Rachel Jackson

“ He yearned, so he had written her so many times, to be free of wars and politics, answerable to no one but the call of his heart. Not to Madison nor Monroe nor any other president. Not to Sam Houston nor Governor Billy 11 Carroll of Tennessee, nor even to Major John Eaton who seemed, in Rachel’s mind, to be forever grooming Andrew Jackson for some job or other, always important, always controversial and inevitably always far from the Hermitage. ”

“ She opened the dining room door and slipped inside quickly.
Rachel Jackson, with a Negro woman helping and a half-grown boy up on a stool, was getting china down from a high corner cupboard.
Aunt Rachel was getting heavy, Emily noted, 5 and her breath quick and short. She gasped occasionally as she bent over the table, counting the plates the Negress set down, laughing a little as she straightened and drew a long breath.
“Law, I must be getting old, Emily. I get so short-winded every time I exert myself the least bit. I declare these china plates are still the prettiest ones I’ve got. ”

“ In the midst of preparations for festivity and mirth, the knell of death is heard, and on the very day which it was arranged and expected that our town should be a scene of general rejoicing, we are suddenly checked in our career, and are called on to array ourselves in garments of solemnity and woe. Mrs. Rachel Jackson, wife of General Andrew Jackson, President-elect of the United States, died last night, at the Hermitage, in this vicinity. The intelligence of this awful and unlooked-for event has created a shock in our community almost unparalleled. ”

“ 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 76 again to the president’s chair; Sam Houston, gay, lovable, and erratic, who was to be president of the Lone Star Republic ”

“ So she has to mother a whole tribe and suffer every small disappointment with them. These lads—Andrew Jackson Donelson, young Andy and Andrew Hutchings are sons to her—to me too. The problem is that I have to hurt her with my firmness to make men out of them. Too much softness in the Donelson strain. I have been blessed by it, but now I must fight against it and defeat it in those 24 boys. It’s not easy to do, John, not for a man who loves his wife as I love Rachel Jackson.”
“You did not tell all your news, General.”
Andrew Jackson shook his head. “Let her enjoy her Christmas. ”

“ Rachel let her breath out slowly. There was that little pain again, that came sometimes. She used Magic Sanitive Salve faithfully as her husband directed but it didn’t seem to do much good.
“When you get a husband he’ll go where duty calls him and you won’t be able to hold him back any more than any other woman. But it does look as though duty called Andrew Jackson more than most men and into more dangerous places. I declare I still like these old plates best of all. Maybe it’s because they were the first nice things ever I owned.”
“Uncle Jackson likes the dangerous places,” Emily said. ”

“ Breakfast, when the General was away, was usually a quiet meal at the Hermitage. Rachel never slept very well and rose, still and determined, setting about the multitude of tasks before her, level-eyed and grave. But when Andrew Jackson was at home there was hubbub. He was always noisy and impatient in the mornings, eating rapidly, summoning one servant after another to give orders about the cattle, the horses, the winter plowing. Negroes hurried in, stood hat in hand listening obediently. There was bedlam in the dining room when Emily went down on this morning of Christmas Eve. ”

“ Charles Dickinson had been so young! Rachel ached now with remembering the anguish of dread for her own beloved and for the young wife and baby of the youth Andrew Jackson had set out across the Kentucky line that May morning to kill, if he could—if he were not himself slain by a youth known to be one of the most famous shots in Tennessee. ”

“ The mistress of the Hermitage—Rachel, the beloved and adored—was the raison d’être of the whole establishment. She was, to Andrew Jackson, the center of the universe—the one fixed thing around which all of x the affairs of his life revolved. Her happiness was his greatest concern and, in building a home, her comfort and pleasure were his first consideration. She was not the kind of a woman, however, to accept such adoration without repaying it in thought and in deed. She was an excellent housekeeper, a gracious hostess, and an efficient manager of the whole plantation. ”

“ Another carriage full of cousins and aunts and uncles arrived to fill the house with more confusion. Mary Eastin and some of the other girls came to help Emily direct the placing of the great piles of china plates, the gleaming goblets and compotes that would be filled with uncle Jackson’s wine and aunt Rachel’s preserves and relishes. The heavy soup ladle was rubbed till it glittered, a mound of apples and nuts was heaped on a tray which Emily edged with holly.
Mary Eastin, very young and eager, had a cameo face and a lilting laugh. Life would always be gay for Mary. ”

“ The young lovers who, during his last years, laughed and danced through the pleasant rooms and hallways of the old mansion and wandered in the moonlight to the magnolia-shaded tomb in the garden caught something of his immortal love story.
Both he and Rachel loved young people. They had no children, but in 1809 they adopted a baby—a nephew of Mrs. Jackson’s—and down through the years the Hermitage was enlivened by the happy laughter of children and of young people: sons and daughters of neighbors, of Mrs. Jackson’s kin, and of the General’s friends and associates. ”

“ Hadn’t he been trained by uncle Jackson, who had never known any other mode of life except to be master in his house? Jack would expect his wife to be a gracious copy of aunt Rachel—with a bit more style perhaps, and more ease in company, Emily amended, with no disloyalty. Aunt Rachel was good. She did not need a flair for clever conversation or the sly, pretty arts by which some women kept men enthralled, but as Mary had said, times were changing. Women even went to colleges now and read deep books. ”

“ Rachel snatched up a shawl, wrapped her head and shoulders in it and went out to stand and listen.
“Christmas is a-comin’, the goose is getting fat.
“Please to put a penny in the ole man’s hat,” caroled the slaves.
She saw her husband standing bareheaded near the fire, his hair blowing in the winter wind, the firelight casting deep shadows under his eyes. He had a hand on Andy’s shoulder, an 59 arm around Emily. No one heeded the mist that blew on the wind. Some of the older women were already picking their chickens on the lee side of the smokehouse. ”

“ His mercantile business, as well as his legal and political activities, took him frequently to Philadelphia, Natchez, or other distant points. Later, the Creek campaigns and activities leading up to the Battle of New Orleans kept him away from the Hermitage for months at a time. After the victory in 1815 Mrs. Jackson accompanied him on trips to Washington, to Florida, New Orleans, and other places where his fame drew great crowds around them. There never was a time, however, when fame had any attraction for Rachel. ”

“ 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 ”

“ 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. ”

“ Jack went to her quickly, put his hands on her quivering shoulders. “We’ll make you a queen, aunt Rachel. We’ll make you the grandest lady in the land!”
“And I’ll have to live in Washington—when I want to stay at home!” she protested. “I don’t want to be a queen. Jack, wash yourself and come and eat your dinner. Mr. Jackson, do serve the children! Hannah, pass the vegetables. All of you, eat your dinner—your Christmas dinner.”
Obediently, Andrew Jackson made wooden motions of slicing at the turkey. John Eaton took the knife from his hand. ”

“ Rachel said. “And you get it too and so does Andy.”
“Let him get toughened up then,” growled the General. “You spoil all these young ones, 31 my dear. Andy will have heavy responsibilities when I’m gone. He has to be trained to meet them. I’ve done fairly well with Andrew Jackson Donelson for all you women trying continually to soften him up. He’ll make a man.”
Emily’s heart was a bit happier. Uncle Jackson did need someone to help him, as Jack had written. She hoped that when Jack arrived, when the storm of her uncle’s ire had subsided, that the General would welcome young Jack’s assistance. ”

“ 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. ”

“ You’ll have to sleep with Andy tonight. We’ve got a houseful already and more coming. And Ralph, don’t you let the General get notions about rushing off to be somebody important. It’s time he took care of himself.”
“I’ll tell him, aunt Rachel. But you know Andrew Jackson. If any call came from the people to serve anywhere, no one could hold him.” ”

“ Our Hermitage!”
“But think of what great things could happen to you, aunt Rachel! Someday you might be one of the greatest ladies in the land.”
“I don’t want to be a great lady.” She held tight to the cold hand he had laid upon her cheek. “I want to stay here and raise young Andy and Andrew Hutchings. I want to see Emily well married and all our people taken care of. I never want to have to go dragging out again to make calls and leave cards and smile till my face aches. ”

“ Hannah, you come along with me while I ask aunt Rachel to unlock the press. We’ll need all the long tablecloths and they’ll have to be pressed. I’ll need four more spoons. These are those lovely French ones uncle Jackson brought from New Orleans. You tell Simmy to be mighty careful with them, Dilsey. Come along, Hannah. People may begin coming in today. ”

“ Rachel Donelson was the maiden name of General Jackson's wife. She was born in Virginia, in the year 1767, and lived there until she was eleven years of age. Her father, Colonel John Donelson, was a planter and land surveyor, who possessed considerable wealth in land, cattle, and slaves. He was one of those hardy pioneers who were never content unless they were living away out in the woods, beyond the verge of civilization. ”

“ Emily told a group of women. “The house must be bright when they sing.”
“You go, Emily,” Rachel said. “I ought to stay here. Becky and Dilsey both wanted that white rooster and they’re sure to get into a fight.”
“Let Mr. Field attend to it. It’s his business to keep the people in order, aunt Rachel. You are a hostess with a houseful of guests, you have enough to worry you.” ”

“ The tragedy, as well as the sweetness of Jackson’s life lies around his love for Rachel Donelson.
This paper will tell of the tragedy.
Before she was twenty Rachel Donelson first married Lewis Robards and went with him, as stated, to live in pioneer Kentucky. He was a jealous, drinking, ill-tempered fool. Horsemen have a term which fits him better than any thing elegant I can think of—sour-headed. Robards soon became jealous of his wife and made her life unhappy. Finally he wrote to Rachel’s mother, the widow Donelson, then living near Nashville, that he would send her daughter back to her. ”

“ The young couple had gone to Kentucky to live when they married, but the jealous husband made life with him intolerable and Rachel soon returned to her mother’s house, where Jackson found her when he went there to live. Largely through the pacific efforts of John Overton, an old friend of the Robards family, and at the instigation of Lewis Robards’s mother whose sympathies were with Rachel in the affair, a reconciliation was patched up and Captain Robards came to the widow Donelson’s home late in 1788 to live again with his 5 wife. ”

“ General Jackson lavished affection and attention on him throughout his childhood and youth, and a real son could not have been reared more tenderly. “I have no doubt he will take care of us both in our declining years,” the General wrote Rachel in 1813. And in 1832 he wrote an old friend that “Andrew is now married and I mean to throw the care of the farm on him. I shall never more pester myself with this world’s wealth.” ”