The building in the foreground was once a two-story block-house.]

[Illustration: The Brick Hermitage--1819

Wings were added in 1831, and the small building was removed.

_From Harper's Magazine of January, 1855_]

On the twenty-third of August, 1804, Jackson paid Nathaniel Hays $3,400

for the 425-acre tract, "with its appurtenances," which was to be known

later as the Hermitage.[1] This reference to appurtenances would

indicate that some kind of a building or "improvements" stood on the

property when Jackson bought it. This theory is strengthened by the fact

that the present study has revealed no records which prove definitely

that Andrew Jackson erected a log building at the Hermitage in 1804 or

1805, and by the tradition in the Hays family that one of its members

built the Hermitage. Another point which strengthens it is that both of

the log houses now standing on the Hermitage estate have in their walls

the customary holes for rifles which were made in the days of Indian

fighting. This was not necessary at the time Jackson bought the

Hermitage, for Indian hostilities were ended by 1795.

There must have been, however, considerable remodeling of the buildings,

even though no new house was erected. Account books of the Hunter's Hill

store, which form a valuable part of the collection of historic

documents at the Hermitage, show that in November, 1804, "17 window

lights" are charged to Jackson's personal account. It is possible that

as time goes by a letter or other record may come to light which will

tell something more definite on the building or remodeling of the log

Hermitage. These account books are especially important in placing the

removal from Hunter's Hill to the Hermitage. The last entry at the

Hunter's Hill store was made on April 5, 1805, and the first at the

Clover Bottom store on April 9. It is interesting to observe in this

connection that the first letter in Bassett's _Correspondence of Andrew

Jackson_, headed at the Hermitage, was dated April 7, 1805. There is a

lapse of several months in the letters, however, since the last one

Bassett quotes from Hunter's Hill is dated August 25, 1804. It is

probable, although not a definitely established fact, that the removal

of the store and residence took place simultaneously.

It is known, of course, that Hunter's Hill was a commodious, two-story

frame building--a marked contrast with the usual log houses of the

period. In later years it was burned, and there remains to-day on the

site of the Hunter's Hill residence nothing more than a few scant traces

of houses which may, or may not, have been a part of the dwellings,

slave quarters, store, or other buildings used while the Jacksons lived

there.[2] The spring, of course, remains; the Cumberland flows gently

along its distant, tree-lined banks; and fertile fields still yield up

their annual tribute to careful husbandry. But marks of Jackson's

occupation of the land are obliterated and, except as the story is

pieced together from bits of information gathered here and there, its

history is lost in obscurity.

More is known of the log Hermitage, although its history is far from

complete. Most of the letters of people who were guests of the Jacksons

during this period are tantalizing for their lack of detail. The best

and more than likely the most authentic description of the interior of

the log Hermitage is that given in Buell's _History of Andrew Jackson_.

The author, in a series of interviews with Mrs. James K. Polk, wife of

President Polk, has preserved much important material relating to the

Jackson household. In his preface to Mrs. Polk's narrative he says:

"In the early seventies of the 19th Century the author of this work

visited Nashville more than once in the capacity of a newspaper

correspondent. On those occasions he enjoyed the honor and pleasure of

calling upon Mrs. Sarah Childress Polk, widow of the President. Mrs.

Polk was in her seventy-first year then. Her fund of historical and

social reminiscences was exhaustless, and the best efforts to

reproduce in print her faculty of relation would be feeble. Born in

1803, about twenty-eight or thirty miles from Nashville and not over

twenty miles from the Hermitage, she had known the Jacksons from her

earliest childhood. When she grew up and married Mr. Polk, the

intimacy became still closer, and the relations between General

Jackson and her husband in public life on the most important scale

gave her recollections a quality of historical value not equalled by

those of any other woman of her time....

"Mrs. Polk said that Mrs. Jackson--or 'Aunt' Rachel--was literally the

childless mother of the whole neighborhood.... In their vicinage

General and Mrs. Jackson were, of course, by far the most important

persons. But no one would suspect it from observing the way and manner

of their intercourse with the neighbors. In this respect the General

was the most democratic of men, while Mrs. Jackson was at once the

soul of merry-making and the embodiment of benevolence and charity.

"Their home manners, Mrs. Polk said, were the most charming concert of

simplicity with dignity. The General always in their earlier life said

'Mrs. Jackson,' both in the second and third persons; though, when

their little adopted son began to talk, he got into the habit of

addressing her as 'mother.' On her part, Mrs. Jackson invariably spoke

of and to him as 'Mr. Jackson,' until after the War of 1812, she

yielded to the universal fashion and began to call him 'General.' But

no one ever heard either address the other by the first name or by any

term of endearment or familiarity whatever. In fact, though more

winning kindliness than that which marked the manners of both could

not be imagined, there was yet an atmosphere of quiet self-respect and

calm dignity about them which gently, though none the less

imperatively, commanded scrupulous courtesy in their presence....

"The Hermitage of the period now under consideration, Mrs. Polk said,

was not the commodious country house so familiar to devout Democrats

in pilgrimages of later years. It was a group of log houses in close

proximity to each other. The principal one had been built for a

block-house in the days of Indian alarms, afterwards used as a store

and, about 1804, converted into a dwelling. It, like all block-houses,

was two stories high. Near it were three smaller log houses, one story

high with low attics. These were used as lodgings for members of the

family or guests. The main building--the former block-house--had on the

first floor one very large room with a huge fireplace capable of

taking in a good-sized load of wood at a time. A lean-to had been

built on at the back containing two rooms, one of which was used as

the family sleeping quarters, the other as a pantry--or 'buttery' as

the phrase was then. But the great room, about twenty-four feet by

twenty-six, was at once kitchen, dining-room, sitting-room and parlor,

and the large table that stood in the middle of it, capable of seating

twelve to fourteen people comfortably, was always 'set.'

"... General Jackson was a wonderful adept in the art of anecdote, and

particularly delighted in incidents having a spice of wit or humor.

Mrs. Jackson's observations and experience were, of course, much more

limited, but she, too, was a fluent talker and always entertaining....

She was an insatiable reader and was always far better informed upon

current topics than the average woman of her time, even those who had

been well educated. She was also a prolific writer, keeping up a close

correspondence with her numerous relatives and with the General

whenever he was absent from home. Her letters were simply her

conversation on paper, with no effort at eloquence. As for grammar and

orthography, Mrs. Polk said, neither in those days was the exact

science it has since become, and she declared that while in the White

House she had received notes from 'leaders in society' in Washington

that would not compare favorably with the most hurried or careless of

Mrs. Jackson's letters."

Mrs. Polk was excellently educated for her time. As a very young girl

she was sent to the Moravian Female Academy at Salem, North Carolina,

and later she was placed in a girls' school in Nashville. She came, of

course, a generation after Mrs. Jackson and enjoyed privileges which

were not known in frontier days. Mrs. Polk's estimate of the Jacksons is

especially important, not only because she knew them intimately from her

childhood, but also because by training and long contact with the

nation's leaders and the great from other parts of the world, she had a

background which qualified her for unbiased judgment.

Another child destined for future greatness visited the Hermitage when

the log buildings were the family dwellings. He was Jefferson Davis,

future president of the Confederate States of America. What would "Old

Hickory" have said, when little "Jeff" Davis raced ponies and played

with Andrew Jackson, Jr., and other little boys at the Hermitage, had he

been able to foretell the future of his small guest? Fortunately for the

children, no shadow crossed their pathway, and even "Old Hickory" had

not been forced to declare in thunderous tones: "Our Federal Union--it

must be preserved."

[Let it always be remembered, however, that Andrew Jackson's passionate

loyalty to the Union was based upon an equally passionate devotion to

the Rights of the States. He said in a rough draft of his second

inaugural address, dated March 1, 1833 (Bassett, _Correspondence of

Andrew Jackson_, Vol. V, p. 26): "In proportion, therefore, as the

general government encroaches upon the rights of the states, in the same

proportion does it impair its own power and detract from its ability to

fulfil the purposes of its creation."]

The story of Jefferson Davis' journey from Mississippi to the Hermitage

is told briefly in his _Memoirs_.

"When I was seven years old," he states, "I was sent on horseback

through what was then called 'The Wilderness'--by the country of the

Choctaw and the Chickasaw nations--to Kentucky, and placed in a

Catholic institution then known as St. Thomas, in Washington County,

near the town of Springfield. In that day (1815) there were no

steamboats, nor were there stage-coaches traversing the country. The

river trade was conducted on flat and keel-boats. The last named only

could be taken up the river. Commerce between the Western States and

the Lower Mississippi was confined to the water routes. The usual mode

of travel was on horseback or afoot. Many persons who had gone down

the river in flat-boats walked back through the wilderness to

Kentucky, Ohio, and elsewhere. We passed many of these, daily, on the

road....

"The party with which I was sent to Kentucky consisted of Major Hinds

(who had command of the famous battalion of Mississippi dragoons at

the battle of New Orleans), his wife, his sister-in-law, a niece, a

maid-servant, and his son Howell, who was near my own age, and, like

myself, mounted on a pony. A servant had a sumpter mule with some

supplies, besides bed and blankets for camping out. The journey to

Kentucky occupied several weeks.

"When we reached Nashville we went to the Hermitage. Major Hinds

wished to visit his friend and companion-in-arms, General Jackson. The

whole party was so kindly received that we remained several weeks.

During that period I had the opportunity a boy has to observe a great

man--a standpoint of no small advantage--and I have always remembered

with warm affection the kind and tender wife who then presided over

his house....

"General Jackson's house at that time was a roomy log-house. In front

of it was a grove of fine forest trees, and behind it were his cotton

and grain fields. I have never forgotten the unaffected and well-bred

courtesy which caused him to be remarked by court-trained diplomats,

when President of the United States, by reason of his very impressive

bearing and manner. Notwithstanding the many reports that have been

made of his profanity, I remember that he always said grace at his

table and I never heard him utter an oath. In the same connection,

although he encouraged his adopted son, A. Jackson, Jr., Howell Hinds,

and myself in all contests of activity, pony-riding included, he would

not allow us to wrestle; for, he said, to allow hands to be put on one

another might lead to a fight. He was always very gentle and

considerate.... Our stay with General Jackson was enlivened by the

visits of his neighbors, and we left the Hermitage with great regret

and pursued our journey. In me he inspired reverence and affection

that has remained with me through my whole life."

These intimate glimpses of the Jackson household during the period of

residence in the log Hermitage throw an interesting light upon the

customs and surroundings of the family at this time. These years--from

1805 to 1819--were tremendously important in Jackson's career. They were

not entirely happy years, for they included such unfortunate events as

the Dickinson duel in 1806, the shooting affray with the Bentons in

1814, the delightful, but misunderstood visits of Aaron Burr, and the

public expressions of disapproval which these affairs produced. Through

it all ran the unhappy references to the Robards' divorce and the

unfortunate circumstances attending the first marriage of the Jacksons.

It was a period of Herculean struggle against material odds, as well as

against public opinion, but it was not without a brighter side in which

gayety, color, and genuine happiness stand out.

Relatives, neighbors and, often, distinguished guests from a distance,

composed a brilliant and congenial company--in spite of the fact that

their rank varied from the simplest backwoodsman to a former vice

president of the United States, and their common background was a log

house in the far west. Most charming and gracious of all was Aaron Burr,

but lately vice president, who first visited the Hermitage May 29, 1805.

He was received by the entire community in a manner which befitted his

importance and his high rank in national affairs. Public dinners were

given for him, and he was received cordially by the leading citizens. He

returned to Nashville in August, 1805, and spent a few days as a guest

of General Jackson. Little is known of the details of this visit, but

from the Hermitage at this time he wrote to his daughter, Theodosia:

"For a week I have been lounging at the house of General Jackson, once

a lawyer, after a judge, now a planter; a man of intelligence, and one

of those prompt, frank, ardent souls whom I love to meet. The General

has no children, but two lovely nieces made a visit of some days,

contributed greatly to my amusement, and have cured me of all the

evils of my wilderness jaunt...." (Parton's _Life of Andrew Jackson_.)

The nieces were, of course, nieces of Mrs. Jackson--part of that bevy of

charming Donelson girls which throughout the history of the Hermitage

household lent grace and gayety to its social affairs. Many of them

married young men who were closely associated with the General in his

military and political activities, and in this way strengthened by ties

of kinship the relationship which common public interest had created.

General Jackson had no kin of his own in Tennessee, but he took Mrs.

Jackson's family to his heart as if it were his own.

Burr's final visit to Nashville in December, 1806, was the one around

which the storm of public disapproval centered. His reception at this

time was courteous, but somewhat cool, for rumors of his proposed

invasion of the West had already begun to filter in. The _Impartial

Review and Cumberland Repository_ of December 20 carried the

announcement that "Colo. Burr arrived on Wednesday last and intends

proceeding to Natchez in a few days."

His departure was recorded almost as briefly in the same paper, issue of

Saturday, December 27: "Colo. Burr embarked from this place for New

Orleans on Monday last, with two large flat boats, which did not appear

to be loaded."

The papers of these and subsequent dates carried, however, many

communications which show the national alarm at Burr's presence in the

Western country and indicate that while Nashville was slow to condemn

him, it was ready to rise to a man to march against him should reports

that he was planning an invasion of the Western country prove true. For

the most part, however, he was given the benefit of the doubt, and while

he was in Nashville he was received as an interesting and charming

acquisition to its social circle.

There are many interesting stories of Burr's visits to Nashville, of his

elegant manners, his wit, and his personal magnetism as well as his

alleged duplicity. Some of them were revived in the Jackson presidential

campaign of 1828 in an effort to prove that he and Andrew Jackson were

united in intrigue against the United States. These arguments brought

forth a letter which was not only important in the campaign, but is

especially valuable at present, for its picture of Nashville social life

and the participation of the master and mistress of the Hermitage in it.

This letter, written by T. G. Watkins, at Charlottesville, on May 14,

1828, reads:

"In the winter of 1806 or '7, to the best of my recollection as to

time, I was a member of the dancing assemblies for the season, in

Nashville. On one of the evenings preceding a stated meeting for the

night, it was communicated to the managers for the season, two of whom

I distinctly recollect were the present John Overton, LLD, of

Travellers' Rest, near Nashville, and the late Dr. Hansen Catlett,

that Col. Burr was in town. He was immediately ticketed, as Judge

Overton informed me, nem. con., I think, by the managers. Some one, I

do not now recollect who, objected to this act of the managers. Judge

Overton remarked that he had concurred in the invitation from a

conviction of its propriety--but, as he acted upon delegated authority,

he wished a meeting as full and general as practicable, of the

subscribers to the assemblies to be convened; and if a majority of

them disapproved of the act of the managers, the invitation to Mr.

Burr should be promptly withdrawn. A meeting, a very full meeting, was

called, and a majority sanctioned the act of the managers. The ball

went on very harmoniously; Col. Burr, though somewhat distrusted by

some, was considered an elegant acquisition to it, and was treated

accordingly: a hospitable and gracious smile from the ladies, in

return for his very general, and very elegant salutations, proved

their happy acquiescence in the general arrangement. Gen. Jackson

resided about 14 miles from Nashville at that time: if he and his

amiable lady attended on that occasion, as they often did on others, I

have lost all distinct recollection of it, which I think I should not,

if there had been anything more marked in the attention of either to

Col. Burr than seemed to be generally awarded to him by the company.

While on this subject I will remark that some time previous to this

ball, a young gentleman who resided in my family in Nashville,

appeared anxious to go with Col. Burr--he afterwards cooled off. And

questioned on the subject by myself or someone in my presence, he

stated that a Mr. Caffrey, I think was the name, had been about that

time advised, verbally or by letter, I am not certain which, by Gen.

Jackson, to have nothing to do with Col. Burr's expedition.

Respectfully Th. G. Watkins." (_Nashville Whig._)

[Illustration: Above: The Hermitage After the Remodelling in 1831

_From Ayres' Map of Nashville_

_Courtesy of the late Dr. W. A. Provine_]

[Illustration: Below: The Hermitage After the Final Remodelling

Which Followed the Fire of 1834

_From drawing dated 1856_

_Original in Hermitage museum_]

Burr, on his last visit to Nashville, resided at least a part of the

time at the Clover Bottom tavern, which, with a store, a race track, and

a boat yard, formed the establishment developed by Andrew Jackson, John

Hutchings, a nephew of Mrs. Jackson, and John Coffee, who in 1809

married one of Mrs. Jackson's nieces, Mary Donelson. It was here that

Burr obtained the boats which brought down such a storm of criticism

upon the head of Jackson. A careful examination of the orders for boats

and related dealings between Jackson and Burr do not justify the

accusation of conspiracy--particularly in view of General Jackson's

activities in complying with orders from the Secretary of War regarding

a military force to protect the West against Burr's anticipated

invasion.

After Burr's departure with his two visibly empty flat-boats, feeling in

certain circles began to mount higher and higher. He was publicly

denounced as a traitor and on January 2, 1807, was burned in effigy by a

group of Nashville's citizens. This event is described in the _Impartial

Review_ of Saturday, January 3, 1807, as follows:

"Last night at the hour of nine, commenced the burning of the Effigy

of Col. Aaron Burr, by the citizens of this town. This proceeding is

justified by the ardent emotions of patriotism felt by the people, and

excited by a deep conviction that the said Burr is a TRAITOR. This

conviction is produced from the conduct of Col. Burr himself in these

western states, and even in this town--the proclamation of the

President--his message to both houses of Congress, and the statement of

Gen. Eaton. And we have the utmost confidence in assuring our Atlantic

brethren, that the idea of separation is spurned with indignation and

horror. That our lives and our property are pledged to support the

General Government of the United States, as the safeguard of our

personal security, and as the only asylum for oppressed humanity."

Subsequent events proved that the Burr alarm was very much of a tempest

in a teapot, but the incident was used, long afterwards, against General

Jackson by his political opponents. Similar use was made of the Robards'

divorce and of the tragic story of his duel with Charles Dickinson.

The log house was the home of the Jacksons at the time of the Dickinson

duel, May 29, 1806; but the scene of events which led to it was Clover

Bottom, the site of Jackson's race track, store, and tavern, about two

miles from the Hermitage. The direct cause of the duel was the race

between Jackson's celebrated Truxton and Capt. Joseph Erwin's

Ploughboy--a race which was arranged in the fall of 1805, but was not

run. Ploughboy's lameness caused his owner to withdraw him from the race

and pay the $800 forfeit. There are a number of stories about events

which followed the withdrawal of Ploughboy. Judge Guild, in his _Old

Times in Tennessee_, probably gives the most accurate account of the

matter as it concerns Mrs. Jackson.

"I have been informed," Judge Guild wrote, "by a relative of Mrs.

Jackson, a gentleman of high character, still living, that she was

present, in her carriage, on the track, to witness the race, and when

the forfeit was declared, she remarked with an air of pardonable

exultation, to some of her friends, that 'Truxton would have left

Ploughboy out of sight.' This was repeated to Dickinson, who, being

somewhat excited by his losses, and probably under the influence of

liquor, rejoined, 'Yes, about as far out of sight as Mrs. Jackson left

her first husband when she ran away with the General.'"

This was followed by some gentlemen's gossip about the value of notes

put up by Capt. Erwin for the forfeit, and one incrimination led to

another until a situation which had but one remedy was created. Jackson,

by the repeated insults heaped upon him by the Erwin faction, was forced

to challenge Charles Dickinson to a duel. Since the laws of Tennessee

prohibited dueling, the meeting was carried across the line into

Kentucky, where, on the morning of May 29, 1806, the duel was fought.

The results are well known. Dickinson, crack pistol shot of the West,

who had left behind him along the road to the meeting place evidences of

his expert marksmanship, fired--and the shot entered his adversary's

breast. His opponent fired, but the pistol stopped at half-cock. With

superhuman effort he drew himself to full height, folded his coat closer

across his breast to hide the wound which he believed fatal, and with

cool deliberation took the second fire to which he was entitled.

Dickinson's wound proved fatal and Jackson's very nearly so, but the

bitter enemies who had driven Jackson into the duel were not

satisfied--they entered upon a relentless tirade of abuse, and the

public, shuddering, turned its sympathy to the young widow of Dickinson.

Rachel, in her little log house, wept out her own heartache as she

nursed the General back to health--and through it all prayed and wept for

the young wife of Charles Dickinson and her unborn babe.

(The first edition of the present work referred to the Dickinson child

as an "unborn babe"--a statement which had long been accepted by Jackson

historians. Charles Dickinson's will in _Wills and Inventories of

Davidson County_, (1807) pp. 141-142, states, however, that "... half of

my Estate I give devise & bequeath to my son Henry who is now about Ten

weeks old ...")

As time passed the wound healed. Jackson retired to his Hermitage and

devoted himself to his business, his farm, and his blooded stock.

Truxton, the innocent cause of this tragedy, blossomed under the

friendly skies of Tennessee, but neither he nor his master were destined

to remain long in retirement. Life stretched out temptingly before them,

and it was not long until Truxton was the acknowledged king of the turf,

and upon his master's brow were the laurels won in his defense of New

Orleans.

No history of the Hermitage could be complete without a rather detailed

account of Truxton. He was bought by General Jackson in the spring of

1805 from Maj. John Verrell, of Virginia. After the first race with

Ploughboy was announced and the forfeit declared, another race, which is

less known, was run and Truxton was the winner. This race took place on

April 3, 1806--something over a month before the Dickinson duel.

The best authority on this race and upon Truxton himself is Andrew

Jackson. His statement was written for the _American Farmer_ and was

reprinted in the _American Turf Register_ of December, 1833. This

account reads:

"Truxton is a beautiful bay, full of bone and muscle; was got by the

imported horse old Diomed, and came out of the thoroughbred mare,

Nancy Coleman, the property of Maj. John Verrell, of Virginia. Truxton

is, however, too well known to require a minute description. His

performances on the turf have surpassed those of any horse of his age

that has ever been run in the western country; and, indeed, it might

be said with confidence, that he is equal, if not superior, to Mr.

Ball's Florizel horse, who was got by the same Diomed, and who now

stands unrivalled in Virginia as a race horse.

"Truxton, by old sportsmen and judges, is admitted to be amongst the

best distance horses they ever run or had to train. His speed is

certainly unknown to all those who have run against him. He has, on

the most unequal terms, started against the very best mile horses in

Kentucky and Tennessee, and beat them with great ease; and in no one

instance has ever run with any horse, when he himself was in order,

but he either could or did distance him with ease. Although the four

mile heats is the real and true distance for Truxton to run, he has

beaten Mr. Gordon's fine mile horse, Jack of Clubs, and Mr. Cotton's

Greyhound, both aged horses, with equal weights of 100 pounds on each,

the single mile heats.

"And lastly, to crown the much doubted speed of Truxton, he beat, on

only two sound legs, on the 3d of April, 1806, over the Clover Bottom

Turf, the celebrated horse, Ploughboy, who was never before beaten,

and beating him without the assistance of whip or spurs. It is now no

longer difficult for the numerous concourse of people who were present

on that day to say 'whether or not Truxton be the true bred racer.'

"Truxton's winnings, from time to time, from the most correct

information, amount to at least twenty thousand dollars, and his colts

are not inferior to any on the continent. Andrew Jackson."[3]

Truxton was, undoubtedly, Jackson's pride, but the Hermitage was noted

for many famous horses. There was Pacolet, the dapple gray six-year-old,

which the General had bought from Col. William R. Johnson, of Kentucky,

about 1813. His immediate object in acquiring a new racer was, according

to Marquis James, in his _Andrew Jackson, the Border Captain_, to defeat

"Jesse Haynie's chestnut mare Maria just as soon as he could send the

British about their business." This neither Pacolet, nor Truxton's

boasted colts could accomplish, and to Haynie's Maria is awarded the

distinction of being almost the only thing which Andrew Jackson, when he

set his head to it, could not conquer.

To tell the story of Jackson's horses would be to write the history of

racing and breeding of thoroughbreds from the early days of the

settlements in Middle Tennessee until after the Civil War. There was a

close association between General Jackson and the owners of

thoroughbreds in Sumner County, where, for a long period of years such

men as Bailie Peyton, Barry, Carter, the Rev. Hardy Cryer and others

produced magnificent horses.

There is a tradition that Andrew Jackson arrived in Nashville riding one

fine horse and leading another--which was loaded in the customary manner

with his personal belongings. Early in the spring after his arrival he

purchased another, for we find at the Davidson County Court House a

record showing that on April ninth, 1789, he bought of Thomas Smith "one

Sorrell horse About fourteen hands high known by the name of Sam^l

Martin's Sorrel: Which s^d Horse the s^d Smith purchased from the s^d

Samuel Martin for the consideration of the Sum of One hundred

pounds...."

The punctuation of this record is somewhat scant, but from the general

context one gathers that Andrew Jackson paid one hundred pounds for the

Horse, rather than that Thomas Smith paid this sum to Samuel Martin. At

any rate "Samuel Martin's Sorrel" was valued at one hundred pounds--a

rather goodly sum for young Attorney Jackson to be paying. Throughout

his long life he continued to buy the best horses he could afford--they

were a passion with him--and, unlike many devotees of the turf, he made

money, rather than lost it, in his deals.

One of General Jackson's choice saddle horses was Duke, who is said to

have been his favorite during the New Orleans campaign. If we credit the

story of Uncle Alfred, the slave who for many years was his faithful

bodyservant, he was mounted upon Duke on the day of victory. Mrs. Mary

C. Dorris, in her _Preservation of the Hermitage_, quotes Uncle Alfred

as saying:

"General Jackson is ridin' Juke (Duke) dat day; he warn't ridin' Sam

Patch, dat 'ar white horse standin' in de parlor.... He's ridin' Juke.

An' Juke he dance Yankee-Doodle on three legs; and he dance it so

plain dat de ban' struck up an' play 'Jackson, Jackson, yer's de man

for me.'"

General Jackson, in a letter written to Mrs. Jackson during the Florida

campaign of 1818, shows his affection for Duke.

"I am advised there are a few red sticks (hostile Indians) west of

Appelachecola, should this be true, I will have to disperse them, this

done I shall commence my journey home. I am almost on foot, I almost

despair of getting my favourite Old Duke home." (Bassett,

_Correspondence of Andrew Jackson_, Vol. II.)

Uncle Alfred referred to the portrait in the Hermitage parlor, a work of

the artist Earl, which shows General Jackson mounted on the white

charger presented to him by the citizens of Philadelphia. He was a

graceful and daring horseman and, like Washington and other great

generals, had a passion for horses. He had also a country gentleman's

interest in the breeding of blooded stock, and a sportsman's interest in

their speed and bottom. There came a time, however, when he was forced

to give up the turf--although never, for a moment, did he relinquish his

interest in the breeding of fine horses at his Hermitage estate. The

severe criticism of his horse-racing proclivities by his political

enemies caused him, after his elevation to the Presidency, to

discontinue training his colts for the track at the Hermitage.

* * * * * * * *

But the log cabin days were ending. Fame came slowly, but certainly, to

the humble dwelling in the midst of the fertile acres of the Hermitage.

It was not sought by the master of the household, and it certainly was

not welcomed by its mistress. It was impossible, however, for such a

dynamic nature as Jackson's to avoid following an active and forceful

course in the events of the period. He could no more stay at home when

his presence was needed in the field than he could avoid taking a

leader's place when he got into action. Each event in which he

participated led him farther and farther from the simple life which he

and his household had been leading, for with each success came

promotions which gave the public greater and greater claims upon him.

The log cabin years, in spite of the struggles and tragedies sprinkled

through them, were, on the whole, happy and eventful ones. The financial

structure of the Hermitage household was strengthened, the public

affairs of its master prospered, and his personal contacts with those

who disagreed with him became less violent. Children had always been a

part of the household. Rachel's brothers and sisters lived near by and

their children, from babyhood to maturity, were her delight as well as

General Jackson's. Added to these were the Butler children who, in the

years of 1804 and 1805, became General Jackson's wards. In 1809, when

twin boys were born to Severn Donelson's wife, the mother was quite

frail, so Rachel carried one of her tiny nephews home with her and

claimed him for her own. He was legally adopted and given the General's

own name. After 1813 the Indian boy, Lincoya, orphaned at the Battle of

Talluschatches, was taken into the friendly shelter of the Hermitage. A

great favorite through the years was Andrew Jackson Donelson, who grew

into a brilliant statesman under the General's fond care. Another

valuable acquisition to the household was the young artist, Ralph E. W.

Earl, who in 1818 married Jane Caffrey, one of Mrs. Jackson's numerous

nieces.

Among the others who married Rachel's nieces were Abraham Green, of

Natchez, who married Patsey Caffrey in January, 1801; General John

Coffee, who married Mary Donelson in 1809; William Eastin, who married

Mrs. Coffee's sister, Rachel Jackson Donelson, in the same year; and

John C. McLemore, of Nashville. General Coffee's daughter, Mary, who as

a young lady was a member of the Jackson household at the White House,

married Andrew Jackson Hutchings, ward and grand-nephew of General

Jackson. Through all the years the Jackson household knew the happy

confusion which is common to large families--love, laughter, tears, and

all of the things which go to make life full and interesting. No one

reveled in these relationships more than the master, whose own near kin

had been snatched from him by a series of tragic incidents of the

Revolutionary War.

Mrs. Jackson had not been confined entirely, however, to her own family

circles and the log Hermitage. After the victory at New Orleans she went

south to join her husband. In the same year she accompanied him on a

visit to Washington and to Virginia, and at all places she shared with

him the honors showered upon him by an adoring populace. She accompanied

him, too, when he went to Pensacola to assume the office of Governor of

the Floridas, and from these trips returned laden with gifts and

purchases which were somewhat out of place in the humble quarters to

which they were brought. The time had come, obviously, for the building

of a home more in keeping with the station of its master. Fortunately

his financial status justified it. Otherwise the family would have

undoubtedly remained in the log dwelling, for Andrew Jackson's good

sense and determination to live within his means far outweighed any

personal vanity. He was solicitous, however, of Mrs. Jackson's welfare,

and was for her sake particularly interested in building a more suitable

home.

The new Hermitage was built for Rachel, upon the spot which she

selected. Major Lewis, Parton says, suggested it be built upon another

more elevated site, but that General Jackson said to him:

"No, Major, Mrs. Jackson chose this spot, and she shall have her wish.

I am going to build this house for her. I don't expect to live in it

myself."

General Jackson's health at this period was even worse than usual--and he

was seldom well. The one thought uppermost in his mind when the new

house was built was the comfort of the one person whom he loved above

all other things in the world.

As houses go, the Hermitage of this period was by no means pretentious.

It was a square-looking, home-like building, made of red bricks

manufactured on the place by the slaves--spacious, comfortable, and

liveable, but by no means elaborate. Many of the visitors who were

thronging from all parts of the country to visit the "Hero of New

Orleans" thought it a surprisingly simple abode for a man of such

prominence. It was not, however, out of keeping with its local setting.

Davidson County, according to the census of 1820, had a population of

only 20,154 people. The section now known as Middle Tennessee was

sparsely settled and still called "West Tennessee."

The period of transition from the log cabin to the ante-bellum mansion

had begun, but most of the men who had fought their way to a financial

security which justified the mansions still remembered their early days

in pioneer cabins. Society was young and unexacting, and in the West

they took Jeffersonian democracy literally. Andrew Jackson was himself

the democrat of all democrats, but he had a poise and assurance which

made him at home in all companies, and made all classes of people at

ease in his presence. Neither his manner nor Mrs. Jackson's changed,

however, with their removal to more handsome quarters. Both of them had

long been known for their gracious hospitality and for a bearing which

was at once simple and dignified.

Thomas Hart Benton, in writing of Mrs. Jackson, declared:

"She had a faculty--a rare one--of retaining names and titles in a

throng of visitors, addressing each one appropriately, and dispensing

hospitality to all with a cordiality which enhanced its value. No

bashful youth, or plain old man, whose modesty sat them down at the

lower end of the table, could escape her cordial attentions any more

than the titled gentleman on her right and left. Young persons were

her delight, and she always had her house filled with them--clever

young women and clever young men--all calling her affectionately 'Aunt

Rachel.' I was young then, and was one of that number. I owe it to

early recollections and to cherished convictions--in this last notice

of the Hermitage--to bear this faithful testimony to the memory of its

long mistress--the loved and honored wife of a great man." (From

Benton's _Thirty Years' View_.)

It was Benton who gave to the world the picture of Andrew Jackson

sitting before his fireside in the twilight with a child and its pet

lamb on his knees.

[Illustration: The Stately Avenue of Cedars As It Appears Today

When President Theodore Roosevelt visited the Hermitage in 1907 he

alighted from his carriage at the entrance of the avenue and walked

with bared head to the historic old mansion.]

It was for gay groups such as those that Benton mentioned that the new

Hermitage was built. In spite of the storm and stress the years were

passing pleasantly with its mistress. Fame turned its spotlight upon the

household, but the simple hospitality of the log cabin period was not

abandoned. The spacious rooms of the new Hermitage rang with the

laughter of a great bevy of nieces, of nephews, and neighbors' children.

General Jackson's "military family," friends, and associates came from

here, there, and everywhere, bringing with them members of their

families and staying for weeks at a time. But the Hermitage acres were

broad and fertile, the slaves were numerous and contented--and the

mistress an excellent manager.

Years afterwards General Jackson wrote to young Andrew Jackson Hutchings

(letter of April 18, 1833, Bassett, _Correspondence of Andrew Jackson_,

Vol. V): "Recollect the industry of your dear aunt, and with what

economy she watched over what I made, and how we waded thro' the vast

expence of the mass of company we had. Nothing but her care and

industry, with good economy could have saved me from ruin. If she had

been extravagant the property would have vanished and poverty and want

would have been our doom. Think of this before you attempt to select a

wife."

The years in which this building was occupied were colorful and eventful

ones in the Jackson saga. Unfortunately little is known of the actual

details which attended its erection, the beginning of the garden, and

other little intimate things concerning it. Even such a tireless student

as the late John Spencer Bassett was not able to place exactly the time

of its completion and occupation. Everything seems to indicate that it

was started in 1818, about the close of General Jackson's Florida

campaign, and that it was ready for occupancy, most likely, prior to

June, 1819, the date of President Monroe's visit to Nashville and the

Hermitage. The story is being pieced together, bit by bit, and it is

gradually becoming complete.

A letter from Sir John Jackson, mentioned by Bassett, but secured in

full from the manuscripts of the New York Public Library, by the

Tennessee State Library, shows that in 1819 the Jacksons had secured the

services of an English gardener. This letter reads:

"Philadelphia, April 30th, 1819.

"Major Genl A Jackson

"Dear General

"On the 26th Inst I wrote a few lines to you by William Frost a

regular bred english Gardener who has been well recommended and from

what I can judge from conversation with him am in hopes he will be

found capable of whatever he undertakes--I engaged him for you as

Gardener without any stipulation as to terms merely holding out that

on his own capacity and industry his success and welfare depended--like

others of his situation of life required an advance to bear his

expense and had to give him 30 dollars on your account.

"I have seen a Nashville paper announcing your arrival and the

congratulations of your Friends and fellow citizens testified by a

Public dinner, it seems by the english Papers the english people are

mad with the Citizens of N. York, this City and Baltimore for the

respect shown you--with best respects to your Lady I remain with

sincere respect and esteem,

"Yours,

"John Jackson."

In the same connection Bassett quotes a letter to William B. Lewis,

which, though not dated, is placed sometime in 1819. It reads, in part:

"Sir, Mr. Wilson who was employed by Mr. Decker to paint my house has

disappointed me, he was to have been here on the 15th he has not

arrived. I will therefore now engage with the gentleman you spoke to

me about, I have a Dearborn waggon in Town to day to bring up the

tubes to convey water from my roof, and the ballance of the paint.

will you have the goodness to see him for me. get him to go to Mr.

Berkmans examine the bill of paints laid in, and if any wanting to add

them, and to say to Mr. Berkman whether he prefers the Whitelead in

oil or dry, and let it be brought up to day.

"I shall be down to day, to ride, but I am taken with an acute

soreness in my left side, I cannot say pain, that is very troublesome

when I bend, or is touched, perhaps it may with exercise disappear.

"I heard last evening that Mr. Rhea is in town I wish to see him, and

if I can ride without great inconvenience I will be down for that

purpose...."

The _Nashville Whig and Tennessee Advertiser_, of May 15, 1819, carried

the announcement that the Hon. John Rhea was a candidate for Congress

from the First District--it may have been that he was in Nashville at the

time. The connection between his announcement and Jackson's letter is

somewhat vague, but it may prove a small link in the chain which will

eventually establish the date of the completion of this building.

Bassett mentions also a receipted bill for china and silver plate to the

amount of $200, dated June 12, 1818, which, in 1922, was in the

possession of Albert M. and Andrew Jackson, of Los Angeles. This,

Jackson's letter about the paint, and Sir John's letter about the

English gardener, indicate that the Hermitage household was to be

conducted upon a more elaborate scale.

There is a strongly prevalent local tradition that the artist, R. E. W.

Earl, laid out the Hermitage garden. It is quite possible that he worked

with the English gardener in laying it out. He was established in

Nashville as early as the latter part of the year 1817, for in the

announcement of the Eighth of January Ball, 1818, some of his portraits

were used in the decorations. The _Nashville Whig_ of January 10, in

describing the event, states:

"The Ballroom was decorated with much taste, elegance and splendor. At

the upper end of the room, were suspended three paintings, the

portraits of Generals Jackson, Carroll and Coffee. Two of which,

Generals Jackson and Coffee, were executed by a young artist now in

this place, which, for boldness of design, accuracy of execution,

judiciousness, and delicacy of shading would not lose in comparison

with the finest paintings of modern times...."

An important visitor at the Hermitage that year was Isaac Shelby, "late

governor of Kentucky," who stopped with the Jacksons while he and the

General were preparing to go into the Chickasaw country to hold a

treaty. Both men were popular, and their proposed mission was important

enough to offer a sufficient incentive for an elaborate public dinner at

the Nashville Inn.

At this dinner Col. Edward Ward, president, proposed the toast: "Isaac

Shelby, late governor of Kentucky. The only governor in our Union who,

during our late war, showed himself qualified for both the cabinet and

the field."

John H. Eaton, Esq., vice president, proposed: "General Jackson, His

military greatness commands our admiration--his private virtues our

esteem."

Soon the generals and their suite were off for the Chickasaw country.

They encountered some difficulty, for the _Nashville Whig_ of October 10

reported that "but four chiefs attended on October 2nd"--they were

alarmed at parting with any of their territory. On October 19, however,

General Jackson wrote the following letter, announcing a successful

conclusion of the mission:

"Treaty Ground, October 19, 1818.

"To the Editors of the Whig:

"We have just closed a treaty with the Chickasaw Indians, for all

their claims in the states of Tennessee and Kentucky, containing about

seven millions of acres, of the best lands in the western country, and

washed by the Tennessee, Ohio, and Mississippi Rivers, for at least

three hundred and fifty miles: for an annuity of twenty thousand

dollars for fifteen years.

"I am respectfully, Your most obedient serv't, Andrew Jackson."

A month later, according to a paragraph in the Whig, the signing of the

treaty was celebrated in Nashville:

"A Tribute of Respect--A splendid Ball was given to General Jackson and

staff, at the Nashville Inn, last Evening, in honor of the late

Chickasaw Treaty."

Governor Shelby was not present, but he had found time to sit for the

young artist at the Hermitage. General Jackson wrote him on November 24:

"On the 20th the citizens of Nashville and its vicinity gave myself

and Staff a Ball in commemoration of the late Chickasaw Treaty where I

had the pleasure to see your Portrait suspended at the head of the

assembly room and I was gratified to find that Mr. Earl had been so

fortunate--for I can with truth say that there never came from the

hands of an artist a better likeness...."

Earl married Jane Caffrey, niece of Mrs. Jackson, on May 19, 1818. The

ceremony was performed by the Rev. William Hume. In less than a year the

Reverend Mr. Hume was called upon to perform the sad duty of preaching

her funeral sermon. The _Nashville Whig_, of March 13, 1819, carried the

announcement:

"The Rev. Mr. Hodge, assisted by the Rev. Mr. Hume, will preach the

funeral sermon of the late Mrs. Earle, at the residence of Col.

Stockely D. Hays on to-morrow."

Mrs. Jackson mothered and comforted the young man, and from that time,

until his death in 1838, the Hermitage was his home. During the passing

of the years he painted innumerable portraits of General and Mrs.

Jackson, of the various kin, and of prominent visitors both at the

Hermitage and the White House, where he was also a member of the

household--so much a member, in fact, that he was dubbed "The King's

Painter."

An intriguing, but forgotten, chapter in Earl's history was discovered

by the writer a few years ago in the April 10th, 1822, issue of the

_Nashville Whig_. A short article, headed quite casually, "Napoleon

Buonaparte and Marshal Ney," announced: "Original portraits of these

great men, taken by Mr. Earl, shortly after the return of Napoleon from

the Island of Elba, were a few days since received and deposited by him

in the Nashville Museum. Judging by his strikingly correct portraits of

Gen. Jackson, of the President of the United States, of Shelby, of

Haywood, and of a number of others, which likewise grace and ornament

the Museum, we have no hesitation in believing them to be very exact

likenesses...."

Where are these portraits of Napoleon and Marshal Ney, taken from life

during the brief, but dramatic "one hundred days"?

One of the prominent visitors who sat for the young artist in his early

days at the Hermitage was President Monroe, who visited Nashville and

the Hermitage in June, 1819. The _Nashville Whig_, of Saturday, July 12,

1819, states:

"The citizens having learned through the committee that the President

had reached the residence of General Jackson, and that he would dine

with them on Wednesday, last, set out on that day to meet and conduct

him to this place. They met him four miles from town accompanied by

Maj. Gen. Jackson and suite and Brevet Maj. Gen. Gaines. Three miles

from town he was received by a large collection of the Tennessee

Volunteers, armed and dressed as they were when they were in the

several campaigns in which they had been engaged...."

The reception by this colorful procession which thronged the highway to

the Hermitage to greet General Jackson and his distinguished guest was

but the beginning of the festivities. A dinner followed at the Nashville

Inn. President Monroe was entertained at the Nashville Female Academy on

Thursday, June 10, and on the evening of that day the crowning event of

his visit, a ball at the old Nashville Inn, took place.

"A numerous assemblage of elegance and beauty attended," said the editor

of the _Nashville Whig_. "We have never seen more taste and beauty than

was displayed in arranging the room, or a more numerous and brilliant

assemblage of ladies. The arrangements were largely creditable to the

managers. At the head of the room was a large transparency exhibiting an

Eagle displayed and encircled in a ray of glory, bearing in his beak a

transparent painting of our Chief Magistrate. Fronting at the lower end

of the room, was suspended the portrait of Gov. Shelby of Kentucky. On

the right side of the hall was a full length portrait of Maj. Gen.

Jackson, with a distant view of the British encampment before New

Orleans; fronting him were Genls. Coffee and Carroll. These inimitable

paintings (with the exception of the transparency) were executed by our

artist, Mr. Earl; and are highly honourable to the talents and

profession aquirements of that gentleman. Over the paintings and around

the room, were rich and beautiful festoons of evergreen and roses...."

A ray of glory--how the unknown artist of the transparency depicted it is

a matter of conjecture, but the yellowed pages of the _Nashville Whig_

bear testimony to its reality. It takes but small imagination to

reconstruct the picture--men in handsome military uniforms, ladies in

their gay-colored silks, dancing and conversing in the stately manner of

the period, and paying due homage to the President of the United States

and the Hero of New Orleans. At the Hermitage they found time, no doubt,

to wander about in the moonlit, magnolia-scented grounds and to stroll

along the paths of the new garden. Rachel, as she played the rôle of

gracious, warm-hearted hostess, could not know that a long, lonely path,

illuminated only by the cold rays of fame stretched before her adored

husband, and that she, before a decade had passed, would rest under the

friendly sod of her garden. Nor could President Monroe foretell the

future of the distinguished soldier at his side. A great drama, of which

the new Hermitage was to be the chief setting, was beginning.

It was not long until General Jackson was appointed governor of the

Floridas, and he and Rachel moved their household temporarily to

Pensacola.

[Illustration: "The Church Where Jackson Worships"

A quaint old print of the church which General Jackson had built

near the Hermitage in 1823-24 for the convenience of his pious wife

and her neighbors.]

"Gen. Jackson and family left town Saturday evening last in the Steam

Boat Cumberland, on his way to Pensacola," says the _Nashville Whig_ of

April 18, 1821.

A little later it stated: "Gen. Jackson and family arrived at Natchez on

April 21, on board the Steam Boat Rapide, having left Cumberland on

account of some accident having happened to her machinery." The journey

was completed in seven days, despite the accident! From Natchez, New

Orleans, Blakely, Montpelier, and Mobile came echoes of a triumphant and

leisurely progress. But even at that it was several weeks before the

General and his suite were finally established in Pensacola--the Spanish

governor was inclined to be a bit difficult about relinquishing his

sway.

Rachel, however, did not like Pensacola. To her friend, Mrs. Eliza

Kingsley, she wrote: "Believe me, this country has been greatly

overrated.... One acre of our fine Tennessee land is worth a

thousand.... The General, I believe, wants to get home again as much as

I do...."

The General was not overly pleased with the situation and, as soon as he

was able to settle certain little difficulties, he was determined to

return to his beloved Hermitage. Marquis James, in his _Andrew Jackson,

the Border Captain_, writes of this period:

"How peaceful the Hermitage! 'Our place looks like it had been

abandoned for a season, But we have a cheirful fire for our friends,

and a prospect of living at it for the ... ballance of our lives. I

have sent on my resignation by Doctor Brunaugh.'

"It was over, this uncertain adventure into which Andrew Jackson had

been drawn by an unreciprocated sense of loyalty to the President and

a wish to help his young friends.... Rachel ... and Andrew undertook

to make their home comfortable for the rest of their days. In the

great hall stood seven cases of furniture and table silver purchased

at New Orleans. However Rachel might deplore the wicked luxury of the

complaisant Creole town there was no denying the comfort of good

French beds. '1 Bedstead, of Mahogany, fluted, $100,' was for her own

and Andrew's tall south chamber; likewise '1 Matress of fine ticking,

$45, 1 moschette Bar of Muslin, $16, 1 Counterpane knotted,

Marseilles, $24.' There was also a new sideboard and something to fill

the decanters...."

There was dancing in the hallways in these days--dancing to the sound of

a flute which "Old Hickory" himself may have played. Horace Holley,

writing from Nashville on August 14, 1823, to his father, Luther Holley,

Esq., in Salisbury, Connecticut (copy given to the author by the late

Judge John H. De Witt), related:

"We have just returned from the Hermitage, ... The General called upon

us in town on the evening of our arrival and he is one of the most

hospitable men in the state. Mrs. Jackson is not a woman of

cultivation, but has seen a great many people, has fine spirits,

entertains well, and is benevolent. She is short in her person and

quite fat. The General is lean and has been in ill health but is now

invigorated and promises to live out his three-score and ten. He has

built him a good brick house within the last two years and has

finished it handsomely. Mary has taken three views of it in her sketch

book. We looked at all the presents which have been made to the old

warrior in honour of his military achievements and were gratified not

a little.... The General has papers from most parts of the Union, and

his study is loaded with piles of them. Considerable company was at

his house every day, and our ladies danced every evening in the entry

to the sound of the flute...." ("Mary" was Mary Austin Holley, author

and cousin of Stephen Austin. Where are the sketches she made of The

Hermitage?)

Andrew Jackson was content, Mr. James says, and "the measure of his

contentment was in proportion to the sincerity of his resolution to

exchange a brilliant career for a quiet one."

His peace was to be short-lived. On December 5, 1823, he took his seat

in the Senate of the United States, to which he had been appointed by

the Tennessee legislature. For six weary months he remained in

Washington and Rachel, with her usual efficiency, kept the Hermitage

household going. She was busy, for the little church which the General

was building for her and her pious friends near the Hermitage was being

completed. His letter, written in Washington, January 29, 1824 (which

has been presented to the Ladies' Hermitage Association by the late Mr.

Leland Hume, a descendant of the Rev. William Hume), states:

"I am truly happy to hear that our church is about to be finished, and

that pious good man Mr. Hume, is to dedicate it. If such a mans

prayers cannot obtain a blessing upon the neighborhood, I would

despair of the efficacy of prayer from any other...."

The church was completed and the General returned home--this time with

the avowed intention of carrying Rachel with him when he returned to

Washington the following autumn. In the meantime the presidential

campaign of 1824 was in full swing, and the Marquis de Lafayette arrived

with his son and suite to be the "nation's guest." On October 18 the

distinguished Frenchman wrote to Jackson:

"My dear General, With all the feelings of affectionate Gratitude I

Have Received your kind and Highly Valued Letter: this is not However

the first and greatest obligation that Binds me to general Jackson;

Had you witnessed my anxiety when on a Sudden all Europe was pacified,

and the flower of the British army were on their way to Louisiana, you

would still Better judge what I felt of relief, joy, and pride, on

Receiving the Glorious Account of your Victory: I Have long

Anticipated the pleasure to take you by the Hand, and whatever Be your

future movements I will Express in person my High Regard and Sincer

friendship...." (Bassett, _Correspondence of Andrew Jackson_, Vol.

III.)

Late autumn and winter took the Jacksons to Washington, where they put

up at Gadsby's, which was also the quarters of the distinguished

Lafayette. Here, on December 23, Mrs. Jackson wrote to her friend

describing the meeting between the famous Frenchman and General Jackson.

"We are boarding in the same house with the nation's guest, Lafayette.

I am delighted with him.... 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 Charleston, 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...." (From Parton, Vol. II.)

Rachel, too, for that matter was "a little inclined to corpulency." She

did not attempt to attend all the parties, for Washington was unusually

gay and her health was none too good. She paid calls, received large

numbers of new acquaintances and old friends, and attended, of course,

such important affairs as the eighth of January ball and Mrs. Monroe's

drawing-room.

They stayed in Washington long enough to see General Jackson miss, by a

hairbreadth, becoming President of the United States and to witness the

pomp and ceremony of Mr. Adams' inauguration. They were home by the

latter part of April, ready to take charge of their household again and

to play host and hostess to Lafayette when he arrived in Nashville on

the fourth of May. Never was there such a celebration!

Twenty-five thousand Tennesseans crowded into Nashville to welcome him.

The military organizations of the state were out in full force, the

ladies wore their finest dresses, and the streets were decorated with

great triumphal arches of flowers. There were dinners and public

programs of various types, but most important of all was the ball which

was given for him in the Masonic Hall. Guild, in his _Old Times in

Tennessee_, says:

"The dance was opened by Gen. Jackson and the beautiful Miss McNairy.

It was difficult to tell which was most to admire, the beauty and

sylph-like grace of Miss McNairy, or the stately step and courtly

manners of Gen. Jackson."

Mrs. Thomas Martin, whose narrative is quoted by Guild, in describing

the ball said:

"The old and the young were there, and the scene was one of beauty,

fashion, and smiles. On a dais at one end of the hall were the guests

and the old ladies--Gen. Lafayette with Mrs. Rachel Jackson, Gov.

Carroll, with Mrs. Shelby, Gen. Jackson, with Mrs. Priestly and Mrs.

Carroll, George W. Lafayette with Mrs. Stewart and Mrs. McNairy, and

Mr. Shelby with Mrs. Minnick and myself...."

Stories of the ball are still recounted with delight in Nashville, and

in many of the old families are fans, combs, dresses, and the gay little

slippers of belles who "danced with Lafayette." But most interesting of

all is the description of Lafayette's reception at the Hermitage, from

the pen of his secretary, M. Levasseur:

"At one o'clock we embarked with a numerous company to proceed to dine

with General Jackson, whose residence is a few miles up the river. We

there found numbers of ladies and farmers from the neighborhood, whom

Mrs. Jackson had invited to partake of the entertainment she had

prepared for General Lafayette. The first thing that struck me on

arriving at the General's was the simplicity of his house. Still

somewhat influenced by my European habits, I asked myself if this

could really be the dwelling of the most popular man in the United

States, of him whom the country proclaimed one of her most illustrious

defenders; of him, finally, who by the will of the people was on the

point of becoming her Chief Magistrate....

"General Jackson," Levasseur continues, "successively showed us his

garden and farm, which appeared to be well cultivated. We everywhere

remarked the greatest order and most perfect neatness; and we might

have believed ourselves on the property of one of the richest and most

skillful German farmers, if, at every step, our eyes had not been

afflicted by the sad spectacle of slavery. Everybody told us that

General Jackson's slaves were treated with the greatest humanity...."

In this setting Rachel was at her best. She was now fifty-eight years

old. Stout, kindly, motherly, and frankly growing old; but always the

gracious hostess and always deeply interested in the gay doings of the

young people who were drawn into the charmed circle of her hospitable

household. Her garden had taken deeper root. Her house was more

elegantly furnished and her acquaintance with the outside world had been

greatly extended; but aside from the fact that she took her religion a

little more solemnly and that she had been saddened by the malicious

attacks made upon her, her nature had changed but little with the

passing years. She never lost her love of people, her keen interest in

things about her, nor her gentle sympathy.

The famous Frenchman and his entourage had hardly left when the

Hermitage became the gathering place for a great corps of notables, who

entered heart and soul into the campaign which placed its master in the

President's chair and which completely vindicated its mistress. Never in

the history of the nation has such a bitter, unscrupulous attack been

waged against a candidate for public office; and never, under any

circumstances, has an American woman received such shameful treatment at

the hands of a political party. It is a page in history which is best

overlooked.

However the storms raged on the outside, they did not change the happy

atmosphere of the Hermitage. If the mistress suffered--as of course she

did--she kept up a brave front for the General and the other members of

her household. Henry A. Wise, later governor of Virginia, who was a

guest at the Hermitage of this period, gives in his _Seven Decades of

the Union_, an interesting picture of the house itself, as well as the

social life which centered about it. This description is especially

important, for it supplies the only known description of the interior of

the brick house which was erected in 1819.

Wise had just been married to Anne Jennings, daughter of the Rev.

Obadiah Jennings, Jackson's Presbyterian minister in Nashville, and the

bride and groom, with their bridal party, had been invited to spend the

honeymoon at the Hermitage.

"We arrived at the Hermitage to dinner," Wise wrote, "and were shown

to a bridal chamber magnificently furnished with articles which were

the rich and costly presents of the city of New Orleans to its noble

defender.

"Had we not seen General Jackson before, we would have taken him for a

visitor, not the host of the mansion. He greeted us cordially and bade

us feel at home, but gave us to distinctly understand that he took no

trouble to look after any but his lady guests; as for the gentlemen,

there were the parlor, the dining-room, the library, the side-board

and its refreshments; there were the servants, and, if anything was

wanting, all that was necessary was to ring. He was as good as his

word. He did not sit at the head of his table, but mingled with his

guests, and always preferred a seat between two ladies, obviously

seeking a chair between different ones at various times. He was very

easy and graceful in his attentions; free, and often playful, but

always dignified and earnest in his conversation. He was quick to

perceive every point of word or manner, was gracious in approval, but

did not hesitate to dissent with courtesy when he differed. He

obviously had a hidden vein of humor, loved aphorism, and could

politely convey a sense of smart travesty. If put upon his mettle he

was very positive, but gravely respectful. He conversed freely, and

seemed to be absorbed in attention to what the ladies were saying; but

if a word of note was uttered at any distance from him audibly, he

caught it by a quick and pertinent comment, without losing or leaving

the subject about which he was talking to another person--such was his

ease of sociability, without levity or lightness of activity, and

without being oracular or heavy in his remarks. He had a great power

of attention and concentration, without being prying, curt, or

brusque. Strong good sense and warm kindness of manner put every word

of his pleasantly and pointedly in its right place.

[Illustration: Andrew Jackson, the Country Gentleman at the

Hermitage

(Original presented to the Ladies' Hermitage Association in 1944 by

Mrs. C. W. Frear, of Troy, N. Y., in memory of her husband.)]

"To illustrate him in a scene: The Hermitage house was a solid, plain,

substantial, commodious country mansion, built of brick, and two

stories high. The front was south. You entered through a porch, a

spacious hall, in which the stairs ascended, airy and well lighted. It

contained four rooms on the lower floor, each entering the passage and

each on either side opening into the one adjoining. The northwest room

was the dining room, the southeast and southwest rooms were sitting

rooms, and the northeast room had a door entering into the garden. The

house was full of guests. There were visitors from all parts of the

United States, numbering from twenty to fifty a day, constantly coming

and going, all made welcome, and all well attended to.

"The cost of the coming Presidency was even then very great and

burdensome; but the general showed no signs of impatience, and was

alive and active in his attentions to all comers and goers. He

affected no style, and put on no airs of greatness, but was plainly

and simply, though impulsively, polite to all. Besides his own family

he had his wife's relatives, Mr. Stokely and Andrew J. Donelson,

around him every day, and his adopted son, Andrew Jackson, relieved

him of all the minute attentions to guests.

"Henry Lee, of Virginia, was, we may say, resident for the time with

him, as he was engaged in writing for his election some of the finest

campaign papers ever penned in this country. One of Lee's fugitive

pieces, on the death of an Indian youth, the son of a chief who was

killed at the battle of the Horseshoe, whom the general had taken as a

godson, an orphan of one of his victories, is a precious pearl of

poetry in prose. (This refers to Lincoya and places his death about

1828. Where is Lee's article on his death? Both the Lee Foundation and

the Ladies' Hermitage Association are interested in finding it.)... He

was not as handsome as his half-brother, General Robert E. Lee....

"The first or second evening of our stay, Mr. Lee had drawn around him

his usual crowd of listeners; but we were the more special guests of

Mrs. Jackson. She was a descendant of Colonel Stokely of our native

county, Accomack, Virginia, and we had often seen his old mansion, an

old Hanoverian hip-roofed house, standing on the seaside, not far

above Metompkin; and she had often heard her mother talk of the old

Assawaman Church, not very far above Colonel Stokely's house, pulled

down long before our day, endowed with its silver communion-service by

our grandfather, George Douglas, Esq., of Assawaman. Thus she was not

only a good Presbyterian too, but the groom was from the county of her

ancestors, in Virginia, and could tell her something about the

traditions she had heard from which she sprung...."

When there is added to Wise's description of the interior of the

Hermitage of this period the view of the building and grounds included

in Earl's 1831 portrait of General Jackson, the picture of the house as

it was from 1819 to 1831 is complete. The _Nashville Republican_ and

_Tennessee Gazette_, on Thursday, August 25, 1831, repeated a criticism

of this portrait which had appeared in the _Washington Globe_.

It reads, in part: "The artists of Boston announce it a 'first rate

work,' and the intimate friends of the President consider it the most

perfect likeness ever taken of him. It is not only recommended by this

circumstance, but it is rendered doubly interesting as a sort of

historical picture, in which the taste and talent of the designer is, in

high degree manifested. The President stands alone in the solitude of

the Hermitage. The scene is most accurately delineated. The house and

surrounding grounds, although thrown somewhat in the distance, are

identified to all acquainted with the spot, by its most striking

features...."

To the west is seen a small square building which may have been used by

General Jackson as an office. There is a tradition that it was Earl's

studio and, since the artist was a member of the household in 1818 and

1819, it is more than likely true. There is a remote possibility that it

was the kitchen, for the dining room, according to Wise's description,

was "the northwest room," but it is more probable that the old kitchen

was located near the present one, on the north side of the building.

(Since 1933 a brick building, in the style of the period, has been

erected on this foundation.) Traces of the foundation of this small

building are still visible. It is important to observe further in this

portrait which, in 1831, was accepted by the public and Nashville and in

Washington as a historically accurate view of the Hermitage, there was

still no evidence of the famous cedar-lined, guitar-shaped drive.

This portrait, which from an historical standpoint is probably the most

important of the Jackson portraits, was presented to the Ladies'

Hermitage Association in 1944 by Mrs. Charles W. Frear, of Troy, New

York, in memory of her husband. For many years the Association did not

know the location of the original, although it had long used a

reproduction in its catalogue which, it appears, had been given to the

organization about 1901 by McClure's Magazine. It is interesting that

the acquisition of this famous portrait by the Ladies' Hermitage

Association was perhaps due, in part, to the interest of a member of the

artist Earl's family.

Mr. Ralph Earl Prime, Jr., of Yonkers and New York City, New York,

writing to the author on October 8th, 1936, said:

"I have borne in mind your interest in the 1831 portrait of Gen.

Jackson with the Hermitage as a background, which was painted by Ralph

E. W. Earl. I followed up the clue afforded by the article in the

issue of McClure's Magazine in 1897, to which you called my attention,

with the result that I have just received a letter, of which the

following is a copy:--

"'In reply to your letter of October 2, 1936, with reference to

portrait of Andrew Jackson painted by Ralph E. W. Earl, will say the

portrait was for many years in possession of the late Wm. H. Frear. It

is now in my possession. The information you have in regard to the

portrait is substantially correct to the best of my belief. Yours very

truly, C. W. Frear.'

"If he (Mr. Frear) could visit the Hermitage in person," Mr. Prime

continued, "as I and some of my friends have done with so much

satisfaction, and catch the spirit which actuates its custodians, I am

sure that he would realize how appropriate it would be to restore the

painting to its former setting as a gift to posterity, either

presently or by his will...."

Happily, through Mrs. Frear's generosity, this treasure has been

restored to _The Hermitage_, where it will remain through the years as a

memorial to her husband.

This was Rachel Jackson's Hermitage--the Hermitage in which she

entertained Monroe, Lafayette, and all that gay and distinguished

company which, as stars in the great Jackson constellation, were

destined, for a time, to dazzle the nation. And how many of them had

known the kindly hospitality of the mistress of the Hermitage ... the

quiet, studious, James K. Polk, who as "young Hickory" was to carry the

Jackson banner again to the president's chair; Sam Houston, gay,

lovable, and erratic, who was to be president of the Lone Star Republic;

"Jeff" Davis, future president of the Confederate States of America;

Thomas Hart Benton, destined to a powerful career in the United States

Senate; John Eaton, John Coffee, William Carroll, and a score of others

who shared the Jackson military and civil honors. All of them spent

happy days under her roof and all of them, at some time during their

career, took time to pay public tribute to her beloved memory.

As the year of 1828 drew to a close General Jackson's victory was

assured. There was no personal elation in it for Rachel, however, just

as there was no bitterness toward her persecutors during their most

severe attacks upon her. Her reply when news of victory was brought to

the Hermitage was: "For Mr. Jackson's sake, I am glad; for my own part,

I never wished it. I had rather be a doorkeeper in the House of my Lord

than to live in that palace in Washington."

She had always preferred the quiet of her own home and had resented the

demands which fame made upon her husband. Her friends, though, were

greatly elated for her sake, as well as for the General's. John H.

Eaton, writing her from Washington, December 7, 1828, said:

"The storm has now abated--the angry tempest has ceased to howl. A

verdict by the American people has been pronounced of that high and

grateful character, that for the honor of your husband, you cannot but

look back upon the past as an idle fading vision carrying in it

nothing substantial--nothing that should produce to you one moments

feeling, or a moments pain. No man has ever met such a triumph

before.... The Ladies from distance--from remote parts of the Union

will be here--brought essentially and altogether on your account and to

manifest to you their feelings and high regard: they will be present

to welcome and congratulate you...." (Bassett, Vol. III p. 449.)

Nashville ladies were already busy doing their part to honor her--they

were preparing a handsome wardrobe for her to carry to Washington with

her, and the entire town was arranging a magnificent celebration for

December 23, the anniversary of the night battle at New Orleans. Jackson

leaders in Washington, Philadelphia, and other important places were

preparing elaborate programs honoring the president-elect ... but on

December 22 the rejoicing was turned into mourning. Rachel Jackson

quietly slipped beyond the reach of cruel tongues.

Her illness came suddenly and unexpectedly a few days before the

anticipated celebration. There are many versions of its origin. Some say

that while in Nashville she was resting at the Nashville Inn and

accidentally overheard some unpleasant remarks about her part in the

past campaign. Others carry the story still farther and say that she

wept and that, in returning to the Hermitage, she stopped her carriage

at a creek to bathe her swollen eyes, and thus caught a cold. There

could have been little shock connected with anything which she may have

overheard, for she had been familiar with the attacks made on her

throughout the past campaign. One thing which may be accepted as certain

is that in some way she caught cold. Wise quotes a young Dr. Heiskell,

of Winchester, Virginia, who was just starting as a physician in the

neighborhood, and was the first doctor to reach her, as saying: "We

learned that she had caught cold and pleuritic symptoms supervened upon

her constitutional nervous affections. She was sitting smoking her

corncob pipe when she caught her last malady...."

Wise further explains that "a pipe was prescribed by her physician for

her phthisis, and she often rose in the night to smoke for relief."

Whatever the explanation of the pipe may be, its only importance was its

use in the caricatures used by her husband's opponents in the

presidential campaign. She had long been subject to the bronchial

trouble which was, undoubtedly, the chief cause of her death.

No words can describe the tragedy which stalked at the Hermitage during

her illness. The General would not leave her side. The servants stood

about in stricken silence, with the exception of old Hannah, who nursed

her, and the few who were allowed to perform little duties to assist

her. Friends and relatives gathered--and on the late afternoon of the

twenty-second her condition seemed greatly improved. She had persuaded

General Jackson to lie down on a sofa in the next room in order that he

might be rested for the coming celebration--which, she insisted, he must

attend. He obeyed and Mrs. Jackson was removed from her bed that it

might be prepared for the night. As she sat in a chair, supported by the

arms of the faithful Hannah, she suddenly uttered a cry and her head

fell forward.... The General rushed to her and for a time, neither he

nor his stricken household would believe that she was dead. At his

command they placed her upon a table, the physician made an effort to

bleed her, and they worked with her for hours before the desperate old

man could understand that there was no hope. All night he remained by

her side.

Early on the morning of the twenty-third the citizens of Nashville were

informed of her death. It was ordered that on the following day, from

one until two o'clock, the hour set for her funeral, that the church

bells be tolled. The scene was rapidly changed from one of festivity to

deep mourning, and on the next day the road was crowded with people on

their way to the Hermitage to pay their last respects to a sainted

woman. The Reverend William Hume preached her funeral sermon.

A gentleman from Philadelphia who was present wrote to a relative:

"Such a scene I never wish to witness again. The poor old gentleman

was supported to the grave by General Coffee and Major Rutledge. I

never pitied any person more in my life. The road to the Hermitage was

almost impassable, and an immense number of persons attended the

funeral. The remains were interred in the lower part of the garden. I

never before saw so much affliction among the servants in the death of

a mistress. Some seemed completely stupified by the event; others

wrung their hands and shrieked aloud. The woman who had waited on Mrs.

Jackson had to be carried from the ground...."

The funeral service was, in fact, delayed because she had thrown herself

upon her mistress' grave and refused to move. General Jackson would not

allow her to be torn away by force, but waited patiently until her

associates could persuade her to allow them to remove her.

So ended all thoughts of victory for Andrew Jackson. All that had made

victory sweet, all that had made life worth while, had passed away. The

only thing to which the broken old man looked forward was his return to

their beloved Hermitage. His body, his mind, and his indomitable will he

carried to Washington--but his heart he left buried with Rachel in their

garden.

Although for a time after her death Rachel Jackson's Hermitage--the

building as it appeared from 1819 to 1831--remained unchanged, the period

was, to all intents and purposes, ended. The household and its followers

centered about the White House, and the lonely resting place of its

mistress was left to the tender care of relatives and the slaves whose

grief was still inconsolable. General Coffee, R. E. W. Earl, Andrew

Jackson Donelson and his wife, Emily, who was for a time mistress of the

White House; Andrew Jackson, Jr., and later his bride, Sarah York

Jackson; Major Lewis, and others formed a part of the household. Some of

the time three Marys--Mary Coffee, Mary McLemore, and Mary

Eastin--daughters of Rachel's nieces, added gayety to the Washington

household. Mary Eastin was married in the White House to Lucius Polk,

and Mary Coffee married General Jackson's ward, Andrew Jackson

Hutchings.

A new phase in the history of the Hermitage began in 1831. Andrew

Jackson, Jr., married the beautiful and cultured Miss Sarah York, of

Philadelphia, on November 24, 1831. Some interest in the future began to

live in the heart of Andrew Jackson. Since his wife's death he had

contemplated his son's marriage with more than ordinary concern.

"It is," he wrote to a friend in May, 1829, "the only hope by which I

look to a continuation of my name...."

It proved to be more than that for it was the beginning of a beautiful

relationship destined to last from the time he welcomed Sarah York

Jackson, as a bride, to the White House, until she stood at his deathbed

at the Hermitage in 1845. The President, because of pressing duties and

ill health, had not been able to make the journey to Philadelphia to

attend the wedding, but he sent Col. Earl with a cluster of pearls for

the bride. It was in the form of a ring, and there was a lock of his

hair on the under side of the setting. With it he sent the message that

from his son's description of her he thought "pearls the most fitting

gift, as emblematic of the purity of her character and the beauty of her

face." (From the notebook of Mrs. Rachel Jackson Lawrence--State

Library.)

The wedding took place at the home of Mrs. Samuel Wetherill, Sarah

York's sister, who lived on Chestnut Street, in Philadelphia. Mrs.

Jackson, Mrs. Wetherill, and another sister, Mrs. Adams, were left

orphans in early childhood, and, at the request of their dying father,

were cared for and educated at Mrs. Malland's boarding school. They were

well-bred, charming, and well connected. Andrew Jackson himself--and he

was a noted matchmaker--could not have made a better choice for the

future mistress of the Hermitage.

Before Andrew Jackson, Jr., brought his bride to the red brick mansion

in Tennessee, extensive remodeling was done. This period in the history

of the Hermitage had been completely overlooked until a letter in the

Hermitage collection was recently brought to light. This letter

(Published for the first time in the 1933 edition of the present work)

which is quoted in full, gives complete data on the remodeling of the

Hermitage in 1831, as well as the building of the tomb in the garden. It

reads:

"Nashville, December 6, 1831.

"Dear sir: I have the satisfaction to inform you that the additions

and improvements to the Hermitage are compleated. I have in addition

to the improvements, as exhibited on the plan furnished you a neat and

appropriate Portico on the back side of the center building, which

adds very much to the comfort & convenience of your dwelling.

"The Hermitage as improved presents a front of 104 feet, the wings

project 9 feet in front the center building and are connected by a

colonnade of the same breadth. The colonnade consists of 10 lofty

columns of the Doric order the entablature is carried through the

whole line of the front, and has wreaths of laurel leaves in the

frieze, on the cornice is a blocking corse that support an appropriate

balustrade. The upper story consists of a Portico surmounted by a

pediment which breaks the monotony of the composition in a very

satisfactory manner.

"The material employed in the emprovements are all of the best quality

the neighborhood affords, the colonnade is covered with the best

copper the sheets weighing from 12 to 14 lbs. each sheet, and the

gutters that convey the water from front to back are also of copper.

The wing buildings and Porticos are roofed with good ceader shingles.

The old Kitchen is removed and the matereals employed in the erection

of a large and comodeus smoke house which is placed on a line with the

new kitchen. The internal arrangements are almost to my mind. The

dining room is large and will dine 100 persons at one time

comfortable. The wing at the East end contains the library a large and

comodeous room and overseer room, and a covered way that protects the

three doors leading to the library the overseer room and to the back

parlor.

"In the progress of the emprovements I adhered as closely to the plan

furnished you as circumstances would admit. The only alteration I have

made is in adding 2 feet to the length of the Kitchen, and 20 feet to

the length of the East wing. The latter was done at the request and

with the advice of Gen. Coffee which additions I hope will meet with

your approbation.

"The following is the amount that has been expended independent of

what has been done by your one (own) hands--

Cash to stone-cutters, mason & 491.00

bricklayers

" to carpenters and joiners 678.00

" to painters and glazers 187.00

" plasterers 168.00

" copper smith and tinner 350.00

" Lumber and shingles 468.50

" Hardware glass &c. 110.00

" Lurners (?) bill 25.00

" Halling lumber from Nashville 11.00

$2488.50

"You will perceive by this amount notwithstanding the several

additions, the back Portico, and many additional expenses incident to

such emprovements I have been able to effect it with a less sume than

the original estimate which to me is a source of gratulation without

respect to any hope of pecuniary emolument. I must entreat you to

believe that no such sordid matire entered into my views. To merit

your approbation has been my ambition, to succeed in obtaining it is

my best reward--I have received in addition to the fifteen hundred

Dollars the amount of your chieck, Five hundred dollars from Mr.

Josiah Nicholl, making two thousand dollars, leiving a ballance of

Four hundred and eighty-eight Dollars.

"On receipt of your letter of the 18th August for which I return you

my thanks for the expressions of kindness it contains, I employed an

expereanced stone-cutter in whome I have entire confidence who is

progressing with the Temple & Monument it will be composed intire of

stone. The massivenes of the parts of the Grecian Doric order require

a material of great strength such as the white stone of this

neighborhood and when this can be obtained it must always be a subject

of regret that recourse should be had to any imitation of it however

exact: but I found it impossible to get ceader timber large enough to

be wrought into the forms required. The principle cost of this

substantial and highly ornamental emprovement consists of the hire of

stone cutters, and the purchase of copper for the covering of the

doom. I expect in the progress of this work to have the ade of your

one hands & teems in quarry & halling the stone, which will enable me

to bestoe an additional quantity of labor on the building, in order

that it may fully meet publick expectation. I am anxious to have it

finished as soon in the spring as possible, in as much as I will be

necessary detained hear to direct the operation of the workmen in

order that it may be in conformity to the plan furnished you.

"I have made a drawing of the Hermitage as emproved, which is in the

hands of an experanced engraver, it will make a splendid picture and

as soon as it is finished I will send you a copy which will give you a

better idea of the building than any written discription I can give--my

best respects to your son--Mrs. M joins with me in tendering you, not

our complements, but our kindest & best wishes,

"I am your most obldge

D Morrison."

Notes in Andrew Jackson's own hand on the back of the letter read: "Mr.

Morrison rec'd & answered. A bill for $300 inclosed to Mr. Morrison or

Josiah Nichol. A. J. To be preserved. A. J."

The picture which Mr. Morrison mentioned has been preserved. It appears

on Ayres' Map of Nashville, which was published in 1832. An announcement

of the plans for this map appeared in the _Nashville Republican_ and

_State Gazette_, of December 6, 1831--strangely enough, the exact date of

Mr. Morrison's letter. This notice reads:

"Map of Nashville--Sketches of the embellishments which are to be

attached to this work have been politely submitted to our inspection.

They consist of three different views of the City--one from the bank of

the Cumberland near the ruins of the Old Steam Mill; another from a

hill on the South near the residence of Dr. Overton, and the third

from a commanding height about two miles to the North--the Penitentiary

from an iminence in front, with its beautiful back-ground scenery of

hill and wood and cultivated field--a portion of College Street

including Yeatman and Woods' Bank--the U.S. Branch Bank--a group

consisting of the Court House, Inn and Hotel--a part of the Public

Square including the upper end of the Market House--the University and

background--the Presbyterian, the Baptist, and the Episcopal

churches--the Female Academy and other buildings in the neighborhood.

To these is added a view of the Hermitage in its present newly

finished state, than which there is not to be found west of the

Allegany a more beautiful and splendid private residence."

A comparison of the engraving on Ayres' map with Mr. Morrison's letter

proves the authenticity of the picture. There are ten columns instead of

the six stately ones of the present, and the exterior of the building

corresponds in other details with his description. The tomb, for the

artist's convenience, more than likely, is placed nearer the house than

it is in reality.

Andrew Jackson Baker, present caretaker of the Hermitage, who has made a

careful study of the building, points out a number of irregularities in

the doors of the east wing which are due, undoubtedly, to the

remodeling. The brick walls themselves show where the east wing was

added and where there was once a little roof or porch extending over the

entrance to the cellar. The kitchen and smoke-house, as Morrison's

letter states, are on line with each other.

The handsome remodeled Hermitage which was Mr. Morrison's and

Nashville's pride was destined, however, to a career of short duration.

In October, 1834, it caught fire and was, with the exception of the

dining-room wing and its sturdy brick walls, destroyed. The catastrophe

is described in the _Nashville Republican_ of October 14, 1834, as

follows:

"The Hermitage Burnt--Yesterday evening about 4 o'clock the roof of the

Hermitage was discovered to be on fire, and all attempts to arrest the

progress of the flames proving unavailing, the entire edifice, with

the exception of the room attached to the northern end and used as a

dining room, was in a few hours consumed. The valuable furniture in

the lower story was fortunately saved, though much broken and

otherwise injured in getting it out. That in the second story was, we

understand, chiefly destroyed. The fire is supposed to have been

communicated to the roof by the falling of a spark from one of the

chimneys, and there being a breeze from the northwest, the progress of

the flames was proportionably rapid. The numerous and valuable private

papers of the President were probably all preserved.

"We need not add that the event has occasioned to this community deep

and universal regret."

Letters from Bassett's _Correspondence of Andrew Jackson_, give further

details of the fire. On October 14, 1834, Col. Robert Armstrong,

Nashville's postmaster, wrote:

"My dear Genl. Your son and Majr. Donelson have both written you the

perticulars of the unfortunate burning of the Hermitage House. We

heard the news Last evening but not the extent of the Damage. I sent

One of the Young men Out of the Office up After supper who returned by

Sun up this morning. I learned from Majr. D. and the Young man I sent

up that all the furniture and valuables with the papers, letter Books,

etc., have been with the exception of some furniture upstairs (the

Wardrobe and Large bedstead) saved. Some few things were singed in

getting out but on the whol I expect everything was done that could be

done and I have no doubt it was purely accidental. The House can be

rebuilt on the Old Site for $2,000 or 2,500. The dineing room wing is

but Little injured. I will go up this evening to see your Son and also

Mr. Rife, the Carpenter doing Majr. D. work, and the one who built my

House and will write you in a day or two. I will see what will be his

estimate and Austins for its Complete Rebuilding and inform you...."

Stockley Donelson, General Jackson's nephew, wrote on the same day,

giving details of the fire.

"A fire was kindled in the old dining room," he stated, "and the

chimney caught on fire, which not being observed immediately, and the

wind being from the North west, the fire was communicated to the roof.

The flame however had not spread very far before it was discovered by

Squire and Charles and the alarm given. Cousin Sarah at this moment

was in the house having just returned from a short ride and Andrew was

in the field, but a short distance from the House, The fire was soon

discovered by Wm. Donelson hands who were working near at hand, by A.

J. Donelson work men and hands, as well as by your own hands. They

were all on the ground before the roof fell in, etc. Mr Rife by his

own exertions succeeded in getting on the dining Room roof and

extinguishing the flames, etc. Others were employed in getting out the

furniture, etc., which was nearly all saved, except some bedsteads up

stairs.... Cousin Sarah acted with firmness and gave every necessary

direction to save the furniture, and Her and Andrew though much Hurt,

I am happy to add bear the misfortune with fortitude.

[Illustration: Parlors at the Hermitage]

[Illustration: Below: The Front Hall