Snow-Storm in August
Page 29
17.8. The president invited: The visit is recounted in Sam Southworth’s letter reprinted in the National Intelligencer, February 28, 1835.
17.9. “highly injurious to my moral character”: Stewart and Foy’s testimony is found in the Mirror, April 4, 1835. See also Richard C. Rohrs, “Partisan Politics and the Attempted Assassination of Andrew Jackson,” Journal of the Early Republic 1, no. 2 (Summer 1981), 159–61.
17.10. “not a shade of suspicion”: Alexandria Gazette, March 3, 1835.
17.11. received with applause: Ibid.
17.12. passed two resolutions: National Intelligencer, March 30, 1835.
17.13. Some thought the Washington: One such person was Philip Fendall, a Washington attorney who would later serve as district attorney. Adams, Memoirs of John Quincy Adams, 226.
17.14. Key was more convinced: Weybright, Spangled Banner, 267–68; Delaplaine, Life and Times, 388.
17.15. “The whole transaction”: Adams, Memoirs of John Quincy Adams, 226.
Chapter 18
18.1. balloon ascents: Alexandria Gazette, November 11, 1834.
18.2. Orang Utang: National Intelligencer, April 19, 1832.
18.3. the circus: AMT Diary, vol. 1, 875.
18.4. “Arthur came home”: AMT Diary, vol. 1, 927.
18.5. “We pray God”: “Minutes of the Fifth Annual Convention for the Improvement of the Free People of Color” (Philadelphia: William P. Gibbons, 1835), 22. Found in the online Samuel J. May Anti-Slavery Collection, Library of Congress.
18.6. She was born around 1800: In the 1850 Census: Maria Bowen’s age is given as fifty, suggesting she was born in 1800. In the 1860 Census, her age is given as fifty-six, indicating she was born in 1804. If she was born in 1804, she would have been eleven years old when Arthur was born, which seems improbable. More likely, Maria was born in 1800. See 1860 U.S. Census, population schedule. NARA microfilm publication, Census Place: Washington Ward 3, Washington, District of Columbia; Roll M653_102; p. 778; Image: 569; 1850 Census U.S. population schedule. NARA microfilm publication, Census Place: Washington Ward 2, Washington, District of Columbia; Roll: M432_56; 101A; Image: 208.
18.7. nominated in May 1835: Howe, What God Hath Wrought, 485; Elbert B. Smith, Francis Preston Blair (New York: Free Press, 1980), 100; Page Smith, The Nation Comes of Age: A People’s History of the Ante-Bellum Years, vol. 4 (New York: McGraw-Hill, 1981), 123.
18.8. had at least two African consorts: Thomas Brown, “The Miscegenation of Richard Mentor Johnson as an Issue in the National Election Campaign of 1835–36,” Civil War History 39 (March 1993), 6.
18.9. “a colored person may have”: “Lucy” manuscript, WTP, reel 4, 2372. The manuscript is not paginated or dated. From internal evidence, “Julia” was written in 1817 or after, because the text makes reference to the death of poet Joel Barlow, a friend of Thornton’s who died in 1817.
Chapter 19
19.1. he called on Benjamin Hallowell: Hallowell testified to the meeting; see The Trial of Reuben Crandall, M.D., Charged with Publishing and Circulating Seditious and Incendiary Papers (TRC-DC) (Washington, D.C.: 1836), 31. The New York and Washington transcripts differ significantly, but neither is obviously superior to the other, so I have relied on both.
19.2. He was the brother: Suzanne Jurmain, The Forbidden Schoolhouse: The True and Dramatic Story of Prudence Crandall and Her Students (Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 2005), 55.
19.3. Reuben was more cautious: He called her “a very obstinate girl”; see The Trial of Reuben Crandall, M.D., Charged with Publishing and Circulating Seditious and Incendiary Papers (TRC-NY) (New York, H. R. Piercy, 1836), 35.
19.4. the Tappans proved adept: Lewis Tappan, The Life of Arthur Tappan (New York: Hurd and Houghton, 1870), 59–91.
19.5. the procrastination of colonization: Howe, What God Hath Wrought, 428.
19.6. his friends Denison and Williams: Second Annual Report of the American Anti-Slavery Society (AAS) (New York: William S. Dorr, 1835), 27.
19.7. a million copies: Bertram Wyatt-Brown, “The Abolitionists’ Postal Campaign of 1835,” The Journal of Negro History 50, no. 4 (October 1965), 228; Howe, What God Hath Wrought, 428.
19.8. James Kennedy, a Post Office clerk: TRC-NY, 29.
19.9. Another clerk, Charles Gordon: TRC-NY, 37.
19.10. “A shower of Anti-Slavery”: Mirror, August 8, 1835.
19.11. “Please to read and circulate”: TRC-DC, 10–11.
Chapter 20
20.1. Green Turtleism: Advertisement, Mirror, July 25, 1835.
20.2. “shall not take upon him”: Digby, Epicurus’s Morals, 34.
20.3. the steam-driven cylinder press: William Stanley Pretzer, “The Printers of Washington, D.C., 1800–1880: Work Culture, Technology, and Trade Unionism” (PhD dissertation, Northern Illinois University, 1986), 73–88.
20.4. Rival bands of printers: National Intelligencer, June 15, 1835; Mirror, June 6, 1835.
20.5. The militia was headed: Fannie Lee Jones, “Walter Jones and His Times,” Records of the Columbia Historical Society 5, 145.
20.6. one of the mechanics dared: Mirror, May 23, 1835.
20.7. His campaign against: Docket Book, vol. 70, RG 21, entry 6, Case Papers, box 493, September Term 1833, Criminal Appearances; Docket Book, vol. 70, RG 21, entry 6, Case Papers, box 502, November Term 1833, Criminal Appearances.
20.8. “I did not think it would”: Letter, FSK to Anna Key Howard, April 20, 1835, Key-Cutts-Turner Papers, Library of Congress, folder 1.
20.9. Key soon found a new home: Douglas Zevely, “Old Houses on C Street and Those Who Lived There,” Records of the Columbia Historical Society, 5, 151–75.
20.10. Eighteen-year-old Daniel: Edward W. Callahan, ed., List of Officers of the Navy of the United States and the Marines Corps from 1775 to 1900 (New York: Haskell House Publishers, 1969), 312.
20.11. “I had a wakeful hour”: Gayle Diary, 213–14.
Chapter 21
21.1. an uprising near the town: National Intelligencer, July 29, 1835.
21.2. “Horrible Conspiracy”: National Intelligencer, July 31, 1835. Sorting out the truth of what actually happened in Clinton, Mississippi, is difficult. A number of men were hanged. Evidence of a slave rebellion is slighter. Contemporary newspaper accounts, not always a reliable source, suggest that Murrell’s white partners had concocted the story of an incipient slave rebellion as cover for their plans to get rid of Murrell. Some slaves had been enlisted. The leaders of the supposed rebellion were, in fact, mostly white men. The editors of the Mississippian, published in Jackson, said they were convinced “from all we can learn that not one negro in every five hundred ever dreamed of or was in the slightest way connected with it. It was confined to a single neighborhood, and set on foot and originated by a few degraded and lawless white men. The negroes generally had nothing to do with it.” Yet a dozen people, black and white, were hanged without benefit of trial.
One of them was a man named Tom Donovan, a native of Maysville, Kentucky (the hometown of Henry Clay), who had been arrested for his role in the supposed insurrection, which he said was known “among many other whites.” He wrote a last letter to his wife, published in his hometown newspaper and reprinted in the National Intelligencer, saying that he had been accused falsely by both blacks and whites. “Before my maker and Judge … I go into his presence as innocent of this charge as when I was born,” Donovan wrote. The planters forwarded the letter to his wife and hanged him in the morning. One scholar, W. Sherman Savage, concluded the Clinton conspiracy was “one of the most extraordinarily lamentable hallucinations of that time.” National Intelligencer, August 7, 1835; W. Sherman Savage, The Controversy over the Distribution of Abolitionist Literature 1830–1860 (Jefferson City, Mo.: Association for the Study of Negro Life, 1938), 10.
21.3. “We would not have these”: Alexandria Gazette, August 1, 1835.
21.4. Snowden disputed the Boston Courier’s: Alexandria Gazette, August 5, 1835.
2
1.5. Anna noted in her diary: AMT Diary, vol. 1, 931.
PART IV: THE PERILOUS FIGHT
Chapter 22
22.1. about nineteen years of age: Advertisement, “$100 Reward,” National Intelligencer, August 7, 1835.
22.2. at the Union Seminary: For the name of the school, see Newton, Special Report, 200.
22.3. a leafy redoubt: Tayloe, Our Neighbors on La Fayette Square (Washington, D.C.: Junior League of Washington, 1982), 10; Jeanne Fogle, Proximity to Power: Neighbors to the Presidents near Lafayette Square (Washington, D.C.: Tour De Force Publications, 1999), 22–23.
22.4. “the country seat”: H. Paul Caemmerer, A Manual on the Origins and Development of Washington (Washington, D.C.: U.S. Government Printing Office, 1959), 171.
22.5. construction of a new driveway: Seale: The President’s House, 193–99.
22.6. Arthur had actually seen: AMT Diary, vol. 1, 750.
22.7. accompanied by their household slaves: On Jackson’s property in people, see Matthew Warshauer, “Andrew Jackson: Chivalric Slave Master,” Tennessee Historical Quarterly 54, no. 3 (Fall 2006), 203–29.
22.8. “much intoxicated”: Watson’s statement is found in RG 59, General Records of the Department of State, Petitions for Pardons 1789–1860, Jackson Administration 1829–1837, box 25, file 1327.
22.9. “By drinking the sudden passion”: “Remarks: On the Subject of Temperance,” John Francis Cook, delivered before the American Moral Reform Society, Philadelphia, August 16, 1837. Dorothy Porter, ed., Early Negro Writing, 1760–1837 (Baltimore: Black Classic Press, 1995), 241–48. Cook had publicly advocated temperance as early as 1834.
22.10. Arthur undid the catch: Letter, AMT to AJ, February 17, 1836, Petitions for Pardons, Jackson Administration 1829–1837, box 25, file 1327.
Chapter 23
23.1. The noise of the opening door: This chapter is based on AMT Diary, vol. 1, 931; Metropolitan, December 18, 1835; and AMT letter to AJ, February 18, 1836. Petitions for Pardons, Jackson Administration 1829–1837, box 25, file 1327. All dialogue is taken from these three documents. The punctuation of the spoken words reported in these sources has been edited and some repetitions of documented language have been inserted.
23.2. the moon almost full: Jared Sparks and Joseph E. Worcester, et al., eds. & comps., American Almanac and Useful Repository Knowledge for the Year 1835 (Boston: Charles Bowen, 1835), 45.
23.3. he was a well-known physician: Huntt biography: “Biographical Sketch of the Late Henry Huntt, MD,” Medical Examiner 1, no. 23 (November 7, 1838), 363–65.
23.4. Gibson, a retired general: Website of the Congressional Cemetery, accessed June 19, 2010, http://www.congressionalcemetery.org/maj-gen-george-c-gibson.
23.5. “If Philo Parker and the others”: Huntt and Gibson testified about Arthur’s outburst at his trial: Metropolitan, December 18, 1835. Both testified that Arthur referred to a “Philo Parker.” I find no references to any abortive slave rebellion led by a “Philo Parker” in the English-language literature of slavery.
Chapter 24
24.1. “A dreadful night”: AMT Diary, vol. 1, 932.
24.2. “It could save his life”: Anna’s friend Margaret Bayard Smith had come to visit, and she heard her conversation with Maria. Smith then recounted the story to a friend in a letter dated August 18, 1836. Margaret Bayard Smith Papers, Library of Congress, microfilm reel 7, 60892–60893.
24.3. “$100 Reward”: Advertisement, National Intelligencer, August 7, 1835.
24.4. “First Fruit”: National Intelligencer, August 7, 1835.
24.5. “Desperate Attempt at Murder”: Metropolitan, August 8, 1835.
24.6. Henry King: TRC-NY, 8–10.
24.7. William Robinson: TRC-NY, 11.
24.8. George Oyster: TRC-NY, 22. In the trial transcript Oyster’s first name is given as “Jacob.” In the Directory for Washington City, 1834, Directory for Georgetown, 15, he is identified as “George.”
24.9. On the third day: We can be fairly sure he turned himself in because Anna’s account books were detailed down to the penny. They do not show any reward payment in August 1835.
24.10. Bayard Smith had found: AMT Diary, vol. 1, 932.
Chapter 25
25.1. the authorities had intercepted: Metropolitan, August 12, 1835.
25.2. “Look at This!”: Advertisement, Mirror, August 8, 1835.
25.3. “I’m afraid of trusting”: AMT Diary, vol. 1, 931.
25.4. Constable Madison Jeffers: Arthur was arrested at 11:00 a.m. on Saturday, August 8, according to the Mirror.
25.5. “What possessed you”: Metropolitan, December 18, 1835.
25.6. passing by the “whipping machine”: GUE, supplement to vol. 11, April 1831, 105.
25.7. “Oh this is dreadful”: AMT Diary, vol. 1, 931.
Chapter 26
26.1. he had warm feelings: Years later Adams wrote a poem dedicated to Anna, “my intellectual and benevolent friend,” declaring: “Words! Never! Never can they tell / The soul’s intense emotion! / Can never break the bosom’s swell / The faithful heart’s devotion.”
The poem can be found in WTP, reel 3.
26.2. “The theory of the rights”: The Diaries of John Quincy Adams, diary 40, 1 June 1835–5 December 1836, 61–62.
26.3. “They said their object was”: Michael Shiner Diary, U.S. Navy Department Online Library: (Shiner Diary), 59–61.
26.4. On Monday, Anna sent Bayard Smith: AMT Diary, vol. 1, 931–32.
26.5. He called in some former neighbors: “Duplicate of the Warrant and Commitment in the Case of United States v. Reuben Crandall,” RG 21, entry 6, Case Papers, box 544, November Term 1835, Criminal Appearances.
26.6. William Robinson, a gentleman of means: TRC-NY, 12.
Chapter 27
27.1. His neighbors included: Directory for Washington City, 1834, Georgetown Directory. “John Simpson, Music master” and “Alexander Simpson, Portrait Painter” are listed on p. 18 as living on “High Street, east side, north end.” “Jacob Baltzer, butcher” is listed at the same location on p. 2.
27.2. “Are you Crandall?”: All dialogue comes from the testimony of Jeffers, Robertson, and others as reported in the two published trial transcripts: TRC-NY, 10, 19–22, and 32–34; TRC-DC, 10–11, 18–20.
27.3. “We ought to take”: Metropolitan, August 12, 1835.
27.4. “What were you doing”: This quote, and the conversation in the carriage, are from TRC-NY, 26–27; TRC-DC, 19–20.
27.5. an eight-foot-square cell: Elliot, Ten Miles Square, 202.
27.6. “nothing can be done”: AMT Diary, vol. 1, 932.
Chapter 28
28.1. “An alarming crisis”: The letter, which first appeared in the Hartford Courant, was reprinted in the Globe, August 20, 1835.
28.2. Laub proclaimed himself: An arrest document says that Laub appointed himself “Head and leader” of the mob; Docket Book, RG 21, entry 6, Case Papers, box 545, November Term 1835.
28.3. “Our hearts grew sick”: Metropolitan, August 12, 1835.
28.4. Andrew Laub represented: John Laub, career clerk, Directory for Washington City, 1834, 34.
28.5. he was married with three children: 1830 Census, District of Columbia, 177.
28.6. authorities suspected him: See OpenJurist.org: http://openjurist.org/37/us/1/the-united-states-v-andrew-n-laub.
28.7. he sold tickets: Alexandria Gazette, July 26, 1834.
28.8. had recently lost them: Redemptions of Real Property Sold for Taxes 1825–1856, Corporation of Washington, RG 351, entry 49: “Sq 250, lot 16, sold in the name of Andrew M. Laub, sold for $10.80 on June 10, 1835.”
28.9. “one of the men”: Richmond Enquirer, August 1835.
28.10. Moore Galway, an editor: Galway is identified as a reporter for the Telegraph in Directory for Washington City, 1834, 23.
28.11. “a great disposition manifested”: Telegraph, August 12, 1835.
28.12. The whole of Sixth Street: Mirror, August 15, 1
835.
28.13. “gloomy dominions”: Elliot, Ten Miles Square, 202.
28.14. The noise of the mob: TRC-NY, 25–27.
28.15. “Crandall will be punished”: Richmond Enquirer, August 14, 1835.
28.16. The district attorney’s appeal: Metropolitan, August 12, 1835.
28.17. Bradley arranged for the Ordnance Office: Metropolitan, August 12, 1835.
Chapter 29
29.1. “a remark derogatory to the character”: James Croggon, “Old Washington—Forgotten Streams,” Evening Star, January 12, 1913, 14.
29.2. “Snow was reported”: Telegraph, August 14, 1835.
29.3. “disrespectful language”: Mirror, August 15, 1835.
29.4. Julia Seaton said she knew: Osgood, Seaton, 219.
29.5. “God knows whether”: Shiner Diary, 65.
29.6. “insolent and overbearing effrontery”: Mirror, August 15, 1835.
29.7. “A number of persons”: Telegraph, August 14, 1835.
29.8. “All the gentlemen of the city”: Osgood, Seaton, 219.
29.9. Even Mayor Bradley favored: Paul Pry, October 31, 1835, 2.
29.10. “kept the people amused”: Telegraph, August 14, 1835.
29.11. “started a hunt for him”: The constable’s story was retold in Croggon, “Old Washington,” 14.
29.12. Over the objections: Globe, August 14, 1835.
29.13. “gathered in Snow’s restaurant”: Shiner Diary, 60.
29.14. “Today the mob are parading”: Liberator, August 29, 1835.
29.15. “The Mob-mania”: Metropolitan, August 12, 1835.
29.16. Snow had ducked into a sewer: Clephane, “Local Aspect of Slavery,” 245.
29.17. they approved a proclamation: Globe, August 14 and 24, 1835.
29.18. He took a carriage to Georgetown: Metropolitan, August 12, 1835.
29.19. “excited great indignation”: Telegraph, August 13, 1835; Globe, August 14 and 24, 1835.
29.20. “I feel unwell & nervous”: AMT Diary, vol. 1, 932.
Chapter 30
30.1. “The constable in seeking”: Letter, MBS to Mrs. Andrew Kirkpatrick, August 18, 1835, Margaret Bayard Smith Papers, reel 7, 60892–60893.