Democracy's Lawyer: Felix Grundy of the Old Southwest

Epilogue

Epilogue rundy’s funeral took place on Sunday, December 20, 1840, in the afternoon. It was followed by a series of memorial services in Nashville and Washington. His body initially was interred at the City Cemetery , in Nashville, but in 1890 was moved, along with the remains of Ann Phillips Rodgers Grundy and Grundy’s friend and servant Ambrose, to Mt. Olivet Cemetery in Nashville. Grundy’s death occasioned numerous tributes and memorials. Andrew Jackson wrote Amos Kendall on January 2 that “our friend Grundy is no more, his death . . . is a serious loss to his country and family.” John Rowan mourned his old friend in a long letter to his daughter, writing, “I am more affected at the death of my old schoolmate Mr. Grundy, than at any event of the kind.” Sam Houston, soon to return to power as president of Texas, wrote General William Giles Harding that “the U.S. sustained in the death of Judge Grundy a serious loss. He was a great man. . . . His cast of genius was peculiar, but it was peculiarly Grand.”1 Ann Rodgers Grundy outlived her husband by more than six years, dying in Nashville on January 27, 1847. Her obituary stated that she was the widow of Felix Grundy and that she was universally respected and beloved but did not mention her leadership in the formation of Nashville’s first welfare organization and various other benevolent organizations in Nashville. Some measure of her character and strength is provided by the tribute on her tomb, now located at Mt. Olivet Cemetery: “Our mother, who Taught us How to Live, and How to Die.”2 After Nancy Grundy’s death, her executors sold Grundy Place to President and Mrs. James K. Polk for $6,770.17. In October 1847 lightning hit a powder 261 G 262 � Democracy’s Lawyer magazine west of Capitol Hill in Nashville, and the resulting explosion rocked the area, badly damaging the walls on the north and west sides of the house. Partly for that reason, the Polks extensively remodeled the house, altering the exterior; only the east wall of Grundy Place remained. Sarah Childress Polk, who would outlive her husband by forty-two years, reigned in the house, now called Polk Place, until her death on August 14, 1891. During the Civil War, federal authorities ordered that Mrs. Polk and her home not be disturbed, and Polk Place became a refuge for various Confederate friends. After the State of Tennessee refused to pay the twenty-two thousand dollars asked by the Polk heirs, the property was sold, and the house demolished, in 1901. A hotel and other buildings now occupy the site.3 James K. Polk did not live long enough to enjoy the delights of Polk Place. Elected president in 1844, he led the country during the Mexican War and oversaw the addition of Texas, Oregon, California, and New Mexico to the United States. Grundy’s protégé is regarded today as a highly successful president , ranking higher than Jackson in the most recent assessment of presidents in a poll conducted periodically among professional historians. Unusual among politicians, he adhered to his pledge to serve only one term as president. Polk died of cholera in Nashville on June 15, 1849, less than four months after relinquishing the presidency. Death soon took its toll among Grundy’s colleagues. Andrew Jackson died at the Hermitage on June 8, 1845. Jacob McGavock, Grundy’s son-in-law, served as one of thirteen pallbearers. Henry Clay, vital to the end, died on June 29, 1852, after yet again trying to hold together his beloved Union. John C. Calhoun , the ironlike founder of the intellectual basis of the Confederacy, died on March 31, 1850. Cave Johnson, so close to his colleagues that in 1844 he named one son Polk Grundy Johnson, continued his distinguished career, serving again in the House of Representatives from 1839 to 1845, as Polk’s postmaster general from 1845 to 1849, and as president of the Bank of Tennessee from 1854 to 1860. The postage stamp was introduced during his tenure as postmaster general. Johnson opposed secession in 1861 but reluctantly supported the Confederacy; he died in 1866. William Carroll did not run for public office again after his defeat in the gubernatorial election of 1835, but he was honored, probably at the suggestion of Grundy, with the chairmanship of the Baltimore convention in 1840. He died in 1844. Grundy’s closest friends from his early days...