The national era. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1847-1860, 1859-07-21
GENERAL JACKSON AND MRS. EATON.

The following card from Amos Kendall aP
pears in Harper's Weekly:
In your Weekly of the 25th instant observe
an article headed " Mrs. Eaton and General
Jackson" of which the following is an extract,
viz:
" Through her influence, land her husbands
admitted Abilities General Eaton was appoint
ed to place in the Cabinet, and the lady be-
came soon after sort of semi-offcial lady Of
the White House. Her influence finally became
supreme, and Of course created host of enc
mics. The old General became her partisan,
and he went so far as to make it party meas
ure. that Mrs. Eaton should receive the most
marked attention from all who came to the
White House, and more especially from those
who were dependent upon him for office. AS
a general thing, the wives of the members Of
the Cabinet, who were especially expected to
treat Mrs. Eaton with attention, performed
then allotted task with apparent sincerity at
least but Mrs. Calhoun would net and did
not conform to the usage and from this little
incident arose circumstances which finally
broke up the Generals Cabinet, drove Mr..
Calhoun into the opposition, and absolutely
changed the character of the Democratic
party"
This article does General Jackson great in
y
viz:
l. 1t was the personal friendship between
General Jackson and Major Eaton which Sc
cured to the latter place In the Cabinet.
l 2. Mrs. Eaton never had any position in the
White House. The lady of the house was Mrs
Donelson, wife Of Major Donelson, the Pres
ident's private secretary.
3. General Jackson never required, as a
"party measure or otherwise, that any one
should pay marked attention." or any atten-
ton, to Mrs. Eaton. Neither the lady of his
own house, nor one of the ladies of his Cabinet
officers, with single exception, ever visited
her. 1t is true that the General, believing
that the tales circulated about Mrs. Eaton were
utterly false, and deploring the ill-feeling pro-
duced among his advisers by family alterations,
attempted to satisfy them that those tales were
groundless, but in no instance did he require
that any one, not even his private secretary,
nor the ladies of his own household, should as
sociate with Mrs. Eaton, or pay her any atten
ton. II
4. General Jackson was not alone in the be-
lief that this family difficulty was foStered by
political asprants for the purpose of breaking
up Cabinet which was not so constituted as
to promote their views upon the succession.
But the breach between him and Mr.. Calhoun
was wholly independent of these petty feuds,
and would doubtless have occurred had Mrs
Eaton never existed. 1t grew out of a course
of events dating back as far as 1918, but not
fully developed until 1881.
The brick story with which your article con
cludes is believed to have no relation to Mrs.
Eaton, though it has this foundation, that when |
a hot brick was urgently required for one of
his own family, he promptly loosened one with
the tongs from the throat of the chimney, and
sent it to the physician. Such is my recOl-
lection of an incident mentioned at the time as
illustrating the prompttude of General Jack
sons mind in meeting emergencies. The IN
accuraces of your article are doubtless at
tributable to impressions made by newspaper
during General Jacksons
Administration, and doubt not you will be as
DESTROYS as l am, that justice shall be done to
his memory by their correction. With high
respect, AMOS KENDALL.
A MILLION OF BUFFlIo-Horace Greeley,
writing from the plains, makes the following
estimate of the number of buffalo:
"What strikes the stranger with most amaze
ment, is their immense numbers. ! know
million is a great many, but | am confident we
saw that number yesterday. Certainly, all we
saw could not have stood on ten square miles
of ground. Gften the country for miles on
either hand seemed quite black with them.
The soil is rich, and well matted with their
favorite grass. Yet it is all, except very little
on the creek bottoms, near to timber, eaten
down like an over-taxed sheep pasture in dry
August Consider that we have traversed
more than one hundred miles in width since
we first struck them, and that for most of this
distance the buffalo have been constantly in
sight, and that they continue for some twenty
miles further on-this being the breadth of
their present range, which has length of per-
haps thousand miles, and you have some ap-
proach to an idea of their countless millions.
doubt whether the domesticated horned cattle
of the United States equal the numbers, while
they must fall considerably short in weight of
these wild Ones"
The Board of Managers of the Washington
National Monument Society have instituted
measures for renewal and vigorous prosecu-
ton Of york on the shaft of the monument in
Washington. They have addressed, through
their energetic and courteous Secretary, John
Carroll Brent, Esq, circulars to the corpora
tons and literary and benevolent institutions
of the several States, invoking their earnest
and active cooperation.