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206‘ ‘THE SHAN VAN vocnr.
Some of tho stories they tell of him are remarkable, and today
even he is the idol of the American youth. He is the patron saint of
the Democratic party, and on every anniversary of the battle of
New Orleans (January 8th) there are banquets all over the country
gattendedvwhen possible by the President.
. ‘ Having removed to Tennessee in early manhood, he is claimed
as a son of that State, and although dead over half a century it is
said in 3 jocular way that many of theyold Tennesseeans still vote
forhim at the Presidential election in the belief that Jackson was
immortal." . .
Indeed,‘ it's common in the South to hear people swear by coupling
Jackson’s name ‘with the Saviour’s. The following story was told of
him by President Cleveland during a banquet he attended on Jackson
Day some years ago. ‘A backwoodsman from the mountainous part
of Tennessee came to vote at an e lection. On being asked
for whom he was going to vote he replied, “Old General
Jackson.” , A wag who was present replied that Jackson was dead,
and he guessed was where “ there’s no redemption.” On hearing this
the voter was somewhat disconcerted, but soon redeemed himself by
remarking-“ XVall thet may be, but if he is, it’s because he ‘did not
want to go to the other place.” This illustrates the reverence that
the Tennesseean has for the old warrior.
But to the battlefield. On the 8th day of January, r815, Jackson
led a few thousand men, made up of militiamen, half-breeds, and
free negroes, against a British force four times their number, and
fresh from the field ‘of Waterloo, and led in person by General
Pakenham, a near relative of IVellington. The British were over-
whelmingly defeated, nearly all of the commanding odicers being
killed or taken prisoners. Pakenham was shot dead early in the
fight, and all the loss that the Americans sustained was seventeen
dead. Jackson had put up a bulwark of cotton bales, and is on
record as saying, “Don’t shoot, boys, untillyou see the whites of
their eyes!” as the ammunition supply was very scanty.
This battlefield is called Chalmette (about seven miles from the
centre of New Orleans), and when Jackson marched into that city
after his victory the populace fairly tore him to pieces in their
eagerness to do him honour. ”I‘he'street cars run to within a mile
ofthe historic ground, and asI walked along on a hot, dusty road
(it was in March, too) that follows the Mississippi River, I tried to
picture in my mind the warm reception poor John Bull received-so
warm that up to date he hasn’t returned.
This portion of Louisiana is about one hundred miles from the‘
Gulf of Mexico, and at that period the white population was almost
entirely French. During the war of the Rebellion the U.S. Govern-
ment confiscated the property of General Beauregard, one of the
brainiest and bravest of the Southern rebels,'but after peace was
restored he was compensated for his land. ' ‘ '
Chalmette was part of this property, and the Government
diately utilized it as a burial-place for the soldiers and sailors that
fell in the neighbourhood in the various battles on land and river
from 1862 to ‘I865. Nearly all of the thousands of graves have
square slabs of stone over them, inscribed with the name, &c., of
the ‘patriot soldier or sailor beneath, and I might add that the per-
centagc of distinctly Celtic names in this City of the Dead is large
enough to make one feel a pang of regret. ‘
The Government at Washington takes these cemeteries under its
especial care, and they are very numerous all over the Southern
States, where most of the fighting of the Rebellion was done.
As this was the third National Cemetery that I had visited, I
can personally testify to the care bestowed on everything within the
grounds. The walks are all well kept, the grass neatly trimmed,
and the flowers and trees, so plentiful all over the South, are here
given particular attention, and, to crown all, the officials are more
than courteousewithout being servile. There is one thing that
struck me more than anything else in my visits to all of them, and
hope I will be excused in the brief digression.
In the State of Kentucky there was born a son to an Irish ’98
rebel named O’Hara. This son was called Theodore, grew to man-
hood in his native State, and wrote one poem that will be remem-
bered as long as poetry is cherished, “The Bivouac of the Dead.”
In the secession trouble one of the first to join the Southern ranks
was this same Theodore O’Hara. He fell in one of the first battles
-ea colonel of a Kentucky regiment. This is then what struck me--
In these National cemeteries as you walk through the grounds you
will notice at the head of each walk or path a large iron shield
standing andia verse from this famous poem in large raised letters
inscribed on it-so that in a straight line‘ down the length of the
grounds you can read the poem in its entirety. Think of it! the ‘
very poem the Government selected being written by a man that
tried to overthrow it. Imagine in a cemetery in Ireland where only
British soldiers engaged in quelling a rebellion were buried a poem
written by Thomas Davis! Leaving the cemetery itself, a short
walk brings you to a min of a half-built monument that was being
erected to Jackson by the State of Louisiana, on the very spot where
he had his headquarters during the memorable battle. It is over
one hundred feet high, and was stopped early in ’62 owing to the
struggle then impending. Some day it will probably be finished,
and that it may happen in our day is my earnest wish. In the city of
New Orleans, in front of the French Catholic Cathedral, there is a
large monument to Jackson in a beautiful square. ' I might add that
in this same cathedral a thanksgiving Mass was said, at which’
Jackson and staff were present, in return for the assistance the Al-
mighty gave on the day of the great struggle. But there are no
monuments needed to keep Jackson’s memory green in the minds
of the American people. His residence and grounds, near Nashville,
Tenn., were purchased by the State, and everything is kept as much
as possible in the same shape as Jackson left it. Every year thou-
sands of visitors from all over the Union walk through the build-
ings of“ The Hermitage,” the name he selected for it.
Up to a year or two ago one of the attendants was an old coloured
man, who had been the body servant of the old hero, and was actu-
ally present when his master died. His stories of the old ex-Presi-
dent were intensely interesting, as he was an eye-witness to many
things that are now historical. It has been often said that had
Jackson been President immediately preceding the Civil VVar it
never would have occurred. Indeed, when the great John C. Col-
houn, the leader of the secession movement, spoke of and actually
advised the secession of South Carolina thirty years before its con-
summation, Jackson wrote him that if he ever spoke in that strain
again he would hang him as high as Haman. Although by birth a
Southerner, he squelched all such rebellious talk.‘ On one other
occasion he said-“ By the Eternal! the Union must and shall be
preserved!”
Jackson was tall and spare in appearance, with an Irish type of
face, and very democratic in his manners. In the last year of his
Presidency, General Sherman (afterwards of “Marching through
Georgia” fame) relates in his memoirs that when a boy going on to
New York‘ from Ohio, he had to stay over in VVashington, and
thought he would like to see President Jackson. He stood outside
the railings of the White House (the President’: residence) for five
hours, and was at last rewarded by a sight of the old veteran walk-
ing up and down smoking a pipe. Sherman relates this with great
pride, and testifies to the fear and dread ,with which he was filled in
looking at the greatest American then living.
In the National Museum in Washington there are many souvenirs
of Jackson; his swords, military cloaks, coats, hats, and snuff-
boxes, guarded and treasured with great care. There are over forty
towns and cities in the United States named afterhim. His signal
defeat of the English brought him the Presidency for two terms,
and as a matter of fact his percentage of the popular vote is greater
than that of any other 'I’resident. He served his country ably in
every capacity--as soldier, judge, and statesman-and his rugged
honesty is proverbial to this day. Indeed, there is no American ,-
better. known by the common people-with the single exception of
Washington-and old Carrickfergus is honoured in being the home
of his fathers. BERNARD M‘M.uroN, Chicago.