"_The walls of the House being originally well built are not much
damaged._ The workmen Austin, Rife, etc say there will be no
difficulty in rebuilding, etc. Some of the petition walls and arches
over the windows, and some other repairing of the walls all of which
Mr. Austin can furnish brick to do by deferring the building of some
of Maj Donelson back buildings.... Andrew requested me to say to you
that he would move to the Baldwin place, and will start 3 or 4 whip
saws tomorrow, and will get ready to cover it immediately, which is
entirely practicable...."
Col. Armstrong, after his promised visit, wrote: "The dineing room Wing
is but Little injured and I view it this way that you have now the Stone
and Brick-work of your House done, and one Wing Compleate, and that
2500$ will Compleate the main house and the other office Wing. The
Kitchen and out Houses are all safe."
Like most estimates, Col. Armstrong's proved to be far lower than the
final cost. The first estimate made by Joseph Rieff and William C. Hume
amounted to $3,950. Added to this was $239 "for Extra work done upon
change of Plan;" $186, "for work done on West wing and New Kitchen
finding everything;" and $750 "for the full length two story Porch added
finding every thing;" making a grand total of $5,125.
Among the interesting items included in the first estimate were: "1
Circular stair case 2 storys high, $260; first story of front poarch
with 6 collums etc, $256; second story of ditto, $75; one back Portico,
$40...." (Complete details of the rebuilding are found in Bassett's
_Correspondence of Andrew Jackson_, Vol. V.)
A new house called, of course, for new furnishings. Sarah York with the
adored little Rachel, born November 1, 1832, and her infant brother,
Andrew, went on to visit the General at the White House. On this visit
Sarah went on to Philadelphia to visit her own kin and while there made
selections for the paper and the furnishings of the Hermitage.
One of the hitherto unpublished letters of the Hermitage collection,
written at Washington April 14, 1835, by General Jackson, shows his
interest in the furnishings, as well as his tender solicitude for Sarah
York and the children:
"My dear Sarah: When you get a little rested from your journey make
enquiry about the bedsteads and let me know at what the eight can be
procured, of good plain mahogany.... I shall be anxious to hear from
you, how my dear little Rachel is, as well as yourself and Andrew--I
have great solicitude about my dear little Rachel. Keep the dear
little ones for me--present me kindly to Mr. & Mrs. Wetherall and
accept a father's prayers for your health and happiness. We all salute
thee kindly. Andrew Jackson."
Sarah busied herself with shopping and soon she had purchased a splendid
new outfit for the Hermitage. The bill, dated January 2, 1836
(_Correspondence of Andrew Jackson_, Vol. V.) included:
6 Mahogany Bedsteads, including the packing at 40, $240; 24 Fancy
Chairs cain seat rich blue and gold at 2.50, $60; 4 Curtins, Crimson
Silk lined with white Silk and full mounted at 75, $300; box $1, $301;
7 pair Tongs and Shovel polished steel pairs at 4.50, $31.50; 1 pair
Do large, $75.50; 1 pair Chamber Candlesticks plated, $6; 1 Brass
Fender, best, $13, box $1, $14; 1 Wardrobe Black and ornamented $50; 2
Wash Stands marble tops at $18, $36; 2 Do small at $5; $10; 2 large
size Bureaus at $30, $60; 2 Center Tables at $30, $60; 8 Packing
Boxes, $16.50; 5 Wire Fenders with Knobs, at $4.50, $22.50; 1 Nurcery
Fender, $6.50; Box, $1.75; 2 pair Brass Andirons at $6, $12; 1 pair
Brass Andirons, $6.50; 2 pairs Brass Andirons at $7, $14; 3 Setts of
fine paper hanging Views Telemechus at $40, $120; 150 yards Super
Nankeen Matting at .50, $75; 20 Yards Brussels 4-4 Stair Carpeting
Crimson Damask Center with net Border at $2.87½, $57.50; 1 mahogany
Bedstead packed, $40; 1 Mahogany Bedstead packed very fine, $60; 1
Blind large Size, $10; 1 pair Blinds to match, $10; 1 doz. 40 inch
Stair rods $6.50; Box, $1.75. The grand total, including insurance on
the shipments made on the boats, Bonnaffe, Mile, and Jno Sergeant,
amounted to $1,364.50.
There was trouble about the wall paper, and again General Jackson's
friend, Col. Armstrong, came to the rescue. He wrote, on May 27, 1836
(Bassett's _Correspondence_, Vol. V.):
"Dear Genl. I send you inclosed a note addressed to me by the Mess.
Yeateman after a conversation I had with them this morning. They have
always been ready and willing to do all in their power to get back the
paper from those who purchased it. When I call'd on Campbell I
expected to get the paper, that night he cut it and put it on the
Walls.
"Williams is not at home. I saw Shelly who will do nothing in it, he
is not disposed to restore it. Williams _dare_ not, as his wife claims
it, so I call'd on the Mess. Yeateman and stated the facts who
willingly proposed to purchase another set...."
There has long been a tradition in Nashville that the old Campbell
house, not far from town, on the Lebanon Pike, had paper like that in
the Hermitage hall, but it was, evidently, destroyed when the walls were
scraped and re-papered. Further details concerning the determined woman
who kept the paper have not, at the present writing, come to light.
A bill dated May 30, 1836, shows that Jackson's merchant and personal
friend, Henry Toland, of Philadelphia, arranged for another shipment of
paper. This bill includes the items: "3 Views of Telemachus at $29, $87;
7 ps Pannell Paper, at $2.50, $17.50; 7 ps. Bordering, at $3.00; $21; 4
ps. Plain Blue, at .75, $3." A box cost fifty cents and five per cent
was deducted because of the cash payment, making the final amount
$122.60. The bill is marked "Received payment fr H Toland, October 25th
1836. Robert Golder, per Jas. Cameron Golder."
Nancy McClelland, in her monumental work, _Historic Wall-Papers_,
(Lippincott Company, Philadelphia, 1924) states that "the complete set
consisted of 25 strips in colours, and the scenes are constructed on the
account of the adventures of Telamachus." It was manufactured in Paris
by Dufour about 1825 and, though rare, was not an exclusive pattern. It
is still found on the walls of certain historic homes and in a few
private and public collections.
According to the late Mrs. Rachel Jackson Lawrence, daughter of Sarah
York and Andrew Jackson, Jr., the Telemachus paper now on the walls of
_The Hermitage_ hallway is the third set of its kind purchased by
General Jackson. The first, she declared, was put on the walls at the
time of the remodelling in 1831 and was burned in the fire of 1834. The
second was the one acquired by Mrs. Campbell and the third, which, like
the others, is the work of Dufour, was placed on the walls some time
after it was ordered in the late spring of 1836.
Sarah York selected papers for the Hermitage, but, as his letter of
April 14, 1835, (Hermitage MSS. Collection) shows, President Jackson
took a personal interest in the Telemachus paper.
"I rec' a note from Mr. Toland," he wrote, "after you left us,
informing that Mr. South had forwarded the order to Paris for the
Telamucus and the other would be detained until you arrived and made
the selection for those rooms not selected for. As soon as you can
attend to this and have the selection made and the paper shipped for
New Orleans so that it may get up to Nashville before the Steam boats
stop running. I have written Mr. Toland on this subject...."
Eighteen packages of furniture for the Hermitage were lost when the
steamer _John Randolph_ was burned at Nashville, May 16, 1836, but it is
evident that they were replaced as quickly as possible. There was
always, however, the delay of waiting for sufficiently high water, in
addition to the long, tedious journey around the coast to New Orleans
and up the Mississippi, Ohio and Cumberland to Nashville.
Another large bill of furnishings for the Hermitage was purchased of
Barry and Krickbaum, of Philadelphia, in February, 1837. It included 1
Large Wardrobe, $75; 2 dressing Bureaus to match, $110; 2 Wardrobes,
french pattern, $120; 1 Eliptic front Bureau, $5; 1 Secy and Bookcase
complete, $50; 2 pier tables, marble tops, $120; 1 Work table Elegantly
fitted up, $50; 1 Work Stand, marble tray top, $5; 2 Work Stands, marble
tray top, $50; 1 Marble Slab, $10. Total $665.
About the same time a long list of smaller furnishings amounting to
$481.93 was bought of Lewis Veron and Company, Philadelphia. There were
fenders, and irons, screens and such, things. Among them were "2 Pair
french And Irons $70; 1 Gallérie for fire place, $55; 1 Clock Shade and
Stand, very large, $17; 1 Plated Egg Boiler, $19; and one Silver Mounted
Butter Tub, $12." (The list is given in full in Bassett's
_Correspondence_, Vol. V.)
The new furnishings, with such as were left from the fire, were
assembled in a harmonious whole toward the end of General Jackson's
second term as President. Sarah York, after her arrival at the Hermitage
in 1832 had bought carpets, linens, and various necessities. General
Jackson had written his son at this time:
"Sarah writes me about a Carpet for the dining room and some table
linnen and common furniture for the Table. There were abundant supply.
of table linnen, etc. etc. when we left the Hermitage, but I suppose
it must have gone the same way as the sheets. I have said in my letter
to Sarah inclosed that a carpet must be bought for the dining room.
There is always a supply of the carpets made by the Shakers, to be had
at Mr. Nichols, and she must buy such furniture as the House wants,
having an eye to proper economy. This you will have done agreeable to
her directions. I have named domestic carpet, as it will be cheaper
and better than an oil cloth or matt...."
Again he wrote: "View those East India matts or carpeting and see
whether these recommended by Mr. Toland will answer better for the
passage than oil cloth, and whether Sarah would prefer these to common
carpets for the bedrooms...."
After all the delays and the characteristic confusion of moving the
furnishings--old and new--were at last arranged. A weary old man--ill and
hemorrhaging heavily from the lungs--turned his face eagerly to the spot
which, in all the world, he loved best. To Nicholas P. Trist he wrote on
March 2, 1837, "Your letter ... found me confined to my room, indeed, I
might say to my bed, and I have been only four times down stairs since
the 15th of Novb. last, altho I have been obliged to labour
incessantly.... Tomorrow ends my official carier forever, on the 4th I
hope to be able to go to the capitol to witness the glorious scene of
Mr. Van Buren, once rejected by the Senate, sworn into office...."
Late in December, 1936, he had written Andrew Jackson Donelson, a letter
of condolence--the spirited Emily, whom he loved deeply, but whom he, in
high dudgeon, had sent home because she refused to receive the
much-discussed Peggy O'Neal Timberlake Eaton, had succumbed to a lung
trouble similar to that from which he was suffering.
"I have this moment recd. the sad and melancholy intelligence that our
Dear Emily is no more.... I have no language in which I can express my
grief.... My health is slowly returning, and my strength improving
slowly...."
[Illustration: The Garden and the Tomb
Upon the tomb is carved General Jackson's immortal tribute to his
wife: "Her face was fair, her person pleasing, her temper amiable,
her heart kind; she delighted in relieving the wants of her fellow
creatures, and cultivated that divine pleasure by the most liberal
and unpretending methods; to the poor she was a benefactor; to the
rich an example; to the wretched a comforter; to the prosperous an
ornament; her piety went hand in hand with her benevolence, and she
thanked her creator for being permitted to do good. A being so
gentle and so virtuous slander might wound, but could not dishonor.
Even Death, when he bore her from the arms of her husband, could but
transport her to the bosom of her God."]
The rest, sunlight, and pleasant atmosphere of the Hermitage were
destined, however, to work a great improvement. His wiry, long-suffering
body was to recover sufficiently for him to spend eight years in his new
home before he was laid to rest in the garden beside the beloved Rachel.
During these years his young men, under his wise guidance, had a
tremendous influence in the nation--and in 1845, James K. Polk, who had
openly conducted his campaign as "Young Hickory," the legitimate
political heir of the "sage of the Hermitage," was inaugurated.
Andrew Jackson and his family, after Van Buren's inauguration, made a
triumphant progress southward and, on March 25, 1837, reached the
Hermitage. To Martin Van Buren he wrote on March 30: "I reached home ...
with a very bad cough, increased by a cold taken on board the Steam
Boat.... I hope rest in due time may restore my health so as be enabled
to amuse myself in riding over my farm and visiting my neighbors...."
But however interested he was in his farm and his neighbors he took time
to write his successor and protégé several pages of very sound advice on
state affairs:
"Fearlessly pursue your principles avowed, and the people will sustain
you against all apostates, ambitious, and designing men ..." and take
care of "the safety of the deposit Banks of the West, and south...."
From that time onward the Hermitage was prominent in the eyes of the
nation. The younger statesmen paid visits to "the sage of the Hermitage"
as the ancients consulted oracles--and the masses continued to worship
the "Hero of New Orleans."
His domestic life flowed easily and pleasantly under the skilled and
tactful direction of his daughter, Sarah. The adored little Rachel
dogged his footsteps, rode with him, and, with her bright prattle,
enlivened his days. Mrs. Marion Adams, Sarah's older sister, now
widowed, made her home at the Hermitage, and Rachel's relatives came
from their neighboring estates to pay respects to their beloved kinsman.
Never was a lonely old man surrounded with greater affection or more
kindly care.
But what of the outward appearance of the Hermitage of this period?
There is every indication that the cedars along the driveway were set
out at this time. A drawing of the Hermitage dated 1856 indicates that
the cedars were still quite young at that time, and a statement of
Parton, based on his visit to Nashville prior to the publication of his
_Life of Andrew Jackson_ in 1859, further corroborates it and gives, as
well, an interesting picture of the appearance which the Hermitage
finally assumed after its series of changes. He wrote:
"Now we leave the turnpike and turn into a private road, straight,
narrow, a quarter of a mile long, the land on both sides dead level.
We come to a low iron gate in a white wooden frame, which admits us to
an avenue of young cedars, ending in a grove, through which a
guitar-shaped lawn is visible.... We alight, at length, on the stone
steps of the piazza, and the Hermitage is before us.... A two-story
brick house, with a double piazza both in front and in the rear; the
piazza wooden and painted white supported by thick grooved pillars of
the same material and color. The floors of the lower piazza are of
stone, and each terminates in a wing of the house...."
A familiar and cherished picture to Tennesseans, and to many thousands
of Americans who have journeyed the same road to pay tribute to the
memory of Andrew Jackson. Parton, like the Frenchmen with Lafayette, was
struck by the simplicity of the Hermitage, but he was much impressed
with the fertility of the land and the natural beauty of the estate.
Like the Frenchmen, he, too, was much concerned with the "sad spectacle"
of slavery, but he was convinced that the Jackson slaves had an
unusually happy lot.
The best-known authority on the laying out of the cedar drive is the
narrative of Mrs. Rachel Jackson Lawrence ("little Rachel") which
appears in the second volume of the late S. G. Heiskell's _Andrew
Jackson and Early Tennessee History_. Mr. Heiskell was not only an
eminent lawyer, but he was a careful and painstaking historian. He
quotes Mrs. Lawrence as saying:
"Colonel Earle assisted in laying off the grounds, the front yard, at
the Hermitage. My mother drew the plan, and Colonel Earle
superintended the laying off, and the planting of all those cedars you
can see there. He also laid off the center of the Hermitage garden. I
think it was exposure to the sun, after being so closely confined in
his studio, that resulted in his death. He came in, I remember, and
sat down at the dinner table, and said he did not feel very well,
thought he had something like a chill.... When supper time came, he
was still feeling very badly.... About daylight he died with a
congestive chill."
Earl's death was mentioned in General Jackson's letters of September,
1838. "His death," he wrote, "is a great bereavement to me ... he was my
friend and constant companion...."
Mrs. Lawrence's statement does not definitely place the laying out of
the flower beds in the center of the garden. It is possible that, in
those lonely days after his young wife's death in 1819, he worked with
Rachel Jackson in the garden of her new home. Frost, the English
gardener may have worked with them. At any rate, the garden grew as the
estate developed and, through the twenty years of his residence at the
Hermitage, it must have delighted the beauty-loving soul of the artist.
But what suggested the guitar as a model for the drive? There is a
tradition that General Jackson selected it because Rachel played the
guitar--certainly, even at Hunter's Hill, she played a harpsichord, and
often accompanied the General when he played upon his flute. There is
definite proof that Sarah York had a guitar, for General Jackson, in a
letter written in Washington, April 12, 1832, said: "Your cousin Saml.
J. Hays has agreed to take the Dog--will rest at Rockville with you
tonight. He takes on Sarah's Gator (guitar)--you must direct him where to
leave it...."
Somewhere the connection between music and the cedars was seen by a mind
poetic enough to look forward to a day when they would grow into a
massive instrument upon which the pleasant winds might play. Perhaps
"Old Hickory" himself conceived the idea--at any rate he approved it, or
the drive would not have been planted. It is enough to know that in
planting the trees he connected them with the music of at least
one--perhaps two--mistresses of the Hermitage.
General Jackson was interested, too, in the willows which he had planted
by Mrs. Jackson's tomb and in the flowers she had loved. In a letter
written to Andrew Jackson, Jr., on August 20, 1829, he expresses deep
concern for the care of her grave in the garden:
"In your letter although you have informed me of your visit to your
dear mother's tomb, still you have not informed me of its situation,
and whether the weeping that we planted around it are growing, or
whether the flowers reared by her industrious and beloved hands, have
been set around the grave as I requested. My D'r son, inform me on
this subject, you know it is the one dearest to my heart, and her
memory will remain fresh there as long as life lasts...."
"As long as life lasts...." Each evening at sunset a failing old man
turned his footsteps toward the garden. The chattering little girl who
held his hand paused at the gate and watched in silence while he made
his way slowly down the garden paths to the white stone temple in the
lower end of the garden.
"No one ever went to the tomb with him," Mrs. Lawrence told Mr.
Heiskell. "I always went to the gate, and saw him in, but I realized
he was going to the tomb. He would stay there a half hour, I suppose,
then return. He did this as long as he was able to walk."
It was not long to wait. Louis Philippe sent the artist Healy to paint
his portrait, and Sam Houston was hastening from Texas that his
fast-failing friend might lay his hands on his young son's head in
blessing. The portrait was finished three days before the old General's
death, but Sam Houston reached the Hermitage just a few hours too late.
The end came quietly and peacefully on June 8, 1845, and two days later
Andrew Jackson was laid to rest beside his beloved Rachel. Their mortal
remains have rested peacefully in the earth they loved these many years,
while the changing seasons have brought their fleeting beauty to the
garden--but who shall say that their story has not become immortal?