N.C. monument honors homegrown U.S. presidents

On the grounds of the State Capitol in Raleigh, N.C., is a historic monument titled “Presidents North Carolina Gave the Nation.” The statue is an appropriate prelude to the upcoming observance of Presidents’ Day, celebrated this year on Monday, Feb. 18.

The sculpture memorializes three U.S. presidents who the Tar Heel state claims as native sons – Andrew Jackson, James K. Polk and Andrew Johnson. They all occupied the White House during the 19th century.

Andrew Jackson of Union County served as the seventh U.S. president from 1829-37, and his inscription reads: “He revitalized American democracy.” Jackson is credited with making “democracy the touchstone of American politics.” He was viewed as the first “people’s president,” ushering in what historians have dubbed the era of “the common man” in American politics.

James Polk of Mecklenburg County served as the 11th president from 1845-49 and was praised because: “He enlarged our national boundaries.” Indeed, during Polk’s term in office, the United States annexed Texas, acquired California and determined the 49th parallel as the international boundary with Canada, thereby setting the stage for Congress to establish the Oregon Territory.

Andrew Johnson of Wake County served as the 17th president from 1865-69. His inscription attests: “He defended the Constitution.” Johnson was serving as vice president to President Abraham Lincoln when Congress passed the Thirteenth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution to “abolish slavery and involuntary servitude.”

When Lincoln was assassinated in April 1865, Johnson was sworn in as commander in chief. A great accomplishment was Johnson’s perseverance in securing the amendment’s ratification by the states. He personally appealed to governors of six hold-out states (including North Carolina and South Carolina). Johnson prevailed, and the amendment was ratified Dec. 6, 1865.

The Raleigh monument was sponsored by the North Carolina General Assembly, and it is one of the last works completed by acclaimed sculptor Charles Keck of New York City. The figures are cast bronze – Polk and Johnson are shown in seated positions, flanking Jackson, who is shown riding his horse. All are atop a pedestal of Mount Airy granite.

The sculpture was dedicated in ceremonies on Oct. 19, 1948. President Harry Truman came to Raleigh to do the honors. The mystery remains to this day – which of Jackson’s many horses is in the statue? He was both an ardent breeder and an avid bettor. Terra Schramm, state capitol site administrator, said it appears to be a horse with no name.

The dedication event drew a gigantic crowd – upwards of 50,000 people. In its news coverage, The State, forerunner to Our State magazine, simply said: “Name unknown,” referring to the horse.

Just for fun, let’s assume he is a white stallion known as Sam Patch. Jackson named that horse after America’s first daredevil Sam Patch, a professional waterfall jumper. Or perhaps the horse is a she – Jackson’s gray mare named Bolivia, who was a sleek racehorse. A third possibility is Duke, Jackson’s warhorse from the Battle of New Orleans. Remember the year?

It was 1814 when American troops “took a little trip…along with Colonel Jackson down the mighty Mississipp’…and caught the bloody British in the town of New Orleans. We fired our guns and the British kept a-comin’ – there wasn’t nigh as many as there was a while ago.”

Andrew Jackson’s heritage is by far the most controversial of the three men on the statue, because South Carolina thinks he was born there.

Not to rain on that parade…but astute North Carolina historians have pinpointed that the family cabin of Andrew and Elizabeth (Betty) Hutchison Jackson, recent emigrants from Ireland, was built in 1765 on a 200-acre plot near the head of Ligget’s Branch, a tributary of Twelve Mile Creek.

It is now known as the community of Waxhaw in Union County, N.C. (The region was called the Waxhaws before the formal boundary between the Carolinas was established, named for a Native American tribe.)

Betty was “with child,” carrying the couple’s third child when her husband died in late February 1767, the result of a freak logging accident. He was 29. The burial was to be in the cemetery of the Old Waxhaw Presbyterian Church, about 12 miles south of the Jackson homestead (definitely on the South Carolina side).

Jimmy Phillips, a distant cousin of the Jackson family and a genealogist, published an essay in 2009, commenting: “Heavy snow had fallen in the Waxhaws when Betty and her sons were bundled into a wagon for the funeral procession. They stopped at the home of George McKemey (aka McCamie)…for refreshments.” (George was married to one of Betty’s sisters, Margaret.)

From there, the combined families traveled on to the Crawford Plantation, home of James and Jane Crawford (yet a third Hutchison sister). Phillips reported: “There was plenty of food, brandy and fellowship…and before they knew it, night was upon them.” Because of the custom to “sit up” with the corpse, the drinking in the parlor likely continued until daybreak.

Historian Susan Goodman Sides wrote a commentary that was published March 19, 2017, in the Salisbury (N.C.) Post. As she tells it:

“The next morning the dead body was wrapped and tied to a type of sled pulled by horses, and the journey to the burial site at the church began. Rev. William Richardson was prepared to perform the burial service. To their dismay, somehow the corpse had come loose and was gone.” Dabnabbit!

“The pallbearers retraced their path and found the corpse on the bank of one of the creeks they crossed. The body was retrieved, and the burial of Andrew Jackson Sr. took place at the churchyard,” Sides reported.