Description:

Z. Taylor "old also vain and unqualified for any office" Eyewitness ALS Describing President-Elect 2 Weeks Before Inauguration

A 3pp autograph letter signed by one "R.C. Brent c[ler]k / Steamer Ocean Wave," describing his experience meeting future 12th U.S. President Zachary Taylor (1784-1850) while the President-Elect was en route to the inauguration in Washington, D.C. The letter was written aboard the "Ocean Wave" in Louisville, Kentucky on February 12, 1849. On pale blue bifold stationery, with the last page an integral address leaf bearing a round philatelic hand-stamp and the remnants of a red wax seal. Expected wear including flattened folds, isolated discoloration and small holes, and weathering consistent with age, else near fine and very legible. 7.875" x 10." Accompanied by excerpts from the "Louisville Journal" from February 14, 1849 reporting Taylor's Louisville, Kentucky itinerary.

R.C. Brent wrote this missive to a family member named Fayette Brent of Middlebury, Loudoun County, Virginia. The former was employed as a clerk aboard the "Ocean Wave," a steamboat that appears to have plied the upper Mississippi River waters between St. Louis and Louisville. During the age of the mighty steamship, a clerk was not just a paper-pusher; he was one of the senior officers of the ship's crew, along with the engineers and pilots. R.C. Brent described his impressions of meeting Zachary Taylor, who had stopped in Louisville for celebratory festivities.

In part, with the original spelling. Minor omissions in punctuation and paragraph breaks have been added for the sake of clarity.

"Genl. Taylor arrivd. on his way to Washington - a description of the scene is useless as I send you the Louisville Journal in which you will find the whole scene described by an abler hand than mine…I called upon Gen. Taylor and told him I congratulated him upon the high position he occupied and also congratulated myself upon being a citizen of a Republic…'But Genl., you are President, which for me is talk enough.' The old man smiled and I left better satisfied probably than many of the hungry expectants I saw there…

The Genl. is a very ordinary man. Certain can't speak and his speech in the Journal was manufactured in the Journal office for I was present from the time he left New Albany four miles below until after dinner at the Galt House and he made no such speech again…

I was in New Orleans last winter when he returned from Mexico and probably his reception there was the most magnificent affair that ever came off in America…there was certainly never such an opportunity offered for a display of Forensic ability and what was the result? when called upon, all he could say was 'thank you, friends, thank you,' which threw a damper over the whole proceedings and I for one write him down as an old also vain and unqualified for any office where talent is requested and only fit for field fighting…"

Historian John S. D. Eisenhower provides us with a detailed timeline of Zachary Taylor's month-long journey to Washington, D.C. in advance of his March 5, 1849 inauguration, in "Zachary Taylor: The American Presidents Series: The 12th President, 1849-1850" (New York: Times Books, 2008). Taylor began his journey in Baton Rouge, Louisiana in late January 1849 and traveled--mostly via waterways--to Louisville and Frankfort, Kentucky; Madison, Indiana; Cincinnati, Ohio; and Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania via three steamers, the "Sea Gull," "Ben Franklin," and "Telegraph No. 2." During the exhausting trip, Taylor was injured by an improperly stowed trunk, caught a severe head cold, and encountered weather delays. Taylor arrived in Washington, D.C. on February 23, 1849, about four weeks after he embarked on the cross-country journey.

This item comes with a Certificate from John Reznikoff, a premier authenticator for both major 3rd party authentication services, PSA and JSA (James Spence Authentications), as well as numerous auction houses.

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