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]