The Hermitage, Home of Old HickoryHorn, Stanley F.
History
The Hermitage, Home of Old Hickory
Horn, Stanley F.
Hermitage (Hermitage, Tenn.); Jackson, Andrew, 1767-1845 -- Homes and haunts -- Tennessee -- Hermitage
Thus ended the spat between General Jackson and the Donelsons; and in
all their future relations there was never anything to suggest that
there had ever been the slightest asperity between them. Mischief-making
Peggy Eaton drove them apart; but even she, with her genius for creating
dissention, could not keep them apart.
In 1818 Major Donelson had inherited from his father a handsome
plantation called Tulip Grove which lies directly across the Lebanon
Road from the Hermitage; and in 1834 General Jackson, perhaps to seal
the reconciliation, engaged Messrs. Reiff and Hume to build on it the
handsome residence which still stands there. Emily, the innocent stormy
petrel, died December, 1836, of tuberculosis. The disease wasted her
strength rapidly and she died before her husband could get back from
Washington where he had gone to help wind up the affairs of the Jackson
administration under the impression that she was not dangerously ill.
Major Donelson later married another of his cousins, herself the widow
of Lewis Randolph of Virginia, who was a grandson of Thomas Jefferson.
Major Donelson, after Jackson’s administration closed went back to Tulip
Grove and lived the life of a farmer for a few years, keeping in touch
with Uncle Jackson across the road and helping him sometimes with his
flood of correspondence. By President Tyler he was appointed charge de
affairs to the Republic of Texas, and he played an active and able part
in promoting the annexation of the Lone Star State. When James K. Polk
was elected President he was made minister to Prussia, an office which
he filled with ability and distinction. Following this service he became
editor of the _Washington Union_; and in 1856 took his last fling at
politics when he was a candidate for Vice President on the ticket with
Millard Fillmore. He died on June 26, 1871.
Major Donelson ever stood high in the affections of Andrew Jackson, and
when the old statesman made his will in 1843 he left to him the gorgeous
gold-encrusted sword which had been presented to him on July 4, 1822, by
the State of Tennessee in honor of his services in the War of 1812. This
priceless heirloom is still in the possession of Mrs. Bettie M. Donelson
of Nashville, widow of Major Donelson’s son Alexander. There is a note
of pathos in the apologetic explanatory clause embraced in the paragraph
of the will in which this bequest is made: “This, from the great change
in my worldly affairs of late, is, with my blessing, all I can bequeath
him”; but, the dying General added: “This bequest is made as a memento
of the high regard, affection and esteem I bear for him as a
high-minded, honest and honorable man.” And, since a good name is rather
to be chosen than great riches, what more precious bequest could anyone
receive?
* * * *
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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