USA > Tennessee > Old times in Tennessee, with historical, personal, and political scraps and sketches > Part 26
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received it. The following morning he went in disguise to the steamboat, accompanied by Dr. Shelby and myself. He wrote me afterward he was not recognized until he reached Napoleon, at the mouth of the Arkansas river, where he met a friend, of whom he exacted a promise not to make him known. He went up the river to Fort Smith, thence to the Cherokee Nation to his old friend Jolly, a noted Indian whom he knew when sub-agent. He remained in the Nation some time, and on one occasion passed through Nashville with a delegation of Indians on their way to Washington City, in the full garb of a Cherokee. From the Nation he went to Texas and settled at St. Augustine, commenc- ing there the practice of law with John Dunn, of this county, son of Michael C. Dunn, and there remained until the breaking out of the Texas revolution. He soon raised an army, and was made commander-in-chief of the Texas army, and at the battle of San Jacinto captured Santa Anna, President of Mexico, which closed the war. He sent Santa Anna and Gen. Almonte as his prisoners through Nashville, on their way to Washington City, under charge of Col. George W. Hockley, formerly of Nashville. Gen. Houston was then made President of the Republic of Texas, and, after its annexation, was Senator in Congress from that State; then was made Governor, and at the commencement of the war was opposed to secession and rebellion, was deposed by the Legislature, and soon after died. Some years previous to his death he professed the Christian religion and became a consistent member of the Baptist Church.
The incidents I have related to you, my old friend, are just as they present themselves from my own memory, without reference to history, hence there may be some inaccuracy in the dates. Many other incidents occur to my mind, but I will not tax you longer. Long and faithfully yours,
WILLOUGHBY WILLIAMS.
REFUTATION OF A WANTON SLANDER.
NASHVILLE, April 22, 1878.
To Col. Samuel D. Morgan, Hon. J. C. Guild, Gen. Samuel R. Anderson and Maj. John L. Brown-Dear Sirs: Referring to the recent communication in the American, over my signature, addressed to Hon. Jo. C. Guild, touching certain events in the
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life of Gen. Sam. Houston, I related, among other incidents, his marriage to Miss Allen, of Sumner county, and his separa- tion from that lady. I was handed to-day a copy of the Cincin- nati Enquirer, of a recent date, containing a biographical sketch of Gen. Sam. Houston, extracted from the St. Louis Globe-Demo- crat, and written by a Mr. Asa Jarman, of Houston, Texas. Mr. Jarman makes mention of having seen Houston, when a youth, at Nashville, in the company of Indians; that he was very expert in the use of the bow and arrow, and afforded amuse- ment to the citizens here by shooting sixpences from the end of a pole placed there to test his skill. In all this Mr. Jarman is wholly mistaken, for Houston never visited Nashville until after. the close of the war with Great Britain, a fact well known by all of his friends in this country familiar with his early career. Mr. Jarman further says that Gen. Houston married "Miss Lucy Dickerson, the belle of Nashville;" that Gen. Houston, enraged with jealousy of a Mr. Nickerson, caused an abrupt separation, charging his wife with infidelity to him. I have addressed my letter to you for the reason that you have known Gen. Houston personally well from his youth to the time he became a voluntary exile from Tennessee, Col. Morgan's friendship with him dating back to 1810. You are all familiar with this remarkable man's career from youth to the grave. Above all, you are familiar with the sad story of this separation from his wife. You all know that he married Miss Allen, of Sumner, a most estimable lady, whose name has ever been without reproach in the land that gave her birth. You know that after her separation from Gen. Houston, she married a gentleman of the highest repute, Dr. Douglas, of Sumner county. I call upon you, then, to re- move any false impressions this letter of Mr. Jarman may have made upon the public mind. I hand you herewith enclosed the article alluded to in the Cincinnati Enquirer and copied from the Globe-Democrat, of St. Louis. Respectfully yours, WILLOUGHBY WILLIAMS.
The following is the letter to the Globe-Democrat to which the above refers:
HOUSTON, TEXAS, March 26.
Asa Jarman, aged seventy-four, a Texas veteran, who partici-
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pated in the battle of Nacogdoches, August 5, 1832, and residing in Houston, has just completed a MS. memoir of the life of Gen. Sam. Houston, the Texas patriot and General. Mr. Jar- man kindly invited a correspondent of the Globe-Democrat 10 peruse it and make such notes as suited him.
Gen. Sam. Houston, one of the remarkable men of modern times, the founder of a republic whose domain equaled, if it did not exceed, the realm of France, was born in Rockbridge county, Va., in 1788, and died in Texas in 1863. At thirteen, his father dying, he and his widowed mother removed to Tennessee, then inhabited by Indians, near which, and in daily converse with whom, lived mother and son. The latter got acquainted and soon became a great favorite with the Cherokees, with whom he spent most of his time hunting and fishing. He became very proficient with the bow and arrow, and the first time Mr. Jar- man saw the future General and leader of armies was at Nash- ville, whither he came with his friends, the Indians, to se.l skins, furs, and meats. Some of the citizens, on the occasion re- ferred to, put up a sixpence on a pole or stick, and amused them- selves by having the boy shoot it off with his arrow.
The boy lived with the Indians until the breaking out of the famous war against the Creeks, in Georgia, when he joined a volunteer company, rose to the rank of Lieutenant, under Gen. Jackson, and was the second to scale the enemy's works at the battle of Horse-shoe Bend, on the Tallapoosa river, where the Creeks were nearly exterminated. In the battle young Sam. was wounded by an arrow in the thigh, which, with his own hand, he deliberately pulled ont. The savage missive brought a piece of flesh along with it, and though Gen. Jackson ordered him to the rear, the young Lieutenant rushed with his men to storm the enemy in another position, where he received two shots in the shoulder. Being sent to the hospital, His mother, on horseback and on an old side-saddle, rode two hundred miles from Tennessee to see and attend her son .* He was subse- quently appointed Agent of the Cherokees at Washington.
* It is not true that Mrs. Houston went to the Creek Nation "to see and nurse her son." A biography of Houston, written many years ago, says: "At last. when he reached the house of his mother, he was so worn to a skeleton, that she declared she never would have known him to be her son but for his eyes, which still retained something of their wonted expression."
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The friends of Gen. Houston in Texas and elsewhere have ever maintained a profound silence on the causes that led to the separation of Houston and his first wife. Jarman's story about the matter is as follows: After Houston rose to be Governor of Tennessee, he was induced to marry Miss Lucy Dickerson, a great beauty, and at that time the belle of Nashville. Miss Dickerson had, however, previously been engaged to a handsome young man, Mr. Robert Nickerson, during whose absence in Virginia her father and mother prevailed on her to marry Gov. Houston. Miss Dickerson's father was one of the wealthiest men of Tennessee, and all things went well until the return of Mrs. Houston's former lover, when she evidently became un- happy. She managed that frequent interviews with the young inan should occur. Finally Houston's body-servant, faithful to his master, informed the Governor that something wrong was going on between his wife and Mr. Nickerson. The husband, fearing to act without the fact, pretended to be going to Maury county, to be absent some time, and informed Mrs. Houston that he would be absent several days. The Governor made a detec- tive out of his servant boy, who watched Mrs. Houston and her paramour, and informed his master at the exact moment when he might, by ocular demonstration, assure himself of his wife's guilt. The Governor boarded the stage for Columbia, but soon got out and returned to his home. Stepping softly in, the Gov- ernor passed to a bed-room, and there beheld Mrs. Houston in the arms of her former sweetheart, and on the same couch. The Governor, with that greatness of soul which subsequently dis- tinguished him when sparing the life of Santa Anna, the Mexi- can tyrant, turned away without saying a word, feeling that the lovely and incomparably beautiful woman he had so lately led to the altar was lost to him forever! It was a terrible moment! Hell and despair seemed to clash together. Houston went out in silence, and sent for his friend, Gov. Carroll, to whom he re- lated what had happened. Carroll said, "You must take your 'own course in this affair." Gov. Houston then sent for his wife, and said, " What do you mean by acting in this way?" With- out the least embarrassment, she replied, "Gov. Houston, I now tell you the plain words, that I like Mr. Nickerson's little finger better than your whole body." "Well, then," said the Gov- -
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ernor, "you can take the little finger, body and all, as I am now done with you, Lucy, forever." After this terrible experience, the demon of unrest seemed to enter Houston, who went back to his old friends, the Cherokees, and thence he found his way to Texas, dressed, when Jarman first saw him at Nacogdoches, like an Indian out and out.
COMMENT OF COL. SAMUEL D. MORGAN. AT HOME, April 23, 1878.
DEAR COL. WILLIAMS-I have just read your note addressed to Judge Guild, Gen. Anderson, Major Brown and myself, touch- ing the article that lately appeared in the St. Louis Globe- Demo- crat, in relation to the marriage of Gen. Sam. Houston, his sep- aration from his first wife, etc., etc. Mr. Jarman, who it seems is the author of this palpably, and I may add ridiculously, false account of the affair, evidently knows nothing about the partic- ulars of the events he professes to enlighten the community in regard to; and were it not for the fact that he so grossly and wantonly attemps to cast a stigma on the reputation of one of Tennessee's most excellent and universally respected ladies, I would advise that the article in question be treated with the silent con- tempt it so richly deserves. But, as the article may come under the notice of many readers who have not the means of its refu- tation, perhaps it is well to treat it otherwise. As to the truth- fulness of the statements you make in the note to which this alludes, as well as those set forth in your previous letter, to Judge Guild, I most heartily endorse every one of them.
You refer to my long acquaintance with Gen. Houston. Yes, Colonel, I enjoyed the pleasure of his acquaintance and friend- ship from the year 1809 (not 1810, as your note has it) until the time of his death-first as plow-boy, my school-mate, bedfellow, and co-store-boy; then as an enlisted private United States soldier and Sergeant, from which position he was promoted to be Ensign and Lieutenant (being thrice wounded at the battle of the " Horse Shoe ;" next, as Governor of Tennessee-from that post, as a self-made exile, to the humble dwelling of his Chero- kee foster-father, the venerable Alu-tucky. His eventful career from that time till his death having become history, it is useless to recur to it here. I will only add to this, that in all my inter-
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course with him, since the unhappy event of his separation from his wife, and in repeated allusions to it, he never spoke of the lady in other than the most respectful terms; never once upbraid- ed her, but, on the contrary, evinced a wish to have the whole misfortune placed on his own shoulders.
Respectfully,
S. D. MORGAN.
REPLY OF JUDGE GUILD, COL. BROWN, AND GEN. ANDERSON.
NASHVILLE, April 23, 1878.
Cor. WILLO. WILLIAMS-Your favor of yesterday was this day handed me for answer. I state I have with astonishment read the article published in the Cincinnati Daily Enquirer of the 20th inst., copied from the St. Louis Globe-Democrat, touch- ing the separation of Gen. Sam. Houston and his first wife, Miss Eliza Allen, daughter of the late John Allen, of Sumner county. The article referred to does great injustice to his first wife, and is the result of a disordered imagination ; not one fact stated in it is true. In the first place, he never married a Miss Dicker- son; nor did such a man as Robert Nickerson ever live or any way exist in Davidson county, Tennessee. The charge of im- peaching the honor of his wife is a tissue of falsehood. I lived in the same town (Gallatin) where Eliza was born and raised. She was a modest, retiring lady from her early youth until her death. There was not, nor is there now, a lady or man in Ten- nessee that ever assailed, or believed that Houston's wife was guilty of any impropriety, or ever in her intercourse, either before or after marriage, did anything affecting her unsullied honor. The first citizens of Sumner-such men as Gov. Hall, Gov. Desha, Gen. Anderson, Col. Elliott, Judge White, Gen. William Trousdale, and a host of others-sympathized with her in her misfortune. The friends likewise of Gov. Houston deemed it due to her to hold a public meeting, at which Gov. Hall presided. I drew the resolutions fully vindicating the character of his wife-to which was attached a letter signed by Gov. Houston, strongly stating that Eliza was a pure woman, without the least stain upon her honor. These resolutions were unanimously passed by the large assembly present. I continued to know her intimately. She afterwards married Dr. Elmore Douglas, a gentleman of worth and education, by whom she had
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several children. She is now dead, and it is a cruel outrage to slander the dead and fix a stain upon the living. Col. Williams, you were the loved friend of Gen. Houston in life, and ever faithful to his memory; you aided him efficiently in the extraor- dinary rise he made, and knew well the history of this great man. Your communication to me gave a truthful history of the General and this unfortunate marriage.
Your friend, JOSEPHUS C. GUILD.
I have read over the statement of Judge Guild, and I fully and cordially endorse all that it contains.
JOHN L. BROWN.
I fully confirm all that Col. Guild has said. S. R. ANDERSON.
THE HOUSTON-WHITE DUEL.
My earliest recollections embrace Gen. Wm. White, the friend of my uncle, Maj. Josephus H. Conn. Gen. White first settled in Gallatin as a practicing attorney. He soon rose to the head of the bar at that place. He was a bold and most efficient officer under Gen. Jackson ; aided in upholding the flag of his country throughout the Creek campaign, and distinguished himself in the battle of Chalmette. In 1818, my uncle, Maj. Conn, who had likewise distinguished himself in Jackson's Indian campaign, was elected to the Legislature, and during the canvass reflections were made upon him. According to the prevailing custom of that day, he called his traducer to the field. He sent me to Gen. White, who then resided on White's creek, for his dueling pistols. Gen. White treated me as though I were a young prince, and acted as the second of my uncle. He was one of the most gallant men I ever knew, and was the very soul of honor. He never gave or submitted to an insult. I have given Col. Willoughby Williams' recollections of Gen. Houston, in which reference is made to the duel between Houston and Gen. White in 1826. I supplement that publication with an extract from a letter of Gen. White him- self, written shortly after the occurrence, because it corresponds in all important respects with that of Col. Williams, written from memory fifty-two years after the event. The letter of Gen. White has recently been furnished by his son for publication in the Nashville American, and the part relating to the duel is as follows :
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AT HOME, TENNESSEE, 21st Dec., 1826 .- My Dear Friend : Before your letter reached me, I had addressed one to my dear old mother, in order to dissipate the apprehensions of my friends and prevent the indulgence of those melancholy forebodings which the newspaper accounts in relation to my difference and combat with Gen. Houston would authorize. As it is not certain that you have seen a letter which I addressed to the Doctor on the subject, and as my friends in your quarter may feel anxious to know all the particulars, I will proceed to give them to you as much in detail as I can.
A vacancy having occurred in the office of postmaster at Nash- ville, last winter, several candidates presented themselves for it, and among the rest a Mr. Erwin, who was a lawyer, newspaper editor, etc., and did not favor the pretensions of Gen. Jackson for the Presidency. Gen. Jackson, with a host of adherents, and I among others, recommended a Mr. Currey. But Erwin, who was equally qualified, who was also well recommended, and whose brother married Mr. Clay's daughter, finally received the appoint- ment. Gen. Houston, who was in Congress, not content with making all the opposition he could properly. seeing that Erwin was to be appointed, assailed his private character, charging him with the "want of integrity," etc., etc. Long before Houston returned from Washington he had been notified that Erwin would demand satisfaction on his return to Tennessee, whereupon - he began to practice shooting with pistols, and no one ever sup- posed that he would refuse to meet Erwin, if called out. On account of Erwin being opposed to Gen. Jackson, it became some- what difficult (although Erwin is a man of good standing) for him to procure a friend to carry his challenge. I was applied to first, but not feeling any hostility towards Houston, I declined doing so. About that time a Col. Smith, an old officer of the army, who had slain seven men in single combat, arrived in Nashville. He presented a challenge from Erwin to Houston. No direct answer was given to Col. Smith, but it was intimated to him that, as he did not reside in the State, he was not a proper person to be the bearer of such a paper, and that no reply would be made to it through him. I happened to be in Nashville on that day, and having been previously acquainted with Col. Smith, he desired me to go and sec him tender the paper to Gen. Houston again.
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Houston said he would not open the paper, nor should he receive it, and threw it on the pavement where he was standing. Fearing that, from the warmth manifested on both sides, a combat might result from a continuance of the conversation, I remarked : "Col. Smith, you have tendered him the paper, and that is sufficient, I suppose ; let us walk." Houston then addressed me as follows : " Gen. White, I will receive one from you, with pleasure." I retorted in about the same terms, and this was followed by a warm altercation between us, in which I left him nothing to boast of. Erwin then advertised Houston as a coward and calumniator. Houston, in the next paper, denounced Erwin as a rogue, and procured a certificate from Erwin's rival candidates to prove that he had taken a newspaper belonging to another person before Erwin became Postmaster. To this publication Houston attached the certificates of two persons, in which the altercation betwixt him and myself was very much misrepresented, thereby placing himself in a defensive, and me in an offensive attitude. Houston, who was somewhat popular, hoped, in this manner, to escape public censure himself and at my expense, and that, too, without subjecting himself to the necessity of a combat with anyone, for he was fully aware of the inequality of our situations. Knowing that, according to the tone of public sentiment here, a coward cannot live except in disgrace and obscurity, I did not hesitate as to my course, nor shall I have cause ever to regret it, for I find that, although I fell in the combat, I conquered even in my fall. Yes, I conquered the prejudices and extorted the admiration of my foes themselves, whilst I am established in the esteem and approbation of my friends. And now it affords me pleasure to add further that, although I was very severely wounded, I have entirely recovered from it.
The American accompanied the publication of this letter with the statement that " one of our old citizens takes issue with Col. Williams in regard to Anderson galloping across the bridge and into Nashville with the first news of the duel. He says that An- derson was killed in a duel seven or eight years before the meet- ing between Houston and White." To this Col. Williams replies :
There can be no issue between the "old citizen " and myself in regard to Anderson ; he has simply mistaken the Anderson. This Anderson who was killed in a duel was a respectable merchant,
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occupying a house situated on the spot where now stands the store- house of James M. Hamilton. He was killed in the year 1817. The name, I think, was Robert Anderson. The Anderson to whom I alluded in my letter came to the surface ten years after, and was a grocer merchant on Market street, near Broad, who was an ardent friend of Houston and a considerable politician, and who is well known by Col. Anthony Johnson, who is now living. My recollection of these circumstances is borne ont by Col. Anthony W. Johnson and Joseph Vaulx, Esq., who knew both the Andersons.
THE WASHINGTON OF TEXAS.
Gen. Houston was the leading champion of Texas in her battles with Mexico for independence, and as first in war so first in peace. And his election and re-election to the Presidency showed that he had the full confidence of his countrymen. In him, therefore, it was a laudable ambition to imitate the patriotie virtues of Wash- ington, the father of his country.
After the capture and release of Gen. Santa Anna by Gen. Houston, the former made a visit to Washington and was pleas- antly entertained at the White House by Gen. Jackson. On his return homeward he met Gen. Houston at the St. Charles, in New Orleans, and at the genial interview which ensued Houston asked the fallen Mexican General how he had enjoyed his visit to the great capital. Santa Anna said he had been more than delighted --- Gen. Jackson had received him as a son and enter- tained him as a prince, giving him much excellent advice, which he intended to profit from hereafter.
" And I suppose my old and life-long friend, the distinguished statesman and chieftain, had something to say about me, did he not, General Santa Anna ?"
" Oh yes, he spoke of you with great kindness and with perfect respect. I told him I believed you to be the greatest General I had ever met, for you had conquered me, and he replied : Sam. is a brave man, patient under defeat, and magnanimous in victory. I raised him in the field from a sergeant and am glad to hear so good account of him."
" General Santa Anna, did he call me Sam. in his conversation with you?"
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" He did, with much apparent pleasantry, and seemed to rejoice in your successes."
" That is all very well (replied Houston), but, Gen. Santa Anna, do you not think it exceedingly strange that President Jack-on should still attempt to keep up the old familiarities of the past with one who has been so generally acknowledged to be the Wash- ington of the Republic of Texas ?" And as he said this he thrust his thumbs into the armholes of his vest under his suspenders on either side and paced the room with a princely air, as though he had not been sufficiently appreciated by Gen. Jackson in the pre- sence of Santa Anna.
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Gen. Houston should certainly be pardoned for any apparent vanity of aspiration to imitate the example and emulate the pat- riotic virtues of Gen. Washington. He could not have chosen a better model. Those who were present at his inauguration as the first President of Texas, have said that on that occasion he dressed himself so much like Stuart's picture of Washington, with pow- dered hair and elegant fitting garments, that he really looked more like the picture than ever Washington did himself. And this is quite likely, for Houdon's statue of him, cut while Wash- ington was yet living, for the State of Virginia, and which must be accepted as accurate in its proportions, is no more like Stuart's picture than if they were not intended to represent the same person.
THE HUMOR OF HOUSTON.
One of the elements of Gen. Houston's popularity was his con- stant study to know every man by name whom he happened to meet. If he did not know the name he would make the man believe he did, which accomplished the same end. In 1839, when between his first and second Presidency of the Republic of Texas he was spending the summer at Nashville, he was riding with a friend out on the Gallatin road on horseback, when they saw a man from Sumner approaching them, on his way to the city, when the General asked who he was. And on being told that his name was Hall, and that his brother was killed at the battle of San Jacinto, the General, who had never seen him before, hastened towards him and exclaimed : " How are you, Mr. Hall ? I am glad to see you again-how well you are looking." Remember-
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