President Andrew Jackson Buys Silver and China For the Hermitage From the Aggrieved Widow of Naval Hero Stephen Decatur, Tragically Killed in a Duel

Susan Wheeler was the daughter of the mayor of Norfolk, Virginia, and the most eligible belle of the town. She spurned marriage offers from such luminaries as Jerome Bonaparte and Aaron Burr, before meeting Commodore Stephen Decatur at a ball held in honor of a Tunisian ambassador there to negotiate peace with America. The couple married in 1805, and by the close of the War of 1812, Stephen, in light of his exploits, had become a national hero. With ample prize-money in his pocket, Stephen Decatur commissioned Benjamin H. Latrobe to design a fashionable townhouse on Lafayette Square in 1816, and the couple became the center of Washington society. Completed in 1818, the couple only enjoyed a year together in their new home. After a large party in 1820, Commodore James Barron, claiming Decatur had ruined his career, challenged him to a duel. Barron mortally wounded Decatur, who died later the same night. His widow, unable to bear living there, moved to a cottage on the grounds of Georgetown College, and rented out the townhouse to dignitaries including John Quincy Adams, Henry Clay, Martin Van Buren and Edward Livingston.  The lavish lifestyle that she had enjoyed at the center of Washington society left her in debt.

The U.S. government unaccountably withheld substantial funds due to her husband and his crew from the prizes they took at sea. She went on a fourteen year campaign to obtain those funds, both for herself and the families of the other crew members. Such disparate individuals as Henry Clay, Daniel Webster, Andrew Jackson, John Quincy Adams, and James K. Polk all endeavored to assist her.  Yet session after session the bill in Congress “for the relief of Susan Decatur and others” would pass one House, only to be defeated or tabled in the other. By 1833 she was in need, and from this letter, it would appear that President Jackson was purchasing her silver and china in a magnanimous effort to assist her.

Autograph Letter Signed, as President,  Washington, May 18, 1833, to Susan Wheeler Decatur, detailing part of his efforts for her. “Dear Madam, Your note of this day reached me last this evening, too late to inclose you a check for your china and plated ware in time to present it for payment at Bank today. I inclose it, that you may early on Monday have it cashed. You will please direct your servant to have some careful & experienced person to pack them for transportation safely by water to the Hermitage, and employ a drayman [wagon driver] to bring them here and I will pay for the package and all other expense. I will endeavor to get a better price for them for you, from some of the heads of Departments, if I cannot I will send them to the Hermitage and there leave them for those who come after me. I write in great pain in my side &  breast this evening. I hope it will be better tomorrow. I am with great respect your friend, Andrew Jackson”. The address leaf in his hand is still present.

Although he mentions selling these to cabinet members, in the end he gave it to Sarah Jackson, his daughter-in-law and White House hostess.  7 of the 8 pieces are still at the Hermitage; 1 is at the Smithsonian.