon it and for "other legitimate purposes" ; reserving 
 to themselves, however, the sole right to define the mean- 
 ing of the word "legitimate" in that connection. But 
 these criminations and recriminations were really the 
 noise of the battle to be heard from afar, not the conflict 
 itself. The election of 1832 had, as both Jackson and 
 Biddle believed, expressed the views and wishes of a 
 considerable majority of the voters; but they were not 
 agreed either as to the true cause of the popular verdict 
 or as to what the just and proper estimate of its signifi- 
 cance ought to be. Jackson accepted the result of the 
 election to mean that the people were beginning to un- 
 derstand what a monster the Bank was, and that the 
 significance of their majority for him was in effect a 
 command that he should throttle it and put it out of 
 existence by whatsoever method might promise the 
 speediest and surest destruction. In other words, we 
 think it within conservative bounds to say that Jackson 
 regarded the remarkable majorities given to him in 1832 
 as a proclamation of outlawry by the people against 
 the Bank. 
 
 This, of course, was an extreme view and one wholly 
 untenable as a guide to action, but it was a view nat- 
 urally consequent upon his inveterate mental habit of 
 reducing every problem in politics to the "personal equa- 
 
3i6 HISTORY OF ANDREW JACKSON 
 
 tion" — for the want of a better term. One of the oldest 
 aphorisms is that a man conscientiously wrong is infi- 
 nitely more dangerous than a man wrong by choice. In 
 this case Jackson w^as partly wrong and partly right — 
 and equally conscientious in both. He was right on the 
 general principle that the government should not per- 
 manently bestow the benefit of its financial power upon 
 any chartered monopoly devised for the enrichment of 
 a select and limited few. He was wrong in the extrava- 
 gance of his estimate of the Bank's power to corrupt 
 Congress. He was wrong in his theory, based upon that 
 error, that the Bank must be struck and crippled at once. 
 He was wrong in his policy, based upon both errors, of 
 crippling the Bank by that expedient which was readiest 
 and easiest of application, the summary cessation of de- 
 posits in spite of a contract by which the government 
 was as truly bound as the Bank, and which was predi- 
 cated upon a charter having yet nearly three years to 
 run. 
 
 The Russians have a proverb, a free translation of 
 which is that a parent sin always has a large family. 
 In this case, the parent wrongs or errors we have as- 
 cribed to Jackson's attitude begot another, less suscepti- 
 ble of palliation than its progenitors. It was his assump- 
 tion that the Bank was itself insolvent and, therefore, the 
 way to save the government's money was to distress the 
 Bank. We do not mean to say that he himself viewed 
 it that way or would have so expressed his purpose. 
 But that was the way it w'ould have occurred to ''the 
 man in the street," who reasons always a priori. 
 
 Such was the general situation when the General re- 
 turned to Washington in midsummer, 1833, ^"<^ made 
 
WAR WITH THE BANK 317 
 
 known his plans to the Secretary of the Treasury, Will- 
 iam J. Duane. This gentleman was the son of William 
 Duane, editor of the Aurora, a Jackson paper published 
 in Philadelphia. Mr. Duane was the third Secretary of 
 the Treasury thus far in Jackson's administrations. He 
 agreed with the President on the general principle in- 
 volved, but did not coincide with his views as to the 
 proper procedure. He debated the subject earnestly, ably 
 and respectfully, refused to be convinced by Jackson, and 
 was dismissed from office. Attorney-General Taney was 
 made Secretary of the Treasury and Benjamin F. Butler, 
 of New York, was named to succeed him as Attorney- 
 General. By this stroke Jackson acquired a secretary 
 of the Treasury who would carry out his plans and an 
 attorney-general wdio would find law for them if any 
 were needed. 
 
 The President was now master of the situation at all 
 points. He had removed every obstacle to his plan and 
 his power was absolute. The government ceased to de- 
 posit moneys in the United States Bank the ist of Octo- 
 ber. On that date the Bank held nearly ten millions 
 of public money ($9,891,767), to be drawn out as the 
 needs of the government might require. The Bank, after 
 considerable discussion among its officials, in which some 
 diversities of opinion as to the best course to be pursued 
 were developed, adopted the rational plan of going ahead 
 as usual, and resolved to curtail its loans only in ratio 
 of the decrease in public deposits on hand as they might 
 be drawn out from time to time. 
 
 Such was the state of affairs when the Twenty-third 
 Congress met, December 2, 1833. By that time, though 
 only two months had elapsed since the application of 
 Jackson's plan, at least one of his theories had been proved 
 
3i8 HISTORY OF ANDREW JACKSON 
 
 to be erroneous. The Bank's solvency was considered 
 by the general public as an established fact. General 
 Jackson had not altered his own opinion on that point, 
 but the financial world was satisfied. In fact, taking 
 the parent Bank and its branches together, the public 
 deposits had for many years constituted an inconsider- 
 able share of their current business. The prestige of 
 being the government's fiscal agency had long been far 
 more valuable than its actual patronage. The veto of 
 the re-charter bill in the session of 1832 had prepared 
 the financial world for the event now under considera- 
 tion, and therefore its effect upon the stability of the 
 Bank had been calculated and discounted long before the 
 actual cessation of public deposits occurred. 
 
 In the Twenty-third Congress the Bank and its 
 friends made no effort to revive the movement for re- 
 charter. The Senate would pass a bill for that purpose 
 as it had done before. But the House, as it stood nor- 
 mally, would not, and the Bank knew that any attempt 
 to overcome the majority opposed to it in that body 
 would be futile. This was another disappointment to 
 General Jackson. He had expected that the Bank, pos- 
 sessing the Senate by a sure majority, would attempt 
 to buy a preponderance in the House, and thus pass a 
 new bill, to give him the opportunity of another veto. 
 There is reason to believe that the General even expected 
 that the Bank would undertake the desperate task of 
 '^Duying" a two-thirds majority in both branches to over- 
 ride a veto. It may be dif^cult to comprehend how so 
 sagacious a politician as he was could entertain such 
 a wild notion ; but when we reflect that so experienced 
 a parliamentary general as Benton at first shared the 
 
WAR WITH THE BANK 319 
 
 President's delusion, the marvel is to some extent dissi- 
 pated. The only hypothesis on which such a preposter- 
 ous expectation can be explained is that the violence of 
 the passions roused had obscured or completely upset 
 the judgment not only of Jackson — which was compara- 
 tively easy to do — but of Benton himself, a much cooler, 
 calmer and less vehement man. 
 
 At the start, almost the only one of the ultra anti- 
 Bank group who did not anticipate aggressive tactics 
 on the part of the Bank was Senator Hill. He steadily 
 maintained that the Bank and its friends would resort 
 to guerilla tactics. "They will appeal from the Pres- 
 ident to the people the moment Congress organizes," he 
 said to Benton, Blair and Kendall the last week in No- 
 vember. "Like a badger in combat with a bull-dog, 
 they will fight by choice from the under side! They 
 will not try to use their teeth on the administration's 
 throat, but will endeavor to disembowel it with their 
 hind claws!" 
 
 A week after this prophecy Congress met. Within 
 four weeks Clay introduced his resolutions censuring the 
 President for stopping the deposits ; and w^th that the 
 fight began. Debate on Clay's resolutions was led on 
 the Bank side by Clay and Calhoun ; the coalition of two 
 antipodes, united by common hatred of Jackson alone, 
 as we have observed elsewhere. John Randolph, as has 
 already been noted, had described the alliance of Clay 
 and Adams in 1825 as "the coalition of Blifil and Black 
 George; the Puritan and the Blackleg!" and a bloodless 
 meeting at Bladensburg convinced those who understood 
 the game either that Clay couldn't shoot straight or that 
 Randolph didn't want to — or both. Now Isaac Hill 
 
320 HISTORY OF ANDREW JACKSON 
 
 characterized the coparceny of Clay and Calhoun as "a 
 limited partnership between the Braggart and the Black- 
 guard, in which each looked for all the profits as his 
 own share." But Hill was not considered worth a charge 
 of powder and ball by Clay, and, if we may believe 
 Jackson's estimate of Calhoun, he had no use for cold 
 lead under any circumstance — "the only South Caro- 
 linian I ever heard of who won't fight," as he used to 
 say. 
 
 The debate on Clay's resolutions lasted from the 26th 
 of December till the i8th of March. Its tone and char- 
 acter utterly beggar description. Every rule of decorum 
 between co-ordinate branches of the government was sus- 
 pended or thrown aside. Every tenet of senatorial cour- 
 tesy w^as abrogated. The Senate resolved itself into 
 what may be fitly characterized as a bear-pit or a bull- 
 ring. 
 
 Clay had cleared the ground for this kind of a fight 
 at the outset of the session by passing a bill to divide 
 the proceeds of the sales of public lands among the 
 States in which the lands were situate. It was one of 
 the most unadulterated pieces of demagoguery ever in- 
 vented. The Senate passed it by the usual anti-Jackson 
 majority because it was Clay's bill. It passed the House 
 because the Jackson Democrats who came from States 
 that would be benefited by it dared not vote against it. 
 Jackson, of course, vetoed it. The whole object was to 
 demoralize the Jackson or anti-Bank majority in the 
 House, and to undermine Jackson's strength in the States 
 affected by it. It was the shyster masquerading in the 
 Senator's toga. It was ''tavern politics in the most 
 august legislative body on earth," as Senator Forsyth. 
 
WAR WITH THE BANK 321 
 
 of Georgia, said, notwithstanding that his own State 
 would have had a large share of the proceeds. On the 
 heels of such a preliminary skirmish. Clay opened his 
 real battle with the resolutions of censure. 
 
 The debate had not progressed far before the real 
 purpose of Clay and Calhoun became apparent. Their 
 object was to create an industrial and commercial panic 
 in the hope of driving the country to desperation. Every 
 speech they or their satellites made was artfully devised, 
 not so much to censure the cessation of deposits as to 
 alarm the business community. Clay's object was simply 
 to injure Jackson. To effect that he was willing to 
 jeopardize, if not destroy, the industrial fabric of which 
 he himself had been the architect. Calhoun's purpose 
 was double. He shared Clay's enmity to Jackson and 
 desire to destroy him. To that Calhoun added the deadly 
 hatred that South Carolina then and ever afterward 
 bore to the industrial North, and the consequent mania 
 to wTeck it. For such reasons and on such common 
 ground the apostle of central government and of a pro- 
 tective tariff strove shoulder to shoulder with the apostle 
 of Nullification and of free trade. "Not the least of 
 Jackson's glories," thundered Benton, ''is that his up- 
 rightness is so known of all men that the high priests 
 of two heresies, damnable alike to each other and to 
 good men at large, are forced by a common turpitude 
 to coalesce against him!" 
 
 In the whole debate, lasting nearly three months, but 
 one temperate speech was made in support of Clay's 
 resolutions. It was Webster's. He confined himself 
 mainly to the law involved, argued upon the contract 
 relations between the government and the Bank inherent 
 Vol. II.— 21 
 
322 HISTORY OF ANDREW JACKSON 
 
 in the charter of 1816, deprecated personal debate, re- 
 gretted that the majority in the Senate should have 
 selected the pending mode of approaching the subject — 
 by resolution of censure — dissented from ''certain reflec- 
 tions which had been heard upon the motives of the 
 Chief Executive," and finally offered as an all-round 
 compromise a proposition to re-charter the Bank for six 
 years, 'Svith certain additional muniments for safety of 
 the public funds, calculated to disarm certain plausible 
 objections urged elsewhere"; and that "such re-charter 
 be viewed as a relief from destructive agitation pending 
 mature consideration by Congress of a fiscal system 
 removed from party strife." 
 
 Calhoun and Clay opposed this. The former wanted 
 the Bank re-chartered for twelve years, on the same terms 
 as those of 18 16 — which, by the way, he had supported 
 as a member of the House' at that time. Clay would 
 accept no compromise whatever. He did not want the 
 situation changed. He had set out to produce a panic 
 and, of course, any kind of compromise must balk his 
 design. Therefore, Webster's proposition was set aside. 
 
 Webster seems to have believed that the President 
 might adopt his scheme. He remarked that the Pres- 
 ident would not have to go so far out of his way to do 
 that as he had already gone when he signed the com- 
 promise tariff bill two years before to appease South 
 Carolina and avert civil war. "If he would do that to 
 avert civil war," said Mr. Webster, "certainly he could 
 accept my proposal for the sake of averting possible or 
 probable financial convulsion." 
 
 Mr. McLane, Mr. Woodbury and Mr. Butler, of Jack- 
 son's Cabinet, who were personal friends of Mr. Webster 
 
WAR WITH THE BANK 323 
 
 — and also Benton — made known to General Jackson the 
 views — or the hopes — of the Senator from Massachusetts. 
 
 "Very well, gentlemen," said the General, ''you may 
 say to Mr. Webster, with my compliments, that I am 
 ready to join him in providing, as he himself says, for 
 a fiscal system removed from party strife. But there is 
 only one such system possible, gentlemen. That is the 
 coin system! the specie system! all hard money! No 
 bank-notes! No promises to pay! Any other system 
 must come within the range of party strife. And you 
 may further say to Mr. Webster, with my renewed com- 
 pliments, that I shall be glad of an opportunity to dis- 
 cuss the subject with him on that basis as freely as I 
 discuss it with you." 
 
 It is believed that Benton conveyed to Webster the 
 substance of the foregoing, but the Missouri Senator 
 does not mention it in his Thirty Years. Governor Allen, 
 who was a member of the House at that time, told the 
 author many years afterward that Mr. Webster received 
 the President's views — he thought from Colonel Benton. 
 But of course nothing came of it. The President's posi- 
 tion was as impracticable as that of Clay and Calhoun 
 was obdurate. In fact, it is unnecessary to remark that 
 Jackson's idea of an all-coin or all-specie system was 
 incompatible with civilized methods of business. Paper 
 money — or rather paper representation of money — is as 
 indispensable to the finance and commerce of civilization 
 as dishes are to a dinner-table. Nobody eats the dishes, 
 but no one can eat decently without them. And the 
 higher and more intricate the civilized social fabric, the 
 more indispensable the paper representation becomes. 
 
 Soon after this the Clay resolutions of censure passed 
 
324 HISTORY OF ANDREW JACKSON 
 
 — 26 to 20. Two Jackson Democrats neither voted nor 
 paired. One was absent without pair, and one Bank 
 Democrat voted with Clay. 
 
 The Senate then rested from its mighty travail of 
 billingsgate until the 4th of April, when General Jack- 
 son sent in a protest against the censure, declaring it 
 to be an unprecedented * invasion of the rights of one 
 co-ordinate branch of the government by another, inti- 
 mating that the Constitution provided the only methods 
 by which one branch could take punitive jurisdiction 
 over another, and asking that the protest be entered on 
 the journal. Then the flood-gates of vituperation were 
 reopened wide. The President's protest was a god- 
 send to Calhoun and Clay. When the resolutions of 
 censure passed, their programme for a panic was not 
 quite complete. The protest enabled them to finish it. 
 The renewed debate — or ra'ther the second wrangle — 
 lasted until early in May, when the Senate, by vote of 
 2y to 16, declared that there was no warrant in the 
 Constitution for executive communication to the legis- 
 lative branch in that form — which was, and is, true. 
 
 While the Senate was belying its name and expunging 
 its traditions by this prolonged brawl, a contest hardly 
 less deplorable in kind, though not quite so infamous in 
 purpose, went on in the House. The greater decorum in 
 that body was due to the quality of the opposing leaders. 
 The head of the Jackson majority in the House was 
 James K. Polk; that of the minority favorable to the 
 Bank was, of course, John Ouincy Adams — one an hon- 
 
 * In his first draft of the protest the President used the word " iniquitous." 
 Mr. Woodbury, Mr. Butler and General Cass persuaded him to change it 
 to "unprecedented." 
 
WAR WITH THE BANK 325 
 
 ored e:js^President, the other a President to be. With a 
 few exceptions, hardly worth note, the tone of debate 
 partook of the character of those who led it, men as 
 distinguished for forensic courtesy as for parliamentary 
 skill. The most conspicuous of the few and small inde- 
 cencies that occurred in the House was the attempt of 
 a Bank man from New Jersey to offer a resolution of 
 impeachment against the President. This was instantly 
 disposed of on a point of order from Mr. Adams himself, 
 sustained by the chair, and the farce was not repeated. 
 Curiously, the notes which the member from New Jersey 
 had prepared for a speech in support of his motion fell 
 to the floor, and, in the temporary confusion caused by 
 the gathering of other members about him, were picked 
 up by one of the Jackson men. He gave them to Mr. 
 Blair, who showed them to the President and proposed 
 to print them verbatim in the Globe. But the President 
 objected to this on the ground that ''enough of opposi- 
 tion scurrility found its w^ay into print through the 
 mouths of Calhoun and Clay without any assistance 
 from newspapers friendly to him." 
 
 He was, however, quite exasperated by one of the 
 ''Notes," which alleged that his pretensions to have 
 served in the Revolution were false and invented for 
 political effect. When he read this he pushed his hair 
 aside and showed to Mr. Blair the scar of the wound 
 made by the British officer's sword, saying: "I wonder 
 
 if the d d scoundrel would think that was invented 
 
 for political effect!" 
 
 The debate in the House resulted, on April 4th — after 
 four months of wasted time — in the passage of four 
 resolutions : 
 
326 HISTORY OF ANDREW JACKSON 
 
 1. That the Bank ought not to be re-chartered. Car- 
 ried by 134 to 82. 
 
 2. That the deposits ought not to be restored to the 
 Bank. Carried by 118 to 103. 
 
 3. That the State banks ought to remain the deposi- 
 tories of the pubHc money. Carried by 117 to 105. 
 
 4. That a further investigation of the Bank be or- 
 dered, etc. Carried by 175 to 42. 
 
 A committee of investigation under the fourth resolu- 
 tion was ordered, but the officials of the Bank refused 
 to submit to its authority. A motion declaring the pres- 
 ident and directors of the Bank to be in contempt of 
 the House was then passed, 140 to 69, but it was never 
 put in execution. Mr. Adams — who had voted for the 
 motion — and Edward Everett objected to further con- 
 tempt proceedings pending examination and report upon 
 the provisions of the charter* relating to an examination 
 of the Bank's books and papers on behalf of the govern- 
 ment; and as this was likely to delay action until ad- 
 journment, the matter was dropped. In an informal 
 conversation on the floor, Mr. Adams suggested that 
 the officials of the Bank would undoubtedly find a way 
 to bring the question, if pressed, before the Supreme 
 Court, and Mr. Polk then admitted that such delay must 
 defeat the object of the House, so far as the immediate 
 production of the documents was concerned, and there- 
 fore the record of having carried the motion of contempt 
 was all that seemed practicable or necessary at that stage 
 of the session. He then, on behalf of the majority, 
 agreed to let it go over without prejudice. 
 
 Pending all these proceedings, however, the panic- 
 plans of Clay and Calhoun materialized. About April, 
 
WAR WITH THE BANK 327 
 
 1834, industrial and commercial houses in the Eastern 
 and Middle States began to suspend. The whole ener- 
 gies of Congress for over five months — December loth 
 to May 24th — had been consumed in debate, expressly 
 designed and shaped by the anti-administration party to 
 alarm the people. The natural results followed. Mer- 
 chants cut down their orders. Manufacturers reduced 
 their forces or suspended work in their mills. The State 
 banks narrowed their accommodations or called in their 
 loans. The United States Bank itself, though in theory 
 professing to curtail loans only in ratio of the drafts 
 against the public funds still in its vaults, effected in fact 
 a curtailment by withdrawing its notes from circula- 
 tion or hoarding specie for their redemption, on the 
 pretext that unless the charter was renewed it would 
 be compelled to wind up its business by March 4, 1836. 
 We use the word '^pretext," for a reason which will 
 soon be noted. 
 
 Under these conditions a torrent of petitions began 
 to pour into the White House and Congress early in 
 the spring of 1834. "Let them come!" exclaimed Mr. 
 Clay, his frenzy of exultation overpowering his caution. 
 'The more the better!" 
 
 'T suppose the Senator means," retorted Isaac Hill, 
 with his exasperating New Hampshire drawl, ''that the 
 farther prosperity gets from the people, the nearer he 
 will get to the presidency! He reminds me of a worth- 
 less son of a wealthy father up in my country who, upon 
 celebrating the funeral of his grandfather, rubbed his 
 hands and congratulated himself that but one more death 
 in the family was needed to make him rich — that he 
 now had only to wait for the old man, who was already 
 
328 HISTORY OF ANDREW JACKSON 
 
 pretty far gone with consumption!" The Senate 
 smiled. 
 
 Clay's response is not of record. He had learned to 
 evade personal debate with Hill. 
 
 The President, knowing well that these petitions were 
 the result of an artificial panic deliberately created by 
 Clay and Calhoun, very soon refused to receive them 
 or their bearers. A\'hen delegations came to present them 
 he would say : "The executive branch of the government 
 has nothing to do with petitions, except those of con- 
 victed criminals praying for pardon. Take these petitions 
 to the Senate and offer them to Henry Clay and John 
 C. Calhoun. Pray them to cease lying to you and mis- 
 leading you. Beseech them to undo the mischief they 
 have done." 
 
 About this time the General received three or four 
 anonymous letters threatening, his assassination if he did 
 not instantly restore the deposits to the United States 
 Bank. They annoyed him, but he did not believe them 
 to be genuine. He thought that they were sent by harm- 
 less persons in a spirit of malicious mischief — which was 
 doubtless true. The Clay-Calhoun panic, however, \v-as 
 short-lived. The State banks selected as depositories 
 soon came to the rescue of the money market. This 
 forced the United States Bank to disgorge or fall behind. 
 It disgorged. Mr. Biddle was beaten at his owai game. 
 By the ist of July the ''panic" gave place to a revival 
 of activity in all branches of trade, industry and finance. 
 More and more the State banks forced Mr. Biddle's 
 hand. 
 
CHAPTER XII 
 
 FOREIGN AFFAIRS AND RETIREMENT 
 
 Congress adjourned the 30th of June. It had worse 
 than wasted seven months. The President's pohcy, pre- 
 cipitate and ill-considered as it may have been in some 
 respects, was at least vindicated by events. The tre- 
 mendous energies of the people were at his back, and 
 they saved him while they confused his foes. Never in 
 the history of the country had so base a coparceny dis- 
 solved in such shame as that of Clay and Calhoun. Never 
 before had such honest blundering as that of General 
 Jackson been so triumphantly turned to good account 
 by the resistless forces of the people. Again he had 
 wrung victory from the jaws of defeat and laid low 
 his enemies at the moment when they imagined success 
 was assured. Major William B. Lewis, his nearest 
 friend, had originally been apprehensive that the sudden 
 and almost violent change of fiscal policy would be dis- 
 astrous. He did not believe the removal of the deposits 
 — or rather the manner in which it was done — would 
 prove wise. When the panic of Calhoun and Clay be- 
 gan, the good major was in distress. He feared that 
 "they had got the 'Old Man' down at last," and told 
 Blair so. Of course, Mr. Blair told the General. But 
 the latter said nothing about it to Major Lewis until the 
 flurry was all over. 
 
 Soon after Congress adjourned the President, accom- 
 
 329 
 
330 HISTORY OF ANDREW JACKSON 
 
 panied by Mr. Blair, Congressman Allen, of Ohio, ]\Iajor 
 Lewis and other intimate friends — a party that filled 
 twQ special stage-coaches — started for the West. Sen- 
 ator Benton and General Cass were also of the party. 
 As they journeyed along they saw every evidence of 
 activity and prosperity. Arrived at Pittsburg, the same 
 signs of public welfare appeared, but in a still greater 
 degree. After they boarded the steamboat and started 
 down the Ohio, Jackson and Benton sat together on the 
 upper deck talking things over. Major Lewis and Mr. 
 Allen joined them. The General, with a slight nod of 
 the head toward Lewis and a wink at Benton, began 
 in the most solemn manner : 
 
 "Senator, the appearance of the country and the con- 
 dition of the people are most gratifying; don't you 
 think so?" 
 
 "Unquestionably, General. 'We are just beginning to 
 see the effects of your wise policy." 
 
 "Not a doubt of it, sir. It gives me a pleasure that 
 I cannot describe in words, not only for the sake of the 
 country but also because it will reassure some very dear 
 friends of mine who, a short time ago, began to mourn." 
 
 "What were they mourning about. General?" asked 
 Benton. 
 
 "They mourned," replied the General, with a simulated 
 air of dejection, "because they thought that Clay and 
 Calhoun had got the Old Man down at last!" 
 
 "See here. General," interrupted Lewis, "you can 
 make all the fun of me you please. You're on top now. 
 But you must admit that I stood by you faithfully." 
 
 "Very well, William. But you know the story about 
 the old man up the tree when his wife was having the 
 
FOREIGN AFFAIRS AND RETIREMENT 331 
 
 tussle with the bear. 'Stick to 'im, Sal!' cried the old 
 man up the tree. T'll never desert you!' " 
 
 This closed the incident, said Governor Allen, who 
 related the anecdote to the author. But Major Lewis 
 was, if possible, more modest than usual during the 
 rest of the journey to Nashville. 
 
 One day, when the boat was nearing the mouth of the 
 Cumberland, where Benton was to leave the party, en 
 route to St. Louis, the General said to him : ''Senator, 
 I have been thinking about the last session of Congress, 
 and trying to remember a Latin phrase that, in my mind, 
 describes it exactly. All I can call to mind is that the 
 first word of the phrase I want is 'Vox'— like 'Vox 
 popiili' you know." 
 
 'T presume, General, you mean 'Vox, et prceterea 
 
 nihil/ " 
 
 "Yes, yes; that's it, that's it. What is the exact 
 
 translation. Senator?" 
 
 "Why, General, literally it means *Voice, and nothing 
 
 else.' " 
 
 "Oh, is that all? I thought it meant 'Wind, and a 
 
 devil of a lot of it!' " 
 
 The General was right. If there was ever a session 
 deserving to pass into history by that name, the first 
 session of the Twenty-third Congress was it; par excel- 
 lence the session of Vox, et prcBterea nihil. 
 
 General Jackson's visit to his home in the summer of 
 1834 was the pleasantest thus far during the five years 
 of his presidency. He seemed to think that the remain- 
 ing years and months of his second term would be peace- 
 ful. Nullification, he thought, was at least scotched, if 
 
232 HISTORY OF ANDREW JACKSON 
 
 not killed. Of course he could not foresee what must 
 come as soon as slavery should take the place of the 
 tariff as a casus belli between South Carolina and the 
 Union. The Bank war was over. The question of re- 
 moving the Indians toward the setting sun was adjusted. 
 The Indians had left their old homes and hunting-grounds 
 sadly, it is true, but, he believed, on the w^hole satisfied. 
 He had told them that, in all the history of the white 
 men, leaving their old homes and making new ones had 
 been the signal of their deliverance from bondage, of 
 their progress and of their power. As for the tariff, 
 it was an infernal mess anyhow, and he had long ago 
 reached a point of philosophic resignation at which he 
 was ready to sign any tariff bill Congress might pass 
 and let Congress take the responsibility. This he had 
 done from the beginning and this he w^ould do to the 
 end. He had not yet succeeded in his policy with regard 
 to the public lands. His idea of limiting the sale of 
 them to actual settlers only, in tracts of not more than 
 a section (640 acres) at a time, and at the maximum, 
 not more than three sections (1,920 acres) in three 
 different transactions and at prices equal only to the 
 cost of surveying and advertising, contained the germ 
 of the great Homestead Law- of later years, and it would 
 stop land speculation — which he abominated. The only 
 subjects which he viewed as unsettled in the summer 
 of 1834 were matters of foreign relation. The delay of 
 France in providing for payment of the Spoliation Claims 
 already agreed upon in definitive treaty, duly ratified, 
 worried him ; but he was sure that he and the land that 
 had given birth to Lafayette could never come to blows. 
 The Northwest Boundary issue had been postponed for 
 
FOREIGN AFFAIRS AND RETIREMENT 333 
 
 a period of years by the administration of Mr. Adams, 
 and the tentative agreement would not expire until his 
 official term was ended. 
 
 Still he did not like the prospect of leaving that great 
 question open when he should vacate the White House. 
 He distrusted England and he feared that the skill, art 
 and cunning of British diplomatists might overreach his 
 successors— which they did. But, on the whole, he was 
 content with the situation as it stood at home and abroad, 
 and his summer at the Hermitage in 1834 was a happy 
 
 one. 
 
 One morning he said to his guest, Representative 
 Allen : ''See here, William, that's a bad district of yours 
 up there in Ohio. You know you carried it by only 
 one majority two years ago. You're mighty good com- 
 pany and I don't want to hurry you off; but, really, 
 don't you think it's about time for you to get up there 
 and go to work? They may steal it right out from 
 under your feet if you neglect it. I wouldn't like to 
 think that you lost it by staying here and amusing me." 
 
 Early the next morning the General took Mr. Allen 
 in his carriage to Nashville and put him aboard the boat 
 for home— to his ''bad district" and, as it proved, to 
 defeat.* 
 
 * Governor Allen used to describe his fate in this campaign inimitably : 
 "The Hermitage was to me what Capua was to Hannibal. The 
 General let me stay too long. When I got home they had me down and 
 thev kept me down. My opponent, Bill Bond, was an orator, a wit and a 
 practical joker ; also a capital good fellow. I at once saw that the battle 
 was going against me, but I stripped to the buff and went in. I hterally 
 tramped the district. But I soon found that it was one thing to run on the 
 ticket with Jackson as I did in 1832, and another thing to run alone as I 
 had to in 1834. The district was naturally Whig by from 800 to 1,000. 
 I had carried it by one vote in 1832. If the election had been held the 
 
334 HISTORY OF ANDREW JACKSON 
 
 In October the General himself left the Hermitage 
 and returned by easy stages to Washington. To his 
 great joy, the boat he took at the mouth of the Cumber- 
 land had Benton on board, also en route to the Capital, 
 and so he was sure of good company the rest of the 
 way. Singularly, at Carrollton, William O. Butler 
 boarded their boat, bound for Pittsburg and Washing- 
 ton, on business in the Supreme Court, and thus another 
 most welcome companion was added to his little party. 
 The voyage was without event. They stopped over one 
 boat at Cincinnati, stayed a day or two in Pittsburg, and 
 reached Washington early in November. Benton went 
 to Virginia, where his wife had passed the summer at 
 her father's house, and Major Butler, after vain expostu- 
 
 day I got home I would have been beaten at least 1,200. But I fairly 
 ploughed up the ground. I was young and strong and could electioneer 
 sixteen hours and travel the other eight, out of every twenty-four. I visited 
 the farm-houses, dandled the babies on my knee, kissed the girls and 
 played ' town-ball ' with the boys. I spoke in every school-house, at every 
 tavern and at most of the cross-roads ! 
 
 " Bill Bond got up a wretched story at the expense of my eloquence. 
 He said I was a natural orator ; couldn't help it ; made speeches in my 
 sleep ! He said I could just wind up my voice like a clock and then go 
 away and leave it there — it would make a speech just the same. During 
 the canvass a poor fellow was hanged at one of the county-seats. Bill 
 Bond said I happened to be there and the sheriff invited me to a place on 
 the platform of the gallows. He said that, at the last moment, the sheriff 
 asked the doomed man if he desired to say anything before being launched 
 into eternity. The poor wretch shook his head. Then Bill Bond said I 
 stepped forward and remarked to the sheriff : 
 
 " * Mr. Chairman, if the gentleman will yield his time to me, I will em- 
 brace the opportunity to address the people upon the issues of the hour!' 
 
 " Of course it was an infernal lie out of the whole cloth. The only element 
 of truth about it was that an execution occurred during the canvass. But 
 I was not within forty miles of it. Besides, the story itself was one got up 
 years before on Felix Grundy, of Tennessee ; and Bill Bond simply re- 
 vamped it to put the laugh on me. I got it ! Such were Whig tactics in 
 those days. But I had my revenge. That defeat for the House in 1834 was 
 the means of electing me to the Senate in 1836 — and I beat Bill Bond, too." 
 
FOREIGN AFFAIRS AND RETIREMENT 335 
 
 lation, was compelled to accept bed and board in the 
 White House, where he and his old commander could 
 fiaht their battles over again without fear of mterrup- 
 tion It was on this occasion that Butler suggested a 
 reconciliation with Mr. Clay, remarking, as he did so, 
 that he and Benton had made up, and if he could forgive 
 Benton's bullet he ought to pardon Clay's tongue. 
 
 General Jackson looked his beloved old aide-de-camp 
 of New Orleans straight in the eye for a full minute. 
 Then he said, slowly and gently : "William, my dear old 
 friend you don't understand the difference. There 
 wasn't any poison on Benton's bullet! It was honest 
 
 lead!" 
 
 Butler never mentioned the subject to him again. 
 A whole dissertation on Jackson's character was epito- 
 mized in that withering comment. In relating the anec- 
 dote, General Butler said he never saw exactly such 
 another expression on a human countenance as Jackson's 
 wore when he uttered those words. It demonstrated 
 to him that the only manner in which the General wished 
 to meet Mr. Clay face to face was at ten paces, and that 
 he never to his dying day would consent to meet him 
 otherwise. General Butler further observed that Clay 
 was peculiarly constituted in that respect. He was quick 
 enough to take personal offence at the words of others, 
 but he could not see why his own, uttered in what he 
 considered purely and legitimately political debate, should 
 be mortally resented, as Jackson resented them. On one 
 occasion, when a particularly bitter phrase of Clay's in 
 the Senate was reported to him, he exclaimed : "Oh, that 
 I had off these robes of office!" He said no more. "I 
 am perfectly sure." concluded General Butler, "that Jack- 
 
2^6 HISTORY OF ANDREW JACKSON 
 
 son never for a moment was sorry that he killed Charles 
 Dickinson. And I am equally certain that he died sorry 
 because he could never get a chance to kill Henry Clay." 
 
 At this distance and in the mellower spirit of our time 
 it is difficult, if not impossible, to fathom such a char- 
 acter or to comprehend such impulses. But they were 
 as natural and as unavoidable to Jackson as hunger or 
 thirst or the desire to repose when sleepy. Clay had a 
 habit of saying bitter things in speeches, alike in Con- 
 gress and ''on the stump," when speaking extempore — 
 which he usually did — and then carefully expunging 
 them from the printed reports. Calhoun had the same 
 habit. On one occasion, when he had foully aspersed 
 Jackson on the floor of the Senate, he went so far in 
 eating his words as to dispute the accuracy of the official 
 reporter. That was the occasion on which Jackson com- 
 pressed into one sentence a'll the savage contempt his 
 fierce soul was capable of in the declaration that "Calhoun 
 was the only South Carolinian he ever heard of who 
 w^ouldn't fight." He was never known to call Clay a 
 poltroon. But he seldom spoke of Calhoun without de- 
 nouncing him as a "cur," a "sneak" or a "miserable 
 coward." He believed that Clay would fight if cor- 
 nered. But he often said that Calhoun could not be 
 driven into any kind of a fight except with his tongue, 
 and then only at a perfectly safe distance. 
 
 On the occasion just referred to. when Calhoun raised 
 a question of accuracy with the reporter of debate, Jack- 
 son had written him a scathing note. Calhoun had the 
 clerk read the note in open Senate. He then said that 
 it "excited in his bosom only pity and contempt for its 
 author," etc. When Jackson saw the report of these 
 
FOREIGN AFFAIRS AND RETIREMENT 337 
 
 remarks, his only comment was : "Well, what is to be 
 done with such a cur, anyhow?" Just at that moment 
 Benton and Forsyth came into the room. Jackson was 
 sitting at the breakfast-table. He called their attention 
 to the report. 'T am helpless, gentlemen," he said. "A 
 President cannot chastise a Senator; and, even if he 
 could, he would have to find him on the street, and 
 there, if Calhoun knew danger was at hand, old Trux- 
 ton himself couldn't catch the infernal hound!" 
 
 "General, if I were in your place," interposed Senator 
 Forsyth — himself a "fighting man" of noted prowess — 
 "I would banish the sickening subject from my mind. 
 You are, as you say, helpless, and that's all there is 
 to it." 
 
 Benton said nothing. Perhaps vague visions of an 
 attempt long ago to "chastise," not then "a Senator" but 
 a man who afterward became one, flitted through his 
 memory. Jackson took Forsyth's advice. The affair 
 was dropped. 
 
 The last year and a half of the General's second ad- 
 ministration was marked by but one event of great im- 
 portance, though replete with incidents of secondary 
 interest. In domestic policy his principal efforts were 
 bent toward keeping down the surplus which the won- 
 derful and, in fact, unhealthy expansion of commerce and 
 land speculation forced into the Treasury. By refusing 
 to adopt his public land policy Congress tied his hands 
 as against the land speculators. But he did the best he 
 could. In July, 1836, he issued the "specie circular," 
 which was an order to all Land Offices to accept only 
 coin or bullion in payment for public lands. But even 
 
 this had an unwholesome effect. It caused an accumu- 
 VoL. II. — 22 
 
338 HISTORY OF ANDREW JACKSON 
 
 lation of specie in the hands of the government, caused 
 gold to be drawn from the East to the West and im- 
 pelled the State banks to issue additional paper currency 
 in its place. The result, of course, was a still further 
 inflation of the already redundant paper currency, which 
 at one time came near producing suspension of specie 
 payments. 
 
 Another remarkable event was the extinguishment of 
 the national debt at the end of 1834, for the first and 
 last time in the history of this country or of any other. 
 This consummation, so devoutly wished by Jackson in 
 the simplicity of his financial heart, was duly celebrated 
 by a grand banquet, with the usual bewildering number 
 and variety of toasts, the 8th of January, 1835. 
 
 During the spring of 1834 there was a little flurry 
 over the Oregon Boundary question. An inquiry was 
 made in the House of Comnx)ns at the instance of the 
 Hudson's Bay Company, as to alleged violations of the 
 tentative agreement made in John Quincy Adams's ad- 
 ministration. The alleged violations were the erection 
 of unauthorized trading-posts by American fur-traders 
 within the territory covered by the agreement. The Hud- 
 son's Bay Company had, indeed, violated the agreement 
 right along, treating it, in fact, with contempt from the 
 start. But, in the true spirit of English patriotism, they 
 claimed a monopoly of the right to violate international 
 agreements, and w^ere quick to resent even the symptom 
 of intent to infringe that right. 
 
 As we have already remarked, Jackson had long 
 viewed this question with concern. He regarded it as 
 an ever-present source of serious dispute and trouble. 
 In his mind, it was a potential issue held by England in 
 
FOREIGN AFFAIRS AND RETIREMENT 
 
 339 
 
 abeyance over our heads, to be sprung upon us for her 
 own advantage whenever we might, peradventure, be- 
 come embroiled with another great power. The ParHa- 
 mentary inquiry was not in itself a formidable demon- 
 stration. It was quietly suppressed — as was said, by the 
 influence of the Duke of Wellington — and no further 
 notice was taken of the matter by the British Ministry. 
 But General Jackson became restless as soon as he heard 
 of the inquiry. 
 
 "That Oregon question ought to have been settled by 
 Monroe," he said to William Allen one day in February, 
 1835. "Of course, Adams and Clay wouldn't settle it! 
 They probably preferred to keep it to trade on. So they 
 just hung it up by an agreement that didn't bind Eng- 
 land, but did bind us. No agreement binds England 
 unless it is written in the blood of English soldiers!" 
 
 "The agreement of New Orleans, I suppose, for ex- 
 ample," suggested Mr. Allen. 
 
 "Oh, yes, and others too ; such as Yorktown and Sara- 
 toga and Lake Erie and Plattsburg. New Orleans don't 
 stand alone, by any means. But we must have this 
 thing settled. You are on the Foreign Affairs Com- 
 mittee, I believe. I'd rather this thing would start in 
 Congress than from me. A good many men in the 
 House and Senate would support it if started in Con- 
 gress who might oppose it if I opened the subject. Ain't 
 there some way to get it before the House?" 
 
 "Oh, yes; a resolution to inquire into alleged viola- 
 tions of the agreement would do it. Such an inquiry 
 could have a wide scope." 
 
 The President talked in the same strain with several 
 others among his intimate personal friends in Congress 
 
340 HISTORY OF ANDREW JACKSON 
 
 — among them Senator Forsyth, of the Senate Foreign 
 Relations Committee and soon afterward his Secretary 
 of State. 
 
 Mr. Forsyth agreed with him that it was a matter 
 which ought to be definitively settled and that the hold- 
 ing of it in abeyance amounted, as he said, to a con- 
 stant menace. But the question was. How to reopen the 
 question? How to get it on the boards again without 
 assuming too palpably the aggressive? 
 
 "But," argued Jackson, "there is the parliamentary 
 inquiry." 
 
 "Yes, General," Mr. Fors}i:h explained. "But that 
 was disposed of without action. I was watching that 
 and know all about it. The inquiry was practically w^ith- 
 drawn at the request of the Secretary for Foreign Af- 
 fairs. The English have a quiet way of doing those 
 things when they don't want trouble. We can't do 
 things that way here. But the parliamentary inquiry 
 alone, for the reason I have stated, does not amount 
 to a public act of the British Government, and therefore 
 cannot come within the cognizance of this government 
 — not even as a subject of inquiry, either legislative or 
 diplomatic. In a word, General, we cannot under the 
 agreement reopen the question without a year's notice. 
 It is now February, 1835. Including time consumed in 
 preliminaries and formalities — which the British Minis- 
 try would be sure to prolong as much as possible — the 
 year's notice could hardly take effect before midsummer, 
 1836. Then only a few months of your administration 
 would be left. It would, unquestionably, be a good 
 thing for our party to have a dispute with England on 
 hand pending the presidential election. But, taking into 
 
FOREIGN AFFAIRS AND RETIREMENT 341 
 
 account all the considerations I have suggested, I give 
 my advice as you have asked it — we may as well let 
 
 it alone." 
 
 The old General was silent for several minutes. The 
 scene was in front of the great fireplace in the private 
 sitting-room of the White House, after dinner. The 
 long-stemmed corn-cob pipe was in evidence. The Gen- 
 eral gazed into the fire and meditated a long time. Then 
 he refilled his pipe and lighted it anew. It was the 
 pipe of peace. 
 
 'T reckon you're right, Forsyth ; at least, you're right 
 now. It's my fault. I ought to have pushed a settle- 
 ment of that question as soon as the votes were counted 
 in 1832." 
 
 And the Oregon Boundary question slumbered again. 
 And it slumbered on until England found the opportunity 
 she had so patiently awaited. Then it was settled by 
 ignominious surrender. And, worst of all — most humili- 
 ating thought — the surrender was made by a President 
 whom Andrew Jackson put in the White House almost 
 as the last act of his life. And as if that were not 
 enough, the British plenipotentiary who was sent by that 
 cunning government to receive the capitulation of the 
 President whom Andrew Jackson made, was Sir Richard 
 Pakenham, a cousin of the Sir Edward Pakenham whom 
 Andrew Jackson destroyed. England surely made us 
 drink the hemlock of humiliation to the last dreg and 
 then made us squeeze the poison cup in that surrender — 
 without reason, compulsion or compensation — of the 
 young empire now known as British Columbia. And 
 it was done before the earth was dry on Jackson's grave. 
 Let us forget it — if we can. 
 
342 HISTORY OF ANDREW JACKSON 
 
 The French SpoHation Claims made a more serious 
 compHcation. It may be premised that the details of 
 that affair — somewhat prolix — are well know^n to all 
 students of our diplomatic history. To the general reader 
 they w^ould be too intricate to be interesting. Briefly, 
 the spoliations were made under Napoleon's decrees of 
 Milan and Berlin, and consisted of seizures of American 
 merchant-ships by French cruisers or in ports controlled 
 by Napoleon for alleged violations of the paper blockade 
 which he proclaimed in those decrees. The treaty by 
 w^hich France admitted the claims and agreed to pay 
 them was negotiated on our part by Senator William C. 
 Rives, whom Jackson appointed minister to France in 
 1829. The treaty was ratified the 4th of July, 1831. 
 
 It was creditable enough to our diplomacy to be worthy 
 of its illustrious date. But the French were slow to 
 carry out their part of the agreement. The period w^as 
 that of the revolution which placed Louis Philippe on 
 the French throne. He was a good man, an able writer 
 and a weak king. The treaty was not popular wath the 
 French. They looked upon it as one more added to the 
 interminable list of burdens which the evanescent glory 
 of the Napoleonic regime had cost them. They intended 
 to pay it, but did not wash to be crow^ded. Jackson 
 wanted the matter settled and out of the w^ay. Finally, 
 in the fall of 1833, he appointed Edward Livingston, 
 then Secretary of State, minister to France, with par- 
 ticular instructions to push the matter to a settlement 
 and obtain the money, which the treaty made payable in 
 instalments. 
 
 Mr. Livingston was persona grata to the king — ex- 
 ceedingly so. His father, Robert R. Livingston, with 
 
FOREIGN AFFAIRS AND RETIREMENT 343 
 
 Gouverneur Morris and others, had assisted Louis Phil- 
 ippe financially and otherwise when he was in this coun- 
 try at the end of the Eighteenth Century, a penniless 
 exile. When the American minister presented his cre- 
 dentials, the monarch said : "Mr. Livingston, I welcome 
 you as something nearer than the diplomatic representa- 
 tive of a friendly power. I greet you as the beloved son 
 of my old friend, your revered father. I receive you in 
 my capacity as king. But I greet you in my capacity 
 as a grateful man!" 
 
 With such a reception, it is needless to say that Mr. 
 Livingston's diplomatic pathway was strewn with flow- 
 ers. He got everything his heart could wish — except 
 the money. For a year and a half ensued a queer medley 
 of misunderstandings, cross-purposes and contretemps. 
 France could not grasp the Jacksonian idea of "diplo- 
 macy" any more than Jackson could comprehend the 
 French idea. Matters drifted on from bad to w^orse un- 
 til finally Jackson sent a message to Congress which he 
 understood to embody merely an assurance of "firm atti- 
 tude on the part of the United States," but which, w^hen 
 published in Paris, "deeply wounded the susceptibilities 
 of France." 
 
 Now the French have been whipped more times and 
 worse than any other great power on earth, but never 
 conquered. No matter how torn by internecine tumult; 
 no matter how murdered by reigns of terror or crazy 
 communes; no matter how trampled under foot and 
 robbed and mulcted by English, German and Russian 
 invaders; the French gaiete de coeur has never flickered, 
 their racial pride has never been lowered and their na- 
 tional amour pro pre has never fallen one jot. This is 
 
344 HISTORY OF ANDREW JACKSON 
 
 the true, the unquenchable glory of France. Well, to 
 cut a long story short, this comedy of misunderstandings 
 went on till it wellnigh began to portend a tragedy of 
 arms. Diplomatic intercourse was suspended. Passports 
 of ministers were asked and given. Jackson proposed, 
 in case payment for American property despoiled by 
 France should be further refused, to issue letters of 
 marque and reprisal against French property by way of 
 indemnification. 
 
 Just at that moment England offered to mediate. The 
 offer was accepted — by the king of the French gladly; 
 by Jackson rather grimly. Jackson did not want to fight 
 France. He would a thousand times rather fight the 
 mediator. But he thought the French were, as he de- 
 clared, "trifling with us," and that sort of thing must 
 stop. The English mediation was successful. The 
 money was paid into the treas;.iry of the United States, 
 as provided by the treaty, in instalments. And it is 
 there yet. The United States will always make foreign 
 nations pay indemnities for wrongs done to our citizens. 
 Then, when the United States gets hold of the money, 
 our citizens to whom it belongs may get it — if they 
 can. 
 
 The author of this work, when a newspaper corre- 
 spondent in the press gallery, once heard James A. Gar- 
 field declare on the floor of the House, in debate upon 
 this very subject of the French Spoliations — advocating 
 a bill for distribution of the money among those to whom 
 it belonged — that "the United States is the only licensed 
 robber on this planet!" He said that over the Treasury 
 door should be inscribed something like the legend over 
 the portal of Dante's Inferno — not exactly, "Who enters 
 
FOREIGN AFFAIRS AND RETIREMENT 345 
 
 here leaves hope behind," but rather, "The citizeiis money 
 that gets in here leaves right and law behind!" 
 
 This was the end of General Jackson's quarrel with 
 France. If the offender had been England, no offer of 
 mediation could have touched him. And at first he was 
 averse even to accepting the mediatory services of that 
 power. ''Why England?" he asked. ''She will manage 
 to cheat either us or France or both at some stage of 
 the business!" He was only induced to acquiesce by 
 the strenuous representations of Livingston, Forsyth, 
 Van Buren and others that the mediation of England 
 would have more weight with France than could that 
 of any other power. But he would have preferred the 
 Emperor of Russia or the King of Prussia. Even when 
 yielding to the importunities of his advisers, he pro- 
 tested that he did so only because he "was ready to 
 sacrifice anything but our national honor to avoid war 
 with the country that gave birth to Lafayette." 
 
 Among the most important acts of General Jackson's 
 administration — or rather of his two administrations — 
 was his choice of a successor. It is not easy to deter- 
 mine the exact time at which this was done or to decide 
 whether the credit of it belonged to his first or to his 
 second administration. It is, however, known that, at 
 a certain period in his first administration, he seriously 
 contemplated declining a renomination, and that, wath 
 such contingency in view, he had selected his successor. 
 It is also known that, late in his first administration, he 
 decided to stand for re-election and then he contented 
 himself with selecting a Vice-President to serve as his 
 running mate. To carry out this programme, he found 
 
346 HISTORY OF ANDREW JACKSON 
 
 it necessary to cast aside the Vice-President who had 
 been elected with him the first time. This was not at 
 all difficult, because his first Vice-President had proved 
 to be — from his point of view — a conspirator, a traitor, 
 a liar, a coward, and a person who could face both ways 
 or all ways, as occasion might seem to require — that is 
 to say, Calhoun. 
 
 The precise moment at which General Jackson decided 
 to be again a candidate for the presidency may, we 
 think, be set as synchronous with the moment when the 
 Senate — at that time the personal property of Henry 
 Clay — rejected the nomination of Mr. Van Buren as 
 minister to England. Whatever his previous intention 
 may have been, the General then conclusively determined 
 that Mr. Van Buren should be elected to the vice-presi- 
 dency with him. As he was master of the situation in 
 all its elements except Mr. Qay's Senate — which did not 
 count in the game so far as the people were concerned — 
 all these calculations were easy. Therefore, when, early 
 in 1 83 1, the General decided to stand for re-election in 
 1832, and determined that Mr. Van Buren should be 
 named for the vice-presidency, nothing was left for him 
 to do except to select the successful candidate for the 
 presidency in 1836. This he did with quite as little hesi- 
 tation or embarrassment as had attended his decrees with 
 regard to events nearer at hand. 
 
 It is a real pleasure, we may add incidentally, to write 
 the biography of a man who seemed to take little or no 
 account of possible difference in personal responsibility 
 as between fixing the destinies of his country two years 
 in advance or six. In view of the fact that General 
 Jackson's doctrine of presidential predestination worked 
 
FOREIGN AFFAIRS AND RETIREMENT 347 
 
 out perfectly on the six-year basis, it does not seem 
 worth while to argue what its outcome might have been 
 on the original two-year plan. But it is worth while, 
 as an indication of his "staying quality" — if nothing else 
 — to mention that the man he originally selected to be 
 his successor in 1832 was the same man whom he had 
 the people elect in 1836; that is to say, Van Buren. 
 And in this connection it might also be borne in mind 
 that he at the same time compelled his adversaries to 
 set up against himself for the presidency the one man 
 in all the w^orld whose proud plumes he most desired to 
 make trail in the dust of defeat — Henry Clay. Verily, 
 Andrew Jackson was a history-maker. 
 
 Let us, for convenience, assume that General Jackson's 
 selection of his successor culminated — no matter when 
 or where it began — with the nomination of Mr. Van 
 Buren as the regular Democratic candidate. He prob- 
 ably did not expect that he could command for his heir- 
 apparent the same popular support that had been vouch- 
 safed to himself. Even in his own State of Tennessee, 
 factions had nominated his quondam friend but now ene- 
 my, Hugh White, as an anti-Van Buren or anti-Jackson 
 Democratic candidate. 
 
 Mr. White's revolt against his old friend and political 
 creator was an affair of singular history. He was a 
 warm personal friend and disciple of Calhoun. He was 
 as ultra a State-rights doctrinaire as a man could be, but 
 he strongly opposed Nullification and favored a protec- 
 tive tariff! Though it had made him, he was restive 
 under the control of the ''machine" in Tennessee. His 
 wife was a beautiful, gifted and inordinately ambitious 
 woman of the most aristocratic Virginia stock. She had 
 
34B HISTORY OF ANDREW JACKSON 
 
 taken sides against the President in the Mrs. Eaton 
 campaign. By her influence, joined with that of Cal- 
 houn, Mr. White was led to decline a place in Jackson's 
 Cabinet. Mrs. White believed that General Jackson 
 ought to select her husband as his successor instead 
 of ]\Ir. Van Buren. And when she found that he 
 would not take that course, she determined to over- 
 throw the Jackson regime in Tennessee! 
 
 This was not so very marvellous as a scheme of purely 
 feminine politics. But it really was a marvel that any 
 man in his right mind should have lent himself to so 
 preposterous a project. Mr. White ran as an anti-Van 
 Buren Democrat and actually carried the electoral vote 
 of Tennessee * by a good plurality. 
 
 The attitude of Mr. Clay in the campaign of 1836 
 was pitiable. Up to the time when Mr. Webster became 
 a candidate for the Whig nomination, he had expected 
 to be renominated by acclamation. He believed that he 
 could beat Van Buren if the Whigs would give him 
 their united support, in view of the defection which 
 
 * The cause of this was that the Whigs of East Tennessee, knowing that 
 the State could not be carried for their own candidate, Harrison, voted almost 
 solidly for White. Their strength, added to the considerable Democratic 
 vote that Mr. White could draw away from Van Buren — who was never ac- 
 ceptable to the Democracy of the State — gave to White the electoral vote of 
 Tennessee. But while he was gaining this empty honor, the "machine" 
 quietly elected a legislature which forced him out of the Senate, and in other 
 respects completely broke him down. 
 
 It also broke his heart. In less than three years he died. Hugh White 
 was a good, brave, able man. But he lacked balance and his course in 
 public life was erratic. This his contemporaries generally ascribed to the 
 influence of his wife, whose control over him is sufficiently attested by the 
 fact that she made him believe he could permanently overthrow the power> 
 of Jackson in Tennessee. To complete the romance it remains to say only 
 that the old General was Mrs. White's most devoted admirer and would 
 never permit her interference in politics to be criticised in his presence. 
 
FOREIGN AFFAIRS AND RETIREMENT 349 
 
 he thought Van Buren's candidacy would cause in the 
 Democratic ranks. But he soon found that as between 
 himself and Mr. Webster, the Whigs would nominate 
 the latter. To beat him, Mr. Clay w^as forced to bring 
 about the nomination of General Harrison. This neces- 
 sity made him sour and morose. He not only despaired 
 of himself, but of the country. He was by no means 
 the only great American wdio has failed to draw the 
 proper distinction between the defeat of his own ambi- 
 tion and the perpetuity of free institutions. To Judge 
 Francis J. Brooke, of Virginia, he wrote : 
 
 *Tf you mean that I have less confidence than I for- 
 merly entertained in the virtue and intelligence of the 
 people and in the stability of our institutions, I regret 
 to be obliged to own it. Are we not governed now and 
 have we not been governed for some time past pretty 
 much by the will of one man? . . . When we con- 
 sider that he is ignorant, passionate, hypocritical, cor- 
 rupt, cruel and easily swayed by the base men who sur- 
 round him, what can we think of the popular approba- 
 tion he receives?" 
 
 The absurdity of this reasoning seems to lie principally 
 in its intimation that there may have been a time when 
 Mr. Clay fondly imagined that the people of the United 
 States could possibly be as wise and virtuous' as he him- 
 self was. Political ambition founded on such fallacy 
 was of course foredoomed. But Mr. Clay seems never 
 to have been convinced of the hopeless debauchery and 
 utter turpitude of the American people until they gave 
 General Jackson 219 electoral votes to his own 49. It 
 appears that his instinct of charity impelled him to ex- 
 culpate Jackson on the ground that he didn't know any 
 
350 HISTORY OF ANDREW JACKSON 
 
 better and couldn't help it. But as for the American 
 people, they were simply sunk so low that not even the 
 talents and the transcendent virtues of Henry Clay could 
 resurrect them ! 
 
 The people ratified General Jackson's choice of a suc- 
 cessor. Perhaps it might be said that they confirmed 
 the appointment. True, they did not ratify his choice 
 of a successor with anything like the enthusiasm that 
 had marked their previous ratifications of Jackson him- 
 self, but it was enough. Mr. Van Buren received 170 
 electoral votes to General Harrison's 73. The votes of 
 Tennessee and Georgia were thrown away upon Mr. 
 White, those of Massachusetts upon Mr. Webster and 
 those of South Carolina upon Mr. Mangum. Mr. Clay 
 had the satisfaction of frustrating the presidential aspira- 
 tions of Mr. Webster — which, as the late Richard Swiv- 
 eller remarked concerning his umbrella, 'Svas something." 
 
 Next to the popular ratification of his choice for the 
 succession, the event of General Jackson's last year in 
 the presidency which most elated him was the downfall 
 of Mexican rule in Texas at the battle of San Jacinto. 
 During the early stages of the Texan struggle for inde- 
 pendence, a member of his Cabinet happened to remark 
 in his presence that the United States must enforce her 
 neutrality, and that a stronger force ought to be sta- 
 tioned on the Sabine frontier to prevent violations of it. 
 To this the General replied : ''Sir, let it be understood 
 that I am not neutral in this conflict.* The force in 
 
 * Among those who went from the United States to the aid of General 
 Houston were Lieutenant O'Brien of the regular army, Captain Joseph 
 Bonnell, special deputy United States marshal for the District of Louisiana, 
 and David Buell, Jr., then a government surveyor in the Southwestern 
 District of Arkansas. This fact became known to the Mexican minister at 
 
FOREIGN AFFAIRS AND RETIREMENT 351 
 
 the locality you refer to is ample. Should its increase 
 become necessary, I will attend to the matter personally." 
 This was as early as 1832. 
 
 Soon after this incident the General, observing that 
 his Texan forces needed a leader, aided one of his 
 most trustworthy subordinates of the Creek war and 
 the campaigns of Louisiana and Florida, to go to Texas 
 and take command.* This was Sam Houston. He had, 
 as we have already seen, served General Jackson in the 
 various capacities of Indian scout, captain in the regular 
 army, member of Congress from Tennessee and governor 
 of that State. The result abundantly proved the wis- 
 dom of General Jackson's selection. In all the Union 
 he could not have found a man so perfectly adapted to 
 the command of his somewhat turbulent forces in Texas 
 as Sam Houston. 
 
 The details of San Jacinto delighted the old warrior 
 beyond expression. For weeks it was difficult to draw 
 
 Washington, and was made a subject of diplomatic representation to the 
 Department of State. The Secretary referred the matter to General Jack- 
 son, who said he would attend to their cases personally. He wrote to each 
 of them a letter ordering him to return forthwith to his proper post of duty. 
 These letters found the officials to whom they were addressed already 
 returned to their proper posts, the battle of San Jacinto being over and 
 General Houston having no further need of their services. 
 
 *When General Houston left Washington, shortly after his chastise- 
 ment of Representative Stanberry, of Ohio, for reflections upon his integrity 
 in the House, he was bankrupt. He had not even the means to pay his 
 passage home to Arkansas, where he then lived. General Jackson loaned 
 him five hundred dollars and advised him to go to Texas, where the standard 
 of revolt against Mexico had just been raised. This was in the summer 
 of 1832. Houston took Jackson's advice and went directly to Texas. He 
 began his career there by being a member of the " Consultation Convention" 
 that assembled at Austin in April, 1833. This convention elected him 
 commander-in-chief of the forces of the embryo republic, but at first he 
 made little progress and in 1834 he resigned the thankless task. In February, 
 1836, he was reinstated. The rest need not be told. 
 
352 HISTORY OF ANDREW JACKSON 
 
 his attention to any other subject, much less to interest 
 him in any other. 
 
 *'It beats New Orleans," he said. ''There my army, 
 behind a breastwork, defeated about three times their 
 number who attacked them. But at San Jacinto, seven 
 hundred and fifty Americans attacked over two thousand 
 Mexicans in an intrenched position and annihilated them 
 in forty minutes. There has been nothing like this in 
 the history of warfare that I ever heard of." 
 
 When he received Sam Houston's letter describing the 
 battle and its effects, the General spoke of it habitually 
 as ''the official report" ; and his reply was exactly such 
 as a commander-in-chief would address to a subordinate 
 who had carried out his plans with signal ability and 
 success. He wrote : 
 
 From what I could make out by an insufficient map I have 
 and what information I could 'get of the enemy's movements, 
 I was sure you would stand and fight on the west side of Galves- 
 ton Bay, and probably just where you did, or on Buffalo Bayou. 
 I expected you would repulse the enemy, but I confess my as- 
 tonishment that you should have ended the whole war in one 
 battle. I should have been perfectly satisfied if you had re- 
 pulsed the enemy, compelled him to retreat and then pursued 
 him with your usual vigor. 
 
 I am very sorry to hear of your severe wound, but hope it 
 may not long deprive the country of your inestimable services. 
 I hope there may be no delay or discord in organizing a stable 
 government to make the best use of the Independence you and 
 your men have so bravely won. . . . 
 
 From another source I am informed that though twenty-one 
 years have passed since our campaigns together in the late war, 
 you had in your little army as many as two hundred old soldiers* 
 
 * These veterans were the backbone of Houston's "little army." One 
 of them was Captain William Sylvester. He commanded a small troop of 
 
FOREIGN AFFAIRS AND RETIREMENT 353 
 
 of New Orleans. This is as it should be and I charge you to 
 give every one of them my warmest thanks and congratulations 
 as well as all the rest of your gallant army. . . . 
 
 Subscriptions are being made in Tennessee and elsewhere to 
 aid you; to which, I need not say, I have contributed to the 
 extent of my means. . . .* 
 
 General Jackson at once set going a movement for the 
 annexation of Texas to the United States. Had his 
 administration not been so near its end he would beyond 
 question have accomplished his purpose within a year 
 or two. But after he became ex-President he lost some 
 of his power and was not able to bring about the annexa- 
 tion until 1845. 
 
 Near the close of Jackson's official term the slavery 
 agitation assumed definite form as a political issue. The 
 question arose on the use of the mails for transmitting 
 so-called "incendiary" publications from the North to 
 the South. In his attitude upon this subject the General 
 was more indulgent to South Carolina than he had been 
 in the days of Nullification. He recommended in his 
 message the passage of a bill to prevent the circulation 
 through the mails of ''incendiary publications intended 
 to incite the slaves to insurrection." The measure he had 
 in contemplation was quite similar in spirit to the exist- 
 
 thirty-two "dragoons" at San Jacinto. With them he rode over the Mexican 
 artillery— two 12-pounder howitzers. Then, after cutting down no less 
 than seven Mexican soldiers with his sabre, Captain Sylvester, single-handed, 
 trailed and captured General Santa Ana and Colonels Arista and Torrejon, 
 who had hidden in a swamp. He had ser^^ed under Jackson in the Creek 
 war the first Florida campaign and at New Orieans as a private, corporal 
 and sergeant in Hinds's Mississippi mounted rifles. When he volunteered 
 to help Sam Houston in 1835, Captain Sylvester was cashier of a bank st 
 
 Natchez. 
 
 * Majors's War for Texan Independence. 
 
 Vol. II.— 23 _ 
 
354 HISTORY OF ANDREW JACKSON 
 
 ing law in our time against the use of the mails for 
 transmitting obscene prints and other immoral matter. 
 At that time the Southern people and a very great ma- 
 jority of those in the North viewed abolitionist tracts 
 and papers with quite as much aversion as is now felt 
 toward obscene literature or the use of the mails for 
 transacting the business of lotteries. Calhoun tried to 
 pass a bill much more sweeping than that proposed by 
 the President, but it was defeated. 
 
 Much of the Senate's time during the short session 
 of the Twenty-fourth Congress was consumed in debate 
 upon Senator Benton's resolution to expunge from the 
 journal Mr. Clay's censure of the President passed by 
 the Senate of the Twenty-third Congress, March 28, 
 
 1834. 
 
 In this debate much of the old ground of controversy 
 
 was ploughed and harrowed over again ; but, excepting 
 the speeches of Mr. Clay and Mr. Calhoun in opposition 
 to Benton's resolution, the tone of the discussion was 
 decorous, if not altogether temperate. It wound up in 
 a continuous session lasting from noon, January i6th, 
 until 3.30 o'clock the next morning. 
 
 The debate was closed by Mr. Webster, who argued 
 mainly on points of parliamentary law and precedent. 
 He ingeniously wrought out the somewhat remarkable 
 proposition, in spirit if not in exact letter, that an entry 
 upon the journal could not be expunged unless erro- 
 neously or fraudulently made. He did not believe that 
 one branch of the government had any right to punish 
 another branch except as distinctly provided in the Con- 
 stitution. The Constitution provided for impeachment 
 but not for censure, except as resolutions declaring the 
 
FOREIGN AFFAIRS AND RETIREMENT 355 
 
 sense of the Senate in general terms might be so inter- 
 preted. Yet, once entered upon the journal as an act 
 of the Senate, it must stay there or it could not be said 
 that the constitutional requirement that each house of 
 Congress should keep a record of its proceedings had 
 been fulfilled. The Senate then, at 3.30 a.m., voted, by 
 25 to 19, to expunge Mr. Clay's censure of President 
 Jackson from the journal. 
 
 From that time until the 4th of March the proceedings 
 were desultory, though there was not much abatement 
 of personalities against the retiring President. The last 
 act of General Jackson was to defeat by "pocket veto" a 
 bill to rescind his specie circular and make bank-notes 
 legal tender. 
 
 It seems customary with writers on the subject of 
 General Jackson to speak of his departure from the White 
 House in March, 1837, as his "retirement to private 
 life." But that phrase does not appear to state the actual 
 fact. We think the more strictly accurate statement 
 would be that he terminated eight years of administer- 
 ing the government as President in the White House, 
 and began another eight years of administering as much 
 of the government as the Democratic party could control 
 in the capacity of ex-President at the Hermitage. 
 
CHAPTER XIII 
 
 PARTY LEADER AT THE HERMITAGE 
 
 Threescore years and ten had stamped their marks 
 upon the brow of Andrew Jackson when he left the 
 White House for the Hermitage in March, 1837. He 
 was old, ill and in debt. To settle and square up his 
 personal accounts in Washington he had to pledge the 
 cotton-crop of his home plantation six months ahead for 
 a loan of $6,000. Most of these bills were for supplies 
 in keeping up the lavish hospitality and unstinted good 
 cheer for which he had made the White House proverbial 
 during his eight years' tenancy. He had drawn a sharp 
 line always between personal and official expenses. 
 Many things that, under administrations before and after 
 his, were charged to the public allowance, he was in the 
 habit of paying for out of his own pocket. He had 
 loaned first and last many thousand dollars in small sums 
 to needy or embarrassed friends whose claims upon him 
 he could never find it in his heart to deny ; men who had 
 stood by him when standing by meant risk of life or 
 limb; women and children widowed or orphaned, whose 
 husbands or fathers had stood by him in their youth and 
 strength and pride. He was a rugged, fierce old fellow, 
 but in his vocabulary no two words expressed so much 
 to his heart and his soul as those two — ''standing by." 
 An invariable concomitant of the staying quality in men 
 is that those who possess it themselves expect and insist 
 
 356 
 
PARTY LEADER AT THE HERMITAGE 357 
 
 upon it in others as the price of continued confidence and 
 friendship. Therefore, as no man ever lived with more 
 of that quahty in his brain and bosom than Jackson had, 
 so was his sense of it in others keener and his apprecia- 
 tion of it HveHer than are to be found in men of the 
 common run. These traits, while they enlarged his "per- 
 sonal following" to a degree never known before or 
 since in public life, also drew upon his never plethoric 
 purse in ways and in directions that the busy world 
 knew not of; ways and directions known only to himself 
 and those whom he helped; ways and directions that he 
 forgot oftener than the others did. Governor Allen and 
 Mr. Blair used to relate many anecdotes of this flavor, 
 one of which is good enough for history : 
 
 Within a few days of the end of his term, and while 
 he was ''packing-up," an Irishman called at the White 
 House and expressed a desire to ''see the Prisident, per- 
 sonally." "What do you wish?" inquired young Mr. 
 Rives, who happened to come to the reception-door just 
 then. "The President is very busy with private affairs 
 just now and is not attending to public business to-day." 
 
 "Sure, sur, it's exactly privit bizness I'm on mesilf, 
 sur." 
 
 "May I ask what it is?" 
 
 "Sure you may, sur. He's goin' away purty soon 
 now, and I w^ant to pay him an old debt I've owed him 
 a long time, sur." 
 
 This amused the polite Mr. Rives. He saw that the 
 Irishman, though fairly well dressed on this occasion, 
 was a son of toil. "Very well," he said. "What is your 
 name, please? I will announce you." 
 
 "Patrick Cunningham, sur; corporal in the Sivinth 
 
358 HISTORY OF ANDREW JACKSON 
 
 Rigilars, sur, at Pensacola and New Orleans; now for 
 many years in Snyder's livery-stable here, sur." 
 
 With that formidable ''descriptive list," Patrick was 
 announced. 
 
 "What! Old Pat Cunningham? One of my old sol- 
 diers! Wants something, I suppose — anyhow, fetch 
 him in " 
 
 "No, General," said Mr. Rives. "As I understand 
 him, he wants to pay you some money he owes you." 
 
 "Let him in, then, right away ! I need it !" 
 
 Mr. Rives ushered in the veteran of Pensacola and 
 New Orleans. The President of the United States ex- 
 tended his hand and said : "Mr. Rives tells me you want 
 to pay me some money." 
 
 "Yes, sur; some I owe you. Twelve dollars, sur." 
 
 "Well, I suppose you're right, Patrick; but, 'pon my 
 word, I don't remember the' transaction." 
 
 "It wuz three years ago, sur. I needed it then. I've 
 done better since, sur. I knew you was goin' away purty 
 soon, and I wanted to be square with you when you 
 wint." 
 
 "Are you sure you can spare it, Patrick? Don't you 
 need it yourself? I know what it is to need money!" 
 
 "No, sur. I can always spare money to pay me honest 
 debts whin I have it, sur. That's a way we Irish have 
 — such Irish as me and you, I mean, Gineril ! Here it is" 
 (counting out twelve dollars). 
 
 "Thank you, Patrick. I'll accept it. But, as I said, 
 I don't recollect anything about it." 
 
 "Well, Gineril, you seemed to be thinking about some- 
 thing else when you let me have it." 
 
 "I must have been !" retorted the old General, with 
 
PARTY LEADER AT THE HERMITAGE 359 
 
 that grin he could make so quizzical when he felt like it. 
 Singularly, Patrick, with all his Irish wit, did not seem 
 to see the grin. 
 
 Then, said our informant, the old General suspended 
 his packing-up operations and he and Patrick engaged 
 in an interchange of war reminiscences, which Mr. 
 Rives had to interrupt after a while, purely in the inter- 
 est of necessary business. 
 
 The advent of the heir-apparent brought about few 
 changes or next to none. Mr. Van Buren — at the start 
 — did little else than prolong the administration of the 
 President who had made one of him. The old Cabinet, 
 or most of it, remained as it stood : John Forsyth in the 
 Department of State; Levi Woodbury in the Treasury; 
 Mr. Butler, Attorney-General and, for the time, Acting 
 Secretary of War; Mahlon Dickerson in the Navy De- 
 partment; Amos Kendall running the mails. For the 
 rest, Blair remained in charge of the ''organ"; the diplo- 
 matic representation held its own. In short, there was 
 not only no "clean sweep," but, on the contrary, an 
 exemplification of pure and unadulterated "Civil Service 
 Reform," as it is understood to-day. 
 
 The only great, radical change of personnel was in 
 the head of the regime itself. The new administration — 
 at the start — was the intangible spirit of Jackson in the 
 visible flesh of Van Buren. That such metempsychosis 
 could not be permanent was evident enough to those 
 who knew both men, but it started off without a jar or 
 a ripple. Two men less alike in any and every element 
 that may enter into the make-up of character than An- 
 drew Jackson and Martin Van Buren were never created. 
 
J 
 
 60 HISTORY OF ANDREW JACKSON 
 
 Yet it may have been, and probably was, just this antip- 
 odal structure that made them the friends, confidants and 
 coadjutors they had been ever since Jackson came to 
 the Senate in 1823 and met Van Buren for the first 
 time. 
 
 One was sinuous, the other straight; one angular, 
 peremptory, compelling, the other smooth, conciliatory, 
 persuasive; one the beau ideal of the soldier, the com- 
 mander, the fighter, the other a sleek and slippered knight 
 of the carpet — cajoler, diplomat, courtier; one a human 
 thunderbolt of temper and force incarnate, the other sun- 
 shine in the shape of man, in whom there was never sign 
 or symptom of wrath or ruffling. Yet these two, each 
 adapted to the special environment of his place and his 
 breeding, had been the complements of one another for 
 fourteen years without break or dispute through the most 
 strenuous and stormy period our political existence ever 
 knew. 
 
 This description, however, though accurate in its gen- 
 eralities, must not be interpreted to mean either that 
 Jackson lacked the snaz'itcr in niodo or Van Buren the 
 fortiter in re when occasion permitted or required. Each 
 was, in his way, great and successful. And of neither 
 could it be said that he ever shirked an obligation, broke 
 a pledge or betrayed a friend. 
 
 Jackson's popularity was that overwhelming worship 
 which the world never fails to render unto the defender 
 and the conqueror. Van Buren's hold upon men was 
 that subtler power of mind over matter, that resistless 
 sway of the moral over the physical, felt but not seen, 
 susceptible of apprehension but not of analysis. But 
 Jackson was the superior being of the two. He might 
 
PARTY LEADER AT THE HERMITAGE 361 
 
 have gained the highest station without Van Buren. 
 Without Jackson, Van Buren could never have risen 
 to the cHmax of American ambition as he did. 
 
 Concerning the real, inner, self-confidential estimate 
 each of these antipodal characters entertained of the 
 other, historians have never agreed. Some believe that 
 Jackson never completely trusted Van Buren, but found 
 him pliant enough to make up in utility what he may 
 have lacked in honesty. And these believe, conversely, 
 that Van Buren's devotion to Jackson was but the fealty 
 of fear, which the constant prospect of favors to come 
 converted into as near an approach to gratitude as such 
 natures are capable of. 
 
 The view may be true. One great fact we all know : 
 Van Buren lasted just so long as the impulse given to 
 him by Jackson's strong arm endured — and no longer. 
 The prime mover of the conjoint mechanism was the 
 will and the courage of Jackson. So long as the source 
 of motive power was active Van Buren moved steadily 
 and surely until he reached the White House. So soon 
 as the prime mover ceased to exert his influence. Van 
 Buren went back to Kinderhook, whence he came. 
 
 Another and much smaller school — who may in some 
 senses be termed political casuists, and whose ultimate 
 development has been found in the party strifes of New 
 York, from the days of Burr and Hamilton to the present 
 time — will blandly persuade you that it was Van Buren 
 who made Jackson President for two terms, simply that 
 he might serve as stepping-stone to one term for himself. 
 Between these two extremes we think the kernel of truth 
 is that the one was as useful to the other as the other 
 was needful to the one; and that, in the peculiar condi- 
 
362 HISTORY OF ANDREW JACKSON 
 
 tions of the times and the places, neither could have 
 achieved all that he did without the other's help. 
 
 It was therefore natural, if not unavoidable, that 
 Van Buren should take over intact, as he did, the ad- 
 ministration that Jackson bequeathed to him. The fact 
 that their paths of policy and even of belief in some 
 degree diverged afterward was the result of supervening 
 conditions which neither could foresee nor control. At 
 any rate, their friendship, though sorely tested by the 
 arts of others, stood the trial and ended only in the 
 tomb. 
 
 On the inaugural day General Jackson was so ill 
 that he should have been in bed. Yet he Avas up 
 and about in a fashion and managed to perform some 
 part of an outgoing President's offices of courtesy 
 to his successor. Van Buren, sensible of the General's 
 extreme debility and fearful' that the fatigue of travel 
 might break him completely down, wished him to stay 
 in the White House at least until May or June or at 
 his own option. But the man who could rise from a 
 bed of wounds and anguish to lead his army against 
 the Creeks, when the blood of women and children mas- 
 sacred at Fort Mims called aloud for vengeance, w^as 
 not to be daunted by the prospective fatigues of a mere 
 peaceful journey, seventy years old and sick though he 
 now might be. 
 
 His stay as guest in the house where he had been 
 master — and such a master! — was brief. In a few days 
 he was off for Tennessee. The afternoon before he left 
 occurred an interview not yet made historical except for 
 two or three references to it in Benton's Thirty Years, 
 and these quite mystical — for him. The party was 
 
PARTY LEADER AT THE HERMITAGE ^^3 
 
 quadrilateral — Jackson, Benton, Blair and Allen — the 
 place, Mr. Blair's house. For our information concern- 
 ing it we are indebted about equally to the two gentle- 
 men last named. 
 
 In this conference the General did most of the talking. 
 He told his friends that he purposed washing his hands 
 utterly of public life and political affairs; that he had 
 now been to all intents and purposes a public servant 
 from the age of thirteen to that of threescore and ten; 
 from the Carolina campaign of 1780 in the Revolution 
 to that moment in 1837 at Washington — a stretch of 
 fifty-seven years, with hardly interval enough for com- 
 mon education; that he had Hved his whole life in plain 
 sight of the public and the people, hiding nothing, simu- 
 lating nothing, confessing nothing, extenuating nothing 
 and regretting nothing — except that he could never get 
 a chance to shoot Clay or hang Calhoun. And of these 
 he declared that one was baser than Dickinson and the 
 other more criminal than Arbuthnot. 
 
 Looking back through his eight years in the presi- 
 dency, he saw some things well done, some half done, 
 others still to be done. Among the things well done 
 were the destruction of a huge chartered monopoly to 
 which the government had lent its power and prestige 
 for the enrichment of a few; the Bank of the United 
 States, which he had forced to a plane no more formida- 
 ble than that of a Pennsylvania corporation. A civil 
 service, of fungous growth upon the body politic, aristo- 
 cratic, oligarchic, self-perpetuating and modelled in ser- 
 vility after that of England, had been rooted out and 
 an American, democratic and free-for-all system substi- 
 tuted in its place. A heresy threatening to strike at 
 
364 HISTORY OF ANDREW JACKSON 
 
 the vitals of our national existence had been put down; 
 not, indeed, so thoroughly eradicated as he could wish, 
 but as thoroughly as all the elements with which he 
 had to deal would permit. The Indians, an ever-growing 
 tumor so long as they held territory and semi-inde- 
 pendent sovereignty within the boundaries of States, had 
 been peacefully removed to a reservation in the far West, 
 where they could be happy in their own way and be free 
 from the wiles and pitfalls of the white man — at least 
 for many years or even generations to come. These, 
 with many other things of minor import, had been well 
 done. 
 
 Among the things half done was, chief of all, regu- 
 lation of the tariff — a hopeless problem to him — a vast 
 and illusive cobweb of vague wants and conflicting greeds 
 which he feared could never be equitably accommodated 
 or fairly adjusted. Next in 'importance — if, indeed, it 
 were not first — was the currency; certainly in confusion, 
 and without definite promise of solution. He had tried 
 to make its values intrinsic or to fix the intrinsic basis 
 beyond the power of parties to alter or factions to amend. 
 It was not done. It was hardly well begun. He looked 
 forward to the consequences with foreboding and alarm. 
 The only real money was the precious metals. If there 
 must be paper tokens of money, let them issue direct 
 from the Treasury of the United States, under charter 
 of the Constitution itself, based not merely upon the 
 faith of the government alone, but also upon the actual 
 power and readiness of the government to redeem the 
 paper tokens in real money at any and all times. But 
 no bank-notes; no promises of A to pay B in a mere 
 note of hand which C might offer to D as legal tender! 
 
PARTY LEADER AT THE HERMITAGE 365 
 
 There were many other things left half done which he 
 hoped that time, wisdom and diligence might work out 
 
 in due order. 
 
 Then there were other very important things not done 
 at all; things which in his own time he could find no way 
 of gr'asping, not even tentatively. Chief of these were 
 the annexation of Texas and the definitive settlement of 
 the Oregon boundary; questions directly and vitally in- 
 volving both the integrity of the nation and "extension 
 of the area of free institutions." With regard to Texas, 
 the problem would work itself out if the new republic 
 were invited instead of repelled. But he was sure that 
 repulsion— which he feared would be the policy of New 
 England— could have no other result than to drive Texas 
 into the arms of Old England. As for the great, un- 
 settled, disputed Northwest, its proper and rightful 
 boundary was a question to be settled only by firmness 
 and courage. If committed to the arts and subtleties of 
 diplomacy, the trained courtiers of England would cheat 
 our frank and candid statesmen out of the hairs on 
 their heads at every turn. "Our motto should be, gen- 
 tlemen," he said, "the words of our young friend. Sen- 
 ator Allen, often spoken in our discussions of the sub- 
 ject— Tifty-four-forty or Fight!' Let that be the motto 
 not merely of our party, but of the nation, and England 
 will yield in the Northwest as she yielded in the South- 
 west thirty-two years ago. In the Southwest she did 
 not yield without a fight. But in the Northwest she 
 will yield to simple firmness— because she will never 
 fight that old Southwestern battle over again on this 
 
 continent." 
 
 He then went on exhorting his friends to watch these 
 
266 HISTORY OF ANDREW JACKSON 
 
 two danger-points. He said his own work was done as 
 well as he could do it, and nothing now remained for 
 him but to die as became an old soldier and a man. 
 *'But of all things," he repeated, "never once take your 
 eyes off Texas and never let go of Fifty-four-forty!" 
 
 This was the legacy he left to his stanchest and most 
 stalwart supporters in press and forum. They did not 
 keep it all. But they managed to save half of it. They 
 could annex Texas, but they could not prevent England 
 from cheating their country out of its great ultramon- 
 tane Northwest. 
 
 Of course, the foregoing is only a synopsis, a resume 
 — only two quotations of his own phrase being offered. 
 Governor Allen, describing the scene, said that never 
 before had anyone present heard him talk so calmly or 
 yet so eloquently. Like Washington's Farewell Address, 
 it blazed the path of duty far ahead. 
 
 General Jackson's last journey from W^ashington to 
 Tennessee, from the White House to the Hermitage, 
 was slow. He stopped often to rest and to visit old 
 friends by the wayside. His longest stay at any point 
 was a fortnight at Cincinnati, where Senator Allen 
 joined him by rapid travel when the Senate adjourned, 
 and who, having legal business at the spring term of 
 the United States district court for Tennessee, went on 
 with him to Nashville. All along his route the people 
 wished to do him honor in the old way; to demonstrate 
 that the prefix of "ex" to his great title cut no figure 
 in their admiration or their fealty. At Pittsburg he 
 accepted a reception and banquet, but was so tired be- 
 fore the end of the reception that he had to go to bed 
 
PARTY LEADER AT THE HERMITAGE 367 
 
 instead of to the dinner. After that he dedined all 
 demonstrations, pleading weariness and need of absolute 
 rest; and the people, taking him at his word, contented 
 themselves with cheers and good wishes as he passed by. 
 However, the escape from cares, the invigorating air of 
 the mountains and the valleys and the gentle recreation 
 of slow and careful travel told for good upon him, and 
 he arrived home in much better health than when he left 
 the Capital. 
 
 Nashville received him in the old way, and there he 
 felt well enough to attend a banquet. In accordance with 
 his own earnestly expressed wish, however, it was much 
 less elaborate and briefer than its numerous predecessors 
 had been. Among those present was Sarah Childress 
 Polk, with her husband, then Speaker of the House of 
 Representatives. In 1875, the then venerable lady de- 
 scribed the scene to the author. One incident involved 
 enough of prophecy to make it worth a place in history : 
 To Speaker Polk was accorded the pleasant office of 
 "the welcome home." At the close of his little speech 
 he said "the only regret anyone, and above all his own 
 home friends and neighbors, could feel was that, with 
 the coming of their illustrious fellow-citizen back to their 
 midst, came also the sad fact that the sceptre had passed 
 from Tennessee!" 
 
 "I sat at the General's left," said Mrs. Polk, "and the 
 moment my husband ceased speaking, the General leaned 
 over toward me and said, in a voice loud enough to be 
 heard the whole length of the table : 'Never mind what 
 he says, daughter; the sceptre shall come back to Ten- 
 nessee before very long, and your own fair self shall 
 be the queen.' I was young then — only thirty- four — 
 
368 HISTORY OF ANDREW JACKSON 
 
 and little hoped for the destiny that awaited me. Cer- 
 tainly I did not for a moment imagine that, at forty-two, 
 I should be mistress of that historic mansion to whose 
 traditions the old General had just added so much glory ; 
 but so it proved. Afterward, in the light of other things 
 which occurred, I came to believe that even then, in 
 1837, General Jackson had my husband in view as a 
 probable successor to Mr. Van Buren after eight years. 
 And I am perfectly sure that he never had any other 
 in his mind from the State of Tennessee." * 
 
 * It may be interesting to cite here the evidence of Mrs. Polk upon another 
 question ; one which Mr. Parton seems to have regarded as at least debata- 
 ble. In his Life of Jackson (Vol. Ill, p. 629), speaking of the ex-President's 
 visit to General Robert Lytle at Cincinnati on the way home, Mr. Parton 
 says : 
 
 "It appears to rest upon good testimony that, during his stay at Cin- 
 cinnati, he expressed regret at having become estranged from Henry Clay. 
 Clay and himself, he said, ought to have been friends and would have been, 
 but for the slanders and cowardice of an individual whom he denominated 
 'that Pennsylvania reptile.'" 
 
 The probability is that the "good testimony" mentioned by Mr. Parton 
 existed wholly in his own mind and was the offspring of his own immeas 
 urable admiration for Mr. Clay ; a sentiment which, all through his vol- 
 umes, leads him to pose as the apologist for Clay on every point of issue 
 between that great man and Jackson. 
 
 But Mrs. Polk, who knew General Jackson from her own girlhood to 
 his grave and who was always the object of his most knightly chivalry, said 
 to the author in describing the last scenes at the Hermitage: "I was in 
 Washington when the General passed away, which was only about three 
 months — four days over that time, to be exact — after the inauguration of 
 Mr. Polk. But I had seen him frequently when at home and had been 
 deeply interested in his religious conversion. After that event he loved to 
 tell me that he had forgiven this one and that one — mentioning those who 
 had been bitter and unscrupulous enemies. But never once the name of 
 Henry Clay or of John C. Calhoun! Do not understand me to intimate 
 that he still felt toward them the unchristian spirit of live hatred or active 
 unforgiveness. But I do believe that, in the regeneration of his heart, he 
 had simply banished both of them and all thoughts of their conduct toward 
 him and his, and every impulse of retaliation, utterly from his mind and his 
 soul." 
 
PARTY LEADER AT THE HERMITAGE 369 
 
 From this banquet the war-worn and time-worn and 
 state-worn and toil-worn and absolutely honor-worn old 
 conqueror of his country's foes and defender of his 
 people's rights was at last permitted to go home to his 
 comfortable and quiet Hermitage — in peace, perhaps? 
 We shall see. 
 
 When General Jackson settled down at the Hermitage 
 in May, 1837, to eke out, as he thought, his few remain- 
 ing years as a quiet old planter, he considered himself 
 a poor man. He had, indeed, the most productive plan- 
 tation of its size in the Southwest — about 2,600 acres, 
 all told, of w^hich more than half was under cultivation. 
 He had 137 ''colored folks," or "servants" as he used to 
 call them, of all ages and sexes, and of them perhaps 
 eighty or ninety could be considered effective field-hands 
 or house-servants. 
 
 His plantation was abundantly stocked with fine horses 
 
 and cattle, and he had beyond question the best overseer 
 
 in Tennessee. History has not handed down the full 
 
 name of this distinguished and important personage. 
 
 All we know of him is that the General used to call him 
 
 "Jason" when he talked about him, and to address him 
 
 as "My dear Jason" when he had occasion to write to 
 
 him from the White House. We also know that, on 
 
 his part, Jason used to proclaim, in season or out of 
 
 season, that "the next best thing to having a plantation 
 
 of your own was to oversee General Jackson's." It is 
 
 also known that the overseer and his good wife were 
 
 to all intents and purposes members of the Hermitage 
 
 family, and usually breakfasted with the master, at which 
 
 time the details of management and the needs of the 
 
 colored people would be discussed and provided for. 
 Vol. II.— 24 
 
370 HISTORY OF ANDREW JACKSON 
 
 But in spite of all these pleasant surroundings, the 
 General owed considerable money — $6,000 in one sum, 
 as we have seen, and other smaller amounts, making a 
 total of between $9,000 and $10,000. This made him 
 feel poor, because to him debt was an unmixed curse 
 and a constant sorrow to be assuaged only by receipt 
 in full. His friends in Tennessee, knowing these things, 
 proposed to relieve the perplexities of the old gentleman 
 by taking up a private subscription to pay off his debts. 
 But when he heard of it, he prohibited the scheme as 
 peremptorily as he had vetoed the Bank re-charter, and 
 intimated that, though pretty old and somewhat decrepit, 
 he could still take care of himself. 
 
 Before he had been home very long he began to realize, 
 even away out on his plantation eleven miles from town, 
 that 1837 was the great panic year. And it did not 
 mitigate the burdens of such a situation when he read 
 in such Whig papers as happened to reach him that it 
 was "a Jackson panic." According to his own account, 
 he had "only ninety dollars of ready money left when 
 he got home, and there was little or no sale for anything 
 the farm raised that season." Besides these embarrass- 
 ments, he had to extricate his adopted son from certain 
 unfortunate speculations which, though not involving 
 large sums, were troublesome in such a tight money 
 market and general disturbance of trade. These condi- 
 tions lasted longer than the panic year itself. Cotton 
 was low for two or three seasons. The borrowed $6,000 
 which he expected to pay off with the crop of 1837 
 dragged along and was not fully liquidated till the crop 
 of 1839 came in. 
 
 During these years he substantially kept the word 
 
PARTY LEADER AT THE HERMITAGE 371 
 
 he had given to Benton, Blair and Allen, that he would 
 wash his hands of politics. But after a while, when his 
 business affairs got in better shape and another national 
 campaign approached, the old war-horse began once more 
 to sniff the battle from afar. News that movements were 
 on foot to defeat the renomination of Mr. Van Buren 
 did not tend to promote his tranquillity. He had ap- 
 pointed his successor for two terms — not merely for one 
 — he thought, and any person who might presume to 
 contest the legacy must reckon with him. Thus it hap- 
 pened that, after about two years of real rest, the Gen- 
 eral, in 1839, resumed his wonted personal activity in 
 the management of the Democratic party. 
 
 The result was that from that time until the con- 
 vention of 1840 he was immersed in a correspondence 
 which extended over all the country, and with the most 
 prominent and powerful men in active political life; a 
 correspondence of which but little has ever come to the 
 surface of history, but which, to judge from the little 
 that has been published, was as thoroughly Jacksonian 
 as any in his younger days. Early in 1840, before the 
 conventions had been called, it became a foregone con- 
 clusion that the Whigs would renominate General Har- 
 rison, notwithstanding his overwhelming defeat in 1836, 
 and the utterances of Clay and Webster indicated that 
 he would have a clear field ; that the Whigs would give 
 him their united and enthusiastic support. 
 
 Sanguine as he usually was in any emergency that 
 confronted himself or his friends, General Jackson be- 
 came somewhat perplexed in 1840. He w^as even heard 
 to say that ''things look a little dubious." What dis- 
 turbed him most were the indications, too plain to be 
 
372 HISTORY OF ANDREW JACKSON 
 
 unseen, that the Southern Democrats, even those of his 
 own Tennessee, were not enthusiastic for Van Buren. 
 In 1838 James K. Polk, his own protege and backed by 
 all the energy that was left in the old Tennessee "ma- 
 chine" of "Bill" Carroll and "Billy" Lewis, had only 
 just pulled through by the beggarly account of 2,500 
 majority in the hottest canvass and the fullest vote ever 
 known in a gubernatorial canvass. "By gracious, Will- 
 iam," he said to Carroll when this result was announced, 
 "I'm afraid the State is slipping away from us." 
 
 "It's not only slipping. General," said Carroll, "but 
 it's already slipped! Those corn-crackers up in the 
 mountains [meaning East Tennessee] are all Whigs 
 now !" 
 
 But the General was too old to learn new tricks. He 
 could not conceive that his own Tennessee was departing 
 from him; he could not imagine that it already had 
 "gone over to the enemy," as he was wont to phrase it. 
 In vain his closest friends expostulated with him that 
 Van Buren would be beaten in 1840. In vain they re- 
 minded him that Hugh White — dead and gone only a 
 month ago (April, 1840) — had beaten Van Buren in 
 the State in 1836. He would listen to nobody. He 
 would hearken to nothing. To James K. Polk he said : 
 "You must run for Vice-President; that will save the 
 State." * 
 
 "But, General, it will not save our party. Besides, 
 I do not believe it would save our own State." 
 
 "Do you then mean to tell me that Harrison is going 
 to be elected?" 
 
 "I am not prepared to say that, General. But I fear 
 
 * Reminiscence of Mrs. Polk, 1875. 
 
PARTY LEADER AT THE HERMITAGE 373 
 
 that Harrison will receive the electoral vote of Tennessee 
 in spite of anything and everything we can do." 
 
 "Well, Polk, you are younger than I am and your 
 eyesight is better. Maybe you can see things that I 
 can't. I'm mighty sorry to hear you talk as you do. 
 But I can't help it." 
 
 The Democrats renominated Van Buren — more be- 
 cause Jackson wanted them to than because they were 
 willing to. 
 
 The Whigs renominated Harrison — with a whoop, 
 with yells for Tippecanoe, Log Cabins and Hard Cider! 
 
 Very soon the situation grew desperate. General 
 Jackson himself "took the stump," speaking not only in 
 West Tennessee, but in Southern Kentucky. They ought 
 not to have put the old man on the stump. It was not 
 right to let such a fame as his so becloud its own twi- 
 light. Yet they were driven to all resorts — no matter 
 how desperate. 
 
 In his "stumping tour" as a Van Buren "spellbinder," 
 the hero of New Orleans — seventy-three years old and 
 feeble at that — was almost betrayed by his passions into 
 aspersions upon Harrison as a general. We all know 
 that Harrison was not a statesman, not even so much 
 of a statesman as Jackson ; but no man of any party who 
 has ever smelled real powder can survey the military 
 records of the Northwest in i8ii-'i3, from Tippecanoe 
 to Lake Erie and the Thames, and argue from them 
 that, as a soldier and a fighting general, William Henry 
 Harrison had much, if any, odds to ask of Andrew Jack- 
 son. But when Jackson, in 1840, questioned the soldier- 
 ship and the generalship of Harrison in 181 1-' 12 and 
 *I3, he was thinking only of Harrison's attitude as a 
 
374 HISTORY OF ANDREW JACKSON 
 
 member of Congress in 1819. Harrison had then criti- 
 cised the hanging of Francis, Himollomico and Arbuth- 
 not and the shooting of Ambrister. He had intimated 
 that these acts were cruel; that they were, at least, not 
 such acts as should characterize an unopposed victor 
 dealing with a prostrate foe. That was an imputation 
 Jackson could never forgive. But his effort to resent it 
 on the stump in 1840 hurt him more than Harrison's 
 speech in the House did twenty-one years before.* 
 
 What a long chapter a really strong writer can com- 
 press into one short sentence! Says Dr. \\^oodrow Wil- 
 son (History of the American People, Vol. IV., p. 84) : 
 ''They [the Democrats] seemed to have lost initiative 
 when they lost General Jackson." To this might be 
 added the remark that General Jackson himself had ''lost 
 
 the initiative" when he took the stump against Harrison 
 
 * 
 
 * Aue;ust 17, 1840, Henry Clay made a speech at Nashville, in the course 
 of which he said that "General Jackson, when President, had appointed 
 a defaulter Secretary of State and afterward sent him as minister to France. " 
 This referred to Edward Livingston, who had been United States District 
 Attorney for New York under Jefferson's administration in i8oi-'o2 and, 
 through error or malversation on the part of his fiscal agent, became in- 
 debted to the Federal Government in a large sum, for which he confessed 
 judgment without suit and to pay which he sacrificed every dollar he was 
 worth or could raise. But Clay, with his customary cunning, omitted to 
 mention this fact. 
 
 The next day General Jackson replied by a letter printed in the Nash- 
 ville Union setting forth the real facts and concluding as follows : 
 
 "Under such circumstances how contemptible does this demagogue 
 (Clay) appear when he descends from his high place in the Senate to roam 
 over the country retailing slanders upon the living and the dead !" 
 
 Clay made his attack upon the memory of Mr. Livingston (dead since 
 1836) for the malicious purpose of "rousing the old Hon of the Hermitage," 
 as his own friends John Bell and Ephraim Foster admitted, and he gloated 
 over his success. Perhaps this incident may have formed some of Mr. 
 Parton's "good testimony," mentioned on a pre%'ious page, that General 
 Jackson desired a "reconciliation" with Henry Clay. 
 
PARTY LEADER AT THE HERMITAGE 375 
 
 in his old age. He suggested nothing new. He only 
 harped upon strings the touch of which made music to 
 him but not to the younger generation he addressed. 
 All the people to whom General Jackson spoke in 1840 
 listened to him with respect, some of them with pain. 
 Then a majority of them went and voted for General 
 Harrison — who carried Tennessee by over 12,000 ma- 
 jority. 
 
 General Jackson went back to the Hermitage and re- 
 sumed his planting. General Harrison was elected Pres- 
 ident. It was a singular campaign. The Whigs gave 
 out no ''platform" except the name of their candidate 
 and "Tippecanoe," just as the Democrats had done in 
 1832 — no platform but the name of Jackson. They won 
 by 234 to 60 electoral votes. Yet that large majority 
 of electoral votes represented aggregate popular major- 
 ities of only 50,214 in a total vote of 2,446,772. 
 
 It is worth while, as we pass by, to note the significance 
 of these figures. They meant a vast expansion of the 
 elective franchise. The number of voters to every thou- 
 sand of population was, in 1840, nearly double that 
 which it had been in 1824; over fifty per cent, more than 
 in 1832. Restrictions of any considerable effect existed 
 only in Rhode Island and South Carolina. One by one 
 the ''qualifications" of suffrage, so dear to the ancient 
 oligarchy of Virginia and Massachusetts, had disap- 
 peared. Of course, all this had been the work of the 
 several States. The Federal government had nothing to 
 do with it. There were no Fourteenth and Fifteenth 
 Amendments then. Yet this progress of enfranchise- 
 ment, though not the work of Jackson's brain or hands, 
 w^as the working of the spirit and the aspirations which 
 
J7 
 
 6 HISTORY OF ANDREW JACKSON 
 
 Jacksonism had quickened in the hearts of the people. 
 It was the era, not the man. Van Buren, though beaten 
 ''out of sight" in the electoral college, was still the 
 choice of over forty-nine per cent, of the people. 
 
 General Jackson took his defeat in 1840 philosophically 
 and at once began to lay plans for retrieval of the Demo- 
 cratic ascendancy in 1844. We say ''his defeat" ad- 
 visedly, because he viewed it as such and, in accordance 
 with his invariable custom, "cheerfully took all the re- 
 sponsibility." About the first conclusion he reached after 
 a thorough review of the situation was that the next 
 Democratic candidate must be a Western man. He had 
 not lost personal faith in or regard for Van Buren, but 
 he realized and frankly said to his intimate friends that 
 Van Buren could not carry Western States against a 
 Western man, and that, besides, it would be difficult, if 
 not impossible, for him to receive a cordial support in 
 the South. According to General William O. Butler 
 and Governor Allen, the General did not decide definitely 
 the question of a successor to Van Buren until 1843. 
 Mr. Blair believed his first choice was Benton,* and 
 
 * When Congress adjourned in 1841, William O. Butler (then a member 
 from Kentucky) and Senators Benton and Allen came home together. 
 While on the boat coming down the river from Pittsburg, General Butler 
 mentioned his intention of visiting Nashville after spending a few days at 
 Carrollton. 
 
 "You will, of course, go out to the Hermitage and see the Old Man," 
 suggested Benton. 
 
 "Naturally," said Butler. 
 
 "Let me offer you a little advice. You are for me in '44, as I understand 
 it?" 
 
 "Yes ; subject of course to conditions now unforeseen which may arise 
 in the meantime." 
 
 "That goes without saying." 
 
 "Well, I have reason to believe — though I do not pretend to exact Knowl- 
 edge — that the General is for me at this time and has held that preference 
 
PARTY LEADER AT THE HERMITAGE 377 
 
 that view was shared by Benton himself. Allen also 
 looked upon himself for a time as the General's possible 
 second choice ; but he told the author that this aspiration 
 was abandoned by him as soon as General Lewis Cass 
 w^as mentioned in the lists. Allen was young — only 
 thirty-six — and could wait. But, whatever the hopes of 
 any aspirant — Benton, Cass, Allen or Polk — all agreed 
 that the final decision would rest with General Jackson. 
 In this way things drifted. The sudden death of Gen- 
 eral Harrison and the succession of Tyler modified the 
 General's calculations between 1841 and 1844. Among 
 other things it put Clay on the track again, and no one 
 was quicker to perceive that fact than General Jackson. 
 In his mind it complicated the situation so far as Benton 
 was concerned. As against Harrison he would have 
 nominated Benton. But as against Clay it might become 
 necessary to take up a Democratic soldier. From this 
 point of view General Cass, of Michigan, Colonel Robert 
 Lytle, of Ohio, or William O. Butler, of Kentucky, would 
 be available. Benton, though he held a commission in 
 1 8 12, had no actual service record in campaign or battle. 
 As it turned out, the General ran Butler for governor 
 of Kentucky in 1844 — not with much hope of his elec- 
 
 ever since the count of the votes last fall. In fact, I believe, also, he now 
 regrets that he did not nominate me instead of Van Buren in 1836. At 
 least, I am sure he thinks I would not have made such a mess of it as Van 
 has made. Then there is another thing nobody seems to have talked of as 
 yet." 
 
 "What is that?" 
 
 "Why, it is the fact that the Abolitionists have pushed the slavery ques- 
 tion and are pushing it in a way calculated to bring it to the front in 1844. 
 And Van Buren is known to Jackson and to me as being unsound on that 
 issue. Draw the old General out in your own quiet way on this subject. 
 You know, Butler, he never has any secrets from men who were with him 
 at New Orleans." 
 
378 HISTORY OF ANDREW JACKSON 
 
 tion, but for the purpose of making things Hvely for 
 Mr. Clay in his own State. Butler did better than Jack- 
 son anticipated. He cut the \Miig majority of nearly 
 thirty thousand in 1840 down to forty-two hundred in 
 1844. I^^ the General's letter of congratulation to Butler 
 he said: 'T believe if you had been running for President 
 instead of governor you would have beaten Clay in his 
 own State." General Butler had this letter when the 
 author visited him in 1873. 
 
 The Democratic nomination for the presidency in 1844 
 turned wholly upon the annexation of Texas. General 
 Jackson tried with all the strength that lingered in his 
 feeble hands to have the Oregon boundary on the basis 
 of "Fifty-four-forty" made also a cardinal plank in the 
 Democratic platform of that year, but in this he prac- 
 tically failed. The convention, to appease him, declared 
 that ''Oregon should be reoccVipied." But at the moment 
 when that was done the convention was under control 
 of a pro-slavery faction wdiich had secretly resolved to 
 give the disputed territory to England in pursuance of 
 their policy that no more free soil should be permitted 
 to come into the Union. In other words, the pro-slavery 
 faction of the Democratic party in 1844 deliberately de- 
 ceived General Jackson, hoping that, as he was now in 
 his seventy-eighth year, he would die before it might 
 become necessary to carry their base and dastardly pro- 
 gramme into effect. In this, it is needless to remark, 
 their calculations were sustained by events. 
 
 While these operations were going on within the 
 Democratic party, Mr. Tyler's Secretary of State, John 
 C. Calhoun, induced that unfortunate President, on April 
 12, 1844, to send to the Senate a treaty for the annexa- 
 
PARTY LEADER AT THE HERMITAGE 379 
 
 tion of Texas. This stroke, which was wholly unex- 
 pected, Mr. Calhoun hoped would confuse the Jackson 
 Democracy by anticipating one of their leading points 
 of party policy. At the same time he was, on behalf 
 of the pro-slavery faction, carrying on the diplomatic 
 correspondence with Great Britain which laid a basis 
 for the surrender of the Oregon boundary two years 
 later. But so far as concerned Texas, his strategy was 
 summarily defeated by the Senate, which rejected his 
 surreptitious treaty by a decisive vote — on which, for the 
 first and only time, the Whigs and Jackson Democrats 
 joined forces. 
 
 The nomination of James K. Polk in 1844 was the 
 result of an all-round compromise. He was acceptable 
 to General Jackson on grounds of personal friendship, 
 unlimited confidence and, above all, residence in Ten- 
 nessee. A letter written by the General early in 1843 
 to Representative Brown, of Tennessee, on the annexa- 
 tion of Texas, was used in the convention efTectively 
 against Mr. Van Buren. When the General wrote that 
 letter he did not know that Van Buren was opposed to 
 annexation — or at least to the immediate action to that 
 end upon which Jackson insisted. The use of the letter 
 for that purpose annoyed him, and he tried to explain 
 it in another letter to Mr. Van Buren himself. But his 
 effort at explanation served only to emphasize the letter 
 he had written to Representative Brown. 
 
 Though past the age of seventy-seven when Mr. Polk 
 was nominated. General Jackson ''took ofT his coat." as 
 the saying is, and exhausted what little physical strength 
 remained to him in active and potent advocacy of his 
 election. No longer able to write with his own hand 
 
jSo HISTORY OF ANDREW JACKSON 
 
 more than a few lines at a time, he kept a secretary — 
 and sometimes two — busy at the Hermitage throughout 
 the campaign taking dictations, and reading to him the 
 newspaper accounts from day to day. In his letter to 
 Representative Brown he made certain comments upon 
 the diplomacy of Monroe's administration, when John 
 Quincy Adams was Secretary of State. The treaty with 
 Spain, by which Florida was ceded in 1819, provided 
 that our Southwestern boundary should be the Sabine 
 River instead of the Rio Grande. Speaking of this event 
 in his letter to Mr. Brown, General Jackson said, under 
 date of February 12, 1843 : 
 
 "1 could not but feel that the surrender of so vast and 
 important a territory was attributable to an erroneous 
 estimate of the tendency of our institutions in which was 
 mingled somewhat of jealousy to the rising greatness 
 of the South and West." 
 
 This obvious reference to the traditional opposition of 
 New England to territorial extension and the creation 
 of new^ States in the W^est and South provoked an angry 
 retort from Mr. Adams, and a correspondence ensued 
 the temper of which, on both sides — considering the su- 
 preme eminence of the disputants — was not sufficiently 
 creditable to either to encourage its reproduction here. 
 It served, however, to show that Mr. Adams had a 
 much clearer view of the fact that slavery was already 
 a great issue and of imminent peril to the Union than 
 General Jackson held. 
 
 Mr. Polk was elected by a decisive majority in the 
 electoral colleges, but he did not receive quite a clear 
 popular majority over the combined vote for Mr. Clay 
 and that polled by the ^'Liberty party," or the Abolition- 
 
PARTY LEADER AT THE HERMITAGE 381 
 
 ists, which ran up to the then astonishing figure of 
 67,000. With his inauguration the great, overshadowing 
 and "irrepressible" conflict over slavery may be said to 
 have begun. Congress took the result as a popular ver- 
 dict in favor of annexation, and the last act of President 
 Tyler was to sign, late at night, March 3, 1845, ^ joint 
 resolution admitting Texas to the Union; a resolution 
 passed in the Senate by the solid Democratic vote with 
 that of the Southern Whigs — and in the Democratic 
 House under suspension of the rules. 
 
 Thus was General Jackson's candidate elected and one 
 of his two cardinal policies carried into immediate effect 
 by the campaign of 1844. Naturally his joy was very 
 great. He testified to it by a grand garden-party and 
 barbecue at the Hermitage, attended by the whole coun- 
 tryside and as many prominent Democrats from a dis- 
 tance as could get there in time. On this occasion he 
 made a little speech from the portico of the Hermitage. 
 It was, of course, extempore, and only two sentences of 
 it were preserved : "We have restored the government 
 to sound principles and extended the area of our insti- 
 tutions to the Rio Grande! Now for Oregon and Fifty- 
 four- forty !" 
 
 "Or fight!" added young John Calvin Brown, then a 
 boy of seventeen, in the audience; afterward governor 
 of Tennessee. 
 
 General Jackson spied the boy and laughed. "Yes, 
 Johnny," he said, "if we have to. I've fought some 
 battles for the Southwest end of this Union and, old as 
 I am, I reckon there's one more left in me for its North- 
 west end if need be!" 
 
 Mr. Polk consulted him on the selection of his Cabinet. 
 
382 HISTORY OF ANDREW JACKSON 
 
 He approved all but the first name — that of James 
 Buchanan for Secretary of State. At that name he 
 shook his head. He recalled Buchanan's action in the 
 "treason, stratagem and spoils infamy" of 1825, as he 
 called it ; declared that he was a man destitute of cour- 
 age and, as he believed, ''not overburdened with scruples 
 of honor." He called Mr. Polk's attention to the fact 
 that as Secretary of State, Buchanan would have to deal 
 with any questions that might arise over the Northwest 
 boundary. For such a task, he declared, "a man of 
 proved courage, faultless honor and unflinching patriot- 
 ism" was imperatively required. And he emphatically 
 added that Buchanan was not that kind of man. Gov- 
 ernor Allen informed the author that General Jackson 
 wanted Polk to offer the portfolio of State to Benton; 
 and he believed Benton could have had it if he would 
 have taken it. 'Tf Benton "had been Polk's Secretary 
 of State," concluded the venerable governor of Ohio in 
 1875, "there never would have been any such name on 
 the map as British Columbia!" 
 
CHAPTER XIV 
 
 CHARACTER AND PERSONALITY 
 
 Early in the spring of 1845 the General's health 
 began to fail rapidly. On the 4th of March, the day 
 of Polk's inauguration, he was for several hours given 
 up by everybody at the Hermitage — except himself. 
 Though he could talk only in hoarse whispers, con- 
 stantly interrupted by hemorrhage, he repeatedly de- 
 clared that his time had not yet come — "at least, not 
 quite," he said; and the iron w^ill pulled him through. 
 
 From this attack he soon rallied. In a few days he 
 was out of doors, and during April and most of May 
 was as well as at any time for two or three years. But 
 that was not being well by any means. He was slowly 
 becoming weaker, dropsical symptoms having made their 
 appearance. The last time he ever stood on his feet in 
 the open air was Saturday morning, May 23, 1845. ^^ 
 lived sixteen days after that, but was unable to leave 
 his room. His sufferings during this period were aggra- 
 vated by the fact that his cough precluded repose in bed ; 
 and the only semblance of comfort he could find was in 
 sitting upright in the great arm-chair of hickory-poles 
 made for him by his admirers in the presidential cam- 
 paign of 1824 and softened by ample cushions which 
 Mrs. Jackson had quilted with her own hands. 
 
 Of course, when a man has reached the age of seventy- 
 
 383 
 
384 HISTORY OF ANDREW JACKSON 
 
 eight, he must be prepared to die. Jackson reahzed that 
 fact and braved it with the fortitude which had nerved 
 him to suffer the blow of the British officer's sabre rather 
 than clean the officer's boots when he was a boy of 
 thirteen and a prisoner of war in 1780; a fortitude that 
 had never left him for a moment in any peril or under 
 any anguish. Most of his immediate friends and mem- 
 bers of his family believed that his remarkable exertions 
 and excitements in the campaign of 1844 exhausted the 
 slender stock of vitality which was yet in him, and that, 
 had he spared himself that ordeal, he might have lingered 
 to pass the fourscore milestone of life. 
 
 Said Mrs. Polk to the author: ''It has ever been a 
 sad thought to me that General Jackson may have cut 
 short the little span of years nature might have left him 
 by his remarkable efforts in support of Mr. Polk during 
 the campaign of 1844. I saw him more than once that 
 summer, and he invariably said to me : 'Never fear, 
 daughter, I will put you in the White House you can so 
 adorn if it costs me my life!' I did not realize the 
 full force of his words then ; but when the tidings of 
 his passing away came to me, I was in the White House, 
 and the news made me — " [Here the venerable lady 
 left the room abruptly and did not return for a quarter 
 of an hour, when the condition of her eyes told that she 
 had been overcome by her memories.] 
 
 "But," she resumed, "it was his nature to do things 
 that way. Of some men you will hear it said that they 
 were either for or against something. General Jackson 
 was always for something. Of course, in being for one 
 thing he always must be against some other thing, its 
 opposite or antithesis. But the 'being for' was what 
 
CHARACTER AND PERSONALITY 385 
 
 filled his soul. The being against was secondary or in- 
 cidental — necessary and unavoidable, as a rule. But 
 nothing ever delighted him so much as to find the thing 
 he was for unopposed. Everybody will tell you that he 
 liked to fight for fighting's sake. As one who knew him 
 from childhood, one whose father was his friend and 
 fellow-pioneer, one who when a wee child sat on his 
 knee in the days when most of his repute was that of 
 a fighting man, I tell you he fought, not for fighting's 
 sake, but for the sake of the cause or the woman he 
 revered and loved." 
 
 Here the illustrious lady paused for a few minutes, 
 as if overcome by her own eloquence. Again resuming, 
 she said that the General took much greater interest in 
 the campaign of 1844 than in that of 1840 and exerted 
 himself more, while his powers of endurance were of 
 course much less at seventy-seven than they had been 
 at seventy-three. "The campaign of 1840," she pursued, 
 "was defensive; merely holding, or trying to hold, one's 
 own. That kind of battle, while it challenged some of 
 his combative energies, did not evoke all or even the 
 best of them. In defence he was, of course, grand. But 
 in 1844 the campaign was one of attack — to wrest from 
 the enemy a position they held. That w^as the kind of 
 struggle that stirred every drop of his blood and strung 
 every fibre in his body. In defence, I said, he was grand. 
 But in attack, there never was and never will or can be 
 another leader like him." 
 
 This, viewed as a picture of Jackson and as an analysis 
 
 of his character in party leadership, is so much better 
 
 and more graphic in its simplicity than anything we 
 
 could write, that we leave it here without comment, just 
 Vol. II.— 25 
 
386 HISTORY OF ANDREW JACKSON 
 
 as it stands. It shows also the unconscious stateswoman 
 in Mrs. Polk herself. She never had an intellectual 
 superior in the White House, 
 
 It has been noted that when General Jackson left 
 Washington in March, 1837, at the end of eight years 
 in the presidency, he was compelled to borrow a con- 
 siderable sum to settle his accounts of a personal nature 
 — mainly, if not altogether, due to the insufficiency of 
 his official salary and allowances, together with the cur- 
 rent earnings of his plantation, to meet the expenses of 
 the establishment he maintained in the White House. 
 This debt he finished paying in the fall of 1839. But 
 soon after that his adopted son encountered misfortune 
 in certain speculations, and to extricate him from their 
 financial consequences the General had to borrow about 
 $16,000. Of this amount he obtained $6,000 from his 
 factors (cotton brokers) in New Orleans, J. B. Planchine 
 and Company, and $10,000 from Messrs. Blair and 
 Rives, proprietors of the Washington Globe. 
 
 Various causes conspired to prevent him from liquidat- 
 ing these debts during his lifetime. Therefore, in 1843, 
 he was compelled to make a new will and testament to 
 take the place of one which had been made shortly after 
 the death of Mrs. Jackson. The new will provided first 
 for the payment of these two debts, which were expressly 
 set forth in its text, together with all other dues from 
 him to others not enumerated. It then made a number 
 of special bequests, mostly in slaves or in relics and 
 mementoes to particular individuals, and finally devised 
 the residue of the estate to his adopted son, Andrew 
 Jackson, Jr. Just how much was left after paying the 
 debts is not of apparent record, as the executor was also 
 
CHARACTER AND PERSONALITY 387 
 
 the beneficiary of the residue and no bond or accounting 
 was exacted from him except the receipts of creditors, 
 the court not deeming it necessary to require receipts 
 for the keepsakes from those to whom they were given. 
 The General's adopted son was never prominent ex- 
 cept through the fame of the name he bore. He was 
 the son of Savern Donelson, Mrs. Jackson's brother, and 
 was born in 1806. Those of the older generation in 
 Tennessee and others who knew him personally describe 
 him as a handsome, genial, generous fellow, either as 
 boy or man ; bright at school and popular in young man- 
 hood. The author once asked an elderly lady of Nash- 
 ville — a relative, by the way, of Sarah Yorke, whom the 
 adopted son married — what her recollections were of 
 Andrew Jackson, Jr. She replied : ''Well, he was all 
 Donelson. If you don't know what that means, I will 
 tell you. The Donelsons were a large family, and they 
 had more uniformity of character and temperament than 
 I have ever known to exist among so many. They were 
 all fine-looking people, both sexes alike. Some of the 
 girls in the second and third generations were very beau- 
 tiful. The men were high-spirited, and most of them 
 were a good deal above mediocrity in mind and attain- 
 ments. The smartest of them was the General's name- 
 sake, Andrew Jackson Donelson — or 'Jack,' as he was 
 usually called about here in those days. He was really 
 a man of unusual ability and noble character. I always 
 thought if he had been left to himself he would have 
 carved out a fortune of his own. But he spent twenty 
 or more of his best years either in the regular army or 
 in personal service to his uncle, the General. He grad- 
 uated very near the head of his class at West Point. 
 
388 HISTORY OF ANDREW JACKSON 
 
 But he remained with or near the General till he was over 
 forty years of age. After that he held several important 
 offices at home and abroad, and was at one time editor 
 of a paper in Washington. Yes, 'J^^k' was the ablest 
 of all the Donelsons. 
 
 *The one whom the General adopted was a fine fellow 
 in every way, and his wife, Sarah Yorke, was one of 
 the nicest women I ever knew. But young 'Andy,' as 
 we generally called him, was not adapted to business 
 pursuits. He was either 'unlucky,' as people say, or 
 else he was born to be one of those whom the Scotch 
 call 'ne'er-do-weels.' I don't know which it was. But 
 I do know that, though he was temperate and diligent, 
 he never seemed to prosper on his own account, and 
 the General always helped him more or less. And he 
 was always helping all the Donelsons, as much as they 
 would let him. But they were proud people, and did 
 not wish to be looked upon as dependents — not even 
 upon the good-will of so great a man as the General. 
 You see. General Jackson loved Aunt Rachel so that 
 he looked upon all her relations as his own blood kin, 
 and having none of his own, you might say almost that 
 he adopted the whole family — and they were numerous. 
 I was born in 1800 and lived near Clover Bottom, so I 
 knew the Jackson and Donelson families as soon as I 
 got old enough to know anybody. Yes, they were the 
 nicest kind of people, even if they did not prosper over- 
 much, and the General was not by any means alone in 
 liking them. Everybody liked them and they liked every- 
 body. This was perfectly true of 'Andy,' and that is 
 one reason why I said he was a thorough Donelson, 
 even if he was sometimes unlucky in his ventures and 
 
CHARACTER AND PERSONALITY 389 
 
 cost his adopted father a good deal one time and 
 another." 
 
 During the Hfetime of Mrs. Jackson, who, as we have 
 seen from her letters and her ways, was a devout Chris- 
 tian, the General often promised her that ''as soon as 
 he got out of public life he would join the church." 
 Rough as his nature was in many respects and fierce as 
 his career may have been, Andrew Jackson was filled with 
 the instincts of purity and the impulses of righteousness. 
 For example, when he heard of the death of Aaron Burr, 
 in 1836, he said to Mr. Blair that "Burr came within 
 one trait of the most exalted greatness." 
 
 "What was that?" asked Mr. Blair. 
 
 "Reverence, sir, reverence," replied the General sol- 
 emnly. "I don't care how smart or how highly educated 
 or how widely experienced a man may be in this world's 
 affairs, unless he reveres something and believes in some- 
 body beyond his own self, he will fall short somewhere. 
 That was the trouble with Burr. I saw it when I first 
 met him at Philadelphia in 1796. I was a raw back- 
 woodsman, but had sense enough to see through men a 
 good deal smarter than I could ever hope to be myself. 
 I liked him and for many things admired him. But I 
 never could get over that one impression that he was 
 irreverent. And that was what stood in his way. I 
 remember reading away back yonder how he said, when 
 he read Hamilton's farewell letter, that 'it sounded like 
 the confession of a penitent monk.' I thought then, 
 Blair, that if I had killed a man as he killed Hamilton, 
 even if I had thought such a thing, I would leave it for 
 somebody else to say. In the inner circles of my friends 
 I have once or twice spoken of Mr. Dickinson's charac- 
 
390 HISTORY OF ANDREW JACKSON 
 
 ter as I knew it to be, but never publicly or for the 
 world to hear or read. Yes, Blair, a man must revere 
 something or, no matter how smart or brave he is, he 
 will die as Burr died in New York the other day, friend- 
 less and alone." 
 
 This estimate of Burr is more valuable as an index 
 to Jackson's character than as an analysis of Burr's, 
 though it is undeniably just in any sense. 
 
 In regard to General Jackson's formal communion with 
 the Orthodox Presbyterian Church in 1843, ^^'^ think 
 it may be safely described as the outward manifesta- 
 tion of a change of heart which really began with the 
 passing of Mrs. Jackson in 1828. In our own observa- 
 tion we have seen and known some men as obdurate, 
 as exultantly brave, as heedless of danger, as stoical 
 under bodily pain, and, generally speaking, as hard and 
 grim as Jackson may have been at his worst, to be soft- 
 ened, chastened and subdued suddenly and permanently 
 by some irreparable bereavement that inflicted an un- 
 speakable sorrow, never to be assuaged. It usually hap- 
 pens that the bravest and hardest men, if they be men 
 of chivalry and honor, are the tenderest lovers. That 
 these words describe General Jackson, we do not think 
 any close student of his nature will try to gainsay. Now, 
 such a man may be very wicked in the common accepta- 
 tion of that term, so long as no great shock comes to his 
 brain and heart, to teach him — with all the force of a 
 rifle-bullet but without its deadliness — that this life is 
 not all in what we see to-day or may have seen yesterday. 
 Time and again have we seen such men take their first 
 glimpse of the soul's immortality in a hope, vague and 
 shadowy at first, but constant within them and always 
 
CHARACTER AND PERSONALITY 391 
 
 growing, that they may, when this Hfe is done, meet and 
 greet once more and forever the loved one in the realm 
 of God's Eternity. 
 
 There can be no doubt, we think, that this preparation 
 for the Christian change, if not the change itself, crept 
 over the heart and through the soul of Andrew Jackson 
 when he consigned to the Hermitage garden the mortal 
 ashes of his Rachel. At any rate, we know that from 
 that moment he mended the ways of his life. He sub- 
 dued his daily walk and he modulated his daily conver- 
 sation. True, his temper rose now and then — but so 
 does the wrath of the righteous. One need not be a 
 sheep to be a Christian. But on the whole the Jackson 
 who survived "Aunt Rachel" was a different man from 
 the one she called husband in her lifetime; a milder, 
 gentler-spoken, more tender-voiced and more reverent 
 man than she had ever known. The love he bore to her 
 in the body seemed to follow her soul away somewhere, 
 he knew not where, but he did know that it followed her 
 spirit ; and in his rugged, strife-scarred, storm-beaten and 
 pain-seared simplicity of manhood, that itself was a re- 
 ligion. These observations — trite in themselves, may- 
 hap — lead us irresistibly to the conclusion that, when 
 General Jackson formally and outwardly "joined the 
 church," in 1843, he only avowed in the sight of men a 
 faith he had long ago confessed to God Almighty in the 
 silent sanctuary of his own soul. 
 
 In this train of thought we have been led farther into 
 — or toward — the labyrinth of spiritual disquisition than 
 was our initial purpose. Suffice to say, therefore, that 
 when the old General joined the church in 1843 he did 
 it, as he had done everything else all through his many 
 
392 HISTORY OF ANDREW JACKSON 
 
 and marvellous years, with all his heart and all his mind 
 and all his might and all his being. 
 
 There was nothing particularly out of the common 
 in the death of General Jackson. A few hours before 
 the end came he found strength to sign a letter to 
 President Polk, dictated the night before, exhorting him 
 to stand firm on the Oregon boundary-line of 'Tifty- 
 four-forty." 
 
 When he had signed it he said he hoped the rights of 
 the country could be maintained without war. ''But, if 
 not, let it come! The old patriots are gone or going, 
 but new ones enough are taking their places. Let our 
 rights be defended, no matter what the cost!" 
 
 There is no authentic record of any further expression 
 from him on any public topic. Ala j or Lewis came to 
 his bedside — or rather to his chairside — about eleven 
 o'clock in the morning of June 8th. To him he feebly 
 dictated farewell messages for Francis P. Blair, Sam 
 Houston, Thomas H. Benton, William Allen and Mrs. 
 Polk. He tried to mention two or three more, but his 
 articulation failed. After a few moments his frame 
 shook, his eyes opened, and he saw some of his faithful 
 old slaves standing around his feet as he sat propped 
 up in the chair. To them he found voice to say : ''Be 
 good. Don't cry. We shall meet " 
 
 Then, without finishing the sentence, he closed his 
 eyes and passed away. 
 
 In matters of personal habit, the innumerable little 
 things that make up the daily life of every man, great 
 or humble, Andrew Jackson was always the frank, cor- 
 dial, simple-mannered and open-hearted pioneer. With 
 
CHARACTER AND PERSONALITY 393 
 
 him as its master, the "latch-string" of the White House 
 was ever "out," as completely and as hospitably as had 
 been that of the lowly log-cabin where he was born. 
 In that respect the dizziest pinnacle of power he ever 
 reached made no impress upon his imagination; never 
 altered his bearing or his flavor of manliness. 
 
 Once when he was President a highly accomplished 
 Baltimore lady — no less a personage than the wife of 
 Jerome Bonaparte — said to him : "General, there must 
 be a sensation of exalted pride in feeling that you hold 
 the place once held by Washington." 
 
 With his courtliest bow and most winning smile, he 
 replied : "Yes, madam ; it is a sensation not unlike that 
 which a gentleman must feel when he is honored by the 
 society of Napoleon Bonaparte's sister-in-law !" 
 
 From the lips of some men this might have been no 
 better than the compliment of a courtier; for, whatever 
 he may have been with men, with women General Jack- 
 son was a veritable Sir Launcelot. With incidents of 
 this trait a long chapter might be filled. On another 
 occasion, Miss Vaughan, the handsome and accomplished 
 niece of the British minister, said to him : "Mr. Presi- 
 dent, you and General Washington enjoy a unique fame. 
 No one else has ever defeated my countrymen." 
 
 "That, my dear lady, is because we were descended 
 from your countrywomen!" he retorted, quick as a flash 
 and suave as a knight of the Round Table. 
 
 Almost the only Caucasian servitor about the White 
 House in Jackson's time was an Irish stableman named 
 Malloy. He was an old soldier of the regular army and 
 had served under Jackson in Ogden's troop of the old 
 First Dragoons; had been of the head-quarters escort at 
 
394 HISTORY OF ANDREW JACKSON 
 
 New Orleans and in the last Florida campaign. The 
 place he held was given to him by Monroe at Jackson's 
 request. Malloy's wife was a jolly Irishwoman, much 
 younger than her veteran husband, and employed in 
 the White House. The General was fond of provoking 
 her wit. One day he said to her in a bantering way : 
 
 "No one w^ould take me for an Irishman, would he, 
 Ellen?" 
 
 'Tndade they would, sur, if they heard you talk to 
 the grand ladies. That taste of the blarney you have, 
 sur, would bethray you in an Injin's skin, sur!" 
 
 He never met a person he knew by sight or by name, 
 high or humble, white or black, without ''passing the 
 time o' day." And his greeting to one was as courtly 
 as to the other. 
 
 ''Among men," said Governor Allen, "his acquaint- 
 ances or friends were divided into four groups: First, 
 and most numerous, those w^hom he invariably addressed 
 ceremoniously as 'Mr. So-and-so' or by any military or 
 judicial title they might have. Second, those w^hom he 
 addressed by their surnames, without prefix. Third, 
 those whom he called by their first names spelled out 
 in full. And, fourth — the rarest eminence of all — those 
 whom he called by first names abbreviated. The first 
 and fourth classes were invariable; the second and third 
 interchangeable. For example, I considered myself 
 nearer to him than Benton was because he always called 
 me 'William' and always held the great Missourian at 
 half arm's length as 'Benton.' The editor of the Globe 
 was always 'Blair' to his face, or 'Frank Blair' in the 
 third person. But when it came to 'Van,' or even 
 *Matty,' for Van Buren, 'Jack' for Major Donelson, 
 
CHARACTER AND PERSONALITY 395 
 
 'Billy' for Major Lewis, frequently *Ike' for Senator 
 Isaac Hill, short, simple 'Bill' for Generals Carroll and 
 William O. Butler, 7ack' or 'Old Jack' for Generals 
 John Coffee and John Adair — notwithstanding that Adair 
 was not very good to him in later years — when, as I 
 say, you heard these fine distinctions, you always knew 
 where his heart was. 
 
 ''He had a faculty of remembering the faces and re- 
 calling the names of his old soldiers that was perfectly 
 marvellous. This applied to volunteers and regulars 
 alike. I recall one incident in Cincinnati. He had just 
 landed from the boat on his way home in 1832 when 
 a rather rough-looking fellow tried to elbow his way 
 through the ranks of the reception committee. He was 
 warned to stand aside. But the General had observed 
 him. 'Hello, Ned!' he exclaimed, advancing and hold- 
 ing out his hand. 'How are you, General,' said 'Ned.' 
 Then, turning to the committee, the General explained : 
 'One of my old boys in the Fourth Infantry, gentlemen. 
 Grand rascal in those days, but a good soldier. I had 
 to release him from the guard-house once or twice, where 
 he had found his way for fighting or stealing chickens 
 or taking forty drops too often — soldierly offences, gen- 
 tlemen, soldierly offences!' 'How long since you have 
 seen him. General?' asked one of the committee. 'Why,' 
 he answered, as if it was the merest matter of course, 
 'he was on guard at the governor's house in Pensacola 
 the day I left there twelve years ago. This is the first 
 time I have seen him since.' 
 
 "One day an old sailor came to the White House 
 during his last term. Of course, he was admitted. The 
 General looked at him intently for a whole minute. 
 
396 HISTORY OF ANDREW JACKSON 
 
 'I've seen you before! You were at New Orleans?' 
 he said. 
 
 "'Yes, sir; one of the Carohna's crew, sir.' 
 
 " 'Ah, now I remember ! You landed with Norris and 
 fought in the twenty- four-pounder battery — Battery 
 Number Two!' 
 
 "'Yes, sir; I was seaman-gunner there.' 
 
 " 'What are you doing now ?' 
 
 " 'Odd jobs at rigging, sir, over in Baltimore. I'm 
 getting a little 'long in years. General, and the sea is 
 too hard for me now.' The General moistened his lips 
 with his tongue, as was his habit when contriving some- 
 thing. 
 
 " 'Like to get into the navy-yard, eh ?' 
 
 " 'Yes, sir; if you please, sir.' 
 
 "Then, turning to young Rives : 'Here, Mr. Rives, 
 take this old fellow over to Mr. Dickerson [Secretary of 
 the Navy] and have him fixed in a good navy-yard 
 place. Tell him I mean it!' 
 
 "The old salt bowed himself out rejoicing. To the 
 half-dozen or so Representatives or Senators in the room 
 the General remarked : 'Old sailors of the Carolina's crew 
 are not so plenty but what a feller can do one of them 
 a good turn when he happens along.' " 
 
 Some idea of the rancor of party strife in Jackson's 
 time may be apprehended from the incident of "sawing 
 off the figure-head" of the old Constitution, rebuilt at 
 Boston in i833-'34. This anecdote was related to the 
 author many years ago by the veteran and famous ship- 
 builder, Charles H. Cramp: In 1833, while the Constitu- 
 tion was rebuilding at the Boston navy-yard, the com- 
 mandant there was Captain Jesse D. Elliott, who, as a 
 
CHARACTER AND PERSONALITY 397 
 
 lieutenant, served with such conspicuous gallantry under 
 Perry on Lake Erie. Captain Elliott was an ardent 
 admirer of General Jackson, and when the President 
 visited Boston in 1833 conceived the idea of using his 
 bust in wood-carving as a new figure-head for the 
 famous old frigate. The bust was designed by Con- 
 structor Samuel Humphreys, son of Joshua Humphreys, 
 who designed the ship herself in 1794. In the summer 
 of 1834 the rebuilt Constitution was getting ready for 
 a cruise, and lay in the basin of the Boston navy-yard. 
 
 An East India captain in the service of Messrs. Will- 
 iam and Henry Lincoln, great shipping merchants of 
 that time, named Samuel W. Dewey, was a strong anti- 
 Jackson man. Returning from a long voyage just be- 
 fore the Constitution was ready to sail. Captain Dewey 
 learned of what he called ''the desecration" of the ship 
 and declared that she should not sail with the head of 
 any living landsman at the fore— and least of all that 
 of General Jackson, who from his point of view had so 
 often violated that muniment of our liberties whose 
 name the frigate bore. Captain Dewey was known to 
 all his friends as a man of reckless daring and also as 
 a keen practical joker. But when, in the privacy of a 
 select circle, he announced his intention of sawing off 
 the obnoxious head, none believed he would actually 
 attempt such a foolhardy feat. The vessel was partly 
 manned, and the usual deck-guard was maintained. 
 However, taking advantage of a dark, rainy night, he 
 obtained a small boat, rowed out under the bow of the 
 ship, climbed up by means of the bobstay and "martin- 
 gale" to the cutwater and with a well-greased hand-saw 
 soon severed the head. He then took the trophy ashore 
 
398 HISTORY OF ANDREW JACKSON 
 
 and exhibited it privately to his friends — including his 
 employers. The navy-yard officials were, of course, 
 greatly exercised, but could not discover the culprit. 
 
 When President Jackson was informed of it, he 
 seemed more inclined to censure the commandant who 
 had made such use of his bust without authority than 
 the bold practical joker who had subjected him to vicari- 
 ous decapitation. Concerning the latter, he said — think- 
 ing probably he was someone connected with the navy : 
 
 "Of course, he is a grand rascal, whoever he may be. 
 But I'll bet he is a fellow that will fight if you get him 
 started right. Such daring as that, actuated by proper 
 motive, would nerve a man to go out in a boat and put 
 a Bushnell torpedo under the bow of an enemy's ship 
 on our coast in time of war! Should he be found out, 
 I don't know^ whether I would break him or promote 
 him. It would depend on tlie 'cut of his jib,' as sailors 
 say." 
 
 Subsequently it was proposed to place the General's 
 bust on the figure-head of the 74-gun ship North Caro- 
 lina, but he peremptorily vetoed the suggestion. A year 
 or so later Captain Dewey, to relieve from suspicion an 
 officer or two of the sloop-of-war Cyane who had been 
 accused of sawing off the head, openly avowed the act, 
 and sent his trophy to Washington, where it was shown 
 to the General, who merely repeated what he had already 
 said about the affair. Of course, Captain Dewey was 
 liable to prosecution for destroying public property, but 
 Jackson ordered that the matter be ignored. He re- 
 ceived the captain himself pleasantly, and persisted in 
 his original view that it was a daring bit of bravado, 
 the success of which was admirable, irrespective of the 
 
CHARACTER AND PERSONALITY J99 
 
 motive. Besides, he said, if he had known that a bust 
 of himself was used in that manner, he would have or- 
 dered it removed. 
 
 Instead of reproving Captain Dewey when the latter 
 avowed his act, General Jackson thanked him, saying 
 that Captain Elliott had suspected certain naval officers, 
 and he was glad to have such suspicion removed. He 
 added that ''civilians had a right to be as partisan as 
 they pleased, but naval officers should be above party." 
 
 It happened that, while Jackson was President, com- 
 paratively few applications for executive clemency came 
 before him. In the few cases that did reach him his 
 habit was to refer them to the judge in whose court 
 the trial occurred. 'T was a judge once, myself," he 
 would say, "and if any man knows of mitigating circum- 
 stances, it is he. I have often sentenced a man in ac- 
 cordance with the verdict of a jury whom I would have 
 pardoned in the next dozen words if I had possessed 
 the power." 
 
 In 1834 he remitted the fine of $500 imposed upon 
 Sam Houston two years before by the criminal court 
 of the District of Columbia for thrashing Representative 
 Stansberry, of Ohio. Commenting on the affair, he said 
 that Sam's only fault that he could see was ''hitting him 
 a couple of times too many. But," he added — doubtless 
 in deference to some memories of his own — "when a 
 fellow is smarting under calumny such as the Whigs 
 heaped upon poor old Sam, he seems to lose the faculty 
 of counting blow^s." 
 
 His behavior when assaulted by Lieutenant Randolph, 
 and also when a lunatic named Lawrence snapped two 
 pistols at him in the Capitol, is too well known for de- 
 
400 HISTORY OF ANDREW JACKSON 
 
 scription at this late day. Mr. Parton says that the 
 General suspected his old friend George Poindexter of 
 having instigated this attempt. In our limited research 
 we have not found anything to that effect from Jackson. 
 Mr. Parton does not offer evidence, except some random 
 speculations of Harriet Martineau. Besides, General 
 Jackson knew George Poindexter, of Mississippi, too 
 well to suspect him of ^'instigating" such an act. He 
 knew very well that if Senator Poindexter wanted a 
 man killed, he would do it himself, and give the man 
 an equal chance for his life at that. There is a limit to 
 the scope of surmise in such cases. However, Air. Par- 
 ton, Miss Martineau and Lawrence himself were all 
 English. The surmise that Jackson suspected George 
 Poindexter of "instigating assassination" carries with 
 it the inference that he may have been capable of idiocy 
 at times. Americans said a good many malicious things 
 about him. Fortunately, this Parton-Martineau surmise 
 was reserved for an Englishman and an Englishwoman. 
 
 Jackson did, however, suspect that Randolph, if not 
 directly ''instigated," had been unduly wrought upon by 
 Calhoun, who was his friend and who had tried to get 
 him reinstated in the navy — from which he had been 
 dismissed. 
 
 In buried treasures of old manuscript correspondence 
 and reminiscences of those who knew Jackson best linger 
 many traces of his American bonhomie and his Irish wit. 
 
 One day, about the time for Congress to assemble in 
 December, 1833, Ralph Ingersoll, of Connecticut, who 
 had been one of the few straight-out Jackson Democrats 
 in the New England delegation, but retired in 1833, 
 called upon the President. In the course of conversation 
 
CHARACTER AND PERSONALITY 401 
 
 he remarked that he stayed over a few days on his way 
 to visit friends in Philadelphia. Jackson asked him what 
 news he heard while there. He replied : 
 
 ''Of course, General, you want me to tell you the 
 truth." 
 
 ''Did you ever tell me anything else? If so, congratu- 
 late yourself that I never caught you at it!" 
 
 "Well, General, I must tell you that you are not very 
 popular just now in Philadelphia — in fact, quite unpopu- 
 lar." 
 
 "Oh, that's no news. I am wxll aware that I enjoy 
 an extreme unpopularity with an influential class of per- 
 sons in that town. They consider me hopelessly honest. 
 They charge me, as I understand, with an immoral de- 
 votion to the cause and interests of the common people 
 only to be matched by my flagrant opposition to the 
 Bank barons who get rich at the people's expense. Oh, 
 yes ; I know all that. It is encouraging, but it isn't news. 
 Anything else?" 
 
 "Well, sir, the Quakers do not approve your policy 
 of removing the Indians to the West." 
 
 "Don't they? Well, that isn't news, either. Let me 
 tell you a little story: In March, 1832, I was visited by 
 a delegation of Philadelphia Quakers on that subject. 
 They were introduced by Buchanan, who immediately 
 made his escape and went as far as Russia to get out 
 of the way! Well, I didn't need any introduction to 
 the Quakers. I knew them of old. Years ago I got 
 acquainted with one by the name of Allison. That ac- 
 quaintance cost me money. It would have cost me all 
 I had and more too but for a lucky difference in juris- 
 diction between State and Federal courts. Allison failed 
 Vol. II.— 26 
 
402 HISTORY OF ANDREW JACKSON 
 
 in business to help himself, and left those doing business 
 with him to help themselves — if they could. Luckily 
 I could and did. But that isn't the point, except to show 
 that I didn't need Buchanan's introduction to acquaint 
 me with Philadelphia Quakers. The delegation was part 
 men and part women. The men wore broad-brim hats 
 and the women narrow-brim bonnets. The men wouldn't 
 take off their hats in the house. But I overlooked that 
 — the hats, I mean. Of course, if men ain't polite enough 
 to take off their hats when they come into your house, 
 you have to overlook them. 
 
 "Well, I asked them what I could do for them. They 
 said they came to protest against removing the Indians. 
 I asked, What for? They said it was inhuman. I asked 
 them why? They said because it was wrong to drive 
 the Indians away from their ancestral homes and ancient 
 hunting-grounds. I asked them if Philadelphia was the 
 ancestral home and ancient hunting-ground of the Qua- 
 kers. They said. Not exactly, but it was a different case. 
 I asked if they were born in Philadelphia. They said 
 they were. I asked about their parents. They said their 
 parents were born there. Then about their grandparents. 
 Yes, they said, most of them were born there too. Then 
 I asked about their great-grandparents. At this, they 
 looked at one another! Finally one or two said. No; 
 their great-grandparents were mostly born in the old 
 country — England. So, I said, they left their ancestral 
 homes and ancient hunting-grounds and came to the 
 West in search of new homes. Well, yes, they did; but 
 it was a different case. Then I asked if their great- 
 grandparents, when they came to Philadelphia, found 
 any Indians there. They said. Yes, they did ; but it was 
 
CHARACTER AND PERSONALITY 403 
 
 a different case. What became of those Indians ? I asked. 
 
 Oh, they said, those Indians moved away; but it was a 
 
 different case. Why did they move away? I insisted. 
 
 Because onr forefathers bought their lands, they said; 
 
 but it was a different case. Then I asked, 'What did 
 
 your forefathers pay the Indians for their lands ?' They 
 
 said that was a different case. But they didn't tell me 
 
 what they paid! Then I asked, 'Did your forefathers 
 
 suffer temporally or spiritually by leaving their ancestral 
 
 homes and ancient hunting-grounds in England and 
 
 coming to new ones in the West?' They couldn't say 
 
 that they did. 
 
 "Well, some more questions were asked and answered 
 in about the same fashion. But whenever they couldn't 
 find any other answer, it was always a different case. 
 Finally I asked, 'Would you, if you could, go back right 
 now to the ancestral homes and ancient hunting-grounds 
 of your great-great-grandparents in England?' They 
 said that was a different case. 
 
 'Then I said : T think you folks have taken up quite 
 enough of my time to no purpose. There are quite a 
 number of people besides you in this country whose public 
 business needs my attention. But before you go, I want 
 to say that all I can make out of the visit you have 
 done me the honor to pay me this morning is that you 
 wish to meddle with something that you know nothing 
 about and make pretensions to motives which, by your 
 own confession, freely made, your ancestors not only 
 did not act upon, but which they denied by every act 
 they did, either as to themselves or as to the Indians. 
 And, furthermore, while I concede to everyone the con- 
 stitutional right to be as big a hypocrite as he or she 
 
404 HISTORY OF ANDREW JACKSON 
 
 may please, I deny your right to take up any more of 
 my time as President, chosen by a majority of the people 
 of this country to look after the proper business of all 
 the people.' 
 
 "Now, Mr. Ingersoll, what do you think? Those 
 Quakers went home to Philadelphia and told everyone 
 they could get to listen to them that General Jackson 
 had browbeat and insulted them. Now do you wonder 
 that, as I said, I 'enjoy unpopularity' in a town con- 
 trolled and wellnigh owned by such a kind of folks?" 
 
 When General Jackson, as we have remarked, objected 
 in 1845 to Polk's selection of James Buchanan for Sec- 
 retary of State in his Cabinet, Polk pleaded : *'But, Gen- 
 eral, you yourself appointed him minister to Russia in 
 your first term." 
 
 "Yes, I did," retorted the old commander quickly. 
 *Tt was as far as I could send him out of my sight, and 
 where he could do the least harm! I would have sent 
 him to the North Pole if we had kept a minister there!" 
 
 Yet some people maintain that there was no humor 
 in Jackson! It may have been grim, but it was there. 
 
 One or two more genre anecdotes, and we close : Early 
 in 1844, Silas Wright, then Senator from New York, 
 and as stanch a supporter of Jackson as he ever had 
 in a Northern State, wrote to Isaac Hill, then in Boston, 
 telling him it was commonly believed in New York that 
 Jackson was not strenuous in his support of Van Buren 
 for a third nomination as the Democratic candidate for 
 the presidency and beseeching him (Hill) to "set the 
 Old Man right." Isaac copied as much of Wright's 
 letter as he thought Jackson would relish and sent it to 
 him, with a few rather noncommittal observations of 
 
CHARACTER AND PERSONALITY 405 
 
 his own. Among Hill's comments was this : *T judge 
 that the New Yorkers don't care so much about getting 
 a President as they do about forcing a candidate. I 
 shall not have the temerity to attempt influencing your 
 opinion, but it strikes me that, if General Pakenham had 
 asked you where or on what part of your line you wanted 
 him to attack you at New Orleans, your answer would 
 have been that it didn't make any difference, because you 
 proposed to whip him all along the line! Now, I admit 
 this is a little obscure, but a man of your wit can ferret 
 out what I mean." 
 
 To this General Jackson replied: *T can understand 
 what you mean, but not exactly why you mean it. As 
 to the part of Wright's letter you send me, I can under- 
 stand why he should mean it, but not exactly what he 
 means! If you mean that I should come out and insist 
 on Van Buren again, or if Wright means that it would 
 be wrong for me to let anything else happen, all I can 
 say is that every indication points to a fine cotton crop 
 down here this year and that I expect to take an active 
 part in the campaign as soon as I hear from the con- 
 vention." 
 
 Among the General's peculiarities was an excessive 
 dislike of fads and idiosyncrasies of manner or speech. 
 One day a Virginian of social and political prominence 
 in his locality — a relative of Mrs. Benton — called upon 
 him at the White House. This gentleman had the dis- 
 agreeable oral habit of interspersing his conversation 
 liberally with "You understand?" or "Understand me?" 
 at the end of almost every sentence. This annoyed the 
 President, who finally interrupted him to say: "Judge, 
 I don't know whether your constant inquiry as to 
 
4o6 HISTORY OF ANDREW JACKSON 
 
 whether I ^mderstand' you impHes doubt of my hearing 
 or of my sense. But in either case, take it for granted 
 that I do 'understand/ and then go ahead with your 
 story!'' 
 
 The Virginian averred that it was purely an oral habit 
 and that he was unconscious of using the words when 
 he did so. 
 
 *'0f course I know that," said Jackson, ''but my old 
 friend Overton, who — as you know — used to be my trav- 
 elling companion and room-mate on the circuit in Ten- 
 nessee, snored dreadfully. Naturally, he was uncon- 
 scious of it. And I believe I had to wake him up more 
 than a hundred times to tell him of it before I could 
 break him. But I finally broke him of snoring." 
 
 "Well, General, you have already broken me of the 
 disagreeable oral habit. I shall never interrupt my own 
 conversation in that manner again." 
 
 "I'm glad to hear that, because I intend to appoint 
 you United States judge for your district, and it would 
 be quite unpleasant for a judge to follow that habit in 
 delivering opinions or charging juries!" Judge Pow- 
 hatan Ellis never again used the words "Do you under- 
 stand?" or "Understand me?" to round up his sentences. 
 
 Of Andrew Jackson's tastes or habits little need be 
 said. In his younger days he drank more than any young 
 man trying to make his fortune can afford to drink. 
 As he grew older and acquired more sense, he became 
 more temperate. Still it must be said that, to his latest 
 days, he was anything but a teetotaller, and that as 
 long as he lived neither the Hermitage nor the White 
 House was without its creature comforts. Though by 
 
CHARACTER AND PERSONALITY 407 
 
 no means a gourmet, he was always fond of a good 
 dinner, and there was always one on his table for him- 
 self or family or any friend or friends who might hap- 
 pen to come his way at meal-time. He lived in days 
 when horseflesh was the principal motive power of travel 
 and traffic, or the chief adjunct of manhood in war. 
 Therefore, he had a passion for fine horses, and for 
 more than half of his life was the most assiduous and 
 successful horse-breeder in his part of the country, if 
 not in any part. Being a pioneer, he was necessarily — 
 in the first half of his life at least — a hunter, and he had 
 few equals as a rifleman in a region where every man 
 had to be one. Even as late as the time when he had 
 left the White House and was over seventy years old, 
 and when the "large game" was gone from his neighbor- 
 hood, he could still "bark a squirrel" or behead a wild 
 turkey with his old flint-lock rifle almost as surely as 
 when he first crossed the mountains that separated North 
 Carolina from Tennessee. 
 
 As a slave-holder, or "master," his kindness, gentle- 
 ness and indulgence were proverbial. At any time during 
 the last forty or forty-five years of his life the colored 
 people of the region where he lived considered being 
 sold or traded into the possession of "Mass' Andrew" 
 the next best thing to freedom — if not better. But he 
 was absent much of his time and the plantation was 
 managed mainly by Mrs. Jackson, while she lived, or 
 by the overseer after her death. Both of them were 
 wont to complain that, whenever he was around home 
 for any length of time, he spoiled the slaves so that 
 "it took quite a while to get them in good working 
 order after he went away." He habitually trusted his 
 
4o8 HISTORY OF ANDREW JACKSON 
 
 slaves with important business affairs, frequently involv- 
 ing travel as far from home as New Orleans or to points 
 in the North where the soil was free. 
 
 If any white man maltreated or insulted one of his 
 slaves, he would call him to an account as swift and 
 summary as he might exact on his own behalf. The 
 groom of ''Old Truxton," a negro named Ephraim — 
 whom, by the way, the General always called "Ephra- 
 ham" — complained one day that a white man named 
 Grayson had struck him w^ith a riding-w^hip at Lebanon. 
 Jackson forthwith went to Lebanon, hunted up Grayson 
 and beat him with a heavy cane so severely that he was 
 laid up for four or five weeks, and then warned him if 
 he ever touched "Ephraham" again — or any other "ser- 
 vant" of his — he would shoot him at sight. "Ephra- 
 ham" was not molested any more. This was in 1809. 
 
 Jackson had a body-servant commonly known as "Sam 
 Jackson," who attended him through all his campaigns 
 and whom he armed with a rifle. "Sam" not only at- 
 tended his master faithfully, but fought valiantly in the 
 battles of the Creek w^ar and at New Orleans. In 1816 
 the General set him free. But he never left the old 
 plantation, and he died there about 1848, outliving the 
 General three years. By the way, "Sam" was one of the 
 "colored troops" previously referred to in our account 
 of Jackson's w^ar against Silas Dinsmore. Besides his 
 other accomplishments, Sam was an expert flat-boatman. 
 For many years he piloted the General's boats down- 
 river with produce of the plantation. On one occasion 
 a clerk in a commission-house in New Orleans refused 
 to transact business with him, though he was at that 
 time a free man. When the General heard of it, he 
 
CHARACTER AND PERSONALITY 409 
 
 withdrew his business from that house and transferred 
 it to Planchine and Company. Sam was fond of Hquor, 
 and would sometimes get intoxicated when about home. 
 But it was said of him that, when intrusted by the 
 General with business, he could not be induced to drink 
 at all. Three races were mixed in Sam, his father being 
 half white and half Choctaw and his mother a full-blood 
 negro woman. 
 
 After about 1808 or 1809 the General never sold any 
 slaves. He gave several to General Coffee — or rather 
 to Mrs. Coffee, who was Mrs. Jackson's niece — and he 
 also sent some of his negroes to work on plantations 
 belonging to his adopted son and one or two of the Don- 
 elson boys. He had no conscientious scruples on the 
 subject, but said simply that his slaves would beg so 
 hard to stay with him that he hadn't the heart to sell 
 them. The usual custom on plantations was to herd the 
 slaves together in a group of cabins, called "negro quar- 
 ters." But Jackson kept in that way only those em- 
 ployed about the house or attending the live-stock. The 
 field-hands lived in cabins scattered over the plantation 
 and they usually worked by "stints," which were always 
 made light, except, of course, in cotton-picking time. 
 
 Most of these anecdotes were related to the author 
 by a former slave of General Jackson, who, in 1873, 
 '74 and '75 still lived in Nashville. He was born on 
 the Hermitage plantation, "de y'ar de Gin'ril kum home 
 fum Floriddy," as he used to say (1820). We talked 
 with several of the old Jackson slaves, and they all meas- 
 ured their ages by important events in his career. The 
 colored people on the plantation attended religious ser- 
 vices with the family in the little chapel near the man- 
 
410 HISTORY OF ANDREW JACKSON 
 
 sion until, in later years, they became too numerous to 
 find room in it, when other accommodations for worship 
 w^ere provided. Marks in the old family bible indicate 
 several passages to which the General and Mrs. Jackson 
 were wont to refer as scriptural authority justifying the 
 institution. 
 
 Not long after Paul Jones had emerged alive from his 
 greatest battle, he was challenged by a Frenchman to 
 single combat. The American commissioners in France 
 at that time were Benjamin Franklin and John Adams. 
 Jones accepted the challenge and proposed pistols at ten 
 paces. The encounter was postponed by protest from 
 the Frenchman that the terms offered by Jones were 
 * 'barbarous," and that under the French code only the 
 rapier was recognized as the "weapon of honor." This 
 postponement enabled Franklin and Adams to exert their 
 good offices for the prevention of the duel, and they were 
 successful. During the discussion on the subject between 
 them, Mr. Adams suggested that Jones was foolish to 
 take any notice of the Frenchman's challenge and that 
 it was not necessary for him to fight a duel in order 
 to prove that he was a fighting man. To this Franklin 
 replied that Jones w^as "more kinds of a fighting man" 
 than he had ever heard of before or elsewhere! Our 
 impression is that if Dr. Franklin had lived to know 
 Andrew Jackson, he would have felt impelled to admit 
 an exception to the rule he formulated as to Paul Jones. 
 
 Jackson is and forever must be known to history as a 
 "fighting man," primarily and par excellence. All other 
 phases of him are incidental or adventitious. But, if 
 we listen to an explanation offered to the author by 
 Mrs. Polk, we must reach the conclusion that Jackson 
 
CHARACTER AND PERSONALITY 411 
 
 was not altogether to blame. "A favorite figure in all 
 history," said this lady, "is the ^Spartan mother.' Such 
 was Aunt Betty Jackson, who brought forth the General. 
 He used to relate to his intimate friends that when he 
 was not more than five years old, Aunt Betty saw him 
 crying one day. *Stop that, Andrew,' she commanded. 
 'Don't let me see you cry again! Girls were made to 
 cry; not boys!' 
 
 " Well, then, mother, what are boys made for ?' 
 
 " To fight !' she told him. 
 
 *The General used to say that, so far as he could 
 remember, he never cried again. 
 
 "Some eight years afterward, while going to school, 
 at or about the age of twelve, he was severely thrashed 
 by an older and stronger boy; a young man, in fact, 
 eighteen or nineteen years old. James Crawford, Aunt 
 Betty Jackson's brother-in-law and Andrew's uncle, pro- 
 posed to have the young man arrested and prosecuted 
 for assault and battery. 
 
 " 'No, sir !' exclaimed Aunt Betty. 'No son of mine 
 shall ever appear as complaining witness in a case of 
 assault and battery! If he gets hold of a fellow too 
 big for him, let him wait till he grows some and then 
 try it again !' " 
 
 "There is no record," added Mrs. Polk, "of Andrew 
 Jackson's appearance as complainant in a case of that 
 kind. The complaint — if the other fellow lived — was 
 always the other way." 
 
 To the array of facts which we have endeavored faith- 
 fully to deploy it does not seem that peroration could 
 add any useful thing. We think, however, it will be safe 
 to remark that no man ever figured in our history con- 
 
412 HISTORY OF ANDREW JACKSON 
 
 cerning whose character and stature the mind of the 
 American people is more irrevocably made up than con- 
 cerning Andrew Jackson. For the rest, it needs neither 
 a Clay nor a Calhoun to parade his faults nor a humble 
 Jackson Democrat — contemporary or hereditary — to enu- 
 merate his virtues. Both will stand, just as he left them, 
 to the end of time. 
 
 THE END 
 
INDEX 
 
 Adair, General, i, 156, 423; his com- 
 mand placed in main line of battle, 
 425; at battle of New Orleans, ii, 11, 
 13; correspondence with Jackson, 
 no; at Mrs. Jackson's funeral, 202, 
 203; career, 273, note. 
 Adams, John, i, 120, ii, 141, 4io- 
 Adams, John Quincy, u, 107, 112; 
 sustains Jackson, 139-41; leadmg 
 American statesman, 159; presiden- 
 tial candidate, 168, 169, 172, 174; 
 elected President, 175; nommates 
 Clav Secretary of State, 175; sup- 
 posed bargain with Clay, 175-7?; 
 lack of enthusiasm, 191; character 
 of his party, 192; attack on, 193, 194; 
 held responsible by Jackson for 
 slander of Mrs. Jackson, 196; de- 
 feated by Jackson for Presidency m 
 1828, 199; supports the Bank, 266; 
 supports Jackson, 294; leader of 
 minority in the House, 324, 326; 
 correspondence with Jackson, 380. 
 Adavre, Major, ii, 39. 
 Alcorn, Colonel, i, 308. 
 Alexander, Mr., quoted, i, 220. 
 Allen, William, i, 20; quoted, 20, 21; 
 on Jackson's first vote in Congress, 
 116, 117; Jackson's Richmond 
 speech, 207, 208; invasion of Louisi- 
 ana, ii, 76, 77; on Jackson, 170, note; 
 speeches in campaign of 1828, 189, 
 note; career, 189, note; at the Her- 
 mitage, 300, 333; defeated for the 
 House, 333, note; presidential candi- 
 date, 377- , . „ , u 1 
 Allison, David, 1, 128; becomes bank- 
 rupt, 146, 150- 
 Alzar, Senor Fernando, i, 407? "> 3? 
 
 note. 
 Amand, Major, ii, 36. 
 Ambrister, Robert C, ii, 113; cap- 
 tured, 127, 128; sentenced to be shot, 
 128; death, 129. 
 Anderson, Patten, i ,195; death, 236. 
 Arbuckle, Colonel, ii, 56, 124, note. 
 Arbuthnot, Alexander, ii, 113; arrested, 
 126; sentenced to be hanged, 128; 
 death, 129. 
 Armstrong, John, becomes Secretary 
 of War, i, 265, 266; orders Jackson 
 to disband his command, 266; pays 
 Jackson's drafts, 275; criticises 
 Jackson, 276; efforts to regularize 
 
 military forces, 277; favoritism, 278; 
 deposed, 346. 
 Armstrong, Lieutenant Robert, 1, 321, 
 
 Arnaud, Major, 1, 428. 
 Avery, Isaac T., i, 133, 134. 
 Avery, Colonel Waighstill, duel with 
 Jackson, i, 103, 139, note, i55-57- 
 
 Ballard, Judge, describes American 
 troops at New Orleans, ii, 43) 44- 
 
 Ballard, Morgan, ii, 18; quoted, 179. 
 
 Bank of North America, i, 146, 1 50- 
 
 Baratarian smugglers, assist in defence 
 of New Orleans, i, 412, 419? ^^te, de- 
 ceive the British, ii, 66, 67. 
 
 Barney, Commodore, ii, 5. 
 
 Barry, Colonel, ii, 251. 
 
 Bathurst, Eari, refuses to receive 
 Colonel NichoUs, ii, 111-14- 
 
 Beale, Captain, narrow escape, i, 393. 
 
 Beale's New Orleans City Rifles, 1, 376, 
 387; capture of half, 392; at New 
 Orleans, ii, 30. 
 
 Beasley, Major, i, 292. 
 
 Bennett. James Gordon, ii, 188. 
 
 Benton, Jesse, duel with William Car- 
 roll, 282, 284-86; implicated in his 
 brother's duel with Jackson, 289. 
 
 Benton, Thomas H., i, 91; duel with 
 Jackson, 103, note, 104, 214; account 
 of Jackson's duel with Dickinson, 
 170-76; colonel of militia, 231; 
 makes Jackson's acquaintance, 232, 
 233; young lawyer, 233, 234; powers 
 of oratory, 235; a firm supporter and 
 friend of Jackson, 233, 234, 235; 
 ordered to Mississippi, 259, 261; 
 describes Tennessee troops, 261-63; 
 persuades Armstrong to pay Jack- 
 son's drafts, 274, 275; appointed 
 lieutenant-colonel, 276; his bravery, 
 287; quarrel with Jackson, 288; duel 
 with Colonel Lucas, 287, note; duel 
 with Jackson, 289; issues account of 
 the affair, 290; reconciliation with 
 Jackson, 2Q0; in Creek war, 295; 
 describes Mrs. Jackson, ii, 95; sup- 
 ports Jackson and Clay, 160; recon- 
 ciliation with Jackson, 163-65; 
 works for Jackson's election, 197; 
 quoted, 243, 246; opens anti-Bank 
 campaign, 247; altercation with 
 Clay, 266, 267; declines bullet from 
 
 413 
 
414 
 
 INDEX 
 
 Jackson, 268; aspires to the Presi- 
 dency, 376, 377; indorsed for Secre- 
 tary of St ate by Jackson, 382. 
 iton, Mrst>ii, 164. 
 
 Berrieri^Attorney- General, ii, 250, 251. 
 
 Bibbs, Governor, ii, 131. 
 
 Biddle, Mr. Nicholas, ii, 250; favors 
 forcing issue of the Bank, 256; fight 
 with Jackson, 314; beaten at his own 
 game, 328. 
 
 BigWarrior,i. 332,337. 
 
 "Billy Bowlegs," ii, 127. 
 
 Bissell, Captain, warned by Jackson, i, 
 200; his reply, 201. 
 
 Blackden, Colonel Samuel, i, 65. 
 
 Blair, Francis P., quoted, note, i, 23, 
 24, 25, no, ii, 182, 267; founds the 
 Washington Globe, 288-90; friend- 
 ship with Jackson, 290; services to 
 Jackson and Lincoln, 292, 293. 
 
 Blair, Francis P., Jr., ii, 279. 
 
 Blair, Mr., 44, note. 
 
 Blair, Montgomery, ii, 269. 
 
 Blennerhasset, Herman, ii, 98. 
 
 Blount, Governor, i, 82, 87, 112; ex- 
 pelled from Congress, 121. 
 
 Blount, William, elected Governor of 
 Tennessee, i, 229, 230; buys rifles, 
 259; instructions to troops, 260; 
 orders to General Cocke, 312; raises 
 troops for Jackson, 316, 317, 347. 
 
 Blount Papers, quoted, i, 122, note, 132, 
 138. 
 
 Blue, Major, i, 351. 
 
 Boleck, ii, 126, 127. 
 
 Bonaparte, Madame Jerome, ii, 393. 
 
 Bond, Bill, ii, 333, note. 
 
 Bonnell, Joseph, ii, 130, 350, note. 
 
 Boone, Nathan, ii, 198. 
 
 Bowen, Francis, ii, 305. 
 
 "Bowlock," 5ee Boleck. 
 
 Brackenridge, Henry M., ii, 148, 149, 
 
 ISO- 
 Bradley, Colonel, misconduct at Talla- 
 dega, i, 309. 
 
 Branch, Mr. T. L., i, 248, 250; Secre- 
 tary of the Navy, ii, 250, 251. 
 
 Branch, Professor, i, 36. 
 
 British designs in Louisiana, i, 358 et 
 seq., ii, 70 et seq. 
 
 Brock, General Sir Isaac, i, 255. 
 
 Brooke, Lieutenant, ii, 34. 
 
 Brown, Dr., i, 329, note. 
 
 Brown, General Jacob, ii, 99, loi; 
 criticised by Jackson, 145, 146. 
 
 Brown, John Calvin, ii, 381. 
 
 Brown, Representative, ii, 379. 
 
 Buchanan, James, ii, 188; disap- 
 proved by Jackson, as Secretary of 
 State, 382. 
 
 Buell, David, i, 193, and note, 193; 
 letters to his father, 279-82, ii, 51, 
 quoted, 341; visits Jackson, ii, 
 272; in Mexican War, 350, note. 
 
 Buell, Ezra, i, 279; reply to his son's 
 letter, 281, 7tote. 
 
 Buford, Colonel Abe, i, 43. 
 
 Burr, Aaron, opinion on suffrage, i, 
 3; aids in admission of Tennessee, 
 113; duel with Hamilton, 172; 
 effect of this duel, 172, 183; Jack- 
 son's estimate of, 172, 173; presides 
 over the Senate, 184; a political 
 exile and financial bankrupt, 185; 
 his Southwestern scheme, 185-89, 
 190-95; confides in Jackson, 188; 
 \'isits Nashville, 188, 190; cor- 
 respondence with Jackson, 191, 192; 
 fits out his expedition 195; ar- 
 rested by Jo Daviess, 197; starts 
 on his voyage down the Cumber- 
 land, 198; denounced by Jef- 
 ferson, 198; burned in eflBgy, 198; 
 arrested in Alabama, 202; litiga- 
 tion with Blennerhasset, ii, 98; 
 Jackson's estimate of, 389, 390. 
 
 Burroughs, Mr. E. N., i, 373; de- 
 scribes battle of New Orleans, ii, 
 19-22. 
 
 Butler, Benjamin F., Attorney-Gen- 
 eral, ii, 317, 359. 
 
 Butler, Captain, i, 354. 
 
 Buder, General WiUiam O., i, 48, note; 
 at New Orleans, ii, 7 et seq.; visits 
 Jackson, 272; at the White House, 
 335; runs for Governor of Kentucky, 
 37 7 J 378; quoted throughout this 
 
 * work. 
 
 Butler, Major T. L., i, 347, note; 
 at New Orleans, 422; ii, 7, note. 
 
 Calhoun, John C, ii, 115, 116, 138, 
 158; candidate for Vice-President, 
 188, 189; incurs Jackson's resent- 
 ment, ^^lLA- opinion on State- 
 rights, 239; Jackson's enemy, 240; 
 crushed by Jackson, 241, 242; in 
 South Carolina trouble, 273, 274, 
 275; doctrine of nullification, 281; 
 learns of Jackson's preparations, 
 284; votes for compromise tariff biU, 
 285; attack on Jackson, 319-21; 
 effort to create industrial panic, 
 321; opposes Webster's compro- 
 mise, 322; panic plans materialize, 
 326, 327; Jackson's contempt for, 
 336, 337; influences Tyler, 378, 
 
 379- 
 
 Callava, Governor Don Jos6, ii, 147; 
 arrested by Jackson, 149, 150. 
 
 Camden, disaster at, i, 44. 
 
 Camp Defiance, i, 321, 322. 
 
 Campbell, George W., i, 148, 152, 
 202, 229, ii, 108; counsellor-general 
 to Jackson, 183, 186; career, 187. 
 
 Campbell, Rev. Dr. J. N., accusa- 
 tions against Mrs. Eaton, ii, 229, 
 230. 
 
INDEX 
 
 415 
 
 Canning, George, instigator of the 
 "Monroe Doctrine," ii, 167. 
 
 Carolina, schooner, i, 387-go; de- 
 stroyed, 412. 
 
 Carroll, General William, i, 109, 
 note, 231, 267; duel with Jesse Ben- 
 ton, 282, 284-86; his career, 284; 
 description of Weatherford, 335; 
 at New Orleans, 411; character 
 of his command, 430, 431; battle 
 of New Orleans, ii, 11, 13, 16, 31; 
 "Boss" of Tennessee, 156, 185; 
 on Jackson's staff, 183, 186, 197; 
 career, 184-86; notifies Jackson of 
 his election, 199, 200; "punishes" 
 H. L. White, 253, 262; visits Jack- 
 son, 272. 
 
 Carroll, William, Gallatin's friend 
 and partner, i, 283, 284. 
 
 Carter, Mr., i, 107. 
 
 Cass, General, ii, 189; Secretary of 
 War, 251, 269; presidential can- 
 didate, 377. 
 
 Castlereagh, Lord, ii, 134, 139. 
 
 Catlett, Dr. Hanson, acts as second 
 for Dickinson, i, 167, 168, 169, 174. 
 
 Chandler, Abel, ii, 309. 
 
 Chase, Samuel, i, 184. 
 
 Chelocta, i, 337. 
 
 Chennby, Chief, i, 303. 
 
 Cherokees, i, 83, 84; expedition 
 against, 88, 89. 
 
 Chesapeake, outrage by Leopard, i, 
 203. 
 
 Chickasaws, i, 83, 84; treaty, ii, 103, 
 104. 
 
 Choctaws, i, 83, 84. 
 
 Choutard, Mademoiselle, i, 367. 
 
 Chronicle, Major, i, 45. 
 
 Claiborne, William C. C, i, 131; Gov- 
 ernor of Louisiana, 149; warned by 
 Jackson, 196; learns of British de- 
 signs on Louisiana, 358, 359; failure 
 to raise volunteers, 378. 
 
 Clay, Henry, ii, 159; opposed by Jack- 
 son, 166; presidential candidate, 168, 
 169, 172, 174, 175; character, 171; 
 nominated Secretary of State under 
 Adams, 175; opposed by Randolph, 
 176; supposed "bargain" with 
 Adams, 175-77; i^i the campaign of 
 1828, 195, 198; defeats Van Buren's 
 nomination, 254; decides that the 
 Bank must force the issue, 257; nom- 
 inated for President, 258; altercation 
 with Benton, 266, 267; defeated for 
 the Presidency, 280, 281; attack on 
 Jackson, 319-21; effort to create 
 industrial panic, 321; opposes Web- 
 ster's compromise, 322; materializa- 
 tion of panic plans, 326, 327; Jack- 
 son's hatred of, 335, 336; attitude in 
 campaign of 1836, 348, 349; attack 
 on Edward Livingston, 374, note. 
 
 Clayton, Thomas M., ii, 285. 
 Clinton, De Witt, ii, 158, 159. 
 Cochrane, Sir Alexander, i, 399, 412, 
 
 ii, I- . . 
 
 Cocke, William, General, i, 112, 231, 
 312. 
 
 Coffee, General John, duel with Na- 
 thaniel McNairy, i, 163; selected for 
 Burr's expedition, 193; colonel of 
 militia, 231; ordered to Mississippi, 
 258, 259, 261; part in Jackson-Ben- 
 ton duel, 289; in Creek war, 295, 
 296, 297; defeats the Creeks at Tal- 
 lushatchee, 302-05; eulogy by Wil- 
 liam Carroll, 305; at Talladega, 
 307, 308; loses part of his command, 
 315; recruits his force, 317; wounded 
 at Emuckfau, 320; at Enotichopco, 
 321; at Tohopeka, 326; joins Jack- 
 son with new brigade at Mobile, 347, 
 356; letter to his wife, 357; at New 
 Orleans, 376, 382, 387, 390, 392, 
 422, ii, 9; battle of New Orleans, 30; 
 supports Jackson, 197; visits Jack- 
 
 Coldek,lLyor^,T37rCCg^^j;^^t/^/t^ 
 
 Colman, Mr., ii, 166. 
 
 Congress, declares war against Great 
 Britain, i, 246; authorizes infantry 
 regiments, 277; passes militia laws, 
 
 343- 
 
 "Congressional Caucus," ii, 167, 168. 
 
 "Constitution," anecdote of her figure- 
 head, ii, 396-99. 
 
 Conway, George, i, 135. 
 
 Cooke, Captain J. Nelson, i, 373; 
 quoted, 395, 398, 413; describes battle 
 of New Orleans, ii, 18, 19. 
 
 Corcoran, William W., ii, 298. 
 
 Cornwallis, Lord, i, 44; censures Tarle- 
 ton, 50; forced to withdraw from the 
 Carolinas, 51; surrender, 52. 
 
 Costello, Captain, i, 373; qiioted, 395, 
 396, 398,411. 
 
 Cotton-bales, used in fortifications, 1, 
 405. 
 
 Cowpens, battle of, i, 49, 50. 
 
 Cramp, Charles H., ii, 396. 
 
 Crawford, James, i, 19, provides for 
 Mrs. Jackson, 33. 
 
 Crawford, Joseph, i, 19. 
 
 Crawford, Miss Betty, i, 46. 
 
 Crawford, Robert, i, 19. 
 
 Crawford, Thomas, captured, i, 51; 
 saves Jackson from duel, 63, 64. 
 
 Crawford, William H., ii, 138, 158; 
 hatred of Jackson, 140; presidential 
 candidate, 168, 169, 172, 174, 175. 
 
 Creeks, i, 83, 84; outbreaks in 1813, 
 292-94; bravery, 300; defeated by 
 Colonel Coffee at Tallushatchee, 
 302-04; defeated by Jackson at Tal- 
 ladega, 306-10; deceived by Nicholls, 
 311, 322; defeated at Emuckfau, 
 
4i6 
 
 INDEX 
 
 318-20; repulsed at Enotichopco, 
 
 320, 321, and at Camp Defiance, 
 
 321, 322; condition in 1814, 323, 324; 
 annihilated at Tohopeka, 327-330; 
 terms of the treaty, 337, ^^8; results 
 of the war, 33S, 339. 
 
 Crittenden, Captain, ii, 129. 
 Cunningham, Patrick, anecdote of, ii, 
 
 357-59- 
 Curriton, Lieutenant, i, 52. 
 
 Dale, Colonel, at battle of New Or- 
 leans, ii, 22, 23; death, 23. 
 
 Dale, Sam, i, 244, 294, 306, 326, 344; 
 visits Jackson, ii, 278; quoted, 278, 
 279. 
 
 Dallas, Acting-Secretary of War, cen- 
 sures Jackson, ii, 90, 91. 
 
 Dallas, Senator, offers memorial for re- 
 newal of charter to the United States 
 Bank, ii, 258, 259. 
 
 Daquin's Battery, i, 376, 387. 
 
 Davidson, George, ii, 188. 
 
 Davidson, John, i, 244. 
 
 Davie, Colonel William R., 1,41-43, 52. 
 
 Davis, Colonel, i, 424; repulsed at New 
 Orleans, ii, 36-38. 
 
 Dearborn, General, i, 201. 
 
 de Char\'ille, Paul, i, 79, 80. 
 
 De Clouet, Colonel, i, 416. 
 
 de la Roche, Captain, i, 391. 
 
 "Democratic" Party, note, i, 113. 
 
 "Democratic Republicans," i, 10. 
 
 de Peyster, Major James, i, 44. * 
 
 Dewey, Samuel W., ii, 397-99. 
 
 Dick, John, ii, 89. 
 
 Dickerson, Mahlon, Secretary of the 
 Navy, ii, 359. 
 
 Dickinson, Charles, duel with Jackson, 
 i, i53> 154, 155, 158-82; letter con- 
 cerning Jackson, in the Impartial 
 Review, 164; replies to Jackson's 
 challenge, 167; death, 175, 176; 
 funeral, 180. 
 
 Dickson Captain, ii, 38. 
 
 Dinsmore, Samuel, wronged by Jack- 
 son, i, 238-41. 
 
 Dockstadter, Colonel, ii, 73, note. 
 
 Dockstadter, Mr., ii, 73. 
 
 Donelson, Andrew Jackson, ii, 207, 
 269, see Andrew Jackson, Jr. 
 
 Donelson, Captain John, Jr., i, 402, 
 422, ii, 30. 
 
 Donelson, Colonel John, i, 80; death, 
 94. 
 
 Donelson, Colonel Samuel, i, 220. 
 
 Donelson Mary, i, 95, ii, 157, 200. 
 
 Donelson, Mrs. Andrew Jackson, ii, 
 200, 207, 232; returns to the White 
 House, 249; accompanies Jackson 
 home, 269. 
 
 Donelson, Mrs. John, i, 94-96. 
 
 Donelson, Samuel, i, 95. 
 
 Donelson, Savern, ii, 387. 
 
 Duane, William J., Secretary of the 
 Treasury, ii, 311; disagrees with 
 Jackson, 317; dismissal, 317. 
 
 Dubourg, Most Reverend Abbe, i, 
 380, ii, 79. 
 
 Dunlap, Colonel, i, 44. 
 
 Dupin, Colonel, i, 374; quoted, ii, 66, 
 note. 
 
 Dyer, Colonel, i, 308, ii, 130. 
 
 Eastin, Mr., i, 180. 
 
 Eaton, General John Henry, quoted, i, 
 26, 23, 376, note; on Jackson's staff, 
 183, 197; career, 183, 184; marries 
 Mrs. Timberlake, 225; troubles ia 
 Washington, 248-52; resigns from 
 War Department, 251; holds Ingham 
 responsible for attack on Mrs. Eaton, 
 252; Governor of Florida, 253; min- 
 ister to Spain, 253. 
 
 Eaton, Mrs. J. H., scandal concerning, 
 ii, 225-32; influence on political his- 
 tory, 232; causes social difficulty, 
 248; in Spain, 253; last years of her 
 life, 253, note; anecdote, 303. 
 
 Elliot, Captain Jesse D., ii, 396, 397, 
 
 399- 
 Ellis, Judge Powhatan, ii, 405, 406. 
 Elwood, Hon. Mr., ii, 72. 
 Ely, Rev. Dr. E. S., allegations against 
 
 Mrs. Eaton, ii, 226-30. 
 Emigration ships, i, 16, 17. 
 Emuckfau, battle of, i, 318-20. 
 Enotichopco, battle of, 320, 321. 
 Eppes, Mr., ii, 136, 137. 
 Erskine, Captain, ii, 61, 62. 
 Ervin, Captain, i, 198, 285. 
 Ervin, Miss, i, 159. 
 "Etowah Expedition," i, 117. 
 Eustis, Mr., succeeded as Secretary of 
 
 War by John Armstrong, i, 265, 266. 
 Eustis's battery, i, 344, 346. 
 Everett, Edward, ii, 303, 326. 
 
 Fanning, Major, ii, 129. 
 
 Fargo, Captain, i, 81. 
 
 Federalists, i, 10, 11; resist admis- 
 sion of Tennessee, 112, 113; growth 
 of the party in Tennessee, 228. 
 
 Ferguson, , i, 44. 
 
 Fleanjeac, General, ii, 12. 
 
 Florida ceded to the United States, 
 ii, 138. 
 
 Floyd, General, i, 318; repulses 
 Creeks at Camp Defiance, 321, 322. 
 
 Forbes, Malcolm Mitchell, i, 374* 
 ii, 23, 32. 
 
 Forbes and Company, ii, 149, 150. 
 
 Forsyth, Senator, ii, 320, 337, 350; 
 advice to Jackson on the Oregon 
 Boundary question, 340, 341. 
 
 Fort Armstrong, i, 318. 
 
 Fort Barrancas, i, 344, 351; evacu- 
 ated, 355; surrender of, ii, 131. 
 
INDEX 
 
 417 
 
 Fort Bowyer, attacked by British, 
 
 i, 344; captured, ii, 53. 
 Fort Gadsen, ii, 119. 
 Fort Jackson, i, 331; mutiny at, 
 
 340-44. 
 Fort Mims, massacre of, i, 278, 292. 
 Fort St. Marks, surrender of, i, 120-21. 
 Fort St. Michael, i, 351; surrender 
 
 of, 355- 
 Fort Strother, i, 307, 316. 
 Fort Williams, i, 326. 
 Francis, "Prophet," ii, iii, 113; 
 
 capture of , 123-24; hanged, 125, 126. 
 Franklin, Benjamin, ii, 410. 
 French Spoliation Claims, ii, 342-45. 
 Fromentin, Judge, ii, 150. 
 Frost, Dr. John, i, 154, 296, note. 
 
 Gaines, General, ii, 114, 115, 128. 
 
 Galbraith, Captain Matthew, threat- 
 ens to chastise Jackson, i, 62-64. 
 
 Gallatin, Albert, supports Jackson, 
 i, 119, 122; friendship for Jackson, 
 122, 123; his career, 283; partner 
 of WUliam Carroll, 283, 284. 
 
 Gallatin, Mrs. Albert, i, 123. 
 
 "Galloper" guns, i, 50. 
 
 Galvez, Mr., ii, 3, note. 
 
 Garfon, ii, 113. 
 
 Gardiner, Captain William, brings 
 news of British fleet at Negri] 
 Bay, i, 364. 
 
 Garfield, James A., quoted, ii, 344. 
 
 Garland, Captain Henry, ii, 78; 
 speech on British designs in Louis- 
 iana, 79-83, quoted, 85. 
 
 Garland, Hon. Augustus H.,ii, 79, note. 
 
 Gibbs, General, i, 411, 412, 413, at 
 council of war before New Or- 
 leans, ii, I, 3; at battle of New Or- 
 leans, 19-21, 28, 29; death, 29; 
 body sent to England, 81, note. 
 
 Gibbs, Sir Samuel, quoted, ii, 81, note. 
 
 Girod, Mayor of New Orleans, i, 
 380, 410. 
 
 Gonzalez, Don, protest to Jackson 
 ii, 130, 131; surrenders Fort 
 Barrancas, 131. 
 
 Goulburn, Mr. ii, 75. 
 
 Grant, General, i, 276. 
 
 Graves, Lieutenant, ii, 23. 
 
 Green, General Duff, anecdote of 
 Jackson's ancestry, i, 30, 32; edi- 
 tor of the U. S. Telegraph, ii, 288. 
 
 Green, Tom, ii, 272. 
 
 Griffin, General, i, 276. 
 
 Grundy, Felix, i, 236, 237. 
 
 Hall, Judge D. A... arrested by Jack- 
 son's order, ii, 56, 57, 58; retaliates 
 on Jackson, 89, 90, 91. 
 
 Hall, William, Colonel, i, 231, 262; 
 ordered to Mississippi, 259, 261; at 
 Talladega, 308. 
 
 Halsey, F. W., i, 18. 
 
 Hambly ii, 133; spy for Jackson, 113, 
 note, 130, 131. 
 
 Hamilton, Andrew, duel with Burr, i, 
 172; effect of the duel, 172, 184. 
 
 Hampton, Wade, i, 278. 
 
 Hannegan, Edward, ii, 189. 
 
 Harland, Mr., i, 31, 2,2. 
 
 Harris, Dr., extracts Jackson's bullet, 
 ii, 267. 
 
 Harris, Senator Isham G., i, 145, note, 
 quoted, 231. 
 
 Harrison, General William Henry, ca- 
 reer before 181 2, i, 243-45; marches 
 upon Proctor and Tecumseh, 270, 
 271; wins batde of Thames and kills 
 Tecumseh, 277; disliked by Arm- 
 strong, 278; faith of his army in, 282; 
 at New Orleans, 423-25; minister to 
 Bogota, ii, 189; recalled by Jackson, 
 219-21; election predicted by Jack- 
 son, 301; nominated for Presidency, 
 349; defeated by Van Buren, 350; 
 renominated for Presidency, 373; 
 elected, 375; death, 377; his fine for 
 thrashing Representative Stansberry 
 remitted by Jackson, 319. 
 
 Hay, Mrs., i, 95. _ 
 
 Hayne, Colonel, i, 377, note, in Florida, 
 ii, 118, 119, 120; transacts Jackson's 
 business, 134; in the Senate, 163; de- 
 bate with Webster, 238, 300; opinion 
 on State-rights, 239; Governor of 
 South Carolina, 282. 
 
 Hays, Miss, ii, 207. 
 
 Hays, Stokely, i, 289. 
 
 Henderson, Captain, i, 411. 
 
 Heywood's History of Tennessee, 
 quoted, i, 88. 
 
 "Hickory Ground, The," i, 330. 
 
 Hildreth's History of the United States, 
 note, i, 123. 
 
 Hill, Abram, ii, 308. 
 
 Hill, Captain R. N., quoted on Paken- 
 ham's delay, i, 399, 400; quoted on 
 artillery battle, 418 - 20; bravery, 
 421. 
 Hill, Isaac, i, 63; supports Jackson, ii, 
 160, 163, 190, 195; denounces Clay, 
 195; visits Washington, 208; nomi- 
 nation for Second Comptroller re- 
 jected, 221; his "abuse of Mrs. 
 Adams," 221-23; elected a Senator, 
 223, 251; quoted, 241, 242, 244, 264, 
 266, note, 295; "missionary tour," 
 269, 271; bets on Jackson, 271; with 
 Jackson in Boston, 303-04; gathers 
 Revolutionary veterans, 308; de- 
 nounces Clay and Calhoun, 320. 
 Hill, Sir Rowland, quoted, i, 396. 
 Hilligshagee, i, 337. 
 Hillingsabee, chief, i, 303. 
 Himollomico, "Prophet," ii, in; cap- 
 tured, 123, 124; hanged, 125, 126. 
 
4i8 
 
 INDEX 
 
 Hind, Captain, i, 346, 347; at New 
 Orleans, 376 387, 390, 427; ii, 47- 
 
 House of Representatives, orders in- 
 vestigation of Jackson's action in 
 Florida, ii. 134, 135; sustains him, 
 136; passes bill for renewal of charter 
 to United States Bank, 259; debates 
 Jackson's veto message, 265, 266; 
 passes resolutions unfavorable to the 
 Bank, 325,326. 
 
 Houston, Sam, i, 26, ^^^ 245, 294; Gov- 
 ernor of Tennessee, ii, 186; supports 
 Jackson, 188; battle of San Jacinto, 
 350-52; aided by Jackson, 351. 
 
 Hoyt, Jesse, ii, 271. 
 
 Hudson Bay Company, ii, 338. 
 
 Hull, Captain Isaac, victory over Brit- 
 ish frigate, i, 257. 
 
 Hull, General WUliam, surrenders De- 
 troit, i, 255-57; tried and sentenced 
 to be shot for treason, 256; pardoned 
 by the President, 256. 
 
 Humbert, ii, 37, 46, 47- 
 
 Humphrey, Captain, ii, 8. 
 
 Humphrey's battery, i, 344, 346, 347, 
 
 Humphreys, Samuel, ii, 397. 
 
 Humphries, Dr. David, i, 36. 
 
 Hutchings, John, Jackson's partner, i, 
 129, 130, 146, 150. 
 
 Hutchinson, Elizabeth, i, 30. 
 
 Impartial Review and Cumberland Re- 
 pository, i, 158, 162. 
 
 Indiana Territory, volunteers, i, 425, 
 426. 
 
 Indians, warfare in Tennessee, i, 8^, 
 84, 85-89; removal West, ii, 402-04. 
 
 IngersoU, Ralph, ii, 400. 
 
 Ingham, Secretary of the Treasury, ii, 
 249, 250, 251; flees from Major 
 Eaton, 252. 
 
 Jackson, Andrew, father of General 
 Jackson, emigrates to the United 
 States, i, 16, 17, 19-22; settles at 
 Twelve Mile Creek, 22, 23; death, 
 
 23, 24. 
 
 Jackson, Andrew, Jr., Jackson's adopt- 
 ed son, described, ii, 386-89, 
 
 Jackson, General Andrew, parents 
 emigrate to America, i, 16, 17, 19-23; 
 death of father, 23, 24; birth, 24, 
 26-29; ancestry, 29-33; education, 
 34-38, 40; fondness for young girls, 
 34, 35; first "proclamaiion," 40, 41; 
 anecdote of King's Mountain, 45; 
 anecdote of Whig and Tory animos- 
 ity, 46, note, 50; part in the Revolu- 
 tion, 51-53; affection for mother 53, 
 54; death of mother, 55; words of ad- 
 vice from mother, 56, 57; becomes 
 heir to part of Hugh Jackson's es- 
 tate, 57; effect of the Revolution on 
 his character, 57-60; haired of Eng- 
 
 land, 60; works at saddler's trade, 
 60; determines to study law, 60, 61; 
 wild traits, 61; goes to Charleston, 
 61; spends his inheritance, 61; 
 teaches school and studies law, 61; 
 admitted to the bar, 62, 65; ofi'ends 
 Captain Galbraith, 62-64; studies 
 law with Spruce McKay, 64; finishes 
 his reading with Colonel Stokes, 
 64; friendship for Montford Stokes, 
 65; journeys to McLeans^alle, 65; 
 "hangs out his shingle," 66; con- 
 stable and deput\--sheriff, 66; prose- 
 cuting attorney, 66; description of, 
 at the age of twenty, 67-69; emi- 
 grates to Tennessee, 70-72, 77-79; 
 arrives at Nashville, 79; Indian war- 
 fare, 84-87, 90; early law practice, 
 90-94; his office and home, 94-96; 
 marriage to Rachel Donelson Ro- 
 bards, 97-103; duels with Avery and 
 Benton, 103, 104, 214; law practice 
 from 1789-96, 104; hail-fellow-well- 
 met, 104, 105; as a story - teller, 
 105; decreases scope of his law prac- 
 tice, 106; farm at Hunter's Hill, 105; 
 ambition, 105; admission of Ten- 
 nessee to Statehood, 107-13; parlia- 
 mentary tactics, no; vitality of his 
 speeches, no, in; elected Repre- 
 sentative in Congress from Tennes- 
 see, 112; journeys on horseback from 
 Nashville to Philadelphia, 113, 114; 
 first experience in Congress, 114; 
 votes against "Address to the Presi- 
 dent," 115-17; key to his policy and 
 action, 117; carries an appropria- 
 tion to pay expenses of the " Etowah 
 Expedition," 117-20; votes for in- 
 crease of the na\'}', 120, 121; ap- 
 pointed Senator, 121; resigns and re- 
 tires to private life, 121, 125, 126; 
 objection to secret sessions, 121, 122; 
 makes acquaintances in Congress, 
 
 122, 123; disinclination for society, 
 
 123, 124; makes acquaintance of 
 Thomas Jefferson, 124; develops his 
 plantation, 126-30; becomes judge 
 of the Supreme Court of Tennessee, 
 131; anecdotes of his judicial career, 
 131-45; feud with Governor Sevier, 
 134-43; elected major-general, 139; 
 prosperity of his plantation, 145, 
 146; on the verge of bankruptcy, 
 146, 147; loses his land and money, 
 147; desires appointment of governor 
 of Louisiana, 147-49; makes finan- 
 cial arrangements in Philadelphia, 
 150; buys thoroughbred horses in 
 Virginia, 150; resigns from_ the bench, 
 150, 151; military career in Tennes- 
 see, 151; prepares himself for war 
 with England, 152; legal advisers, 
 152; various commercial interests, 
 
INDEX 
 
 419 
 
 153; duel with Dickinson, 153, 154, 
 155, 158-82; duel with Colonel Ave- 
 ry. 155-57; canes Swann, 158, 161, 
 162, 163; estimate of Burr and Ham- 
 ilton, 171-73; wounded by Dickin- 
 son, 175; entertains Aaron Burr, 188; 
 receives Burr's confidence concern- 
 ing his scheme, 188; relations with 
 Burr, 190-93, 195, 202; correspond- 
 ence with Burr, 191, 192; vague- 
 ness of Burr's scheme, 195; informed 
 of Burr's disloyalty, 195; asks Burr 
 to clear himself, 196; warns Gover- 
 nor Claiborne, 196; offers militia to 
 Jefferson, 196; suspicion of Wilkin- 
 son, 196, 197, 201; annoyed by dem- 
 onstration against Burr, 198; in- 
 direct attack by his enemies, 199, 
 200; warns Captain Bissell, 200; 
 Bissell's reply, 201; opinion of Gen- 
 eral Dearborn, 201; disbands his 
 army, 201; commended by Jefferson, 
 202; incensed by Burr's arrest in 
 Alabama, 202; witness at Burr's 
 trial for treason in Richmond, 203; 
 denounces Wilkinson, 203; de- 
 nounces Jefferson, 204, 205; re- 
 turns home, 207, 210; purposes of 
 his Richmond speech, 207; dislike 
 of Jefferson, 207-09, 227; opinion of 
 Madison, 209, business affairs in 
 Philadelphia, 210; description of, 
 at the age of forty, 211-14; financial 
 straits, 214-18; kindness to Mrs. 
 Jackson's relatives, 215, 216; sells 
 majority of his property; 218; ag- 
 ricultural methods, 219; breeds fa- 
 mous horses, 219-21; a gambler, 
 221; home fife, 222-27; the Hermi- 
 tage, 226; gains political control of 
 Tennessee, 227-30; perfects his di- 
 vision of militia, 230-32; discovers 
 Benton, 232, 233, relations with, 
 233-35; wrongs Samuel Dinsmore, 
 238-241; compared with General 
 Harrison, 243, 244; proclamation to 
 his troops on the outbreak of war in 
 18 1 2, 253, 254; tenders services of 
 2,500 Tennessee volunteers for the 
 war, 254, 255; opinion on Hull's 
 surrender of Detroit, 256, 257; or- 
 dered to Natchez, 258; buys rifles for 
 his troops, 259; starts for Mississip- 
 pi, 259; in camp at Natchez, 263-65; 
 issues disciplinary order, 264; or- 
 dered to- disband his command, 266, 
 269; disregards this order, 267, 268, 
 269, 276; takes his command home 
 intact, 268-70; offers to march on 
 Detroit, 270; his division disbands, 
 271; his drafts for supplies tor his 
 command protested, 272; blames 
 Wilkinson, 272-74; drafts finally 
 paid by the Government, owing to 
 
 Benton's persuasion, 275; disliked 
 by Armstrong, 278; second for Car- 
 roll in his duel with Jesse Benton, 
 285, 286; his bravery compared with 
 Benton's, 287; becomes involved in 
 quarrel with Benton, 288; attempts 
 to horsewhip Benton, 288; duel wiih 
 Benton, 289; severely wounded, 289, 
 290, 291; effects of this quarrel, 290, 
 291; causes of the Creek outbreak, 
 293; directs movements of troops 
 from sick-bed, 295; takes command 
 while still sick, 296; wound heals, 
 297; moves on Creeks, 297, 298; 
 failure of supplies, 298, 299, 306, 
 312; discontent among troops, 299- 
 301; orders Colonel Coffee to attack 
 Creeks at Tallushatchee, 302; pro- 
 vides for an Indian boy, 303, note; 
 tribute to Colonel Coff'ee, 304; learns 
 of proposed massacre by the Creeks 
 at Talladega, 306, 307; march to 
 Talladega, 307, 308; defeats Creeks 
 under Weatherford, 308-10; diso- 
 beyed by General White 312; de- 
 sertion and mutiny of militia, 313- 
 16; appeals to Governor Blount for 
 more troops, 316, 317, 322; his com- 
 mand re-enforced, 317, 323; defeats 
 the Creeks at Emuckfau, 318-20; 
 falls back toward Talladega, 320; 
 attacked by Creeks at Enotichopco, 
 320; again victorious, 321; obtains 
 supplies, 323; assembles his new 
 forces at Fort Strother, 324; quells 
 mutiny by having leader shot, 324- 
 26; starts down the Coosa, 326; 
 builds Fort WUliams, 326; battle of 
 Tohopeka, 326-29; builds "Fort 
 Jackson," 330, 331; terms to the 
 Creeks, 7,2, i ; interview with Weather- 
 ford, 32>^-2>S\ starts for home, 336; 
 becomes very sick, 336; appointed 
 major-general in the regular army, 
 336; negotiates treaty with the 
 Creeks, 336-338; ordered to Mobile, 
 340; learns of Spanish violations of 
 neutrality, 344, 345; notifies Secre- 
 tary of War, 345, 346; determines to 
 invade Pensacola, 346; gets new bri- 
 gade from Governor Blount, 346, 
 347, 356; starts his forces for Pensa- 
 cola, 347; "diplomatic correspond- 
 ence" with Don Gonzales Man- 
 riques, 348, 349; assumes responsi- 
 bility for invasion of Spanish Florida, 
 349-52; delay in receiving his in- 
 structions, 350-352; demands sur- 
 render of Fort St. Michael, 353; 
 compels surrender of fort, 354, 355; 
 evacuation of Fort Barrancas, 355; 
 returns to Mobile, 356; learns of 
 British designs, 358, 359, 364, 365; 
 moves his forces to Louisiana, 360; 
 
420 
 
 INDEX 
 
 asks for additional troops, 360; situ- 
 ation at New Orleans, 361-63; en- 
 tertained by Madame Livingstone, 
 365-69; chivalric manners, 367, 368; 
 prepares for defence of New Orleans, 
 369, 372, 376; learns of British land- 
 ing at Bienvenue, 373; strength of 
 his forces at New Orleans, 376; pro- 
 claims martial law, 377, 378; vexed 
 at lack of Louisiana volunteers, 378- 
 80; impresses men, 380; anecdotes 
 of, by Vincent Nolte, 382-84; de- 
 clares intention of making night at- 
 tack on British, 3S2; inspires his 
 troops, 383, 402; night attack on 
 British, 387, 390-94; both sides 
 claim the victory, 394-97; results of 
 the attack, 397; losses, 398; builds 
 breastworks unmolested by British, 
 398, 399, 400-02; suffers from dysen- 
 tery, 404; plentiful supplies, 404; 
 strengthens post at Chef Menteur, 
 404, 405; uses cotton-bales in de- 
 fences, 405-09; motley collection of 
 artillery, 405, 406; strictness of dis- 
 cipline, 409; strengthens his lines, 
 412, 413-15; puzzled by Pakenham's 
 delay, 413, 414, 422, 423; activity, 
 415; prepares to meet British attack, 
 417; strength of artillery, 417, 418; 
 defeats British in artillery battle, 
 418-22; humor, 423; arrival of troops 
 from Kentucky, Indiana, and Baton • 
 Rouge, 423-26; lack of arms, 424, 
 425, 426; strength of his army at New 
 Orleans, 426-31; obtains informa- 
 tion from deserters, ii, 5, 6; infer- 
 ences concerning British attack, 5,6; 
 inspects his line, 8, 9; food of his 
 army, 9; personal knowledge of his 
 men, 10; battle of New Orleans, 11- 
 31; accuracy of his marksmen, 13, 
 14, 20, 21, 35; restrains his troops 
 from following the British, 26, 27; 
 British losses, 32-35, 40, 41; re- 
 bukes General Lambert, 33; exe- 
 cution done by artillery and rifles, 
 40, 42; tribute to his army, 44, note ; 
 vigilance after the battle, 45-47) 49> 
 50; arms militia with British mus- 
 kets, 48, 49; Treaty of Ghent signed, 
 49; maintains martial law, 50; value 
 of his victory, 52, 70; hardships en- 
 dured by his army, 52, 53; embarka- 
 tion of the British, 52; continued 
 vigilance, 53, 54, 55-57; arranges 
 for exchange of prisoners, 54; offi- 
 cially notified of peace, 57; restores 
 civil authority, 57; disbands his 
 army, 57, 58; character of his army, 
 58-63; reasons for British failure, 
 63-69; explains British designs in 
 Louisiana, 76-78; fined for contempt 
 of court, 89, 90; explains his action, 
 
 91; settles war claims, 91-94; pop- 
 ularity, 91, 94; spread of his fame, 
 94, 95; social life in New Orleans, 
 95; devotion to Mrs. Jackson, 97; 
 returns to Nashville, 98; enthusiastic 
 reception, 98; illness, 99; starts 
 for Washington, 99; banqueted at 
 Lynchburg, 99, 100; on friendly 
 terms with Jefferson, 100; lionized 
 in Washington, 100; conference wiih 
 Monroe and Brown, loi; command- 
 er of the Southern Military Division, 
 loi; arranges his command, 102; 
 returns to New Orleans by way of 
 Nashville, 102; treaties and negotia- 
 tions with Indians, 102-05; sympa- 
 thy for them, 105; correspondence 
 with Monroe, 106-08; estimate of 
 Madison, 107, 108; declines nom- 
 ination for Secretary of War, 108; 
 correspondence with General Scott, 
 109, no; with General Adair, no; 
 takes command in Florida, 1 14-19; 
 raises volunteers, 11 7-19; builds 
 Fort Gadsen, 119; demands sur- 
 render of St. Marks, 120, 121; or- 
 ders hanging of Francis and Himol- 
 lomico, 125, 126; arrests Arbuthnot, 
 126; marches against Suwanee, 127; 
 captures Ambrister, 128; approves 
 death sentences of Ambrister and 
 Arbuthnot, 128, 129; returns to Fort 
 Gadsen, 129, 130; marches on Pen- 
 sacola, 130, 131; surrender of Fort 
 Barrancas, 131; end of the "Florida 
 war," 131; returns to Nashville, 132; 
 "declares his platform," 132 ; a much- 
 discussed man, 133, 134; seriously 
 ill, 134; goes to Washington, 135; 
 sustained by House of Representa- 
 tives, 136; attends receptions and 
 dinners, 137; upheld by J. Q. Adams, 
 139-41; quiet life at home, 141; 
 forces white men to evacuate Indian 
 reservations, 142, 143; resigns from 
 the regular army, 143-45; farewell 
 address to his troops, 145-47; criti- 
 cises Congress for reducing the 
 army, 145; criticises General Brown, 
 145, 146; appointed Governor of 
 Florida, 147, 148; arrests Don Jose 
 Callava, 148-50; resigns and returns 
 home, 151; desire for private life, 
 155-57; presidential candidate, 158, 
 161, 168, 169; popularity, 159, 160; 
 elected Senator, 162; takes seat in 
 the Senate, 163; reconciliation with 
 Benton, 163-65; attitude on the 
 tariff, 166; opposes Clay, 166; up- 
 holds "Monroe Doctrine," 167; po- 
 litical beliefs, 169, 170; returns to 
 Tennessee, 171; starts for Washing- 
 ton with Mrs. Jackson, 171; resumes 
 seat in Senate, 172; meeting with 
 
INDEX 
 
 421 
 
 Lafayette, 172, 173; results of the 
 election, 172, 174, 175; suspicions 
 of Adams and Clay, 177; returns 
 home, 177; resigns seat in the Senate, 
 177; entertains Lafayette, 178; re- 
 gains health, 178, 179; intentions to 
 run again for the Presidency, 180; 
 begins presidential campaign, 181, 
 182; personnel of his staff, 183-88; 
 poUtical organizations in various 
 States, 188-90; character of the cam- 
 paign, 193-97; his reputation as- 
 sailed, 195; holds Adams responsi- 
 ble for slander of Mrs. Jackson, 196; 
 real issue of the campaign, 198; 
 notified of his election, 199, 200; 
 death of Mrs. Jackson, 201; his 
 grief, 201, 202; at her funeral, 202, 
 203; believes that slanders caused 
 her death, 204; his inaugural mes- 
 sage, 204-06, 207, journeys to Wash- 
 ington by the Cumberland and 
 Ohio rivers and the National Road, 
 207; accessible to the people, 208; 
 his Cabinet, 209; policy regarding 
 oflace-holders, 216-18, 221; recalls 
 General Harrison, 219-21; attitude 
 toward the "abuse of Mrs. Adams," 
 223; causes election of Mr. Hill to 
 Senate, 223; the Mrs. Eaton "affair," 
 225-32; review of his first presiden- 
 tial year, 233; his first annual rnes- 
 sage, 233; attacks Bank of the United 
 States, 233-37; opposes Federal ap- 
 propriations for internal improve- 
 ments, 238; attitude on State-rights 
 and the Federal Union, 239-45; 
 learns of Calhoun's enmity, 240; 
 attends Jefferson's banquet, 240; 
 his famous toast, 241; crushes Cal- 
 houn, 241-42; warns South Caro- 
 Una, 245, 246; reorganizes his Cabi- 
 net, 247-51; social difficulty caused 
 by Mrs. Eaton, 248; political dis- 
 cipline, 260-63; renominated for the 
 Presidency, 264; vetoes act to re- 
 charter the Bank, 264, 265; bullet, 
 received in his duel with Benton, 
 extracted, 267, 268; returns to the 
 Hermitage, 268, 269; political carn- 
 paign, 269-72; learns of trouble in 
 South Carolina, 272, 273; announces 
 intention to use rigorous measures 
 in South Carohna, 274-76; confi- 
 dence in re-election, 274, 276, 277; 
 returns to Washington, 277; con- 
 cern about South Carolina, 277-79; 
 re-elected, 279-81; proclamation to 
 the Nullifiers, 282, 283; special mes- 
 sage to Congress, requesting more 
 explicit means of enforcing the laws, 
 283; Calhoun learns of his prepara- 
 tions, 284; signs compromise tariff 
 bill, 285-87; founds the Washington 
 
 Globe, 287-88; friendship with Fran- 
 cis P. Blair, 290; "The Kitchen 
 Cabinet," 291-93; supported by 
 Webster and Adams, 294; praised 
 for his stand for the Union, 294; 
 friendly relations with Webster, 
 295-300; animosity to Clay and Cal- 
 houn, 296; formality with Adams, 
 296, 297; Webster's estimate of, 297, 
 298; his estimate of Webster, 298, 
 299; states why Clay or Webster 
 could not be elected to the Presi- 
 dency, 300; predicts General Har- 
 rison's election, 301; outhnes Whig 
 programme for 1836, 302; "no 
 politician," 302; tour through New 
 England, 302; anecdote of Mrs. 
 Eaton, 303; enthusiastic reception 
 in Boston, 303, 304; at Cambridge, 
 304; receives degree of Doctor of 
 Laws, 305; troubled with hemor- 
 rhage, 306; demonstration in New 
 York, 306; at Bunker Hill, 306; at 
 Concord, N. H., 306, 307; return to 
 Washington, 307, 311; his meeting 
 with Revolutionary veterans, 308, 
 309; meets veteran of New Orleans, 
 309, 310; ability as an impromptu 
 speaker, 310; tribute to Paul Jones, 
 311; war with United States Bank, 
 311 et seq. ; proposes to withdraw 
 Federal deposits, 311-13; attack by 
 Clay and Calhoun, 319-21; idea of 
 an all-coin system, 323; censured by 
 the Senate 323, 324; his protest 
 overruled, 324 ; proposed irnpeach- 
 ment, 325; threatened assassination, 
 328; his policy vindicated, 329; an- 
 ecdotes of his journey to the West, 
 330, 331; characterizes session of the 
 Twenty- third Congress, 331; rests at 
 his home, 331-33; returns to Wash- 
 ington, 334 ; hatred of Clay, 335, 336; 
 contempt of Calhoun, 336, 337; ac- 
 cumulation of surplus specie, 337- 
 338; extinguishment of the national 
 debt, 338; Oregon boundary ques- 
 tion, 338-41; French spoliation 
 claims, 342-45; chooses Van Buren 
 as his successor, 345-47; elated at 
 result of the battle of San Jacinto, 
 350-52; aids Sam Houston, 351, 
 note; movement to annex Texas, 353; 
 slavery agitation, 353, 354; Clay's 
 censure expunged from the journal 
 by the Senate, 355; retirement, 355; 
 impoverished by lavishness with his 
 money, 356-59; influence on Van 
 Buren, 359, 361, 362; compared with 
 Van Buren, 360; last journey from 
 Washington to Nashville, 366, 367; 
 prophesies J. K. Polk's election, 367, 
 368; condition of his plantation, 369; 
 his debts, 370, 386; resumes interest 
 
422 
 
 INDEX 
 
 in political affairs, 371; fears Harri- 
 son's election, 372; "lakes stump" 
 against Harrison, 373-75; after V'an 
 Buren's defeat, 375, 376; question of 
 Van Buren's successor, 376, 377; 
 deceived by Democratic party on 
 the Oregon question, 378; advocates 
 Polk's election, 379; correspondence 
 ■u-ith Adams, 3S0; elated at Polk's 
 election, 38 1; disapproves of Bu- 
 chanan, as Secretar}- of State, 382; 
 indorses Benton, 382; rapid failure 
 of health, 383, 3S4; described by 
 Mrs. Polk, 3S4, 385; makes new will 
 and testament, 386; his adopted son, 
 386-89; estimate of Burr 389, 390; 
 religious tendencies, 389, 390-92; 
 joins the Orthodox Presbyterian 
 Church, 390; his death, 392; anec- 
 dotes of his character and personal- 
 ity, 392-406; his friends and ac- 
 quaintances, 394, 395; faculty for 
 remembering faces, 395; attempted 
 assassination, 399, 400; his tastes 
 and habits, 406, 407; kindness to his 
 slaves, 407-10; a "fighting man," 
 410, 411; his place in history, 411, 
 412. 
 
 Letters: General Daniel Smith, i, 81; 
 George W. Campbell, 148, 202, 240, 
 257; Edward Livingston, 148; 
 Charles Dickinson, 166; Mr. Eastin, 
 180; Governor Claiborne, 196; Pat- 
 ten Anderson, 201, 203; John Coffee, 
 210; Governor Blount, 254, 316, 317, 
 325, 346; Monroe, ii, 107, 108, 114; 
 Colonel George Wilson, 180; Secre- 
 tary Duane, 311; Sam Houston, 352; 
 353; Representative Brown, 379, 
 380; General Butler, 378; J. K. Polk, 
 
 392- 
 
 Jackson, Governor Claiborne F., 
 ii, 279, note. 
 
 Jackson, Hugh, i, 16, 20, 21, 24; 
 lives with the McCamies, ^y, 
 volunteers, 41; death, 42. 
 
 Jackson, Mrs. Andrew, mother of Gen- 
 eral Jackson, i, 16; death of hus- 
 band, 23, 24; lives with the Craw- 
 fords, 33; intercedes for American 
 prisoners on the British hulks 
 in Charleston harbor, 54, 55; dies 
 from yellow fever, 55; advice to her 
 son, 5'6, 57; ii, 411- 
 
 Jackson, Mrs. Andrew [see Rachel 
 Donelson Robards], a capable 
 planter, 129, 130, 219; described, 
 222, 224, 226; home life, 222, 224, 
 226; joins General Jackson in 
 New Orleans, ii, 95-97; described 
 by Benton, 95; entertained by 
 Mrs. Livinc^ston, 96; devotion of 
 husband, 97; returns home, 98; 
 in Florida, 151-55; in Washing- 
 
 ton, 171-74; describes Jackson's 
 meeting with Lafayette, 172, 173; 
 threatened with fatty degenera- 
 tion of the heart, 179, 180; fore- 
 sees Jackson's election to Presi- 
 dency, 180, 181; slandered, 196; 
 learns of Jackson's election, 199, 
 200; death, 201; grief of Jack- 
 son, 201, 202; her funeral, 202, 203; 
 letters to Colonel Donelson, ii, 151, 
 152; Mrs. Kingsley, 152-55; Mary 
 Donelson, 157, 158. 
 
 Jackson, Robert, i, 16, 24, 33; death, 51. 
 
 Jackson, Sam, ii, 40S, 409. 
 
 Jackson, Samuel, i, 21. 
 
 "Jason," Jackson's overseer, ii, 369. 
 
 Jefferson, Thomas, recognizes Jack- 
 son's force and power, 124; satis- 
 fied with Jackson's relations to 
 Burr, 202; character, 207; be- 
 comes life-long enemy of Jackson, 
 208; presides at banquet in Jack- 
 son's honor, ii, 100; praises J. Q. 
 Adams, 141; banquet in his honor, 
 240-43. 
 
 Johnson, Andrew, quoted, i, 179. 
 ohnson. Colonel Richard M., ii, 231. 
 
 Johnson, Sir William, i, 75. 
 
 Johnston, General, i, 323, 326; mu- 
 tiny in his brigade, 324. 
 
 Jones, Lieutenant Ap Catesby, i, 
 370; outnumbered and defeated by 
 British squadron, 371, 375. 
 
 Jones, Paul, compared with Jack- 
 son, ii, 308; Jackson's tribute to, 
 311; challenged by a Frenchman 
 to a duel, 410. 
 
 Jugeat, Captain, i, 245, note, 294, 
 326, 344, 348; his Company of 
 Choctaws, 376, 387; skirmish with 
 British, 411; at New Orleans, 
 ii, 30. 
 
 Keane, General Sir John, at New 
 Orleans, i, 372, 373; strength of his 
 land forces, 374, 375; does not ex- 
 pect night attack, 385; over-esti- 
 mates American force, 386; attacked 
 at night, 387-94; question as to the 
 victory, 394-97; losses, 398; wound- 
 ed, 398; at council of war, 412, 413; 
 ii, i; battle of New Orleans, 22; 
 wounded, 28; mistakes, 65, 66. 
 
 Kendall, Amos, quoted, i, 26, 154, 
 ii, 244; Postmaster-General, 359. 
 
 King, Brigade-Major, ii, 31. 
 
 King, Colonel William, ii, 132. 
 
 King, Rufus, i, 113, 184. 
 
 King's Mountain, battle of, i, 44, 45; 
 anecdote, 45. 
 
 "Kitchen Cabinet," ii, 291-93. 
 
 Lacock, Mr., ii, 136, 137, 138. 
 Lacoste, Major, i, 405. 
 
INDEX 
 
 4^3 
 
 Lafayette, ii, 66, note, 156; meeting 
 with Jackson, 172, 173; visits Jack- 
 son, 178. 
 
 Lafltte, Jean, gives information of 
 British designs to Governor Clai- 
 borne, i, 358, 359. 
 
 Lake Borgne, battle of, i, 370, 371. 
 
 Lambert, General John, i, 432, ii, i; 
 at battle of New Orleans, 29, 30; 
 rebuked by Jackson, 33; withdraws 
 British army to Bienvenue, 46; re- 
 ceives re-enforcements, 47, 48; re-em- 
 barks, 53; takes Fort Bowyer, 53. 
 
 "Lancaster rifle," i, 74. 
 
 Laronde, Major, i, 428. 
 
 Latour, Major, i, 376, note, 385; 
 quoted, 389; at Chef Menteur, 405; 
 uses cotton-bales for embrasures, 
 406, 407; map of forces at New 
 Orleans, 429, 430; at New Orleans, 
 ii, 10. 
 
 Laval, Major, i, 354. 
 
 Lavasseur, M., ii, 156, 157, 178. 
 
 Lawrence, Major, i, 344. 
 
 Lawrence, , ii, 399, 400. 
 
 Learcy, Thomas, i, 66. 
 
 Lee, Henry, ii, 224. 
 
 Lefebre, Jules, i, 418. 
 
 Leopard, affair with Chesapeake, i, 203. 
 
 Leslie, Colonel, i, 54. 
 
 Lewis, Major William Berkeley, i, 
 56, 267, 295, ii, 104, 134; quoted, 
 178, 200; Jackson's secretary, 183; 
 accompanies Jackson to Washing- 
 ton, 207; "punishes" H. L. White, 
 253, 262; fears result of Jackson's 
 fiscal policy, 329; anecdote of, 330. 
 
 Lincoln, Abraham, i, 25, 105. 
 
 Lincoln, General, i, 42. 
 
 Lincoyer, i, 303, jiote. 
 
 Liverpool, Lord, ii, in. 
 
 Livingston, Edward, i, 115; supports 
 Jackson, 119; removes to Louisiana, 
 i, 149, note; military secretary to 
 Jackson, 365, 377, 387; ii, 8, 9; 
 describes Jackson at Madame Liv- 
 ingston's dinner, 366-68 ; repar- 
 tee, 408; at battle of New Orleans, 
 ii, 11; envoy to British, 54; sup- 
 ports Jackson, 190; succeeds Van 
 Buren, 251; Minister to France, 
 342, 343; posthumous attack by 
 Clay, 374, note. 
 
 Livingston, Madame, entertains Jack- 
 son, i, 365-69 ; fear of the British 
 soldiers' intentions, ii, 84, 85; en- 
 tertains Mrs. Jackson, 96. 
 
 Louailler, M., ii,_56, 57, 58. 
 
 Louis Philippe, ii, 342, 343. 
 
 Louisiana, ship, i, 412, 414. 
 
 Louisiana Purchase, i, 147; ii, 68, 70. 
 
 Lucas, Colonel, killed by Benton in 
 duel, i, 287, note. 
 
 Lytle, Colonel Robert, ii, 377. 
 
 McCamie, George, i, 22, 24, 3^. 
 
 McCamie, Mrs. George, i, 24. 
 
 McCardle, encounter with Indians, 
 i, S5. 
 
 McCauley, Lieutenant, i, 341. 
 
 McGary, Hugh, i, 78, 91. 
 
 McGary, Jesse, i, 294, 306, 319. 
 
 McGary, Martin, i, 46-48, 78. 
 
 Mcintosh, William, ii, 119; defeats 
 force under Peter Macqueen, 127; 
 returns home, 129. 
 
 McKay, Spruce, i, 64. 
 
 McKeever, Lieutenant, captures Fran- 
 cis and HimoUomico, ii, 123-25; 
 commands coast of Florida, 132. 
 
 Mackenzie, quoted, ii, 271. 
 
 McKiever, Lieutenant, i, 370. 
 
 McKrimmon, Duncan, captured by 
 Francis, ii, 122; saved from burn- 
 ing, 122; escapes, 123; marries 
 Francis's daughter, 124, note. 
 
 McLane, Lewis, Secretary of the 
 Treasury, ii, 251; ally of Jack- 
 son, 254. 
 
 McMillin, James, i, 45. 
 
 McNairy, John, i, 66, 70, 71, 108. 
 
 McNairy, Nathaniel, duel with John 
 Coffee, i, 163. 
 
 Macomb, General, ii, loi note. 
 
 Macqueen, Peter, ii, 127. 
 
 Madam , search for Jackson's 
 
 pedigree, i, 30-33. 
 
 Madison, James, i, 119, 208, 209; 
 signs the declaration of war, 18 12, 
 247; accepts Jackson's offer of 
 militia, 255; pardons General Hull, 
 256; caution, 349, 351; delay in 
 sending instructions to Jackson, 
 350-52; Jackson's estimate of, 
 ii, 107, 108. 
 
 Madison, Mrs., ii, 51. 
 
 I^Iagness, , trial for killing Patten 
 
 Anderson, i, 236, 237; serves under 
 Jackson, 237, 238. 
 
 Malcolm, Admiral, i 412, 413, ii, i. 
 
 Malee, saves McKrimmon 's Ufe, ii, 
 122; marries him, 124, note. 
 
 Malloy, , ii, 393. 
 
 Manriquez, Don Gonzales, Spanish 
 Governor of Florida, correspond- 
 ence with Jackson, i, 348, 349; 
 fails to obtain NichoUs' aid, 353; 
 surrenders Fort St. Michael, 355. 
 
 Marcy, William L., ii, 188. 
 
 Marshall, Captain, ii, 129. 
 
 Marshall, John, i, 184, 189. 
 
 Martineau, Harriet, ii, 400. 
 
 Mason, Jeremiah, ii, 210. 
 
 "Mero District," i, 81. 
 
 Mero, Governor, note, i, 82, 188. 
 
 Militia laws and regulations in 1812, 
 i, 245, 246, 342, 343. 
 
 Miranda, General, i, 192. 
 
 Mitchell, Major, i, 390, ii, 60. 
 
424 
 
 INDEX 
 
 Monohoee, Prophet," i, 318, 319; 
 deatJi, 330. 
 
 "Monroe Doctrine," origin of, ii, 167. 
 
 Monroe, James, made Secretary of 
 War, i, 346; invites Jackson to 
 conference, ii, 99, 10 1; corre- 
 spondence with Jackson, 106-108; 
 admiration for Jackson, 106; com- 
 pared with Madison and Jeffer- 
 son. 106; debates Jackson, 134; 
 upholds him, 138; origin of the 
 "Monroe Doctrine " 167; General 
 Stark's pension, 307. 
 
 Montgomery, Major, killed at Toho- 
 peka, i, 328. 
 
 Moore, Dr. John S., quoted, i, 287, 
 note. 
 
 Morel, Pierre Louis, ii, 56. 
 
 Morgan, Daniel, defeats Tarletoa at 
 Cowpens, i, 49, 50. 
 
 Morgan, General David, at New 
 Orleans, ii, 36, 37. 
 
 Mountz, Lieutenant, ii, 149, 150. 
 
 Mulford, — , death of, i, 52, 53. 
 
 Mullens, Colonel, ii, i, 3. 
 
 Murrell, Jack, i, 200, 294, 344. 
 
 Napoleon, i, 30, 363._ 
 
 Nash, General Francis, i, 80. 
 
 Nash, Governor Abner, i, 80. 
 
 Nashville, Tenn., founding of, i, 79- 
 81; population in 1791, 82; Indian 
 wars, 83, 84. 
 
 Nelson, Horatio, quoted, i, 213. 
 
 New Orleans, character of its popu/a- 
 tion, i, 361-63, 379, 380; informa- 
 tion of British attack on, 364, 365; 
 landing of British, 373; lack of 
 volunteers, 378, 379; plot to sur- 
 render the city, 416; battle of, 
 ii, 1 1-3 1 ; British losses, 32-35; 
 denial of the British intention to 
 plunder, 83. 
 
 NichoUs, Colonel, i, 293, 294; deceives 
 the Creeks, 310, 311; "proclama- 
 tion to the people of Louisiana," 
 345; refuses to aid Governor Man- 
 riquez, 353; evacuates Fort Bar- 
 rancas, 355; discountenanced in 
 England, ii, 111-113. 
 
 Nick-a-jack expedition, i, 89. 
 
 Nolte, Vincent, i, 380, 381; anec- 
 dotes of Jackson, 381-84, 397; 
 his gallant behavior at New Or- 
 leans, 382; note, 391; anecdote 
 of American bravery, 391; quoted 
 on Jackson's use of his cotton-bales, 
 407, 408; as Jackson's messenger, 
 409, 410; as a duellist, 410, note; 
 settles his claims for material seized 
 by Jackson, ii, 92-94. 
 
 O'Brien, Lieutenant, ii, 350, note. 
 Ogden, Captain, ii, 47. 
 
 Ogilvy John Richard, i, 407, note; 
 quoted, 408, 409, 415, note, 425; 
 describes battle of New Orleans, 
 ii, 15-18; his ballad of New Or- 
 leans, 86-88. 
 
 O'Neal, Miss, ii, 225. 
 
 O'Neal, William, ii, 225. 
 
 Oregon boundary question, ii, 338-41. 
 
 Ormsby, Lieutenant, ii, 32. 
 
 Overton, John, i, note, 94, 95; quoted 
 on the Robards' divorce, 99, 100; 
 succeeds Jackson as Supreme Court 
 Judge, 151; Jackson's counsellor, 
 152; Jackson's second in duel with 
 Avery, 156, and in duel with Dick- 
 inson, 166, 167, 168, 169; his 
 account of the duel, 170-76; sup- 
 ports Jackson, ii, 188, 198. 
 
 Pakenham, Sir Edward, delay in 
 attack, i, 399, 400; makes recon- 
 naissance, 410, 411; determines 
 strength and position of American 
 batteries, 411, 412; holds council 
 of war, 412, 413; plants batteries 
 near American lines, 416, 417; 
 use of sugar hogsheads, 417; 
 strength of artillery, 418; artillery 
 battle, 418-22; forced to withdraw, 
 420; disposition and strength of 
 his army at New Orleans, 431, 432; 
 last council of war, ii, i; informa- 
 tion from Spanish spies, i, 2; plans 
 attack on Jackson's army, 4; battle 
 of New Orleans, 11-24; wounded, 
 24; death, 28; designs in Louisi- 
 ana, 71 et seq.; body, preserved 
 in rum, sent to England, 81, note. 
 
 Pakenham, Sir Richard, ii, 341. 
 
 Parlon, James, his standing as a 
 historian, i, 177, 178. 
 
 Parton's, James, Life of Andrew 
 Jackson, quoted, i, 22; birth, 26, 
 27, 28, 29; anecdote of Martin 
 McGary, note, 48; Code of Honor, 
 note, 62; law cases, 90, 91; settle- 
 ment in Tennessee, 96; arrival in 
 Philadelphia, 114; duel with Dick- 
 inson, 154, 155, 177, 178; duel 
 with Avery, 157, note; duel with 
 Benton, 290; proclamation of mar- 
 tial law in New Orleans, 378, note; 
 breastworks at New Orleans, 401, 
 402; relations with Clay, ii, 368, 
 note; attempted assassination, 400. 
 
 Patterson, Commodore, i, 369, 370; 
 night attack on the British, 387-90; 
 mounts navy guns, 414, 418; in 
 artillery battle, 420; battle of New 
 Orleans, ii, 5, 36, 37. 
 
 Peddie, Lieutenant, i, 371, 375. 
 
 Percy, Caplain William, i, 344. 
 
 Phillips, William, his famous ride, 
 to spread the news of the outbreak 
 
INDEX 
 
 425 
 
 of war in 1812, 247-53; orderly to 
 Jackson, 366; ii, 8, 11; carries 
 news of New Orleans, 50; a pros- 
 perous planter, 116. 
 
 Pinckney, General, i, 336, 341. 
 
 Pipkin, Colonel, i, 341. 
 
 Pizarro Senor ii, 139. 
 
 Planche's Battalion, i, 376, 387; at 
 New Orleans, 390. 
 
 Planche, Colonel, ii, 190. 
 
 Planchine, J. B. and Co., ii, 386, 
 409. 
 
 "Plow-Boy," i, 158. 
 
 Poindexter, George, i, 415, ii, 190; 
 suspected of attempted assassina- 
 tion of Jackson, 400. 
 
 Polk, Captain Charles, ii, 26. 
 
 Polk, General William, ii, 188. 
 
 Polk, J. K., ii, 324, 326; his election 
 predicted, by Jackson, 367, 368; 
 nominated, 379; elected, 380, 381. 
 
 Polk, Mrs. Sarah Childress, describes 
 the Jacksons and their home life, 
 i, 223-26; Jackson's prophecy of her 
 husband's election, 367, 368; de- 
 scribes last scenes at the Her- 
 mitage, 368, note, 384, 385; Jack- 
 son's bravery, 410, 411. 
 
 Polk, Robert, ii, 27, 217. 
 
 Potter, Mr., interview with Jackson, 
 ii, 245. 
 
 Proctor, , i, 270, 311. 
 
 Putnam, Colonel A. Waldo, i, 91, 92, 
 134, note; 253, note; quoted on the 
 Jackson-Sevier feud, 141, note. 
 
 Quakers, objection to oath of fealty, 
 note, i, 7; objection to removal 
 of the Indians, ii, 402-404. 
 
 Randolph, John, ii, 148, note; opposes 
 Clay, 176; supports Jackson, 188. 
 
 Randolph, Lieutenant, ii, 399, 400. 
 
 Rawdon, Lord, i, 43, 54. 
 
 Rayner, Judge Kenneth, i, 248. 
 
 Rayner, Rev. Dr. T. L., letter to Mr. 
 T. L. Branch, i, 248-50. 
 
 "Red Sticks," i, 303, 316. 
 
 Reid, Major John, i, 267, 295; quoted, 
 
 333- 
 
 Rennie, Colonel, i, 422; battle of 
 New Orleans, ii, 30, 31; death, 31. 
 
 Revolutionary War, i, 38; invades 
 the Carolinas, 41-45. 
 
 Reynolds, General John F., note,\, 77. 
 
 Rhea, Mr. John, ii, 114, 115. 
 
 Rifle, the, its part in American his- 
 tory, i, 72, 73; manufacture in 
 America, 73-77;. history, 73, 74- 
 
 Ritchie, Thomas, i, 204, 205. 
 
 Rives, John C, ii, 289. 
 
 Rives, Mr., ii, 357. 
 
 Rives, William C, ii, 342. 
 
 Roane, Archibald, i, 131. 
 
 Robards, Mr. Lewis, 1, 95, 96; jeal- 
 ousy, 99, 100; institutes divorce pro- 
 ceedings, 100-102. 
 
 Robards, Mrs. Lewis, i, 95, 96; jeal- 
 ousy of her husband, 99, 100; 
 divorce, 100-102; marries Andrew 
 Jackson, 102, 103, see Mrs. Andrew 
 Jackson. 
 
 Roberts, Captain, ii, 36. 
 
 Roberts, Colonel, i, 308, 309. 
 
 Robertson, Dr., ii, 201. 
 
 Robertson, General James, i, 80; 
 quoted, 82, 84; wounded by Indians, 
 85; organizes expedition against 
 the Cherokees, 88, 89; aids in nam- 
 ing Tennessee, 109; relations with 
 Burr, 190. 
 
 Robertson, "Joe," ii, 10. 
 
 Rodgers, Lieutenant, ii, 125. 
 
 Ross, i, 306. 
 
 Rutherford, Griffith, note, 67. 
 
 Rutherford, Mrs. Anne, i, 67; her 
 description of Jackson at the age 
 of twenty, 67-69. 
 
 Rutledge, Mr. George, i, 138, 144, 145, 
 156. 
 
 San Jacinto, battle of, ii, 350-52. 
 
 Sands, Captain, i, 53. 
 
 "Scotch Irish," i, 13, 14. 
 
 Scott, General, ii, loi, note; corre- 
 spondence with Jackson, 109, no; 
 ordered to South Carolina, 278. 
 
 Scott, Lieutenant, ii, 125. 
 
 Senate, considers Jackson's action in 
 Florida, ii, 136, 137, 138; passes 
 bill for renewal of charter to the 
 United States Bank, 259; debates 
 Jackson's veto message, 265, 266; 
 passes compromise tariff bill, 285; 
 passes bill for division of proceeds 
 from sales of public land, 320; 
 passes resolution censuring Jack- 
 son, 323, 324; votes to expunge 
 Clay's censure of Jackson from the 
 journal, 355; rejects Tyler's treaty 
 for annexation of Texas, 379; 
 passes resolution admitting Texas 
 to the Union, 381. 
 
 Sergeant, John, nominated for Vice- 
 President, ii, 258. 
 
 Sevier, Colonel George W., i, 141, note. 
 
 Sevier, Governor, i, 88, 89, 108, 112; 
 feud with Jackson, 134-43. 
 
 Seymour, Horatio, quoted, ii, 163-65. 
 
 Shaw, Major, ii, 28. 
 
 Shelby, Governor, i, 424, ii, 103, 104. 
 
 Shepherd, Mr., ii, 54. 
 
 Slaughter, Colonel Gabriel, i, 423, 424. 
 
 Smith, General Daniel, i, 81, 125. 
 
 Sousa, Senor Domingo, ii, 148, 149. 
 
 South Carolina, threatened opposi- 
 tion to tariff, and proposed nulli- 
 fication, ii, 272 et seq. 
 
426 
 
 INDEX 
 
 Spanish spies, at New Orleans, ii, i, 2. 
 
 Spencer, Captain, i, 371, 375. 
 
 Spofford, Hon. A. R., quoted, i, 432, 
 note. 
 
 Stansberry, Representative, ii, 399. 
 
 Stark, General, ii, 307. 
 
 Stephens, Adjutant, ii, 37. 
 
 Stokes, Colonel John, i, 64. 
 
 Stokes, Montford, i, 65; friendship for 
 Jackson, 65. 
 
 Story, Judge, ii, 211. 
 
 Strother, Captain, i, 341. 
 
 SuSrage, i, 3, 4, 5-9. 
 
 Suv/anee, ii, 126, 127. 
 
 Swann, Thomas, caned by Jackson, 
 158, 161, 162, 163; demonstration 
 against Burr, 198, 200; inflames 
 Benton against Jackson, 288. 
 
 Sylvester, Captain William, ii, 352, 
 note. 
 
 Talladega, battle of, i, 306-10. 
 
 Tallushatchee, battle of, i, 302-05. 
 
 Taney, Roger B., Attorney-General, 
 ii, 251; made Secretary of the 
 Treasury. 317. 
 
 Tarleton, Colonel, at Waxhaws Settle- 
 ment, i, 43; routed at Cowpens, 49, 
 50; censured by Cornwallis, 50. 
 
 Tatum, Howell, i, 131. 
 
 Tecumseh, i, 232, 244, 245; death, 
 277. 
 
 Tennessee, emigration to, i, 70-72; 
 original name, 81; population in 
 1788, 82; Indian warfare, 83, 84, 
 85-89; early legal practice in, 
 90-94; growth, 106, 107; admitted 
 to Statehood, 107-13; debate as 
 to name, 108-10; constitution, 
 hi; Supreme Court, 131; militia, 
 246; description of troops, 261-63. 
 
 Terrell, Colonel, i, 160; quoted on 
 Dickinson's death, 175. 
 
 Texas, admitted to the Union, ii, 381. 
 
 Thames, battle of, i, 277. 
 
 "The Subaltern," i, 373; quoted, 389, 
 394, 398, 416, 417, 421; on battle 
 of New Orleans, ii, 22-25, 
 
 Thornton, Colonel, ii, i, 4; at New 
 Orleans, 35-39; wounded, 39. 
 
 Timberlake, Mrs. Margaret O'Neal, 
 ii, 225, 226. 
 
 Tippecanoe, battle of, i, 244, 245. 
 
 Tohopeka, i, battle of, 326-29. 
 
 Tories in the Carolinas, i, 38, 39; 
 driven out, 50; inhumane treat- 
 ment of Whigs, 43, 58. 
 
 Towson, Colonel, ii, 229, 248. 
 
 Treaty of Ghent, ii, 49, 75. 
 
 Triplett, Dr., ii, 267. 
 
 Trist, Nicholas P., ii, 269. 
 
 Truman's, Major Ben, Annals of the 
 Field of Honor, i, 154, 160. 
 
 "Truxton," i, 150, 158, 220, 221, 247. 
 
 Tyler, John, succeeds General Har» 
 rison as President, ii, 377; sends 
 treaty for annexation of Texas to 
 the Senate 378, 379; signs resolution 
 admitting Texas to ihe Union, 3S1. 
 
 United States, epochs in histon,-, i, 
 i; suffrage, 1 789-1824, 5-10; emi- 
 gration, 18, 19; friction with Spain, 
 191; declares war against Great 
 Britain, 242; strength of the navy 
 and army, 243, 244; population in 
 181 2, 243; officers, 244; militia laws 
 and regulations, 245, 246. 
 
 United States Bank, attacked by 
 Jackson, ii, 233-237; upheld by 
 Congress, 238; campaign against, 
 by Benton, 247; question of its re- 
 charter, 255-257; memorial for re- 
 newal of charter, 258, 259; passed 
 by Congress, 259; vetoed by Jack- 
 son, 264, 265; fight in Congress, 265, 
 266; alleged bribery of Webster, 
 298, 299; Jackson's proposal to 
 withdraw Federal deposits, 311-13; 
 Jackson's war on, 314 et seq.; un- 
 favorable resolutions passed by the 
 House, 325, 326. 
 
 Urquhart, Lieutenant, ii, 61, 62. 
 
 Van Buren, Martin, quoted on Jack- 
 
 , son's reconciliation with Benton, 
 ii, 163-65; supports Jackson, 188; 
 goes to England, 251, 253; nomina- 
 tion for Presidency defeated, 254; 
 nominated for Vice-Presidency, 264; 
 chosen as Jackson's successor, 345- 
 47; elected President, 350; his Cab- 
 inet, 359; Jackson's influence on, 
 359, 361, 362; compared with Jack- 
 son, 360; his farewell message, 362- 
 66; renominated, 373; defeated, 375. 
 
 Vaughan, Miss, ii, 393. 
 
 Vidal, Nicolas Maria, ii, 148. 
 
 Waddell, Colonel, ii, 306. 
 
 Walker, Judge, i, 154, 401. 
 
 Walkup, General, i, 22. 
 
 War of 181 2, declared, i, 242; strength 
 of American army and navy, 242, 
 243; American officers, 243; militia 
 laws and regulations, 245-46; how 
 the news of the declaration was 
 spread, 247-53; victories won by 
 volunteers. 277. 
 
 Warren, General, i, 276. 
 
 Washington, George, opinion on suf- 
 frage, i, 3; last appearance in Con- 
 gress, 115. 
 
 Wattenson, Harvey, quoted, i, 142. 
 
 Watterson, Henry, i, 142, note. 
 
 Waxhaws Settlement, i, 22, 39; de- 
 struction of Colonel Buford's troops, 
 43- 
 
INDEX 
 
 427 
 
 Weatherford, William, i, 292-93; pro- 
 posed massacre at Talladega, 306, 
 307; defeated by Jackson, 308-10; 
 repulsed at Camp Deliance, 321, 
 322; advice to the Creeks, 330; sur- 
 renders to Jackson, 332; interview 
 with Jackson, 332-35; description 
 of, 335". speech to the chiefs, 337; 
 lives on his plantation, 338; death, 
 
 338. 
 
 Webb, James Watson, 11, 18S, 269. 
 
 Webster, Daniel, quoted, ii, 20S; de- 
 bate with Hayne, 238, 300; defeats 
 Van Buren's nomination for Presi- 
 dency, 254; favors delay in issue of 
 the Bank, 256; supports Jackson, 
 294, 296; friendly relations with 
 Jackson, 295-300; estimate of Jack- 
 son, 297, 298; Jackson's faith in, 
 298, 299; alleged bribery of, 298, 
 299; offers compromise re-charter 
 to the Bank, 321, 322; speech, caus- 
 ing Senate to expunge Clay's cen- 
 sure of Jackson from the journal, 
 
 354, 355- 
 
 Webster, Ezekiel, ii, 210. 
 
 Weed, Thurlow, quoted, ii, 246, 297. 
 
 Wellington, Duke of, duel, i, 183, 
 184; learns of General Pakenham's 
 death, ii, Si, note. 
 
 Wells, Jonathan, ii, 308. 
 
 Wheeler's History of North Carolina, 
 quoted, note, i, 51. 
 
 Whigs, supremacy restored in Caro- 
 linas, i, 50; retaliate on Tories, 
 note, 50, 58. 
 
 Whitaker, Brigade-Major, i, 372; 
 death, ii, 17, 18, 20. 
 
 White, General, i, 306; disobeys Jack- 
 son's orders, 312; expedition against 
 the Hillabees, 312, 314; returns 
 
 home, 311; results of the expedi- 
 tion, 314, 315. 
 
 White, Hugh L., i, 118, ii, 187; re- 
 fuses to resign from the Senate to 
 become Secretary of War, 252, 253; 
 the consequences, 253, 262; presi- 
 dential candidate, 348, note, 348. 
 
 White, Joseph, i, 54, 60. 
 
 White, Mr., ii, 54. 
 
 Whitley, Major, i, 89. 
 
 Whitney's cotton-gin, i, 127, note, 127. 
 
 Wickliffe, Lieutenant William, ii, 34. 
 
 Wilkinson, General, loyalty suspected 
 by Jackson, i, 196, 197; denounced 
 by Jackson, 203; at Natchez, 263, 
 269; refuses to approve Jackson's 
 drafts, 272-75; on St. Lawrence, 278. 
 
 William of Orange, i, 292. 
 
 Williams, Colonel, i, 45. 
 
 Williams, Jchn, ii, 161; defeated by 
 Jackson, 162. 
 
 Williams. Lieutenant-Colonel, i, 323. 
 
 Williams, Sergeant, anecdote of, ii, 
 15, 16. 
 
 Williamson, Colonel, ii, 130. 
 
 Wilson, Dr. Woodrow, quoted, i, 6, 8; 
 ii, 260, 261. 
 
 Wirt, William, ii, 138, 140, 209. 
 
 Woodbine, ii, 113. 
 
 Woodbury, Senator Levi, ii, 222; Sec- 
 retary of the Navy, 251; at Cam- 
 bridge with Jackson, 305; Secre- 
 tary of the Treasury, 359. 
 
 Woods, John, executed for mutiny, 
 i, 324-26. 
 
 Wright, General, i, 276. 
 
 Wright, Silas, ii, 404. 
 
 Yorke, Sarah, ii, 387, 388. 
 You, Dominique, i, 370, note; at New 
 Orleans, 412, 419, note; ii, 8, 9. 
 
.. A perfect biography of the famous sea ^S^^^^''^^^^^ Tribune, 
 
 PAUL JONES 
 
 FOUNDER OF THE AMERICAN NAVY 
 
 A HISTORY 
 BY 
 
 AUGUSTUS C. BUELL 
 
 With Frontispiece Portraits in Color and in Photogravure, 
 Maps, Plans, etc. lamo, 2 vols., 723 pp. 
 
 Price, $3.00 
 
 John A. Long, Ex-Secretary of the Navy, writes: *' I am 
 glad that Mr. Buell has, in such a full, orderly narrative and 
 sequence, told the story of this naval hero which has hitherto 
 been so fragmentary, and translated him from the realm where 
 romance preponderates to the realm of historical portraiture. ' 
 
 « Mr. Buell eclipses all his predecessors. These 
 two volumes form a perfect biography of the famous sea- 
 fighter, a work which should secure at once, and mdehmtely 
 maintain, a high position in the literature of its subject. . . . 
 Mr. Buell' s fervor as a good American only lends a touch of 
 piquancy to his narrative and leaves it, from beginning to end, 
 sound in judgment as well as rich in vitality and interest. His 
 most important service to the memory of Jones is rendered in 
 painting a portrait of the man which is finished at all points. 
 He sees in him much more than the mere fighter, and fortifies 
 his intuitive conviction on this head by giving chapter and verse 
 for every touch he places on the canvas."— iW^t; York Tribune. 
 
 « Nor is popularity the only reward which this work deserves. 
 The books, correspondence. State papers, magazines, and news- 
 papers of six languages and two centuries have been^ gone over 
 and the great libraries seem to have been ransacked in search of 
 material. Not only have no data been neglected or slighted, but 
 the whole has been so ordered a^a arranged and presented in so 
 pleasant a manner as to make it evident that only the discovery 
 of some undreamed-of material will make a new biography of 
 Jones necessary for many years to come. The volumes are 
 
PAUL JONES 
 
 FOUNDER OF THE AMERICAN NAVY 
 By AUGUSTUS C. BUELL 
 
 illustrated by portraits, charts, and fac-simile letters, and the value 
 of the work is enhanced by an important appendix and an index 
 carefully compiled. Above all, it shows throughout the author's 
 deep familiarity with things martial and naval." 
 
 — The Philadelphia Press. 
 
 ** Paul Jones, as a whole, has never before been presented to 
 us, and under the skillful hands of Mr. Buell he becomes a living 
 entity and a true historical character, capable of being measured 
 in relation with the men of his day. Out of the many records 
 of his life which have been preserved has been constructed a 
 continuous and consistent story, full of interest, and compiled 
 with care and intelligence." — Wqrthington C. Ford, in the 
 New York Times Saturday Review. 
 
 ** It is evidently the fruit of a most careful and loving study 
 of the subject, in the light of an exhaustive research, such as no 
 other one of his biographers has undertaken, certainly not with 
 equal success. . . . They present the character of our 
 great sailor in its true light, and give us a just conception of his 
 distinguished abilities and his wonderful career, not by the mere 
 assertions of partial biography, but by the unfolding of evidence 
 carrying conviction in every line. Mr. Buell presents more 
 clearly than any writer we know of the evolution of our naval 
 hero's character, and convincingly answers some of the slanders 
 about him still current." — Army and Navy Jonrnal, 
 
 " The ScRiBNERS have chosen well in presenting an elaborate 
 biography of Paul Jones, for few actors in the Revolution offer 
 anything like such a biographer's chance, and Jones, despite the 
 incidental nature of his brilliant service against England, is firmly 
 established as a national hero. His life has a far wider interest, 
 and belongs to general European history. . . . Mr. A. 
 C. Buell has told this story in a spirited and attractive manner, 
 carrying very lightly an imposing ballast of original letters and 
 documents. A hasty glance at the advance sheets is reassuring 
 as to the scholarship of the work." — New York Evening Post. 
 
 CHARLES SCRIBNER'S SONS 
 
 153-157 Fifth Avenue New York 
 

 
 
 .•'•;.I!iif„:*' '■'«•■'■" 
 
 ■tii^Vj^t'r 
 
 J'KV