weather seems dull and heavy it prevents my coming up.” Consequently Jackson committed to a letter what he would have told Smith in person, starting with an account of his conversation with this most intriguing visitor.
Anthony Fagot (not “Fargo”) was a merchant operating out of St. Louis who, like many in that neighborhood, traced his roots to France, which had owned the Louisiana territory till it passed to Spanish control at the end of the French and Indian War. And like other traders along the Mississippi, he was trying to negotiate his way among the various claimants to the region: the Spanish, who claimed all of the west bank of the river and parts of the east; the Americans, who claimed most of the east bank; and the Indians, who claimed both banks. At the time he met Jackson, Fagot was attempting to open a regular trade between the Americans on the Cumberland and the Spanish at New Orleans. James Wilkinson had shown that such trade was possible; Fagot wanted to make it profitable. Commerce required the cooperation of the Spanish at New Orleans, who consistently taxed produce sent down the river from the American settlements and occasionally banned it. It also required the cooperation, or at least the acquiescence, of the Indians, who often harried traders crossing their lands and not infrequently killed them.
Fagot was as subtle as Wilkinson and others of that generation of schemers. He played a Spanish game in New Orleans, an American game in the Cumberland, and an Indian game between. Talking to Jackson, he told of his esteem for the United States. “He expresses a great friendship for the welfare and harmony of this country,” Jackson told General Smith. “He wishes to become a citizen.” He also wished to promote friendship between the United States and Spain. This would benefit trade both directly, by encouraging Americans to send their produce south and the Spanish to receive it, and indirectly, by facilitating joint action against the Indians. Jackson was developing an interest in trade, and with everyone else in the Cumberland he was painfully aware of the Indian threat. Fagot wanted to speak with Smith. Jackson urged Smith to see the Frenchman and listen to his plan. “I think it the only immediate way to obtain a peace with the savage.”
Jackson was in deeper water here than he knew. Smith took Jackson’s advice and received Fagot. Smith expressed innocuous amity, which Fagot subsequently represented to Governor Miró as a desire for the Mero District to secede from the United States in favor of Spain. Some in the district did feel such a desire, but not Smith and not Jackson. Before long Jackson would embrace exactly the opposite idea: that what Spain owned should become American. At that point he would regret having had anything to do with Fagot.
T he Fagot affair revealed something besides Jackson’s innocence of frontier diplomacy. It showed Jackson’s understanding that the militia commander—currently Daniel Smith—was the most important man in the district. This simple fact would explain much of Jackson’s career during the next thirty years, as he gravitated toward military command rather than civilian office. In the meantime it reflected the remarkably tenuous hold the inhabitants of the Cumberland settlements had on life in their new home.
A chronicler of early Tennessee tallied settlers killed by Indians, noting that during the first decade and a half of its existence, the Cumberland lost a man, woman, or child about every ten days, sometimes in the most ghastly fashion. The early summer of 1791 was especially cruel.
June 2d, 1791, the Indians killed John Thompson in his own cornfield within five miles of Nashville. June 14th, they killed John Gibson and wounded McCoon in Gibson’s field, eight miles from Nashville. They killed Benjamin Kirdendall in his own house in Summer county, and plundered his house of every thing the Indians could use. In June, 1791, three
Anthony Fagot (not “Fargo”) was a merchant operating out of St. Louis who, like many in that neighborhood, traced his roots to France, which had owned the Louisiana territory till it passed to Spanish control at the end of the French and Indian War. And like other traders along the Mississippi, he was trying to negotiate his way among the various claimants to the region: the Spanish, who claimed all of the west bank of the river and parts of the east; the Americans, who claimed most of the east bank; and the Indians, who claimed both banks. At the time he met Jackson, Fagot was attempting to open a regular trade between the Americans on the Cumberland and the Spanish at New Orleans. James Wilkinson had shown that such trade was possible; Fagot wanted to make it profitable. Commerce required the cooperation of the Spanish at New Orleans, who consistently taxed produce sent down the river from the American settlements and occasionally banned it. It also required the cooperation, or at least the acquiescence, of the Indians, who often harried traders crossing their lands and not infrequently killed them.
Fagot was as subtle as Wilkinson and others of that generation of schemers. He played a Spanish game in New Orleans, an American game in the Cumberland, and an Indian game between. Talking to Jackson, he told of his esteem for the United States. “He expresses a great friendship for the welfare and harmony of this country,” Jackson told General Smith. “He wishes to become a citizen.” He also wished to promote friendship between the United States and Spain. This would benefit trade both directly, by encouraging Americans to send their produce south and the Spanish to receive it, and indirectly, by facilitating joint action against the Indians. Jackson was developing an interest in trade, and with everyone else in the Cumberland he was painfully aware of the Indian threat. Fagot wanted to speak with Smith. Jackson urged Smith to see the Frenchman and listen to his plan. “I think it the only immediate way to obtain a peace with the savage.”
Jackson was in deeper water here than he knew. Smith took Jackson’s advice and received Fagot. Smith expressed innocuous amity, which Fagot subsequently represented to Governor Miró as a desire for the Mero District to secede from the United States in favor of Spain. Some in the district did feel such a desire, but not Smith and not Jackson. Before long Jackson would embrace exactly the opposite idea: that what Spain owned should become American. At that point he would regret having had anything to do with Fagot.
T he Fagot affair revealed something besides Jackson’s innocence of frontier diplomacy. It showed Jackson’s understanding that the militia commander—currently Daniel Smith—was the most important man in the district. This simple fact would explain much of Jackson’s career during the next thirty years, as he gravitated toward military command rather than civilian office. In the meantime it reflected the remarkably tenuous hold the inhabitants of the Cumberland settlements had on life in their new home.
A chronicler of early Tennessee tallied settlers killed by Indians, noting that during the first decade and a half of its existence, the Cumberland lost a man, woman, or child about every ten days, sometimes in the most ghastly fashion. The early summer of 1791 was especially cruel.
June 2d, 1791, the Indians killed John Thompson in his own cornfield within five miles of Nashville. June 14th, they killed John Gibson and wounded McCoon in Gibson’s field, eight miles from Nashville. They killed Benjamin Kirdendall in his own house in Summer county, and plundered his house of every thing the Indians could use. In June, 1791, three
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