“Now a deep voice would exclaim: ‘Welcome, Lafayette!’ then perhaps the next man in a shrill tenor would squeak: ‘Welcome, Lafayette!’ and so on down the line. Daniel, frantic at the burlesque of his order, vainly attempted to correct it, but as he unfortunately stammered when he was excited, his ‘Say it all to-to-together!’ could not overtake the running fire of ‘Welcome, Lafayette!’ which continued all along the line. ‘Great country! Great country!’ replied Lafayette, turning to Colonel Polk, who was vainly trying not to smile. Observing and recognizing an old acquaintance, Lafayette greeted him with great effusion: ‘Ah, my friend; so glad to see you once more! Have you prospered and had good fortune these years?”
“‘Yes, General, yes; but I have had the great misfortune to lose my wife since I saw you.’
“Catching only the ‘Yes, General,’ and the word ‘wife,’ Lafayette supposed he was informing him of his marriage, and patting him affectionately upon the shoulder, he exclaimed: ‘Happy man! Happy man!’ nor could be made to understand that his observation was not a happy one.
“After replying to the address of welcome, which had been delivered by Colonel Polk from the steps of the Capitol, Lafayette, with all the dramatic action of a Frenchman, turned to Polk and before the old soldier knew what he was about, threw his arms about his neck and attempted to kiss him on the cheek. Colonel Polk straightened himself up to his full height of six feet four, and instinctively threw his head back to escape the caress; but Lafayette, who was a dapper little fellow, tiptoed and hung on to the grim giant, while a shout of laughter burst from the spectators and was with some difficulty turned into a cheer.
“Of Col. William Polk’s influence in the State of Tennessee, Governor Swain, of North Carolina, has said: ‘He was the contemporary and personal friend and associate of Andrew Jackson, not less heroic in war and quite as sagacious and more successful in private life.”
“It is known that Colonel Polk greatly advanced the interests and enhanced the wealth of the hero of New Orleans by information furnished him from his field notes as a surveyor, and in directing Jackson in his selections of valuable tracts of land in the State of Tennessee; that to Samuel Polk, the father of the President, he gave the agency of renting the most fertile section of that State; and selling his (William Polk’s) immense and valuable estate in lands in that, as first President of the Bank of North Carolina, he made Jacob Johnson, the father of President Andrew Johnson, its first porter, so that of the three native North Carolinians who entered the White House through the gates of Tennessee all are alike indebted for benefactions and for promotions to a more favorable position in life to the same individual, William Polk—a man whose insight into character rarely admitted of the selection and never of the retention of an unworthy agent.”
At the outbreak of the war, Leonidas Polk was appointed Major General by Jefferson Davis and became one of the great generals of the Confederacy. He was killed by a cannon ball, on Pine Mountain, near Marietta, Ga., June 14, 1864.
Continuing the subject of the slave-owners’ interest in the spiritual welfare of his slaves, Miss Beauchamp, who was governess in Bishop Polk’s family, tells this amusing story:
“The Bishop, who would at times be away for weeks on visitations through his diocese, always brought on his return joy and pleasure to the household. He would amuse us for days with a recital of his adventures in the border regions of Louisiana and with the people he would meet there. On one occasion, having been up Red River, where an Episcopal clergyman was seldom seen, he was called in to baptize a sturdy, four-year-old youngster, who defiantly resisted sacrament unless his black Fidus Achates, Jim, would receive it at the same time. ‘Well,’ said the Bishop, ‘bring in Jim and I will make a Christian of him, too.’ Accordingly, Jim, being instructed by his mistress, was brought into the parlor; the pair went through the ceremony with perfect propriety and were dismissed to their play. Meanwhile, the friends and neighbors who had called to assist at the baptism and pay their respects to the Bishop, sat in solemn state, awaiting the announcement of dinner. Smallpox had been lurking in the country. Every one was excited on the subject of vaccination, and discussions as to whether it had taken on this or that subject had been the order of the day for more than a week. Suddenly the circle was astounded by the reappearance of Jim, who exclaimed, almost breathless with excitement: ‘Mistes! mistes! you must have Marse Tom baptized over ag’in; it never tuck that ar time. He’s out yonder cussin’ the steers wusser’n ever, and says he ain’t gwinter stop for nobody.’ The ice melted at once, and the stiffness of the circle vanished as the Bishop turned to his hostess and said: ‘A commentary on the doctrine of baptismal regeneration, my dear madam.’
“Every Sunday afternoon all the negroes on the plantation came up to the house and were taught by Mrs. Polk, her daughters and myself in different classes. Singing entered largely into the exercises, many of the negroes having a taste for music, and some of them excellent voices. The ceremonies of marriage and baptism were always performed by the Bishop himself and the names chosen by the negroes were sometimes very amusing. Many of them could not read, and they showed their appreciation of Greek mythology and Shakespeare by the number of Minervas and Ophelias among them. One Sunday twenty-five little negro infants were taken into the Bishop’s arms and christened. Though the scene was a very impressive and interesting one, yet some of the names were so droll to my ears that I could scarcely preserve a becoming gravity. One was named ‘Crystal Palace,’ another, ‘Vanity Fair,’ etc. But when a little creature, black as Erebus and squalling with its mouth extending to enormous size, was taken into the Bishop’s arms to be named ‘Prince Albert’ it was impossible for me to resist longer, and a heavy fit of coughing, gotten up for the occasion, saved me from a reproving look from the Bishop.’”