had received. Then turning to Mr. Hopkins, he said: "I
thank you, sir, for telling me of Mrs. Donelson's predicament.
I wouldn't have missed this opportunity of doing a favor to
a member of Governor Branch's family for anything in the
world. He gave me the first fifty-cent piece I ever owned."
Then the "Tailor-Boy President" related to Mr. Hopkins the
small act of kindness shown by the Governor of a great State
to little Andy Johnson, a penniless orphan in Raleigh nearly
half a century before — an act which no doubt escaped Gover-
nor Branch's own memory less than an hour after it occurred.
Although Governor Branch's very soul abhorred the cruel
laws of his day which inflicted punishments, severe out of all
proportion, for many comparatively trivial crimes, and
though he freely exercised the pardoning prerogative in such
cases, no earthly power could move him to interfere where
he deemed it proper and just for the law to take its course.
During his term of ofiice, a case arose in Raleigh where an
intoxicated young white man had stabbed to the heart an in-
offensive negro slave, and was sentenced to death therefor.
A perfect avalanche of petitions and protests from practically
the entire population of Raleigh was thereupon showered upon
the Governor, asking a pardon. Among the many who sought
clemency for the condemned were several State ofiicers, one
hundred and twenty-three ladies, and young Frederick Ster-
ling Marshall, owner of the slave who had been killed. The
prisoner's youth, his belated contrition and penitence, his al-



12 JOHN BRANCH

leged temporary "deranaement of understanding," the in-
solence and insubordination which the petitioners declared
would be encouraged among the negroes by putting the life
of a freeman and of a slave upon the same footing, and many
other considerations were urgently set forth without avail,
and the prisoner died on the gallows on the 10th of November,
1S20 — notice being thereby served on the world that all
human lives, those of the humble and dependent slaves as well .
as of their masters, were under the protection of the law in
North Carolina.

Though always resentful of Northern interference, thought-
ful men throughout the South were seeking a solution of the
slavery problem for nearly three-quarters of a century before
the outbreak of the War between the States. One of the experi-
ments tried was the organization of the American Coloniza-
tion Society in 1816, with Judge Bushrod Washington, of
Virginia, as president. The object of this society was to
take charge of such negroes as might from time to time be
emancipated, and form a colony of them in Africa. Local
branches of this association were formed in various cities
throughout the South. On June 12, 1819, the Reverend Wil-
liam Meade, afterwards Bishop of Virginia (who proved his
sincerity by freeing his own negroes), visited Raleigh and
organized a local society. Governor Branch presided over the
session which was then held, and became first president of the
Raleigh organization, which later made considerable contri-
butions in money for the furtherance of the plans set forth in
the constitution of the society, $1,277.50 being subscribed at
the first meeting. The full list of ofiicers was as follows : Gov-
ernor Branch, President; and Colonel William Polk, Chief
Justice John Louis Taylor, Judge Leonard Henderson, and
Archibald Henderson, Vice-Presidents. The board of
managers consisted of State Treasurer John Haywood, Judge
Henry Potter, General Calvin Jones, General Beverly Daniel,
the Reverend William McPheeters, Dr. Albridgton S. H.
Surges, Dr. Jeremiah Battle, the Reverend John Evans,



JOHN BKANCH 13

Secretary of State William Hill, Thomas P. Devereiix,
Joseph Ross, and Moses Mordecai. The secretary was Joseph
Gales, and Daniel Du Pre was treasurer. This list of officers
(to which some additions were later made) is set forth in the
Raleigh Register, of June 18, 1819.

In the General Assembly of North Carolina which con-
vened on the ISth of November, 1822, Ex-Governor Branch
was present as State Senator from Halifax County. On De-
cember 1-lth, after a prolonged contest, that Legislature
elected him United States Senator, for a term beginning
March 4, 1823, as successor to Montfort Stokes.

From the Annals of Congress, for December 2, 1823, we
learn that, on that day "John Branch, appointed a Senator
by the Legislature of the State of North Carolina, for ths
term of six years, commencing on the 4th day of March last,
produced his credentials, which were read, and the oath pre-
scribed by law was administered to him".

It is not the purpose of the present writer to attempt a
detailed account of Mr. Branch's career in the United States
Senate. The records show that he was one of the' leading de-
baters in that august body— a body presided over by Calhoun,
and made up of such men as Thomas H. Benton, Robert Y.
Hayne, Martin Van Buren, John McPherson Berrien, Hugh
Lawson White, William Henry Harrison, William R. King,
Nathaniel Macon, and others of scarcely less note. While in
the Senate, Mr. Branch advocated, as he had formerly done
when Governor of North Carolina, the abolition of imprison-
ment for deljt. Of the pension bill which provided for the
relief of Revolutionary officers, to the exclusion of privates, he
was a pronounced opponent, declaring that "he never would
consent to place the officer, who had reaped the laurels of
victory, on a different foundation from the private soldier
who stood by the flag of his country, stimulated alone by
patriotism." Internal improvements by the General Govern-
ment he usually opposed, believing that this class of work
should be done by the States wherein the improvements



14 JOHN BRANCH

were made, while harbors, rivers, canals and other waterways
should receive the care of Congress, It is said that Mr.
Branch's opposition to the Senate's confirmation of Henry
Clay as Secretary of State, in 1825, first won for him the
friendship of Andrew Jackson, between whom and the great
Kentnckian little love existed.

When Senator Branch's first term was drawing to an end,
the General Assembly of N'orth Carolina, on iN'ovember 24,
1828, unanimously re-elected him for six years more, to begin
on March 4, 1829. He did not enter upon this second
senatorial term, however, owing to a higher honor which
fell to his lot a few days after his first term expired.

On the 9th day of March, 1829, President Jackson sent to
the United States Senate the nomination of John Branch,
of ISTorth Carolina, for the office of Secretary of the ISJ'avy.
This nomination being duly confirmed. Secretary Branch
went to North Carolina to arrange some private affairs and
to tender his resignation, as United States Senator, to Gov-
ernor Owen. The selection of Mr. Branch as a member of
the President's Cabinet was naturally a source of great
gratification to his friends in ISTorth Carolina and elsewhere ;
and, in the month following his appointment, the citizens
of his native county of Halifax were preparing in his honor
a great public entertainment, but this proffered courtesy he
Was forced regretfully to decline, owing to a promise to the
President that he would return to his new post as head of the
Navy Department with the least possible delay.

In the latter part of December, 1834, while a member of
the Legislature of 1834-'35, to which he was elected after
the expiration of his term in Congress which followed his
Cabinet service, Mr. Branch made a speech in which he gave
an interesting account of his official association with Presi-
dent Jackson. Concerning his appointment as Secretary of
the Navy he said :

"Without solicitation ou my part, he [President Jackson] desired
me to become a member of his Cabinet, and take charge of the Navy



JOHN" BRANCH 15

Department. I returned him my warmest acknowledgments for so
distinguished an evidence of liis confidence, but remarked that I
doubted my ability to discharge the duties of that Department, either
to my own satisfaction or that of my country, and that I must ask
time to consult with my friends. To this he consented, and I prom-
ised to call and give him an answer next evening. The first person I
asked counsel of was my friend and colleague. Governor Iredell, now
perhaps within hearing of my voice, a gentleman whose high claims
to confidence are universally acknowledged, and (to borrow a figure
of the gentleman from Warren) whose inherent virtues and talents
rendered him peculiarly fit to perform so delicate an office. He un-
hesitatingly said that, inasmuch as it was the first appointment of
that grade ever tendered to a citizen of North Carolina, and as it was
an honor intended to be conferred on the State through me, I was
not at liberty to decline. The next friend with whom I consulted was
the Senator from Burke [Samuel P. Carson], then a member of the
House of Representatives of the United States — a friend Indeed I
may call him, a friend while in favor, but still more a friend when
in adversity. His merits and just claims on the State I will speak
of elsewhere. His counsels were substantially the same as those of
Governor Iredell. I then sought interviews with many others ; and,
finding there was but one opinion among my friends as to the course
proper for me to pursue, I in due time signified my acceptance of
the trust."

On December 1, 1829, Secretary Branch sent his first
annual report to President Jackson. It told of the movements
of various vessels in different parts of the world — the
Mediterranean Sea, West Indian and South American
waters, the Atlantic, Pacific, etc. It also gave a list of Navy
Yards and Hospitals, and recommended in the strongest terms
the establishment of a iNaval School, where junior officers
might be given a finished education, with especial attention
paid to modern languages. Such instruction, said he, would
be of gi'eat service during foreign cruises, while officers were
in contact with the representatives of other nations. Many
of the older officers, the Secretary intimated, were more of a
hindrance than a help to the service, and should be relieved
from active duty. He observed, however, that as these officers
had formerly rendered honorable and useful service to the
Government, ample provision should be made for their main-



16 JOHN BRANCH

tenance in retirement. He also recommended a revision of

the laws respecting the Marine Corps. Piracy had not then

been blotted out of existence, and he gave some account of

operations against these depredators on American commerce.

The pay of Naval officers, as compared vs^ith officers of relative

rank in the Army, he said was unjustly inadequate, and

should be increased.

In the message to Congress from President Jackson, he

called attention to the annual report of Secretary Branch, as

follows :

"The accompanying report of the Secretary of the Navy will make
you acquainted with the condition and useful employment of that
branch of our service during the present year. Constituting, as it
does, the best standing security of this country against foreign aggres-
sion, it claims the especial attention of the Government. In this
spirit the measures which, since the termination of the last war, have
been in operation for its gradual enlargement, were adopted ; and it
should continue to be cherished as the offspring of our national expe-
rience."

A few weeks before the entrance of Secretary Branch upon
his duties as head of the Navy Department, Congress took
its first action toward attempting to lessen the use of strong
drink among junior officers of the Navy. On February 25,
1829,* the House of Representatives passed a Resolution in-
structing the Secretary of the Navy ''to require three of the
Medical Officers of the Navy, whom he shall designate, to
report to him their opinions, separately, whether it is nec-
essary or expedient that 'distilled spirits' should constitute
a part of the rations allowed to Midshipmen." In pursuance
of these instructions, Secretary Branch designated Surgeons
Thomas Harris, William P. C. Barton, and Lewis Heerman ;
and required them to give their opinions on this point. What
these opinions were, the present writer has been unable to
ascertain; Imt consideration of the same matter, with some

*Strange to say, the reported proceedings of Congress for Febru-
ary 25, 1829, fail to mention this matter, but manuscript letters in
the Navy Department quote the language of the resolution of that
date.



JOHN BKANCH iT

additions as to enlisted men, was again taken up by Congress
one year (to the very day) after its first action. On D'obruary
25, 1830, the Honorable Lewis Condict, a member of Con-
gress from Kew Jersey and a physician by profession, in-
troduced the following resolutions in the House of Represen-
tatives :

"1. Resolved, That the Committee on Naval Affairs be instructed to
inquire into the expediency of inducing the seamen and marines in
the Navy of the United States voluntarily to discontinue the use of
ardent spirits, or vinous or fermented liquors, by substituting for it
double its value in other necessaries and comforts whilst in the ser-
vice, or in money payable at the expiration of the service.

"2. Resolved, also, As a further inducement to sobriety and orderly
deportment in the Navy, as well as with a view to preserve the lives
and morals of the seamen and marines, that said committee be in-
structed to inquire into the expedience of allowing some additional
bounty, in money or clothing, or both, to be paid to every seaman
or marine, at the expiration of his service, who shall produce from
his commanding officer a certificate of total abstinence from ardent
spirits, and of orderly behaviour, during the term of his engagement.

"3. Resolved, also, That the said committee inquire and report
whether or not the public service, as well as the health, morals, and
honor of the Naval officers would be promoted by holding out to the
Midshipmen and junior officers some further inducements and incen-
tives to abstinence from all intoxicating liquors."

In introducing these resolutions. Congressman Condict
said similar ones had already been before the Committee on
Military Affairs, which recommended such action with respect
to the Army; but had refused to make any recommendation
concerning the ]N^avy, as the latter branch of the service was
considered outside of that committee's jurisdiction. What
effect, if any, these resolutions had, the present writer is un-
able to say. It was not until some years later that the use
of liquor on ship-board by enlisted men was peremptorily
forbidden. In 1914, Secretary of the Navy Josephus Daidels
made a similar prohibitory order applicable to commissioned
officers also.

The second (and last) annual report of Secretary Branch
bears date December 6, 1830, and is much similar in character
to the first. It contains little matter which would be of
2



18 JOHN BEANCH

present interest. N^ot including many antiquated vessels
which were laid up for repairs, or discarded, the ships then
actively in commission consisted of five frigates, ten sloops
of war and four schooners — a very diminutive armament
when judged by present standards. Indeed, Secretary Branch
was an avowed opponent of the policy of maintaining a
large Navy in days of peace, which was an evidence of his
wisdom when we consider the fact that he lived in the time
of wooden vessels, when several hundred ship carpenters
could build a fleet in a few weeks, as had been demonstrated
on the Great Lakes during the War of 1812-'15.

Soon after Jackson's inauguration, a small coterie of his
personal friends was gathered about him, consisting of Gen-
eral Duff Green, editor of the United States Telegraph, organ
of the administration ; Major William B. Lewis, of Tennessee,
Second Auditor of the Treasury; Isaac Hill, editor of the
New Hampshire Patriot; and Amos Kendall, Fourth Auditor
of the Treasury, former editor of a Jackson paper in Ken-
tucky. As these gentlemen were supposed to have more
influence over the President's actions than did his official
advisers, the opposition derisively styled them "the Kitchen
Cabinet". Some time later, upon the rupture between
Jackson and Calhoun, Green cast his fortunes with the latter.
Thereupon, the elder Francis P. Blair came to Washington
to establish a new administration organ, the Globe, and he
was afterwards classed as a member of "the Kitchen Cabinet"
as Green's successor. Of the newspaper war which followed,
it has been truly said that "there were rich revelations made
to the public."

When first inducted into office, President Jackson had made
up his official family as follows: Martin Van Buren, of
New York, Secretary of State; Samuel D. Ingham, of
Pennsylvania, Secretary of the Treasury; John H. Eaton,
of Tennessee, Secretary of War ; John Branch, of North Caro-
lina, Secretary of the Navy; John McPherson Berrien, of
Georgia, Attorney General ; and William T. Barry, of Ken-



JOHN BRANCH 19

tuckj, Postmaster General. This first Cabinet was later
dissolved, after a stormy controversy between the President
and three of these gentlemen — not in consequence of any
divergence of opinion or disagreements on the public policies
of the day, but because Mrs. Branch, Mrs. Berrien, and Mrs.
Ingham refused to pay social visits to Mrs. Eaton, or invite
her to parties given in their homes. This Mrs. Eaton, wife
of the Secretary of War, was the daughter of William 0'l!^eal,
a tavern-keeper in Washington, and gTew to womanhood in
her father's establishment. Peggy O'Neal, as she was fami-
liarly known in her younger days, was vivacious, pretty, and
apparently not possessed of as much prudence and decorum
as might be desired, in consequence of which the Washing-
ton gossips (male and female) had whispered light tales
concerning her for many years past. Her first husband.
Purser Timberlake of the N"avy, had committed suicide while
stationed in the Mediterranean, leaving her with two small
children. Among the boarders who spent much time at her
father's inn were General Jackson and Major Eaton. After
her first husband's death, Major Eaton (then a widower) be-
came so much enamored of Mrs. Timberlake that he con-
sulted his friend General Jackson about the propriety of
seeking her in marriage. The gallant Gemeral strongly ad-
vised such a course. Major Eaton then mentioned — what
was no news to Jackson — that many damaging reports had
been spread broadcast concerning this lady, and that he him-
self (Major Eaton) had been credited with being over-inti-
mate with her. "Well," said Jackson, "your marrying her
will disprove these charges and restore Peg's good name."
Accordingly Major Eaton and Mrs. Timberlake were
married in the month of January, 1829. All went well for
a while ; but, a few months later, when a rumor began to
gain credence that Major Eaton would be taken into the
new President's Cabinet, the horror and consternation of
the ladies of Washington may well be imagined. The matter
grew even tenser after Eaton's appointment had been an-



20 JOHN BRANCH

noimced. With the exception of Secretary Van Buren — a
widower with no daughters — all of the Cabinet officers were
married men, whose wives were much given to hospitality,
but their hospitality, even at public receptions, was never ex-
tended to Mrs. Eaton. When Jackson wrote to John C.
Calhoun, remonstrating about Mrs. Calhoun's action (or
rather inaction) in this matter, the Vice President very
sensibly replied that it was a quarrel among ladies, and he
would have nothing to do with it. To much the same effect
was the observation of the Secretary of the Navy, when
first approached on this subject; and later, when President
Jackson attempted to dictate to him the social course his
family should pursue, he found a man as headstrong and
determined as himself in the person of the official whom one
of Jackson's biographers has (not over-accurately) described
as "the weak-willed Branch." And it may be said in passing
while referring to Jackson's biographies, that there seems
to be no truth whatever in the oft-repeated assertion in those
works that Branch owed his appointment to Eaton's influence.
Branch was tendered the appointment while Jackson was still
debating in his mind whether to make Eaton or Hugh Lawson
White the Secretary of War — a point which he found so
difficult to decide that he finally left the matter to be settled
by those gentlemen themselves, when White generously with-
drew in Eaton's favor. Concerning Branch's own opinion of
Eaton's appointment, he said in a statement issued in 1831 :
"Before the President had nominated Major Eaton for the
War Department, and while the subject might be supposed
to be under consideration, I took the liberty of stating to
General Jackson candidly my reasons for believing the selec-
tion would be unpopular and unfortunate."

Even the Lady of the White House, Mrs. Andrew Jackson
Donelson, wife of the President's nephew and private secre-
tary, refused point-blank to call on Mrs. Eaton, whereupon
she was promptly sent home to Tennessee, though later
summoned back to Washington. Of his own family's con-



JOHN BRANCH 21

nection with this matter, we are fortunate in being able to

give an account by Secretary Branch himself. He said:

"About the last of May, my family came on to mingle with a
society to which they were strangers. They found the lady of the
Secretary of War, a native of the city, excluded from this society,
and did not deem it their duty or right to endeavor to control or
counteract the decisions of the ladies of Washington ; nor did they
consider themselves at liberty to inquire whether these decisions
were correct or otherwise. Engaged, as I was continually, with all
the engrossing affairs of the Navy Department, I did not know at
night whom my family had visited in the day, nor whom they had
not; and thus the time passed without, I can conlidently assert, the
least interference on my part, with the matters that belonged
exclusively to them."

Though some bachelor members of the diplomatic corps
(notably those from Great Britain and Russia) extended so-
cial courtesies to Mrs. Eaton in the shape of dinner parties,
etc., the wives of other foreign ministers were no more con-
siderate of her than were the ladies of the Cabinet. Indeed,
the President so far lost his head in his desperate efforts to
force Mrs. Eaton upon Washington Society that he seriously
contemplated sending home the Minister from Holland be-
cause that diplomat's lady had withdrawn from a dinner at
the Russian Embassy where Mrs. Eaton was a guest. Balked
at every turn in his efforts to secure social honors, or at least
social recognition, for Mrs. Eaton, the President now deter-
mined to dissolve his Cabinet, and find advisers more sub-
servient to his wishes in social matters — for no record of
political disagreement, at that time, between Jackson and his
Cabinet, can be found.

The various letters, recorded interviews, newspaper com-
munications, etc., brought forth by the affair of Mrs. Eaton,
both before and after her husband's appointment, would
fill a volume, and the present writer has no desire to weary
the reader by attempting to set them forth. On April 8, 1831,
Secretary of War Eaton sent in his resignation; and Secre-
tary of State Van Buren did the same three days later. Sec-
retary of the Navy Branch resigned on April 19th ; and At-



22 JOHN BRANCH

torney General Berrien, then absent from Washington, sent
the President his resignation on June 15th — Postmaster Gen-
eral Barry being the only member of the former Cabinet
who remained in office. In fact the office of Postmaster Gen-
eral was not included in the Cabinet list before Jackson's
time. The resignations of Van Buren and Eaton were re-
ceived with many expressions of regret by the President, who
later honored both of these gentlemen with other appoint-
ments. Indeed, it was Jackson's influence which afterwards
elevated Van Buren to the Presidency as his successor. At
the time of Branch's resignation, the President intimated his
willingTiess to send him on a foreign mission. He also of-
fered to appoint him Territorial Governor of Florida. These
proffered honors were declined by Mr. Branch, though he be-
came Governor of Florida some years later by appointment
from President Tyler. Regarding his interview with Jack-
son just before he tendered the President his resignation,
Secretary Branch has left the following account: