Produced by Tapio Riikonen and David Widger
SKETCHES AND STUDIES
by
Nathaniel Hawthorne
CONTENTS
Life of Franklin Pierce
Chiefly about War Matters
Alice Doane’s Appeal
The Ancestral Footstep
LIFE OF FRANKLIN PIERCE.
PREFACE.
The author of this memoir--being so little of a politician that he
scarcely feels entitled to call himself a member of any party--would not
voluntarily have undertaken the work here offered to the public. Neither
can he flatter himself that he has been remarkably successful in the
performance of his task, viewing it in the light of a political
biography, and as a representation of the principles and acts of a public
man, intended to operate upon the minds of multitudes during a
presidential canvass. This species of writing is too remote from his
customary occupations--and, he may add, from his tastes--to be very
satisfactorily done, without more time and practice than he would be
willing to expend for such a purpose. If this little biography have any
value, it is probably of another kind--as the narrative of one who knew
the individual of whom he treats, at a period of life when character
could be read with undoubting accuracy, and who, consequently, in judging
of the motives of his subsequent conduct, has an advantage over much more
competent observers, whose knowledge of the man may have commenced at a
later date. Nor can it be considered improper (at least, the author will
never feel it so, although some foolish delicacy be sacrificed in the
undertaking) that when a friend, dear to him almost from boyish days,
stands up before his country, misrepresented by indiscriminate abuse on
the one hand, and by aimless praise on the other, he should be sketched
by one who has had opportunities of knowing him well, and who is
certainly inclined to tell the truth.
It is perhaps right to say, that while this biography is so far
sanctioned by General Pierce, as it comprises a generally correct
narrative of the principal events of his life, the author does not
understand him as thereby necessarily indorsing all the sentiments put
forth by himself in the progress of the work. These are the author’s own
speculations upon the facts before him, and may, or may not, be in
accordance with the ideas of the individual whose life he writes. That
individual’s opinions, however,--so far as it is necessary to know them,
--may be read, in his straightforward and consistent deeds, with more
certainty than those of almost any other man now before the public.
The author, while collecting his materials, has received liberal aid from
all manner of people--Whigs and Democrats, congressmen, astute lawyers,
grim old generals of militia, and gallant young officers of the Mexican
war--most of whom, however, he must needs say, have rather abounded in
eulogy of General Pierce than in such anecdotical matter as is calculated
for a biography. Among the gentlemen to whom he is substantially
indebted, he would mention Hon. C. G. Atherton, Hon. S. H. Ayer, Hon.
Joseph Hall, Chief Justice Gilchrist, Isaac O. Barnes, Esq., Col. T. J.
Whipple, and Mr. C. J. Smith. He has likewise derived much assistance
from an able and accurate sketch, that originally appeared in the “Boston
Post,” and was drawn up, as he believes, by the junior editor of that
journal.
CONCORD, MASS., August 27, 1852.
CHAPTER I.
HIS PARENTAGE AND EARLY LIFE.
Franklin Pierce was born at Hillsborough, in the State of New Hampshire,
on the 23d of November, 1804. His native county, at the period of his
birth, covered a much more extensive territory than at present, and might
reckon among its children many memorable men, and some illustrious ones.
General Stark, the hero of Bennington, Daniel Webster, Levi Woodbury,
Jeremiah Smith, the eminent jurist, and governor of the state, General
James Miller, General McNeil, Senator Atherton, were natives of old
Hillsborough County.
General Benjamin Pierce, the father of Franklin, was one of the earliest
settlers in the town of Hillsborough, and contributed as much as any
other man to the growth and prosperity of the county. He was born in
1757, at Chelmsford, now Lowell, in Massachusetts. Losing his parents
early, he grew up under the care of an uncle, amid such circumstances of
simple fare, hard labor, and scanty education, as usually fell to the lot
of a New England yeoman’s family some eighty or a hundred years ago. On
the 19th of April, 1775, being then less than eighteen years of age, the
stripling was at the plough, when tidings reached him of the bloodshed at
Lexington and Concord. He immediately loosened the ox chain, left the
plough in the furrow, took his uncle’s gun and equipments, and set forth
towards the scene of action. From that day, for more than seven years,
he never saw his native place. He enlisted in the army, was present at
the battle of Bunker Hill, and after serving through the whole
Revolutionary War, and fighting his way upward from the lowest grade,
returned, at last, a thorough soldier, and commander of a company. He
was retained in the army as long as that body of veterans had a united
existence; and, being finally disbanded, at West Point, in 1784, was left
with no other reward, for nine years of toil and danger, than the nominal
amount of his pay in the Continental currency--then so depreciated as to
be almost worthless.
In 1780, being employed as agent to explore a tract of wild land, he
purchased a lot of fifty acres in what is now the town of Hillsborough.
In the spring of the succeeding year, he built himself a log hut, and
began the clearing and cultivation of his tract. Another year beheld him
married to his first wife, Elizabeth Andrews, who died within a
twelvemonth after their union, leaving a daughter, the present widow of
General John McNeil. In 1789, he married Anna Kendrick, with whom he
lived about half a century, and who bore him eight children, of whom
Franklin was the sixth.
Although the Revolutionary soldier had thus betaken himself to the
wilderness for a subsistence, his professional merits were not forgotten
by those who had witnessed his military career. As early as 1786, he was
appointed brigade major of the militia of Hillsborough County, then first
organized and formed into a brigade. And it was a still stronger
testimonial to his character as a soldier, that, nearly fifteen years
afterwards, during the presidency of John Adams, he was offered a high
command in the northern division of the army which was proposed to be
levied in anticipation of a war with the French republic. Inflexibly
democratic in his political faith, however, Major Pierce refused to be
implicated in a policy which he could not approve. “No, gentlemen,” said
he to the delegates who urged his acceptance of the commission, “poor as
I am, and acceptable as would be the position under other circumstances,
I would sooner go to yonder mountains, dig me a cave, and live on roast
potatoes, than be instrumental in promoting the objects for which that
army is to be raised!” This same fidelity to his principles marked every
public, as well as private, action of his life.
In his own neighborhood, among those who knew him best he early gained an
influence that was never lost nor diminished, but continued to spread
wider during the whole of his long life. In 1789, he was elected to the
state legislature and retained that position for thirteen successive
years, until chosen a member of the council. During the same period he
was active in his military duties, as a field officer, and finally
general, of the militia of the county; and Miller, McNeil, and others
learned of him, in this capacity, the soldier-like discipline which was
afterwards displayed on the battle-fields of the northern frontier.
The history, character, and circumstances of General Benjamin Pierce,
though here but briefly touched upon, are essential parts of the
biography of his son, both as indicating some of the native traits which
the latter has inherited, and as showing the influences amid which he
grew up. At Franklin Pierce’s birth, and for many years subsequent, his
father was the most active and public-spirited man within his sphere; a
most decided Democrat, and supporter of Jefferson and Madison; a
practical farmer, moreover, not rich, but independent, exercising a
liberal hospitality, and noted for the kindness and generosity of his
character; a man of the people, but whose natural qualities inevitably
made him a leader among them. From infancy upward, the boy had before
his eyes, as the model on which he might instinctively form himself, one
of the best specimens of sterling New England character, developed in a
life of simple habits, yet of elevated action. Patriotism, such as it
had been in Revolutionary days, was taught him by his father, as early as
his mother taught him religion. He became early imbued, too, with the
military spirit which the old soldier had retained from his long service,
and which was kept active by the constant alarms and warlike preparations
of the first twelve years of the present century. If any man is bound by
birth and youthful training, to show himself a brave, faithful, and able
citizen of his native country, it is the son of such a father.
At the commencement of the war of 1812, Franklin Pierce was a few months
under eight years of age. The old general, his father, sent two of his
sons into the army; and as his eldest daughter was soon afterwards
married to Major McNeil, there were few families that had so large a
personal stake in the war as that of General Benjamin Pierce. He
himself, both in his public capacity as a member of the council, and by
his great local influence in his own county, lent a strenuous support to
the national administration. It is attributable to his sagacity and
energy, that New Hampshire--then under a federal governor--was saved the
disgrace of participation in the questionable, if not treasonable,
projects of the Hartford Convention. He identified himself with the
cause of the country, and was doubtless as thoroughly alive with
patriotic zeal, at this eventful period, as in the old days of Bunker
Hill, and Saratoga, and Yorktown. The general not only took a prominent
part at all public meetings, but was ever ready for the informal
discussion of political affairs at all places of casual resort, where--in
accordance with the custom of the time and country--the minds of men were
made to operate effectually upon each other. Franklin Pierce was a
frequent auditor of these controversies. The intentness with which he
watched the old general, and listened to his arguments, is still
remembered; and, at this day, in his most earnest moods, there are
gesticulations and movements that bring up the image of his father to
those who recollect the latter on those occasions of the display of
homely, native eloquence. No mode of education could be conceived,
better adapted to imbue a youth with the principles and sentiment of
democratic institutions; it brought him into the most familiar contact
with the popular mind, and made his own mind a part of it.
Franklin’s father had felt, through life, the disadvantages of a
defective education; although, in his peculiar sphere of action, it might
be doubted whether he did not gain more than he lost, by being thrown on
his own resources, and compelled to study men and their actual affairs,
rather than books. But he determined to afford his son all the
opportunities of improvement which he himself had lacked. Franklin,
accordingly, was early sent to the academy at Hancock, and afterwards
to that of Francestown, where he was received into the family of
General Pierce’s old and steadfast friend, Peter Woodbury, father of
the late eminent judge. It is scarcely more than a year ago, at the
semi-centennial celebration of the academy, that Franklin Pierce, the
mature and distinguished man, paid a beautiful tribute to the character
of Madam Woodbury, in affectionate remembrance of the motherly kindness
experienced at her hands by the school-boy.
The old people of his neighborhood give a very delightful picture of
Franklin at this early age. They describe him as a beautiful boy, with
blue eyes, light curling hair, and a sweet expression of face. The
traits presented of him indicate moral symmetry, kindliness, and a
delicate texture of sentiment, rather than marked prominences of
character. His instructors testify to his propriety of conduct, his
fellow-pupils to his sweetness of disposition and cordial sympathy. One
of the latter, being older than most of his companions, and less advanced
in his studies, found it difficult to keep up with his class; and he
remembers how perseveringly, while the other boys were at play, Franklin
spent the noon recess, for many weeks together, in aiding him in his
lessons. These attributes, proper to a generous and affectionate nature,
have remained with him through life. Lending their color to his
deportment, and softening his manners, they are, perhaps, even now, the
characteristics by which most of those who casually meet him would be
inclined to identify the man. But there are other qualities, not then
developed, but which have subsequently attained a firm and manly growth,
and are recognized as his leading traits among those who really know him.
Franklin Pierce’s development, indeed, has always been the reverse of
premature; the boy did not show the germ of all that was in the man, nor,
perhaps, did the young man adequately foreshow the mature one.
In 1820, at the age of sixteen, he became a student of Bowdoin College,
at Brunswick, Maine. It was in the autumn of the next year that the
author of this memoir entered the class below him; but our college
reminiscences, however interesting to the parties concerned, are not
exactly the material for a biography. He was then a youth, with the boy
and man in him, vivacious, mirthful, slender, of a fair complexion, with
light hair that had a curl in it: his bright and cheerful aspect made a
kind of sunshine, both as regarded its radiance and its warmth; insomuch
that no shyness of disposition, in his associates, could well resist its
influence. We soon became acquainted, and were more especially drawn
together as members of the same college society. There were two of these
institutions, dividing the college between them, and typifying,
respectively, and with singular accuracy of feature, the respectable
conservative, and the progressive or democratic parties. Pierce’s native
tendencies inevitably drew him to the latter.
His chum was Zenas Caldwell, several years older than himself, a member
of the Methodist persuasion, a pure-minded, studious, devoutly religious
character; endowed thus early in life with the authority of a grave and
sagacious turn of mind. The friendship between Pierce and him appeared
to be mutually strong, and was of itself a pledge of correct deportment
in the former. His chief friend, I think, was a classmate named Little,
a young man of most estimable qualities and high intellectual promise;
one of those fortunate characters whom an early death so canonizes in the
remembrance of their companions, that the perfect fulfilment of a long
life would scarcely give them a higher place. Jonathan Cilley, of my own
class,--whose untimely fate is still mournfully remembered,--a person of
very marked ability and great social influence, was another of Pierce’s
friends. All these have long been dead. There are others, still alive,
who would meet Franklin Pierce, at this day, with as warm a pressure of
the hand, and the same confidence in his kindly feelings as when they
parted from him nearly thirty years ago.
Pierce’s class was small, but composed of individuals seriously intent on
the duties and studies of their college life. They were not boys, but,
for the most part, well advanced towards maturity; and, having wrought
out their own means of education, were little inclined to neglect the
opportunities that had been won at so much cost. They knew the value of
time, and had a sense of the responsibilities of their position. Their
first scholar--the present Professor Stowe--has long since established
his rank among the first scholars of the country. It could have been no
easy task to hold successful rivalry with students so much in earnest as
these were. During the earlier part of his college course it may be
doubted whether Pierce was distinguished for scholarship. But, for the
last two years, he appeared to grow more intent on the business in hand,
and, without losing any of his vivacious qualities as a companion, was
evidently resolved to gain an honorable elevation in his class. His
habits of attention and obedience to college discipline were of the
strictest character; he rose progressively in scholarship, and took a
highly creditable degree. [See note at close of this Life.]
The first civil office, I imagine, which Franklin Pierce ever held was
that of chairman of the standing committee of the Athenaean Society, of
which, as above hinted, we were both members; and, having myself held a
place on the committee, I can bear testimony to his having discharged
not only his own share of the duties, but that of his colleagues. I
remember, likewise, that the only military service of my life was as a
private soldier in a college company, of which Pierce was one of the
officers. He entered into this latter business, or pastime, with an
earnestness with which I could not pretend to compete, and at which,
perhaps, he would now be inclined to smile. His slender and youthful
figure rises before my mind’s eye, at this moment, with the air and step
of a veteran of the school of Steuben; as well became the son of a
revolutionary hero, who had probably drilled under the old baron’s
orders. Indeed, at this time, and for some years afterwards, Pierce’s
ambition seemed to be of a military cast. Until reflection had tempered
his first predilections, and other varieties of success had rewarded his
efforts, he would have preferred, I believe, the honors of the
battle-field to any laurels more peacefully won. And it was remarkable
how, with all the invariable gentleness of his demeanor, he perfectly
gave, nevertheless, the impression of a high and fearless spirit. His
friends were as sure of his courage, while yet untried, as now, when it
has been displayed so brilliantly in famous battles.
At this early period of his life, he was distinguished by the same
fascination of manner that has since proved so magical in winning him an
unbounded personal popularity. It is wronging him, however, to call this
peculiarity a mere effect of manner; its source lies deep in the
kindliness of his nature, and in the liberal, generous, catholic
sympathy, that embraces all who are worthy of it. Few men possess any
thing like it; so irresistible as it is, so sure to draw forth an
undoubting confidence, and so true to the promise which it gives. This
frankness, this democracy of good feeling, has not been chilled by the
society of politicians, nor polished down into mere courtesy by his
intercourse with the most refined men of the day. It belongs to him at
this moment, and will never leave him. A little while ago, after his
return from Mexico, he darted across the street to exchange a hearty
gripe of the hand with a rough countryman upon his cart--a man who used
to “live with his father,” as the general explained the matter to his
companions. Other men assume this manner, more or less skilfully; but
with Frank Pierce it is an innate characteristic; nor will it ever lose
its charm, unless his heart should grow narrower and colder--a misfortune
not to be anticipated, even in the dangerous atmosphere of elevated rank,
whither he seems destined to ascend.
There is little else that it is worth while to relate as regards his
college course, unless it be that, during one of his winter vacations,
Pierce taught a country school. So many of the statesmen of New England
have performed their first public service in the character of pedagogue,
that it seems almost a necessary step on the ladder of advancement.