Alexandria gazette. [volume] (Alexandria, D.C.) 1834-1974, 1859-07-09
General Jackson and Mrs. Eaton
W hSHINGIoN, June -

A>HINGIoN, june y -.
In Your Weekly "t the 18th inst. l.i...
an article headed MIR. Eaton and ,,ra..
Jackson Of which the ioliuwiug !, .,r
tract, viz:
Through Der influence lamd her b.
bands admitted abilities General r..
was appointed to place IN the Cablnrr .,.
the lady became soon after "A sort Of ..
official lady oi the White HOUSE. liz.
huencr finally became supreme, and st ,.u,..
created u host OF enemies The old i..n..
became her partisan, and hr went 80 far
To make IT party measure. that Mrs
ton should receive the most marked att.
ton from all who came Ia the White lion.
and more especially from those who NJ.
dependent upon him for office A. s..
raj thing, the wives o! the member, ur ,.
Cabinet, who We're especially rxrrrrri
treat Mrs Eaton with attention, perform
their allotted task with apparent sln,rr.r, -.
least; but Mrs. Calhoun would not and A..
! not conform Ia the usage aud from TIN, n.
: tie incident arose circumstances which fin.
" broke up the Generals Cabinet. irry.N
/ Calhoun int" the opposition. and AL .h,.
! " changed the character ni tina Ermu,r,r
party
/ This article does General jackson ,r...
] injustice, and is inaccurate IN many rlrr,..
lars. VIZ:
|. 1t WAS the personal friendship Lrrwr..
Gen. Jackson aud MAYOR Eaton whlrh .-,.,
ed Ia the latter IA place ia the Cabinet
>. Mrs. Eaton never had any position il,
the White House. The lady ut the hons.
was Mrs Donaldson, vii" al Major D,n,.
son, the Presidents private secretary
). General Jackson meyer required a,
party measure" or otherwise, that any ua.
should pay marked attention, ur any d.
tentlon 10 Mrs. Eaton. Neither the lady
his own house nor one "t the ladies ul H..
Cabinet officers, with a single exception. eve
visited her. Ii j. t"ur that the Genera. g.
lir,iug that the tales circulated about NJ.
Eaton were utterly false, and drplurng u..
ill-ieeling produrrd among his adviser ls
family alIrnatIol", attempted b. satisfy then.
that those tales were grounil-~s. hut ~ d..
instance did he require that any one AT
even his private secretary nor the lli,"- .l
his own household, should ;lssocl;rr wttl
Mrs. Eaton ar pay her any attention.
t. General Jackson was not alone ~ the
belief that this tamlly difficulty Was iO~tcrrl
by political aspirants Tor the purpose %
breaking up cabinet which was not 50 con
Sttmted a. Ia promote their views upon Ih-
succession. But the breach between hu
aud Mr. Calhoun was wholly independent ol
these petty tcmd-, and would doubtless ha,r
occurred had Mrs Eaton never existed. 4,
grew ont of a course 81 events dating bach =
far rs ISIS, but hot FULLY developed unu.
1881.
The brick story with which yourartcr con.
cudr- is believed Ia have no relation L. Mr.
Eaton, though it has this foundation. that
when hot brick WAS urgently required ;or
one Of his own family, hr promptly loosen.ri
one with the tungs, from the throat of tue
chimney, and sent it to the physician. Such
is my recollection OF an incident mentioned
at the time, ~ illustrating the promptituir
of General Jackson's mind il. meeting rnwr
gencies. The inaccuracies of your article ar
doubtless attributable 10 impressions made
by newspaper representations during General
Jackson's administration, and ! doubt not
you will be as DESTROYS as am that justice
shall be done to his memory by their correr
ton. With high respect, AMOS kendall.
UppLIn