1TWW Destinies Clash at the City Hotel: 2 John Charles Fremont 1 1 2 "To one familiar with the West

there is no frontier community of the late eighteenth or 3 early nineteenth century more intimately associated with eminent leaders than the little 4 village which became the beautiful city of Nashville. The name itself suggests a roll of 5 prominent pioneers." 6 7 Cardinal Goodwin, John Charles Fremont (1930) 8 9 "Blessed are they who wreak vengeance, for they shall be offended no more, and they 10 shall have honor and glory all the days of their life and eternal fame in ages to come." 11 12 George Fenwick Jones, parody of Matthew 5:11, in his Honor in 13 German Literature (1959) 14 15 What more colorful Western figure than John Charles Fremont? Climber of Fremont's 16 17peak, in Wyoming, mapper of so many trails west, trekker of the Sierra Nevada in mid-winter, 18 19and one of the openers of Oregon, he ranged over much of the United states beyond the 20 21Mississippi. With the connivance of Tennessee president James K. Polk, and former 22 23Tennessean Thomas Hart Benton, Fremont raised the U.S. flag in California, momentarily 24 25became its military governor--then found himself arrested, court-martialed and convicted of 26 27mutiny in the aftermath. 28 29 It was worth it, however, since he went on to run for president. 30 31 Fremont's checkered career stretched from the 1830s to the days of Wyatt Earp when he 32 33was the mediocre governor of Arizona. In Tombstone the Earps strode down Fremont street on 34 35their way to the gunfight near the O.K. Corral in 1881. The famous if flawed explorer had left 36 37his name allover the west. 38 39 Yet Fremont goes unmentioned in Tennessee history. The story of how his life 40 41intersected violently with that of Andrew Jackson, Thomas Hart Benton, and members of other 42 43"first families" of Nashville, has been overlooked by Jackson's biographers, and was suppressed 44 45By Fremont's wife, in her voluminous writings about her husband's career. 46 47 With good reason. John Charles Fremont had been an infant when his impoverished, 48 49furtive parents had brought him to Nashville in 1813. They were a pair of disgraced adulterers, 3

4TWW Destinies Clash at the City Hotel: 2 5 John Charles Fremont at Nashville-05-30-92 50 51 52shacked up and on the lam, already tarred with public, obloquy. Fremont's mother had been 53 54smeared in the press by her outraged--and discarded--husband. 55 56 She was the beautiful Anne Pryor, who had married the aged Major John Pryor, to escape 57 58the poverty that threatened her after her father's death. They lived in Richmond, and it was here 59 60that she met the dashing French aristocrat migr, Jean Charles Fremon. (His son John Charles 61 62Fremont would add the t.") The British had imprisoned him in the West Indies, probably for 63 64political reasons. He either escaped or was released, arriving in Norfolk with no money but 65 66flaunting enough charm and good manners to survive. A swordsman and fencing master, he 67 68became a teacher in a Richmond academy till he was fired for living flagrantly with an 69 70unmarried woman. Somehow Fremon was rehired. 71 72 Next he shifted his attentions to a married woman, Anne Pryor, whose husband promptly 73 74promised to kill her. Supposedly she retorted, "You may spare yourself the crime. I shall leave 75 76tomorrow morning...forever." Obligingly her fencing-instructor lover offered to kill 77 78her husband, if this would help out. 79 80 'Twasn't necessary. They merely ran off together, and the cuckolded Pryor ranted to the 81 82press\about how "the vile and insidious machinations of an execrable monster of baseness and 83 84depravity" had lured his wife into "criminal intercourse." Since the infidelitous Anne had 85 86"abandoned my bed and board for the protection of her seducer," Major Pryor warned the 87 88Richmond community that he wasn't liable for , his wife's debts. 89 90 Far from running up hotel bills in her husband's name, Anne and her French lover were 91hiding out with the Indians. Fremon was apparently imbued with the fashionable Rousseauean 92fascination with America's "noble savage," the redman. 93 94 The aggrieved Pryor petitioned for a divorce; it was denied, though a wishful-thinking 95 96"family tradition" asserts that they got one. Anne and Jean were probably in Savannah,.. Georgia 97 98(or maybe South Carolina) when their out-of-wedlock baby. John Charles, was born), on or 99

6TWW Destinies Clash at the City Hotel: 3 7 John Charles Fremont at Nashville-05-30-92 100 101 102About ,January 21, 1813. A "Frenchman's bastard" he would be called when he ran for 103 104President. 105 106 The fleeing, cheating Fremon couple arrived in Nashville in the summer of 1813. 107 108It was still a small town of muddy streets and unfinished buildings, "an outpost of civilization, 109 110wrote nineteenth century author L. U. Reavis, "a city of refuge and hospitality, furnishing a 111 112secure asylum for the weary traveler." The population was two thousand. On the town square 113 114stood the market the post office, the courthouse, the Nashville Inn.. .as well as Clayton Talbot' s 115inn which came to be called the City Hotel. 116 117 118 The City Hotel lay on the east side of the square~-it. was still standing in 1860 when 119 120Jackson's biographer James Parton described it as being: 121 122 one of those curious, overgrown caravansaries of the olden time, nowhere to be seen 123 now except in the ancient streets of London and the old towns of the southern 124 States; a huge tavern, with vast piazzas, and interior galleries running round three 125 sides of a quadrangle, story above story, and quaint little rooms with large fire126 places and high mantels opening out upon them; with long dark passages, and 127 stairs at unexpected places; and carved wainscoting. 128 129 (A caravansary was a hotel with a large courtyard, where caravans of wagons could park and 130 131unload.) 132 133 The Fremons moved into the City Hotel. 134 135 Then on August 3, 1813 the Nashville Whig announced the opening of a "FENCING 136 137ACADEMY" in the upper room of the court house, directed by J. C. Fremon. Classes would be 138 139given in "the Broad Sword exercise...so useful in the present crises," alluding to the war with 140 141Great Britain, as well as French lessons upon request. 142 143 But when Andrew Jackson and Thomas Hart Benton confronted each other at the City 144 145Hotel a month later, they displayed no Gallic grace nor poise whatever. Monsieur Fremons 146 147fencing lessons would have been wasted on them utterly. In the South, when the common man 148 149had a dispute, eyes were gouged out and noses and ears were bitten off. When the members of

8TWW Destinies Clash at the City Hotel: 4 9 John Charles Fremont at Nashville-05-30-92 150 151 152the professional or governing classes quarreled--like Jackson and Bentonthey customarily 153 154tried to kill each other with pistols. 155 156 When Jackson arrived in Tennessee twenty-five years before, 157 158according to biographer Gerald W. Johnson: 159 160 Tennessee was. the Wild West of 1788, exhibiting all the fascination of, say, Wyoming in 161 l888...As in the West of the James brothers and Buffalo Bill and Wild Bill 162 Hickcock, in the Tennessee of 1788 homicide was regarded as murder only in 163 case the victim had no chance to defend his life. If a man were killed in a fair 164 fight, it was not regarded as good form for the officials to be too inquisitive; while 165 the code duello was the recognized method for the settlement of gentlemen's 166 disputes. 167 168Jackson became a Tennessee attorney and judge--and his political1ambitions and vehement 169 170opinions made him the target of abuse and sometimes bullets. Scarcely a mama's boy, still he 171 172followed his mother's apron string's advice in affairs 173 174o "honor": She counseled him to never sue for slander but to "settle them cases yourself." 175 176Jackson fought duels, or stood ready to fight duels .with at least eight men. In a chapter 177 178titled "How Mr. Jackson Became a Western Bad Man and Was Greatly Respected," biographer 179 180Johnson says "Wild Bill Hickcock in his palmiest days was given no wider berth by the 181 182pacifically inclined than was Andrew Jackson in Tennessee." Jackson was famous for his 183 184"uncontrollable temper, which Johnson believes he switched on or off at will, depending on 185 186whether or not he needed to terrorize somebody. 187 188 Until lately, Jackson and Thomas Hart Benton had been fast friends. Back in 1801, when 189 190he was only nineteen years old, Benton had stood in a crowd and watched Judge Jackson 191 192officiating from the bench. Then he went on to develop his own successful law practice in 193 194Nashville and neighboring Franklin, becoming a state representative (1809-11), as well as a close 195 196ally of Jackson. Once he even wrote a speech for Jackson. Both men craved military glory, and 197 198served in the militia together. 199

10TWW Destinies Clash at the City Hotel: 5 11 John Charles Fremont at Nashville-05-30-92 200 201 202 And like Jackson, Benton had his own short temper which at times escaped his control. 203 204When he was only seventeen, in 1799, he had been kicked out of the University of North 205 206Carolina for stealing money from his roommates ("borrowing," he said). Earlier he had pulled a 207 208pistol on a student who had called him a liar, explaining later that he had only meant to wound 209 210the boy on the shoulder. Benton's disgrace had its salutary effect: it turned him honest, and in 211 212later years he would be regarded as the most incorruptible of U.S. senators. 213 214 Around 1800 his mother, a widow, moved her family by wagon train to Tennessee.,They 215 216settled about nine miles west of Franklin (25 miles south of Nashville) on a 3,000 acre farm, on 217 218the Old Hillsboro Road in Williamson County. Young Tom ran the farm, and he later recalled 219 220those years with relish. 221 222 Wilderness!...'The--widow Benton's settlement' was the outside settlement between 223 civilization and the powerful southern tribes which spread to the Gulf of 224 Mexico...The Indians swarmed about it. 225 226The Bentons built their home out of wood and stone, making it a kind of fortress~-a blockhouse227 228-with a cellar to hide in, should the Cherokee mount an attack. For mutual defense they invited 229 230other families to live in "Benton Town" as they called it, complete with a church and school. 231 232 The Bentons would eventually lay claim to 40,000 acres. And Thomas Benton, from his 233 234seat in the U.S. Senate, would one day help his countrymen claim a huge hunk of the continent. 235 236But now in the summer of 1813 he and his political crony Jackson had turned upon each other 237 238with murderous wrath. Recently they had been down in Natchez with the militia when that 239 240pompous old rogue, General James Wilkinson, tried to commandeer Jackson's equipment--and 241 242maybe his men--for U.S. Army service. When asked his opinion, Benton conceded that 243 244Wilkinson probably possessed the authority. An enraged Jackson marched his men homeward, 245 246even hocking his house The Hermitage to raise expense money--while weakening his health 247 248 249

12TWW Destinies Clash at the City Hotel: 6 13 John Charles Fremont at Nashville-05-30-92 250 251 252permanently on the trail, yet never slackening the pace. His awed troops began calling him "Old 253 254Hickory." 255 256 Benton loyally headed for Washington, D.C., to try to recoup Jackson's expense money. 257 258In Washington he heard demoralizing news. His own brother Jesse Benton had faced William 259 260Carroll (a future Tennesseegovernor) in a pistol duel...and his friend Jackson had served as 261 262Carroll's second! Jesse had fired and missed--then to satisfy "honor" (and save his life) he had 263 264crouched low and offered up his buttocks as a target. This was in craven violation of the dueling 265 266code, but Carroll cooperated, taking aim and hitting the bull's eye. Jesse Benton could not sit 267 268down for some time, to the delight of Nashville's loungers and rumor-spreaders. 269 270 Now the pen may be mightier than the sword, but the careless use of the former can lead 271 272quickly to the unsheathing of the latter~-or in this case, to the drawing of pistols. Jackson wrote 273 274a nasty, terse letter to Benton, accusing him of threatening him around town; Benton's thousand275 276word, lawyerly reply warned Jackson that "the terror of your pistols is not to seal my lips"; and 277 278Jackson's 1700-word rejoinder averred that "it is the character of the man of honor, an 279 280Particularly of the soldier, not to quarrel & brawl and back bite like the fish-woman..." Benton 281 282began publicly abusing Jackson, who reasonably promised to everyone that he was going to 283 284horsewhip Benton. 285 286 The Benton brothers checked into the city Hotel on September 4, 1813. Each wore two 287 288pistols. Over at the Hermitage, Jackson heard from the gossips that the Benton boys were in 289 290town. So he and the "oak tall" Colonel John Coffee (namesake of future Texas Ranger John 291 292Coffee Hays) headed for town, putting themselves up at the Nashville Inn across the square 293 294where the police station stands today. One is reminded of the Earp brothers stalking the 295 296Clantons and the McLowreys in the streets of Tombstone. 297 298 299*Wilkinson had once forced one of Jackson's friends to cut his hair according to military

14TWW Destinies Clash at the City Hotel: 7 15 John Charles Fremont at Nashville-05-30-92 300regulations, and even had him arrested (probably to conceal his own plotting with Spain). 301 302Next morning Jackson and Coffee went to the post office, and spotted the Bentons on the 303 304porch of the City Hotel. Jackson approached Thomas Benton, raising his horsewhip and saying 305 306something like, "Defend yourself, you damned rascal." Jackson and Benton may~-or may not~307 308have yanked their pistols at this time. 309 310 Jackson and Coffee probably backed Thomas Benton into the hotel. Lurking in the bar311 312roomnear the hallway which led to a portico over-looking the Cumberland River--was Jesse 313 314Benton, hand on his pistol which was loaded with two balls and a large slug. He fired from 315 316ambush. The slug shattered Jackson's left shoulder; one of the balls entered his left arm; the 317 318other smashed into a room partition. Jackson returned fire, sending a pistol ball through Thomas 319 320Benton's coat-sleeve. Then the huge John Coffee rushed in, firing and missing. By now the 321 322rest of the Jackson gang was arriving. Reinforcements included Hays's massive uncle, Stockley 323 324Hays (nephew of Mrs. Jackson), and Alexander Donelson (probably Jacksons nephew, *). 325 326Coffee and Donelson rushed Jesse Benton with daggers, while Stockley Hays jabbed him with 327 328the blade from his sword-cane--but it broke on a button. Jesse tried to shoot Hays but his pistol 329 330misfired. So with the help of Captain Hammond, Hays pinned Jesse to the floor and tried to cut 331 332his throat. But a bystander interceded. 333 334 Meanwhile the Jackson bunch was clubbing Thomas Benton with pistol-butts, and 335 336waving daggers which inflicted five "slight" wounds as Benton kept retreating. He was a very 337 338heavy man, and finally fell backwards down a flight of stairs to the rear of the hotel. 339 340 Suddenly it became more important to save Jackson's life, than to continue to attempt 341 342killing the Benton brothers. They hauled Jackson over to the Nashville Inn where his blood 343 344seeped through two mattresses. Every doctor in town rushed to his bedside, and all but one 345 346wanted to amputate. "I'll keep my arm," vowed the patient; and he kept the bullet as well for 347 348almost twenty years. 349

16TWW Destinies Clash at the City Hotel: 8 17 John Charles Fremont at Nashville-05-30-92 350*Jackson also had a brother-in-law of the same name. 351 352 Out on the square Thomas Hart Benton went swaggering up and down, damning Jackson 353 354as an assassin, and a vanquished one at that. Grandly he snapped Jackson's small-sword in twain 355 356to the glee of onlookers. Never had Nashville's scandal-devourers had such a repast! 357 358 Some bullets from the melee had smashed through the wall where baby John Charles and 359 360his parents were staying. His mother supposedly fainted, as the wild shots nearly hit her sleeping 361 362baby. The father Jean Fremon was momentarily away--upon his return, he began berating the 363 364Bentons. 365 366 Jackson and Jesse Benton never reconciled. His brother Thomas almost immediately 367 368provided the Franklin newspaper (September 10) with a shot-by-shot, stab-by-stab account of 369 370"the most outrageous affray ever witnessed in a civilized country." It was then reprinted as a 371 372broadside, with the Defoe-esque title, Some Accounts of Some of the Bloody Deeds of Gen. 373 374Jackson. Soon Benton was confiding in a letter that he "had the meanest wretches under heaven 375 376to contend with--liars, affidavit-makers, and shameless cowards. All the puppies of Jackson 377 378are at work on me...I am in the middle of hell, and see no alternative but to kill or be killed; for I 379 380will not crouch to Jackson," alluding to the act of crouching in the midst of a duel (as his brother 381 382had done with Billy Carroll, taking the pistol ball in the buttocks). 383 384 Benton said nothing but a duel would save him, since Jackson's friends were plotting to 385 386lure him into a scuffle, kill him, and then perjure themselves that he had started it. Then the 387 388Creek Indian massacre of nearly 300 settlers (including women and children) at Fort Mims in 389 390what is Alabama-today, inflamed everyone. Jackson wrote in the Nashville Whig that a 391 392momentary "indisposition" might keep him out of actionbut he called for volunteers anyway, 393 394in "a spirit of revenge." That same day (September 14) the Clarion issued a call for troops, 395 396particularly Benton's regiment down in Franklin. Off stormed Jackson into the fighting--with 397 398 399

18TWW Destinies Clash at the City Hotel: 9 19 John Charles Fremont at Nashville-05-30-92 400 401 402Sam Houston and David Crockett in the ranks, and another Tennessean, Joel Walker, for whom 403 404Walker pass in the Rockies would be named. And Benton? He had to content himself with 405 406service as a recruiting officer, strutting about in a flashy uniform. 407 408 Meanwhile, in the Whig for January 9, 1814 Fremon was advertising classes in 409 410"FRENCH LANGUAGE" in the evenings, at a new location: "Mr. Porter's brick house on Main 411 412Street." Afternoons he was still giving the "BROADSWORD EXERCIZE." He and Anne 413 414stayed in Nashville long enough for a daughter .to be born. 415 416 As for Benton, he hoped the war of 1812 would offer him a chance for battlefield heroics 417 418to advance his political ambitions. It didn't. So in 1815 he moved to St. Louis, having first 419 420glimpsed the West in 1813 when he'd traveled down the Mississippi with the militia. One day 421 422the nation would come to share his personal vision of expansionism. 423 424 In St. Louis, however, Benton fought two duels with the same man, killing him the 425 426second time. It so embarrassed him that he burned all his papers relating to it...along with those 427 428concerning the Jackson affray. 429 430 Speaking of whom, in 1822 Benton said that if Jackson ever became President, anyone 431 432daring to vote against him would have to "guard his house with BULL-DOGS and BLOOD433 434HOUNDS." 435 436 Then in 1824 at a White House function for President Monroe, Benton and Jackson met 437 438face to face once more. Benton bowed, took Jackson's outstretched hand, and soon was 439 440supporting his once-again friend. He backed his presidential bid in 1828. Embarrassingly, a 441 442London newspaper reprinted Benton's long-ago broadside published at Franklin which detailed 443 444the City Hotel fight, in an article titled "American Manners." While noting that Benton now 445 446supported Jackson, the paper said that the brawl gave "an extraordinary idea of the savageness of 447 448the South Western States." 449

20TWW Destinies Clash at the City Hotel: 10 21 John Charles Fremont at Nashville-05-30-92 450 451 452On January 12, 1832 the bullet from Jesse Benton's pistol was finally removed from 453 454Jackson's shoulder. He sent it to Thomas Hart Benton with a cover letter affirming that it 455 456rightfully belonged to the Benton family. Benton responded that by common law, Jackson had 457 458acquired title to the lead slug after "twenty years' peaceable possession." 459 460Reminded that it had only been nineteen years, Benton said he would .waive the extra year in 461 462view of the good care Jackson had taken of it, "keeping it constantly about his person." Benton 463 464joked to his friends: "Yes, I had a fight with Jackson. A fellow was hardly in fashion then who 465 466hadn't." (By 1834 the Tennessee constitution had managed to ban dueling, at least among state 467 468officials!) 469 470 On his death bed in 1845, Jackson sent messages of thanks to Sam Houston and Benton, 471 472for supporting his desire to annex Texas...calling Benton "a warm and sincere patriot...I beg you, 473 474when next you see him, to remember me to him." 475 476 In the U.S. Senate Benton advocated- the pony express, the telegraph, and the railroad, 477 478over protests usually from New England. Less to his credit was his support of Cherokee 479 480Removal, though understandable considering his years along the Indian-menaced Natchez Trace. 481 482But in Tennessee, Thomas Hart Benton is seldom remembered---even Benton County 483 484Ceased to claim him as its namesake, when he began to oppose slavery. 485 486 And Fremont? He returned to Tennessee in 1836-37 as a surveyor in the U.S. 487 488Topographic Corps. 489 490 Just like his cavalier father, he fell in love with a pretty girl over the objections of an 491 492older man. He eloped with her when she was but sixteen. Her name? Jessie Benton--the 493 494Virginia-born daughter of Senator Thomas Hart Benton of Missouri. Senator Benton quickly 495 496grasped that he had lost not a daughter, but had gained an ambitious son-in-law in Fremont...and 497 498a surrogate for his westward political crusade. 499

22TWW Destinies Clash at the City Hotel: 11 23 John Charles Fremont at Nashville-05-30-92 500 501 502When Fremont ran for President, his campaign was enlivened by the rollicking song, 503 504"We'll Give' Em Jessie," with such lines as: 505 506 Old Benton had a daughter, 507 Fair Jessie was her name, 508 The Rocky Mountain Ranger 509 A-courting her he came. 510 511Jessie Benton Fremont became one of the great romantic Nineteenth Century wives~-like Mary 512 513Shelley, Mrs. Browning, or Elizabeth Custer (defending her husband at Little Big Horn) 514 515exalting Fremont in book after book. Naturally she never reported how her husband as a baby 516 517had survived the City Hotel fight, in the company of his adulterous mother and her lover, as her 518 519own father and uncle tried to kill Jackson & Co. (and vice versa). 520 521 As John Myers observed in his picaresque tapestry of interwoven Western lives, The 522 523Deaths of the Bravos, "If a bullet fired at Andrew! Jackson had killed either him or Thomas Hart 524 525Benton, or if it had slain the infant John Charles Fremont, in place of doing no harm except to 526 527the walls of the room in which he was quarter,'" then American Western history might have 528 529taken a much more modest turn. 530