CHAPTER IV
THE DEATH OF "KING CAUCUS"
On a bracing November afternoon in 1821 Jackson rode up with his
family to the Hermitage free for the first time in thirty-two years
from all responsibility of civil and military office. He was now
fifty-four years old and much broken by exposure and disease; the
prospect of spending the remainder of his days among his hospitable
neighbors on the banks of the Cumberland yielded deep satisfaction.
The home-loving Mrs. Jackson, too, earnestly desired that he should
not again be drawn into the swirl of public life. "I do hope," she
wrote plaintively to a niece soon after her return to the Hermitage,
"they will leave Mr. Jackson alone. He is not a well man and never
will be unless they allow him to rest. He has done his share for the
country. How little time has he had to himself or for his own
interests in the thirty years of our wedded life in all that time he
has not spent one-fourth of his days under his own roof. The rest of
the time away, traveling, holding court, or at the capital of the
country, or in camp, or fighting its battles, or treating with the
Indians; mercy knows what not.
Pages:
59
60
61
62
63
64
65
66
67
68
69
70
71
72
73
74
75
76
77
78
79
80
81
82
83