Andrew Jackson, Southerner

XIX: “There Would Be Great Risk”

182 XIX “There Would Be Great Risk” Jackson departed Washington on March 7, intent on finally retiring to live the life of a “farmer.” He would get his wish, though not quite in the way that he expected. While he had opportunity to spend time with family, visit with friends, and opine on politics, Jackson was also forced to commit much of the remaining eight years of his life trying to keep his son from bankrupting their farming ventures.1 Jackson arrived home to familiar surroundings on March 25. While he had been in Washington for the past eight years, the Hermitage had increased in size due to Junior’s purchase of neighboring land. His family had also grown, with two grandchildren, Rachel and Andrew III, now living at the Hermitage. Sarah’s sister, Marion, and her three sons, John, Andrew, and William Adams, moved in after the death of her husband, William, in 1837. Ralph E. W. Earl, an artist who had been Jackson’s “constant companion” in Washington, returned to live at the Hermitage as well. Earl’s death in September 1838, Jackson wrote, deprived him of “an invaluable friend.” Although Emily Donelson died in December 1836, her husband, Andrew, and their four children were still in residence less than a mile away. Andrew Donelson’s presence, along with the network of neighbors who welcomed Jackson back to Nashville, helped the retired president return to his former life.2 Jackson faced an immediate concern with Junior’s debts. Despite receiving a salary of $376.53 for three months’ work in the General Land Office in 1836, Junior looked to sell a recently ordered carriage to ease his financial burden. He asked Major William Noland, Washington’s commissioner of public buildings, to look after the matter for him, which he did without success. Junior also directed Noland to tell his creditors that they should not be “uneasy, as they shall certainly soon be paid with interest.” Junior’s neglect was such that William B. Lewis speculated that he would “not be surprised” if one creditor appealed directly to Jackson for the money owed.3 “There Would Be Great Risk” | 183 Despite Junior’s debts, Jackson eventually supported his son’s purchase of a plantation in Coahoma County, Mississippi. Junior had been exploring the possibility of establishing a farm in the state since the fall of 1835, when Mississippi resident and physician William McKendree Gwinn offered to find land for Junior and Andrew Donelson. Jackson expressed initial reservations about the prospect, warning Junior that “there would be great risk in buying on the river.” He identified flooding as an almost certain problem and foresaw disease as potentially hazardous to the slaves who would work the land. Jackson urged his son to wait until unsurveyed Chickasaw land became available. Junior initially heeded his father’s advice , but in November 1838 he decided to buy nearly twelve hundred acres on the Mississippi River at twenty dollars per acre.4 Their new plantation, named Halcyon, was a problem from the start. They purchased it just as the Panic of 1837 gripped the country in economic depression. Tennesseans suffered significantly from the strain, with land and slave values declining severely and cotton prices falling as low as three cents per pound. Circumstances in Mississippi were not much better , with a depreciated currency and defaulted loans leading to widespread bankruptcy among the planter class. Another impediment to their success in Mississippi was the weather. As Jackson predicted, torrential rains flooded the cotton fields, sometimes leaving them under several feet of water. As a result, the overseer reported in 1844, the slaves had “sore feet from gowing in the water.” The “freshetts” also washed away cut wood and drowned livestock.5 Jackson and Junior also encountered many difficulties with their Halcyon overseers. They first hired James Howerton, a religious-minded Virginian who had moved to Coahoma County in 1838. Howerton initially held Junior in high regard, calling him “one of the best men I have ever met with in my life.” This cordiality quickly faltered. By August 1840 Jackson was convinced that Howerton was “worth nothing” and needed to be replaced. He ticked off the overseer’s shortcomings: his family of nine was too large, he communicated too infrequently, and he moved too slowly. Howerton, who suffered from ill health prior to moving to Mississippi , agreed that the change would be good for his and his family’s health. When he failed...