That this book was ever finished is a credit to my family. Carolee and our daughters put up with countless evenings and weekends spent researching and writing. It was especially challenging because Ana joined our family while the book was being written. Her older sister, Ava, asked to assist with the book, and occasionally took dictation. In several instances, when nobody was looking, she typed the word “Fart” in the manuscript. I may have caught them all.
Ann Godoff of the Penguin Press supported this project from the morning I proposed it over breakfast in 2012 and has kept faith with it ever since. It is impossible to imagine a wiser publisher or a more thoughtful editor. Nor can I imagine a more supportive agent than Gail Ross.
Many friends read chapters and offered constructive comments. I treasured the insights of Charla Bear and Andrew Exum. Joe DeMarie brought a screenwriter’s eye to the story. Anne Kornblut of the Washington Post and Nishant Dahiya of NPR critiqued chapters in their spare time, even though their day job is also editing. NPR colleagues such as Tracy Wahl and Selena Simmons-Duffin also offered insights. I am especially grateful for the assistance of several subject matter experts. All, including Dr. Duane King of the Gilcrease Museum in Oklahoma and Dr. Susan Abram of Western Carolina University, offered invaluable advice. Kathryn Holland Braund of Auburn University critiqued portions of the manuscript. Florence, Alabama, historian Milly Wright not only read several chapters but conducted her own research to offer corrections. Barbara Duncan of the Museum of the Cherokee Indian, upon being sent several chapters, immediately asked to review all of it. Any errors, of course, are mine.
Many people supported this book in other ways. The death of my father, Roland, while this book was being written gave occasion to recall that he and my mother, Judith, bought the books that began my love affair with history. Renee Montagne and David Greene covered for me when I was away from NPR and writing. Ellen McDonnell and other executives at NPR graciously permitted me to take time off. Tom Gjelten and Martha Raddatz have sponsored and advised me for many years, thinking of me even when I didn’t realize they were. Madhulika Sikka created conditions for my work to thrive; Michele Norris inspired me to think more deeply about race and diversity. Steve Coll, David Ignatius, and Lawrence Wright affected my work simply because they wrote such good books, and because they let me ask them questions about writing. Mary Louise Kelly quit NPR to write thrillers, and knowing a thriller writer made me aspire to tug a reader into my story as strongly as I was drawn into the world of her novels.
A vital source of material was the Library of Congress. It is a magical place, where one may walk into a room and be presented with actual yellowed copies of the Cherokee Phoenix, or a book that has been out of print for more than a hundred years. One of the treasures of that library is its librarians. The staff was particularly helpful in guiding me through the correspondence of Jackson, including many original letters—such as a tender letter to Jackson’s wife in 1814, or the page from 1825 on which he accuses Henry Clay of receiving “thirty pieces of silver.” Items not available at the Library of Congress were often available nearby at the National Archives.
The University of Tennessee is in the midst of publishing Jackson’s papers in book form; the volumes published so far probably shortened this project by years. The current editor, Daniel Feller, and his staff were infinitely patient and helpful when I made queries about papers not reproduced in the volumes. Feller also critiqued the resulting book. I will be forever grateful to Gary E. Moulton, a man I never met, who wrote a rigorous biography of Ross and edited Ross’s papers into an accessible two-volume set; original papers are collected at the Gilcrease Museum at the University of Tulsa. Another thick pair of volumes, known as the Payne-Butrick Papers, put many priceless source writings about Cherokees within convenient reach. Further documents were at the Museum of the Cherokee Indian, where Nelda Reid opened the archives on an off day so that I might study them. Images of John Coffee’s papers were accessible through the Florence-Lauderdale Public Library, an extraordinary local institution in Florence, Alabama. Ove Jensen, formerly of the National Park Service at Horseshoe Bend, is one of several people who directed me to documents that otherwise would have taken much more time to find. Marsha Mullin and other staff members at the Hermitage were greatly helpful, as were the keepers of the John Ross home in Georgia.
Several books to which I referred, such as James Parton’s 1860 biography of Jackson, I found in the crowded aisles of Parnassus Books in Yarmouth Port, Massachusetts. Used books I have bought from independent sellers all my life are worth many times more than I paid.
For a researcher, the greatest discoveries still lurk beyond the electronic cloud, but the Hathi Trust is helping the cloud to catch up. The trust has reproduced countless nineteenth-century newspapers and documents with great fidelity, such as the Truth’s Advocate and Monthly Anti-Jackson Expositor of 1828. The American State Papers, maintained online by the Library of Congress, offer an incredible trove of documents on almost anything in the early nineteenth century that came to the attention of Congress. The library also has access to a fantastic collection of old newspapers in searchable form. Oklahoma State University shaved much time from this project by putting many Indian treaties in searchable form.
This book has been a joy to write, even though it tells a difficult story. It is about my country, which makes it a love story. Of the many ways to show one’s love, one of the best is to tell the truth.
NOTES
Prologue: The Indian Map and the White Man’s Map
a wooden flatboat Ross to Return J. Meigs, December 15, 1812, Moulton, Papers of Chief John Ross, vol. 1, p. 15.
calico, gingham, buttons, beaver traps, and shotguns Moulton, John Ross, Cherokee Chief, p. 9.
He grew so frustrated … trading for a keelboat Ross to Meigs, December 15, 1812, Moulton, Papers of Chief John Ross, vol. 1, p. 16.
black-haired, brown-eyed, slight but handsome Other sources have said he had blue eyes, but John H. Underwood, who knew him, said otherwise, according to Wilkins, Cherokee Tragedy, p. 199. A full-color lithograph of his portrait also shows brown eyes, and is reproduced in McKenney and Hall, Indian Tribes of North America.
a Cherokee interpreter, an older Cherokee man named Kalsatee Moulton, John Ross, Cherokee Chief, p. 9.
Kooweskoowe There are various spellings; this is the one Ross used in letters, such as his letter to the Seminoles, October 18, 1837, Moulton, Papers of Chief John Ross, vol. 1, p. 526.
“we was haled by a party of white men” Ross to Meigs, Dec. 31, 1812, ibid., pp. 16–17.
“I told them we had no news … mounted their horses & galloped off” Ibid.
“we concluded it was good policy to let Kalsatee out of the boat” Ibid.
“a disagreeable walk of about thirty miles” Ibid.
“convinced … being an Indian boat” Ibid.
twenty-five hundred white frontiersmen Parton, Life of Andrew Jackson, vol. 1, p. 365.
burned by Potawatomi warriors The garrison, told to evacuate due to trouble providing supplies, was attacked and forced to surrender in the summer of 1812, after which the fort was torched. Quaife, “Fort Dearborn Massacre,” pp. 561–73. Also Quaife and Forsyth, “Story of James Corbin, A Soldier of Fort Dearborn,” pp. 219–28.
in 1816 temporarily blocked one of Jackson’s great land acquisitions As will be discussed in chap. 8.
“shall forever hereafter remain unalterably the same” Cherokee constitution, reprinted in Cherokee Phoenix, February 21, 1828, p. 1.
“We consider ourselves as a part of the great family … in its cause” Ross to George Graham, March 4, 1816, Moulton, Papers of Chief John Ross, vol. 1, pp. 24–25.
“The object of the Govt … into markett this land & have it populated” Jackson to Coffee, February 13, 1816, Owsley et al., Papers of Andrew Jackson, vol. 4, p. 12.
forty-five thousand acres sold in the Tennessee River valley According to federal land records referenced in chap.
8.
Part One: Horseshoe, 1814
Chapter One: Every Thing Is to Be Feared
an open-sided tent, or marquee Jackson is described during the campaign as using a “markee” in Crockett, Narrative, p. 90.
“Respectfully your Most Obedient Servant” For example, his angry letters to military contractors on March 22 and 23, 1814, Andrew Jackson Papers, 1775–1874, reel 9.
“Sir,” and signed his first and last name For example, Jackson to John Coffee, February 17, 1814, and Jackson to Rachel, April 1, 1814, Owsley et al., Papers of Andrew Jackson, vol. 3, pp. 32, 54.
nor even check the spelling of his name Librarians at the University of Tennessee, a prime repository of Jackson papers, have been unable to establish with certainty which spelling was correct. Jackson’s spelling does not match that of the surviving court record.
“John Woods … … ” All text of the March 14, 1814, letter as recorded in his letter book, kept by an aide, Andrew Jackson Papers, 1775–1874, reel 9.
the narrow target inside Jackson’s bulky overcoat Parton, Life of Andrew Jackson, vol. 1, p. 300.
The lead ball was still in his body Ibid., pp. 394–95.
“lived on any thing we could get … dry cowhide” Transcript of the autobiography of Ebenezer Hearn, Alabama Department of Archives and History. Hearn, born in 1794, wrote a summary of his life that was discovered in 1906, after his death, and transcribed.
draping his body over a sapling Parton, Life of Andrew Jackson, vol. 1, p. 548.
Some of its borders had not even been surveyed Not until after the war, for example, did Jackson’s friend John Coffee survey the Georgia–Alabama line.
until recently had been away on business in the Cherokee Nation As evidenced by Ross to Return J. Meigs, March 2, 1814, Moulton, Papers of Chief John Ross, vol. 1, pp. 19–20.
a warrior could refuse to go to war if he did not want to King, Memoirs of Lt. Henry Timberlake, p. 36.
“dark blue or brown … at the election of the wearer” Parton, Life of Andrew Jackson, vol. 1, p. 367.
“a tall delicately framed youth … these formed his equipment” Ellen Call Long to her son Richard Call Long, August 16, 1853. The writer describes her memories of Richard Keith Call, “your grandfather.” Call and Brevard Family Papers, box 5, folder 19, item 1. Digitally posted by Florida Library and Information Services: http://www.floridamemory.com/items/show/180858?id=1.
Jackson had prevented a mass of troops from marching away Parton, Life of Andrew Jackson, vol. 1, p. 471.
Later he wrote the Tennesseans a letter Ibid., pp. 473–74.
“very clamorous and I fear will not do much good” John Coffee to his wife, Mary, January 8, 1814, reproduced in Sioussat, ed., “Letters of General John Coffee to His Wife,” p. 280.
“it was not to be expected … so unhappily prevailed” Eaton and Reid, Life of Andrew Jackson, p. 151.
Wood ignored an officer’s order to pick up some bones Account of his fellow soldiers, Robert Ferguson, February 14, 1828, printed in Truth’s Advocate and Monthly Anti-Jackson Expositor, April 1828, p. 123.
“a fit occasion … mutinous spirit” Ibid.
The execution was scheduled for noon George A. Brock, eyewitness account printed in Truth’s Advocate and Monthly Anti-Jackson Expositor, April 1828, p. 125.
appointing an assistant topographical engineer His aide-de-camp John Reid signed the note “by order of the commanding general,” March 14, 1814, Andrew Jackson Papers, 1775–1874, reel 9.
bury the man “with the honors of war” Jackson aide-de-camp Robert Scarey, March 14, 1814, ibid.
A copy of the letter soon made it to Nashville Appearing in the Nashville Clarion, April 5, 1814, and Nashville Whig, April 6, 1814. Owsley et al., Papers of Andrew Jackson, vol. 3, p. 49n.
“sacrifice, essential … the happiest effects” Eaton and Reid, Life of Andrew Jackson, p. 152.
“Shoot the damned rascal!” Creek War veteran Thomas Couch, in Truth’s Advocate and Monthly Anti-Jackson Expositor, April 1828, reports that Jackson said this “several times,” pp. 122–23. In the same publication, George A. Brock repeats the same allegation, p. 124, while another witness approximates the same quote.
“by the Eternal God” As quoted in ibid., p. 123.
There had been an earlier altercation The earlier altercation unfolded in December or early January, according to Parton, Life of Andrew Jackson, vol. 1, p. 505, but Wood did not join the unit until afterward, according to his friend and comrade George A. Brock, writing in Truth’s Advocate and Monthly Anti-Jackson Expositor, April 1828, p. 125.
“make it easy … shoot him if he does not” Surviving fragment of court-martial record, March 11, 1814, Andrew Jackson Papers, Chicago History Museum.
“He could have the opportunity of enlisting … opposed it violently” Wood’s comrade was George A. Brock, who said he spoke with both Wood and Jackson in an effort to save his friend. He told his story years later to an anti-Jackson publication, but his story rings true because it seems to explain Jackson’s acts more than it damns them. Truth’s Advocate and Monthly Anti-Jackson Expositor, April 1828, p. 124.
Jackson’s staff ordered a court-martial for another soldier His adjutant general ordered the man confined to camp until trial. Statement by aide-de-camp Robert Scarey, March 14, 1814, Andrew Jackson Papers, 1775–1874, reel 9.
Eight days later he ordered yet another court-martial Order by the adjutant general to court-martial several men, recorded by Jackson aide Robert Scarey, March 22 and 23, 1814, ibid.
sixty-two of a hundred men from a single company The names of men who deserted from this company and others are in the report of the Committee on Military Affairs, February 11, 1823, Proceedings of a Court Martial Ordered for the Trial of Certain Tennessee Militiamen, pp. 132–34.
“I have no doubts but you hear a great deal of stuff about Tyranny” John Coffee to his wife, Mary, January 3, 1814, transcribed in Sioussat, “Letters of General John Coffee to His Wife,” p. 279.
“The snarling curs may grin” Jackson to Coffee, February 17, 1814, Owsley et al., Papers of Andrew Jackson, vol. 1, pp. 32–33.
“on an elevated piece of ground” … “the performance of divine service” … one step forward Letter “From Our Correspondent,” Nashville Whig, April 6, 1814.
They shot Private Wood on schedule Ibid.
Wood’s farewell was composed in rhyme Statement of George A. Brock, in Truth’s Advocate and Monthly Anti-Jackson Expositor, April 1828, p. 126.
Chapter Two: Urge On All Those Cherokees
the courier found … John Ross Ross to Return J. Meigs, March 2, 1814, Moulton, Papers of Chief John Ross, vol. 1, pp. 19–20.
Second Lieutenant John Ross, an adjutant, or assistant to a senior officer Moulton, John Ross, Cherokee Chief, p. 11.
“I have this moment received by Express” All text of this letter from Ross to Meigs, March 2, 1814, Moulton, Papers of Chief John Ross, vol. 1, pp. 19–20.
his trading firm had signed a contract to supply the Cherokee Regiment The firm was called Meigs and Ross, and consisted of Ross and the son of the federal Indian agent. Moulton, John Ross: Cherokee Chief, p. 8.
Colonel Gideon Morgan Wilkins, Cherokee Tragedy, p. 67.
Jackson had promised that the Cherokees would receive the same pay and benefits Jackson recalled this promise in a letter to George Graham on July 9, 1817, Owsley et al., Papers of Andrew Jackson, vol. 4, pp. 125–26.
George Guess … . . Old Brains, Whiteman Killer Names from transcript of Cherokee Muster Roll, Horseshoe Bend National Military Park.
Tahseekeyarkey Shoe Boots’s Cherokee name as spelled in Anderson et al., Payne-Butrick Papers, vol. 2, p. 106.
after the high European-style boats Ibid.
“chicken heart” As quoted in ibid., p. 107.
Tobacco Juice … a unit of “spies,” or scouts … General Jackson’s bodyguard According to transcript of Cherokee Muster Roll, Horseshoe Bend National M
ilitary Park.
hint of a brogue Parton, Life of Jackson, vol. 1, p. 4
buckskin hunting jacket Duncan, Cherokee Clothing in the 1700’s, chap. 12. Also Wilkins, Cherokee Tragedy, p. 60.
John Ross … spied wearing a Middle Eastern–style turban Woodward, The Cherokees, p. 157.
Cherokee women … commonly wore modest full-length dresses Duncan, Cherokee Clothing in the 1700’s, chap. 12.
“honorable to the national character … sound policy” Washington, Third Annual Message, October 25, 1791, Prucha, Documents of United States Indian Policy, p. 16.
Ridge … promoted the idea that Cherokees should raise a force Wilkins, Cherokee Tragedy, p. 60.
white men would categorize all Indians as either with them or against them Ibid., p. 63.
“They are real horsemen” Ibid, p. 60.
“What could have occasioned you” Jackson to Pope, Branham, March 22, 1814, Andrew Jackson Papers, 1775–1874, reel 9.
eight days’ rations Jackson to Major Baster, March 23, 1814, Andrew Jackson Papers, 1775–1874, reel 19.
Chapter Three: Stamping His Foot for War
Middle Tennessee formed a salient This is illustrated by U.S. Census Bureau, “Following the Frontier Line, 1790 to 1890,” September 6, 2012.
in September 1811, associates of Robert Fulton completed a steamboat Philip, Robert Fulton, pp. 270–71.
butcher knives, cotton hoes, coffee, “Segars,” chocolate Account Book, Jackson’s Nashville Store, 1795, Owsley et al., Papers of Andrew Jackson, vol. 1, appendix 4, p. 455.
farmers often paid Jackson with cotton Parton, Life of Andrew Jackson, vol. 1, p. 245.
Jacksonland: A Great American Land Grab Page 34