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Show One Hundred Years Ago 'Old Hickory' Revisited the Scene of His Triumph Over the 'Red Coats' at New Orleans i ' By ELMO SCOTT WATSON Released by Western Newspaper Union.) WHEN members of the Democratic party all over the United States gather together at their annual an-nual Jackson day dinners this year, they may well point to a celebration which took place just 100 years ago as the precedent for their making mak-ing the anniversary of a great American military victory the occasion for a political rally. For January 8, 1840, marked the climax of a 10-day 10-day celebration of the 25th anniversary of the Battle of New Orleans and the honor hon-or guest there was the hero of that battle Ex-President Andrew Jackson. It came about in this manner: During his second administration "Old Hickory" had decided that Martin Van Buren, his vice president, presi-dent, should be his successor in the White House and, despite a revolt within the party, forced the nomination of the New York er and aided in his election. But Van Buren's term as President was not a happy one for either him or for his friend and counselor, counsel-or, the ex-President. Within a year after he took office, of-fice, the speculative craze which had swept the country brought the inevitable result the panic of 1837. Jackson's financial policies poli-cies were blamed (and wrongly, so the later historians assure us) for the disaster but since he was no longer in the White House the anger of men who had seen their fortunes go crashing down in ruins was turned against his "hand-picked successor," Martin Van Buren. By 1839 business conditions had improved somewhat but not enough to reassure Van Buren that he could again defeat William Wil-liam Henry Harrison, the Whig candidate, and serve a second term. When congress convened, it quickly passed an independent treasury bill, taking the fiscal af- lairs out ot tne nanas ot tne oanKs and completing the work which Jackson had commenced back in 1829. By now the country had begun to realize that "Old Hickory's" Hick-ory's" financial policies were sound and his popularity, which had waned during the panic years of 1837-38, began to revive and give renewed confidence to Van Buren and his colleagues in the Democratic administration. 'Come to the Aid of the Party.' Down in New Orleans the Lou-isianians Lou-isianians beg-an planning a formal for-mal observance of the twenty-fifth twenty-fifth anniversary of the Battle of New Orleans and President Van Buren, believing that the presence pres-ence of General Jackson at that celebration would aid the cause of Democracy, wrote to him asking ask-ing him to go. Much as Jackson "would enjoy revisiting the scene of his triumph, there were several sev-eral reasons, however, which might prevent his going. He was a tired, old man now. "Old Hickory" Hick-ory" they still called him, but age had weakened the tough fiber -which that name suggested. Such a journey and the excitement of the celebration would drain him of much of the strength he still had left. Then there was another reason. The General had lost one of his best friends, one upon whom he had come to depend greatly. That was Ralph E. W. Earle, the wandering wan-dering portrait painter, who had come to the Hermitage 17 years before and found there the only home he had ever known. Earle .died in September, 1838, and the gray head of the general bowed a little lower after that date. "He was my constant companion when I traveled. Had I a wish to travel I have now no one to go with me," he said mournfully. But the most important reason why such a trip was doubtful is suggested in a letter he wTote to a friend at about this time "Again I am out of funds, and I cannot bear to borrow or travel as a pauper." When Andrew Jackson went to Washington to become President, he carried $5,-000 $5,-000 with him. When, at the end of eight years, he returned to his home in Tennessee there was only $90 left of it. An Expensive Son. Then came the panic years and "Old Hickory" was hard put to it to remain solvent. His difficulties diffi-culties were increased by the unbusinesslike un-businesslike practices of his adopted son, Andrew Jackson Jr. He prevailed upon his foster father fa-ther to allow, him to buy a 1,100-acre plantation in Mississippi Mississip-pi for which he agreed to pay $23,700 in four yearly installments. install-ments. On his way home from making this deal, . young Jackson Jack-son stopped at Nashville and, un- ANDREW JACKSON IN 1840 This portrait was painted by Jacques J. Amans during "Old Hickory's" Hick-ory's" visit to New Orleans to join in the 25th anniversary celebration of his victory over the British there on January 8, 1815. The original hangs in the Brown University library, Providence, K. I. (From an illustration il-lustration in Marquis James' "Andrew Jackson, Portrait of a President," Presi-dent," published by the Bobbs-Merrill Company, by whose courtesy it is reproduced here.) known to his father, bought an expensive piano, also on the installment in-stallment plan. Nor was this his only extravagance, extrava-gance, for while Jackson was making plans for the journey to New Orleans he received a letter let-ter from his old friend, Maj. William Wil-liam B. Lewis, asking that a note for $550, signed by young Jackson and already two years overdue, be paid. This money had been used to buy a carriage and Andrew Jr. had assured his father that the money had already al-ready been repaid. "I have exerted all my means to clear my son from his foolish as well as useless debts. They are all exhausted, I can do no more," the General wrote to Lewis. Lew-is. By this time he had about given up his plans for going to New Orleans. Then came a crushing blow. It was the financial collapse of Albert Ward, a son of one of Jackson's old friends and one of the richest men in Middle Tennessee. Ten-nessee. When his creditors be- ANDREW JACKSON JR. A portrait of Jackson's adopted son by Ralph E. W. Earle, owned by the Ladies' Hermitage Association, Associ-ation, Nashville, Tenn., and reproduced re-produced in Marquis James' "Andrew "An-drew Jackson, Portrait of a President." Pres-ident." gan securing writs of attachment against those who had gone security se-curity for Ward it was learned that Andrew Jackson Jr. was one of his principal sureties. Moreover, More-over, as the panicky creditors began to press their claims, other oth-er debts which young Jackson had contracted, unknown to his father, came to light. "Old Hickory," tired and ill as he was, rose superbly to the occasion. occa-sion. First he made certain arrangements ar-rangements with the Ward creditors cred-itors in order to gain time. Then he decided definitely to go to New Orleans. "If the trip should help the prospects of the Democrats, well and good;" writes Marquis James in his "Andrew Jackson Portrait of a President," "The real object was to relieve his son. "The time was short. On December De-cember 23 the General drove to Nashville and drew in advance on his cotton. After paying two notes for young Andrew and a few other bills only enough remained re-mained for traveling expenses to New Orleans. So he borrowed $3,000 which was placed to the credit of his son. "On the day before Christmas Andrew Jr. had not returned from Mississippi. Jackson could delay his departure no longer. Scratch ing directions to the boy to pay the Lewis note and other debts to the extent of $3,000, Old Hickory was off for Louisiana to make his first public appearance in nearly three years." A Near-Tragic Journey. Concerning that near-tragic journey and its results, James also writes: "New Year's day of 1840 was spent aboard an Ohio river packet pack-et menaced by drifting ice. At Memphis Jackson obtained from Albert Ward pledges which he hoped would balance Andrew Jr.'s obligations tq the Ward creditors . . . "On January 4, the steamer Vicksburg, chartered by the state of Mississippi and loaded with notables, took the General aboard. What followed was a nightmare. Stricken with a hemorrhage hem-orrhage which made every breath torture, the veteran drummed out the last reserves of his will-power 'determined to go through (with the journey) or fall in the struggle.' strug-gle.' " 'I have found that complaining complain-ing never eased pain,' he said. The endless receptions, the speeches, the pageantry, the fireworks, fire-works, the shouting, were somehow some-how endured for 10 days and nights. Leaning on his cane, the chieftain slowly mounted the mouldering ridge that had been the rampart beside the Rodriquez canal. Dim old eyes looked on a level field of cane stubble . . . which memory may have peopled peo-pled with pulsing platoons in red tunics latticed by white cross-belts cross-belts . . . hedges of bayonets receding re-ceding into infinity ..." Thus did the "Hero of New Orleans" Or-leans" look upon the scene of his triumph a quarter of a century earlier where he had won that amazing victory with which, in the words of another biographer (Gerald W. Johnson in his "Andrew "An-drew Jackson An Epic in Homespun"), Home-spun"), he had "saved the self-respect self-respect of the country." Because of it that country was "literally crazed with joy and in its delirium de-lirium flung the name of Andrew Jackson against the stars." A Hero Goes Home. After the 10-day celebration was over Jackson started for his home in Tennessee. "Alone in the cabin of a homeward bound steamer, the pain passed and a feeling of peace filled the heart of the soldier," writes James, "He hoped he had done something some-thing to save Mr. Van Buren. In any event he believed he had saved Andrew." As it turned out, both hopes were vain. For in the tumultuous "log cabin and hard cider" campaign cam-paign that year the "singing Whigs" with their shouts of "Tippecanoe "Tip-pecanoe and Tyler, Too!" and "Van, Van is a used-up man!" swept the "Little Magician" out of the White House and installed "Old Tippecanoe" Harrison there in his place. As for Andrew, it is true that his foster father "saved" him but only temporarily. For the young man seems to have had a perfect genius for bad business practices and before the weary old General had laid down his burdens on June 8, 1845 five years and six months, to a day, after his triumphant return to New Orleans those burdens had been added to, by his foster son, to the extent of $24,000. As Andrew Jackson, returning to New Orleans in 1840 experienced experi-enced the "endless receptions, speeches, pageantry, fireworks" etc., one wonders if, perhaps, he remembered the reception that had been given him by that city immediately after his victory 25 years before and, remembering, smiled inwardly at the recollection recollec-tion of what followed so soon afterwards! aft-erwards! That reception is described de-scribed in the first of Marquis James' two-volume biography, "Andrew Jackson, the Border Captain" as follows: "... The city gave him a Latin Lat-in welcome. Pierre Favrot, seated seat-ed by a window overlooking the Place d'Armes, undertook to describe de-scribe it to his wife Never my dear have I seen such a crowd . . . All the troops arriving to the strains of military music & of the cannons . . . more than 12,000 people of whom 8,000 were armed . . . Tomorrow they . . . will crown the General; twelve young girls will strew his path with flowers . . .' " This they did on the morrow, and much more. "At the door of the church he was received by the Abbe DuBourg in his robes of office and attended by a college col-lege of priests . . . The choir began to- chant the majestic lines of the Te Deum. The people in the church took up the hymn. It spread to the lips of the throng that filled the square as all New Orleans poured forth its gratitude grati-tude for deliverance." Short-Lived Gratitude. But that gratitude was shortlived, short-lived, and the hero of yesterday was, in their minds, a tyrant the next day, when "New Orleans awakened somewhat amazed to find itself, to all intents, once more in a state of siege. The tight restrictions of martial law were reimposed. Militia companies com-panies which had looked forward to prompt disbandment were marched into camps and set to drilling. Reserve companies not under arms before because there were no arms to give them were called out, the dilatory cargo of GEN. ANDREW JACKSON, 1815 A miniature on ivory made in New Orleans by Jean Francois Vallee, a Frenchman who painted in the "Napoleonic tradition." War department rifles having arrived. ar-rived. Andrew Jackson expected his victory to have bearing on the tedious negotiations he assumed as-sumed to be in progress at Ghent, but he took no chances." As rumors that a treaty of peace had indeed been signed began be-gan to drift into the city, the dissatisfaction dis-satisfaction with Jackson's restrictions re-strictions on the citizens of New Orleans and the resentment of the volunteers and the militia against being kept under arms increased. in-creased. There were frequent desertions and finally open mutiny. mu-tiny. To deal with both, Jackson used the same iron hand with which he had ruled his soldiers during the campaign against the Creek Indians. This brought him into a collision with the civil authorities. au-thorities. Clash With Civil Authority. Federal Judge Dominick A. Hall was determined to establish the fact that a writ of habeas corpus issued in his court should not be superseded by the rules of martial law. Jackson had not only dared to disregard such a writ but had arrested Hall for "aiding, abetting and exciting mutiny within my camp" and locking him up. Freed when martial law was revoked at the receipt of the news of the peace treaty, Hall had mounted the bench again, issuing a summons directing Jackson to show cause why he should not be held in contempt con-tempt of court for his refusal to recognize the writ of habeas corpus. So it came to pass that late in March, 1815, the "Hero of New Orleans" stood before the bar of civil justice and heard Judge Hall impose upon him a fine of $1,000 and costs but refrain from including includ-ing imprisonment in the sentence because it "was impossible to forget the important services of the defendant to the country." After that "Jackson walked out of the court-room the idol of the cheering crowd. They unhitched the horses and dragged his carriage car-riage to the Exchange Coffee House." The idol of New Orleans he remained re-mained until his departure in May for his home in Tennessee. That departure "was taken in triumph public farewells, private leave-takings, exchanges of costly cost-ly gifts. A purse was raised to discharge the fine imposed by Dominick Hall, but Andrew Jackson Jack-son waved it aside, requesting that the money be distributed among the families of soldiers who had fallen in battle." |