In spite of this frank admonition, however, even as he rested before New Orleans on the eve of the battle there that was to make him a figure of world-wide fame, General Jackson had obtruded on him there some of the vexing problems of plantation management—not, it should be noted, by the self-contained Rachel but by her sister’s husband, Colonel Robert Hays, mentioned in Jackson’s letter. Colonel Hays, probably with good intentions but certainly with an atrocious lack of good sense, sat down and wrote him a tediously detailed letter to tell him about all the trouble being experienced in getting a good overseer and the demoralization of the slaves growing out of the inefficient overseer’s lack of capacity. “They did not tread out thirty bushels of oats in three days,” wrote Mr. Hayes of the trifling slaves; and then went on to relate the harrowing experience of one of them who was sent to Nashville on an errand, was waylaid on his return and came home with “a large load of small shot in his back which is still in him.” Was there ever in the history of the world another General commanding his nation’s troops on the eve of a decisive battle who had to drop his studies of tactical problems in order to consider the case of an overseer back home who “is a good honest man, but drinks too hard”? Most of the time, however, General Jackson was at home to manage things for himself, and everybody agreed that when it came to running a farm and raising blooded stock he know what he was about. In 1824 the Hermitage was visited by Willie Blount, former governor of Tennessee, and in a letter written concerning this visit Governor Blount said: “Although I have ever considered him to be among the most industrious men of my acquaintance, both in public and private life, I was really surprised to find his farm in such excellent order and so very productive, under all the circumstances relating to his great absence from home attending the public relations during the late war and since. His farming land is, as you know, very fertile, very beautiful, and eligibly situated for comfort. It is largely improved, handsomely arranged with gratifying appearance to the visitors at his most hospitable house, open to all who have the pleasure of his acquaintance and who travel through his neighborhood, none of whom pass that way without calling on him for social intercourse, viewing him to be the polite gentleman at home and abroad and the friend of man everywhere. His very arrangement for farming on an extensive scale delights the man of observation; his fields are extensive and nicely cultivated as a garden; his meadows and pastures are extensive and neatly kept; his stock of horses, cattle, sheep and hogs are of the best kind and all in excellent order; his domestics and hirelings are all contented and comfortably provided for, and their daily labor is a pleasure to them.”