He has been called the “great father of wire-pullers,”[349] a closet man’s definition of a great manipulator of men. At the time the public began to speculate on the presidential possibilities of Jackson, the Major was his neighbor. He was not a penniless adventurer or soldier of fortune. There was nothing in politics for himself for which he cared a bauble. He was living comfortably on his large productive plantation, with slaves in the fields, and books in the library. Jackson had learned to love and trust him years before when he was chief quartermaster on the General’s staff in the campaign of 1812-15, and in the final settlement the Government was found to be indebted to him to the amount of three cents--which was never paid. When the Jackson movement became serious, the Major, knowing the General’s strength and weaknesses, took charge of all confidential matters. To just what extent he contributed to Jackson’s election no one ever knew--but all knew that he had played an important part. He conducted all the correspondence, and carefully scrutinized, and often revised, the General’s letters; and another of his functions was to serve as a sort of valet for all State occasions when Jackson should be carefully groomed. He possessed the qualities that Jackson lacked. Where Jackson was impulsive, he was deliberative; where Jackson was prejudiced, he was tolerant; where Jackson was rash, he was prudent, if not timid; where Jackson was a man of action, he was a man of thought; and while Jackson had ideas, he furnished the vehicle to bear them in parade. During the many months preceding the election of 1828, this practical, polished politician was studying the political war map, and quietly planning successful battles in this State and that. He knew the politics of each State, the personalities and prejudices entering in, the dominating motives of all politicians, even to those never known outside their own little communities, and he knew how to play one force against the other without appearing in the game. Knowing as he did all the cross-currents of local politics, nothing ever arose that he could not deal with intelligently.