Horses of Andrew Jackson

Andrew Jackson astride Sam Patch, painted by Ralph E. W. Earl circa 1833 Andrew Jackson's Hermitage
Andrew Jackson Astride Sam Patch by Ralph E. W. Earl (c. 1833)
The Hermitage "as it appeared from the time it was built in 1819 until the wings were added in 1831"[1] showing an enslaved man, possibly Dunwoody, working with two of Jackson's horses; Jackson is on the left in the white hat

Andrew Jackson, who served as the seventh U.S. president from 1829 to 1837, was involved with horse trading, and the racehorse business, for much of his life. Jackson-as-equestrian was central to his identity and remains a major part of his public image; historian Donald B. Cole wrote that Marquis James' two-volume biography of Jackson, though Pulitzer Prize-winning, failed to supersede earlier biographies written by James Parton and John Spencer Bassett because James was "content to portray Jackson as a man on horseback."[2]

Horse racing

Jackson worked as a horse trader from a very early age, such that by age 15 in 1782 he was already considered "shrewd."[3] Horses figure in the earliest scenes of his adult life: During his first months living in the Watauga District near the present-day border between North Carolina and Tennessee, in "summer or early fall 1788",[4] Jackson organized and publicized a 0.5-mile (0.80 km) race at the semicircular Greasy Cove racetrack at what is now Erwin, Unicoi County, pitting his racehorse against one fielded by Robert Love, Jackson's acquaintance of four years past, and a veteran of battles with the British, Cherokee (ᏣᎳᎩ, Tsalagi), and Shawnee (Šaawanwaki). The planned matchup between the two horses triggered an absolute frenzy of wagering: "Guns, furs, iron, clothing, cattle, horses, negroes, crops, lands and all the money procurable were staked on the result."[5][6] Jackson personally rode in the race, and reacted to his defeat with a "Vesuvius of rage", during which display "Jackson denounced the Loves as a 'band of land pirates,' because they held the ownership of nearly all the choice lands in that section."[5] He had apparently ridden into town riding one horse, leading a second horse, "followed by a pack of fox hounds," which led historian Thomas P. Abernethy to conclude, "It was not customary for frontiersmen to fight duels or for newly licensed young lawyers without financial backing to own a race horse. His [Jackson] legal fees could hardly have supported his establishment and his pretensions. The only obvious conclusion is that he found racing profitable. And the gambling that goes with it."[7]

When he worked as a merchant and slave trader in the 1790s and 1800s, he or his assistant John Hutchings often shipped both horses and people to "the lower country" for resale.[8][9] During the period when what is now Huntsville, Alabama, was part of Mississippi Territory, "Horse racing was a favorite sport; Andrew Jackson raced his thoroughbreds at the tracks at Buckhorn, Green Bottom Inn, and other spots, and it is said, fought his cocks as well."[10] Buckhorn Tavern, located at what is now the intersection of Winchester Road and Maysville Road at New Market, Alabama, was an "early wayside stop for pioneer settlers as they traveled the road from Winchester, Tennessee, into Madison County. The tavern pre-dates the creation of the county, Dec. 13, 1808."[11] According to regional historian writing in 1957, "Here (I was told by a very old man) [Andrew Jackson] fought his cocks, and raced his horses on the track which circled the rise in what is now Edmund Payne's field; in that man's youth, the track could still be traced."[12] Jackson's horse(s) always lost at Green Bottom to Grey Gander, the prize horse of John Connally,[13] whose stables were run and the horses managed by an enslaved man of color named James Conley.[14]

Hand-drawn map of bends in the Tennessee River and early stores, houses, and forts near Nashville
Landmarks of Davidson County, Tennessee in the 1790s and early 1800s including Clover Bottom (1880)

Beginning in 1805, Jackson was part owner of Clover Bottom Racetrack, an important early racing venue in Davidson County, Tennessee.[15] Clover Bottom was being developed as a plantation when "men from nearby places, Jackson included, formed a jockey club...and laid out a racecourse here."[16] Jackson oversaw construction at Clover Bottom of a racetrack and horse stables, viewing stands, "a tavern or lodging facility", a store, and "booths for hucksters."[16][17] There was gambling going on in this establishment, as well as throughout the settlement.[18][19] (According to court records, popular hobbies in the Cumberland included a card game called loo, another game called fives, and the crime "assault and battery.")[20] Sometime between 1805 and 1810, Josephus H. Conn, a Nashville merchant,[21] brought a young boy to Clover Bottom on the occasion of a planned race between Jackson's horse Doublehead and Lazarus Cotton's horse Greyhound.[22] Many decades later, when the boy was Nashville judge and local historian Old Jo Guild of Rose Mont, he estimated that 20,000 people had been present, and he recalled that "a large pound was filled with horses and Negroes bet on the result of the race."[22] Shortly before the planned start, Jackson arrived to claim that Greyhound should be disqualified. He was "riding slowly on a gray horse, with long pistols held in each hand. I think they were as long as my arm and had a mouth that a ground squirrel could enter. In his wake followed my uncle Conn, Stokely Donelson, Patton Anderson, and several others as fierce as bulldogs."[22] In the words of historian Daniel Walker Howe in What Hath God Wrought: The Transformation of America, 1815–1848, "Slaves Jackson bought and sold in substantial numbers...Jackson is said to have wagered his slaves on horse races. However, he indignantly denied ever having been a professional slave trader."[23]

Another Tennessee track reportedly patronized by Jackson was Major Bradley's racetrack on the Lascassas Pike 2.5 mi (4.0 km) northeast of Murfreesboro, adjacent to "the old Indian dance ground."[24][25]

The most historically significant horse in his stable was Truxton, simply because the planned race against Joseph Erwin's Ploughboy led to the fatal duel with Erwin's son-in-law Charles Dickinson, which was later made an issue in the 1828 U.S. presidential election.[26] Truxton was the offspring of Diomed and Nancy Coleman.[27] Other important racehorses owned by Jackson included Doublehead, Opossum Filly, and Pacolet.[27] He also owned Bolivia, Busiris, Emilie, Indian Queen, and Lady Nashville, to name a few.[28] One source claims he had horses named President and Vice President.[29] There is an 1836 Edward Troye oil painting of Bolivia in the collection of the Sterling and Francine Clark Art Institute, in Williamstown, Massachusetts.[30]

1807 ad for Double Head

Jackson sold off a number of his horses in 1816.[15] That said, Jackson was the first president to keep his own stable at the White House.[31] The racehorses he had while President were nominally owned by his son, Andrew Jackson Jr. According to biographer Stanley Horn, "...it is plain to see that Jackson had a very exalted idea of the position he held and a keen understanding of the desirability of keeping the occupant of the President's chair entirely disassociated with the sordid business of horse racing."[32] Jackson's White House horses "so overflowed the Monroe stable that wooden shanties had to be built for further housing along the west fence of the grounds," and Jackson later convinced Congress to fund the construction of a larger brick-built stable, which stood from 1834 to 1857.[31] When Junior got into financial trouble during and after his presidency, Jackson sold off his stable of thoroughbreds to help raise funds for debt service.[33]

In old age, Jackson told an interviewer that his one abiding regret in life was that none of his horses had ever been able to beat Jesse Haynie's Maria in a race.[34] There were nine separate times when Maria raced horses owned by Andrew Jackson, including races against Decatur, a son of Truxton.[3] Maria won every single time. Hanie's Maria, purchased in 1809 for $100 as a one-year-old, was trained by one Greenberry Williams beginning in 1811, and "in her first three seasons she easily won every contest and roused Gen. Jackson's ire, which was also easily done. Jackson canvassed Virginia for a horse to beat Maria and paid a fabulous price to Wm. R. Johnson for Pacolet only to have her beaten by Maria under the saddle of 'Monkey Simon', a dissipated and impudent African hunchback, then noted for his performances as were Barnes and Tod Sloan a few years ago. A little later, at Clover Bottom, Maria and 'Monkey Simon' took all the purses that were up. She beat everything sent here to run against her and then she went to Kentucky and conquered the hitherto unbeaten Robin Grey, the great grandsire of Lexington, 'the racer without a peer, the sire without a rival.'"[35] Her jockey was an enslaved man named Simon, also known as Prince and Monkey Simon. According to one account, "Before one contest, Jackson approached the rider and said, 'Now Simon, when my horse and rider come to pass you, don't spit your tobacco juice in their eyes.' 'Why General,' the Prince replied, 'I rode a great deal against your horses, but none of them ever got close enough to catch my spit.'"[36] As one example of Jackson's grandiosity in gambling, it is told that in 1815 a large friend saw fit to physically pick up Jackson and carry him away in order to prevent him from betting $10,000 (equivalent to $175,909 in 2025) that his horse Yellow Queen would win her race against Jesse Haynie's Maria.[37] Yellow Queen lost, Maria won.[37]

Another case of Andrew Jackson demonstrating interest in an enslaved horseman comes from a report that he once offered to buy Abdul Rahman Ibrahima Sori from Thomas Foster of Natchez.[38] Ibrahima was an enslaved Prince of Fula who "in spite of his language deficit and the fact that he never made a good farmer...earned his keep as herder and an excellent handler of horses."[38]

The symbol of the Democratic Party is a donkey in part because opponents of Andrew Jackson unironically called him a jackass during the 1828 election, thus forging another enduring association between Jackson and animals of the genus Equus.[39]

See also

References

  1. ↑ Horn, Stanley F. "The Hermitage: a Project Gutenberg eBook". www.gutenberg.org. Retrieved 2026-07-12.
  2. ↑ Cole (1985), p. 360.
  3. 1 2 Durant, John (July 16, 1956). "Tennessee Turfman". Sports Illustrated. ISSN 0038-822X. Archived from the original on 2021-04-23. Retrieved 2025-01-27 – via Sports Illustrated Vault (SI.com).
  4. ↑ Arthur (1914), p. 329.
  5. 1 2 Allison (1897), pp. 100–109.
  6. ↑ Brown, Rosalie B. (October 1931). "Andrew Jackson and the Greasy Cove Race Track". Tennessee Historical Magazine. 2 (1): 62–66. ISSN 2333-9012. JSTOR 42641818.
  7. ↑ Abernethy (1932), p. 38.
  8. ↑ Bancroft (2023), pp. 250, 300.
  9. ↑ The Papers of Andrew Jackson - Vol. I, p. 261, 269, Vol. II, p. 6
  10. ↑ Jones (1971), p. 44.
  11. ↑ Luttrell, Alex III (1996). "Three Historical Markers Recently Unveiled in Madison County". Huntsville Historical Review. 23 (1) 6: 3, 6.
  12. ↑ Jones, Mrs. H. C. Sr. (1957-11-26). "History of Buckhorn". The Huntsville Times. p. 4. Retrieved 2026-08-15.
  13. ↑ Wasson (1984), p. 25.
  14. ↑ "Obituary: Valerie Conley Wood". The Courier-News. 2025-07-01. pp. A8. Retrieved 2025-10-15.
  15. 1 2 Rust, Randal. "Early Horse Racing Tracks". Tennessee Encyclopedia. Retrieved 2025-01-31.
  16. 1 2 WPA Guide to Tennessee (1939), p. 451.
  17. ↑ Kupfer (1970), p. 247.
  18. ↑ Ross (1899), pp. 145–146.
  19. ↑ W. G. T. (January 12, 1879). "General Jackson. The Eighth of January in Washington—Failure to Celebrate. Some Reminiscences of the Hero of New Orleans. His Kindness to His Slaves—As a Man of Business—A Visit to the Hermitage". Cincinnati Commercial. Cincinnati, Ohio. p. 5. Retrieved August 26, 2023 – via NewspaperArchive.com. Closed access icon
  20. ↑ DesChamps (1947), p. 226.
  21. ↑ Hickey (1976), p. 374.
  22. 1 2 3 n.a. (1874-09-02). "Old Hickory's Pluck: A Remarkable Scene on a Race-Track". Washington Chronicle. Vol. XII, no. 91. Washington, D.C.: Chronicle Publishing Co. p. 7 – via Newspapers.com. Free access icon
  23. ↑ Howe (2007), p. 329.
  24. ↑ Anderson, Mrs. J. B. (1956-08-05). "Bradley's Track Was a Stage Where Great Men and Great Horses Play Their Parts". The Rutherford Courier. p. 1. Retrieved 2026-07-15.
  25. ↑ "Bradley's". The Rutherford Courier. 1956-08-05. p. 3. Retrieved 2026-07-15.
  26. ↑ Anderson & Peyton (1916), pp. 45–50.
  27. 1 2 Skinner, J. S., ed. (December 1833). "Andrew Jackson's Favorite Horse Truxton". American Turf Register and Sporting Magazine. Vol. V, no. 4. Baltimore: J. D. Toy, Printer. pp. 167–168.
  28. ↑ Rust, Randal. "Early Horse Racing Tracks". Tennessee Encyclopedia. Retrieved 2025-01-27.
  29. ↑ "McNairy (continued)". The Tennessean. 1951-04-01. p. 79. Retrieved 2026-07-09.
  30. ↑ "Andrew Jackson's Horse - Bolivia". WHHA (en-US). Retrieved 2025-04-08.
  31. 1 2 Bushong, William (29 October 2014). "Presidents as Horsemen". WHHA (en-US). Retrieved 2025-01-27.
  32. ↑ "The Hermitage, home of Old Hickory, by Stanley F. Horn". HathiTrust. Retrieved 2025-01-05.
  33. ↑ Galloway, Linda Bennett (1950). "Andrew Jackson, Junior (Continued)". Tennessee Historical Quarterly. 9 (4): 306–343. ISSN 0040-3261. JSTOR 42621053.
  34. ↑ Oliver, John (2022-06-02). "Looking Back: My Maria". Lebanon Democrat. Retrieved 2025-01-27.
  35. ↑ Nashville-Gallatin interurban railway (1913). The historic Blue grass line; a review of the history of Davidson and Summer counties, together with sketches of places and events along the route of the Nashville-Gallatin interurban railway. Nashville, Tenn. p. 87.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link)
  36. ↑ Gilligan, Patrick Lawrence (2021-02-24). "The enslaved jockey who got the better of this U.S. President - time and again". Thoroughbred Racing Commentary. Retrieved 2025-01-27.
  37. 1 2 Kupfer (1970), p. 252.
  38. 1 2 Mitchell, Dennis J. (2014). A New History of Mississippi. Jackson: University Press of Mississippi. p. 44. ISBN 9781626740198. LCCN 2013044104. OCLC 863127649. Project MUSE book 33980.
  39. ↑ Stamp, Jimmy. "Political Animals: Republican Elephants and Democratic Donkeys". Smithsonian Magazine. Retrieved 2025-04-17.

Sources

Further reading

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