Description:

Jackson Andrew

Andrew Jackson Signed Letter, 'the first in peace, the first in war, & the first in the affections of his Country... "

 

One page manuscript letter signed, 7" x 10." Dated "Washington City; December 1, 1815" and signed by General Andrew Jackson as "Andrew Jackson." The letter has the usual folds. With adhesive staining and mounting remnants along top on verso with some show through to recto. A few repairs to small intact tears, one with an adhesive stain along left margin. Stray light foxing.  Writing in ink on the reverse side of letter has bled through to the front, but without obscuring, Jackson's signature. Otherwise good.


 "First in war, first in peace and first in the hearts of his countrymen" was of course the most famous lines ever uttered about George Washington (and possible the most famous quote about a president)  and was recited at the Eulogy given by "Light Horse" Harry Lee, the father of the recipient of this letter Henry Lee, who has annotated this very historic letter.


Letter to Henry Lee of Virginia acknowledging the receipt of information concerning George Washington and expressing his thanks for its transmittal. By the time Jackson wrote this letter he had become a national hero due to his victory over British forces at the Battle of New Orleans in January 1815. Jackson writes: "The lines you have had the goodness to transcribe & send me, from the picture of Washington, I thank you sincerely. They are the best I have seen to commemorate one who was really 'the first in peace, the first in war, & the first in the affections of his Country...

Andrew Jackson."

 

Only the year before this letter, on December 24, 1814, Great Britain and the United States signed a treaty in Ghent, Belgium that effectively ended the War of 1812. News was slow to cross the pond, however, and on January 8, 1815, the two sides met in what is remembered as one of the conflict’s biggest and most decisive engagements. In the bloody Battle of New Orleans, future President Andrew Jackson and a motley assortment of militia fighters, frontiersmen, slaves, Indians and even pirates weathered a frontal assault by a superior British force, inflicting devastating casualties along the way. The victory vaulted Jackson to national stardom, and helped foil plans for a British invasion of the American frontier. A battle which no doubt left Jackson with compassion, admiration and reverence for everything the early revolutionaries and Washington stood for. Jackson would have his turn as President just 15 years later.

 

At the bottom of the letter, Lee makes a notation claiming that Jackson signed but did not write the letter. "The signature only is Genl. Jacksons-the body is copy HL"

 

Henry Lee (1787-1837), also known as Henry Lee IV, was the son of Henry "Light-Horse Harry" Lee (1856-1818), a former governor of Virginia and a hero of the American Revolution. During his life, Lee was a writer, politician, diplomat, and army officer. Educated at Washington Academy in Lexington, Virginia, and then at the College of William and Mary, Lee represented Westmoreland County in the Virginia House of Delegates from 1810 to 1813 and served as a major in the U.S. Army during the War of 1812. In 1817, he married Anne McCarty, a distant cousin, and became ward of her younger sister, Elizabeth "Betsy" McCarty, with whom he had a scandalous affair. Lee's adulterous relationship became public and ruined his political career, earning him the nicknames "Black Harry" and "Black-Horse Harry." Lee was a close friend and confidant of Andrew Jackson's and his notoriety did not shake the latter's loyalty. In fact, when Jackson began his quest for the presidency after achieving fame at the Battle of New Orleans, Lee wrote campaign materials supporting Jackson. Lee briefly served as consul to Algiers. In 1831, he moved with his wife to Paris, France, where he later died of influenza. It is not clear what information Lee had sent to Jackson.


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