Colonel Armstrong in his letter was careful to say that in his opinion the fire was “purely accidental;” and he estimated that the house could be rebuilt on the old site for $2,000 or $2,500. He recommended rebuilding on the old site (“for I know the walls and foundation were good”), and volunteered to be of any possible assistance.
The news of the burning of his home must have been a crushing blow when it reached President Jackson in the White House. Following the particularly turbulent session of Congress which ended in June, 1834, the weary President had gone back to the Hermitage and spent the summer there in the pleasant process of recuperating from the debilitating effect of his long drawn out battle over the bank. All of the administration’s domestic problems were settled, in one way or another; and he spent the summer in riding about over the Hermitage plantation, visiting his friends and neighbors, and entertaining the customary flow of guests. Early in October he brought his vacation to an end and started on his return to Washington; and he had hardly arrived back at the White House before the letters reached him telling of the fire.
But Jackson accepted this blow of Fate with resignation and equanimity. His letter to Andrew, junior, is a model of calm fortitude under a sudden stroke of adversity:
“Dear Andrew: I have this moment received your letter of the 13th instant giving an account of the unfortunate occurrence of the burning of my dwelling. As no neglect is imputed to anyone and as it appears one of those accidental occurrences where there is no blame to attach to any one, we ought and I do meet it as an act of Providence and always reconciled to His will and prepared to say at all times and under all circumstances ‘The Lord’s will be done,’ it was He that gave me the means to build it and He has the right to destroy it, and blessed be his name. Tell Sarah to cease to mourn its loss. I will have it rebuilt. Was it not on the site selected by my dear departed wife I would build it higher up the hill, but I will have it repaired. You say the walls are uninjured. Let workmen be employed forthwith to repair it. Let scantling and brick be got and have it covered in before the hard frost with rain injures the walls. If tin can be got in Nashville have a tin roof put on it. If the walls can be repaired and the house covered in before winter the windows can be so closed as to prevent the walls or scantling within from being injured. I write to Col. Armstrong, whose letter is before me, who will aid you in obtaining materials and workmen to cover in and repair the house. I write in haste. Say to Sarah not to grieve or repine about the loss. We will have it all repaired. I write to Mr. Toland this evening to send on by the ship Chandler Price via New Orleans as much tin as will cover a house 80 feet by 44 and hope it will reach you in due time. This will enable you to borrow the tin in Nashville from anyone who has it. I suppose all the wines in the cellar has been destroyed, with Mrs. Donelson’s box of China. Give me as accurate an account of the loss of furniture as you can at as early a period as possible. In all your bustle and improvement, my son, have your cotton picked out and housed. It becomes us now to act with economy and use industry to repair and regain the loss. Therefore, as the only fund to aid in paying for the land and repairing the building and other engagements are the cotton crop, I urge you to have it carefully taken in, ginned, baled and sent to market.” As soon as the news of the fire became known throughout the country there was set on foot in New Orleans a movement to rebuild the Hermitage by popular subscription; and a Nashville citizen, George C. Childress, wrote to Jackson to ask him if such an action would be agreeable to him.
“We see from the New Orleans papers,” wrote Mr. Childress, “that a proposition is made in that city to raise a fund to rebuild the mansion house at the Hermitage, every individual in the United States who may choose to contribute fifty cents and no more in order that it may be in the power of every man who may wish to join in tendering to you this complimentary mark of public gratitude and contributing to the repair and preservation of a residence which is almost looked upon as National property. There is no doubt that an ample fund would be raised in this manner to rebuild the house in the most elegant manner and I write, sir, to know if it would be agreeable to you to accept this complimentary token of gratitude at the hands of your admiring countrymen.”
This letter is found in Jackson’s correspondence file, and on the back of it is endorsed in the General’s firm handwriting: “Mr. Childress to be answered: I respect as I ought the feelings that dictated the generous feeling in the proposition, but can not accept the boon. I am able to rebuild it, and hope whatever generosity the good people of New Orleans intended to bestow on me as a memento of their regard for my public services may be applied to some charitable institution.”
Nothing more clearly reflects Jackson’s unquenchable spirit than the prompt and effective manner in which he set about arranging for the rebuilding of his home. His genius for organization—his talent for getting things done, even at a long distance from the scene of activity—here plainly manifested itself. “Let workmen be employed forthwith to repair it,” he wrote Andrew; and then he sat down and wrote to his friend, Colonel Armstrong, asking him to get in behind the making of a contract for the rebuilding. Apparently Colonel Armstrong called into consultation another of Jackson’s friends, Colonel Chas. J. Love, for in January, 1835, Colonel Love wrote to the President that “a contract has been made with Messrs. Rife and Hume for the rebuilding of the house at the Hermitage. Every care has been taken to have the contract made so full and plain that it can not be misunderstood. The materials are to be good and the work executed in the best possible style. Mr. Hume is now up the country to make engagements for the lumber that it may got down in time to have it well seasoned before the work is put together—then Colonel and myself will keep a strict lookout that the work is done agreeable to contract. Colonel Armstrong and myself understand the contract so well that it can not be misunderstood. It was talked over and over again and agreed on not only in writing but verbally, and all the alterations are to be made agreeable to our view of them. The house is large and we got the best bargain we could.”
The “Rife and Hume” referred to in Colonel Love’s letter were Joseph Reiff and William C. Hume, the carpenter-contractors who were then employed in constructing the handsome home which General Jackson was having built near by, on the Tulip Grove Farm, for his wife’s nephew, Andrew Jackson Donelson. Messrs. Reiff and Hume are mentioned in Stockley Donelson’s letter telling the news of the fire as having been in the Hermitage at the time it started, and it is not improbable that they were living there while the new house at Tulip Grove was being built. It would have been characteristic of General Jackson to offer them the hospitality of his home while they were engaged in the nearby work.
The agreement for the rebuilding of the Hermitage was specifically made out in the name of Andrew Jackson, junior, in deference to the General’s strong desire to have Andrew assume a man’s responsibility in the management of the estate; but the fine Italian hands of Colonel Armstrong and Colonel Love are to be seen in the careful phraseology of the document and the prudent safeguards thrown about the carpenters’ performance. “Col. Armstrong and myself understand the contract,” wrote Colonel Love; and the published correspondence reveals how faithfully Colonel Armstrong kept in behind the matter, watching all the details of building and furnishing, and carrying the whole thing through to completion.
The rebuilding agreement provides an interesting reflection of the manner in which such activities were carried on a hundred years ago, and as such is worth reproducing in full: