Owensville, Ark.
Who was the first husband of Andrew Jackson’s wife, and what was the cause of the separation?
Subscriber.
Answer.—Mrs. Jackson was formerly the wife of Mr. Lewis Robards, of Kentucky. While Mr. Robards and his wife were residing at the home of Mrs. Donelson, the mother of Mrs. Robards, Andrew Jackson became a boarder, and consequently quite intimate with the family. In time, Mr. Robards became intensely jealous of his wife, which culminated in his charging her with adultery and suing for divorce. This charge, however, was neither proven nor generally believed. Through the influence of Jackson, the Legislature in 1791 passed an act legalizing the separation of Mr. and Mrs. Robards, but the legal divorce from the courts was not obtained until 1793. After the act of the Legislature, Jackson married Mrs. Robards, supposing that she was lawfully divorced; but after the decision of the court, in order to remove everything questionable, he was remarried.
THE BUNKER HILL FLAG.
Chicago, Ill.
What flag, if any, did the provincials use in the battle of Bunker Hill, June 17, 1775? What was the first flag used by the revolutionary army?
H. J. H.
Answer.—Reference to that standard work, “The Origin and Progress of the Flag of the United States of America,” by George Henry Preble, U. S. N., and other sources of information, shows that it is uncertain what flag, if any, was displayed by the Americans at Bunker Hill, in the famous fight of June 17, 1775. The flag raised on Prospect Hill by General Putnam, a month later, July 18, 1775, was red, with the motto, Qui Transtulit Sustinet , (who transplanted still sustains) on one side, and “An Appeal to Heaven” on the other. This latter motto was emblazoned on the white flag with a green pine tree carried by the privateers commissioned by Massachusetts, soon after this. The first cruisers commissioned by Washington also bore “the pine tree flag.” Before the battle of Bunker Hill, indeed, immediately after the battle of Lexington, on the 19th of the preceding April, the provincial troops of Connecticut carried a standard bearing the arms of that colony and the Latin motto above cited. As General Putnam and his Connecticut troops took a prominent part in the battle of Bunker Hill, it is presumable that this flag was displayed in that action, and by parity of reasoning it may be inferred that the colonial flags of Massachusetts and New Hampshire were carried into the action by the militia of those colonies. Precisely what these were it is almost or quite impossible to determine with certainty. Indeed, there seem to have been several different flags. The “union-flags” so frequently mentioned in the accounts left us of the revolutionary movements of 1774 and the early part of 1775 were, in most instances, the English red ensign, with such mottoes as “Liberty and Union,” “Liberty and Property,” or simply “Liberty.” Peculiar devices were employed by the patriots of different neighborhoods. Not until Jan. 2, 1776, was the first common standard raised. This was the “Great Union,” as it was christened, adopted by General Washington, and first displayed at his headquarters in Cambridge, Mass., on the date above given. It consisted of thirteen stripes, alternately white and red, with the crosses of St. George and St. Andrew in the union where the stars now glitter.