From John Claiborne, 22 September 1850
New York Sept 22nd. 1850
Thomas Claiborne
Mtd. Rifles
Oregon Territory
Dear Tom,
I am as you see a good way from home having left there on the 15th. Aug. I passed some 10 days at Nashville where I found and left all well. I came hither by way of the Lakes and Niagara making a very pleasant trip. Your last letter reached me just before I left N[ashville]. Your anxiety by reason of the misdirection of the letter from Mr. Gallaher was unfounded. But a few days before I got your letter I had read a general order of Aug 20th. in which all the appointments, resignations &c, in the Army since Jany last were set forth. No mention of any dismissal or dropping from the rolls in your corps was mentioned. In your case the direction was probably written by some newly appointed Clerk who confounded you with some officer discharged after the termination of the Mexican war, many of whose accounts are probably not yet entirely settled. I will go through Washington on my return home and see all about the matter to which you allude and write you on the subject by the mail of next month from N[ew] O[rleans]. In the meanwhile I am confident that there is and has been no cause for apprehension on your part.
Having disposed of this point, I come to another in which you are quite as much and more agreeably interested. I went twice to Maxwell Hall.1 I found Annie looking quite well, she has grown somewhat stout, and looks as plump as a partridge and as blooming as a milk maid. I wished to have a quiet talk with her on your affair but circumstances prevented it. I learned however from Roy that “every thing was right” and that you had no ground for any uneasiness. [H]e promised to write you fully on the subject, and has done so I presume ere now. I told him of your anxiety on the subject, and how pleasant it would be to you to be relieved of it. He say, she told him that she could not write to you; that she did not know how to begin &c. This is somewhat [illegible] in a person of her good sence; but you must remember that all women even those of excellent minds have their little weaknesses, in which they must be indulged, no matter at what costs in the way of annoyance solicitude &c, on the part of their lovers. That she loves you I feel no doubt, and you have only to have patience until affairs take such a shape as may enable you to marry her. You have plenty of time before you, and a little delay will do neither of you any harm. In your case for certain reasons which you have mentioned in various of your letters to me, I should consider it decidedly beneficial: for if there be anything in appearances your office of husband of so tempting a bit of flesh and blood will be no sinecure. It may be some satisfaction to you to learn that her lips are beautifully plump and rosy and that her kisses, are worthy of them.
I think that Mary and Roy will make a match fit. She is as kind and as fat as ever. Harriet I found installed as mistress of the old Overton mansion. She talked incessantly of you, and expressed frequently her strong hopes of seeing you again ere long. She has like a dutiful wife and is already in the way “which ladies wish to be who love their lords,” though how she would manage to love hers is incomprehensible to me. Jesse and his quiet old wife are getting along very easily, bringing to mind the contentment of John Anderson and his loving spouse.
In N[ashville] things go on pretty much as usual. Sally has if anything grown prettier, and is very gay and cheerful and has a greater taste for society than formerly. The old people are as well as could be expected. Hal & his wife and little ones get along I fancy quite well. His daughter is indeed a very pretty child and he is very proud of her, as are all the kin. Alexina MCall is about to marry a lean cadaverous looking Yankee named Peck, to whom Pa has taken a very great dislike; he compares him to a shad after spawning time, and not unjustly. Elizabeth appears determined to get rid of her daughters, without being very particular as to what kind of husbands they catch. Sally McRae I found the same disagreeable vulgar and ill disposed creature as ever. I never met anyone more so indeed.
I have ordered the Spirit of the Times to be sent to you and hope that it may reach you regularly.
The town here is rather crazy on the subject of Jenny Lind the great singer, you will likely be greatly amused and astonished at the descriptions in the papers of her concerts.2
I will write if necessary from Washington, and hope on my arrival at home to find letters from [missing word] Keep me advised fully of the course of things in Oregon because if I do not find my business very lucrative the coming year I may decide to go there and try my chances.
I remain
Yours Affectionately
John Claiborne
1. Maxwell Hall was the home of Annie (Maxwell) Claiborne’s family, located near Nashville.↩
2. Jenny Lind (1820-1887) was an acclaimed Swedish soprano singer known as “The Swedish Nightingale.” Lind’s American debut was on September 11, 1850, in New York City, and she toured the United States through 1851 with the famed showman P. T. Barnum. See Francis Rogers, “Jenny Lind,” Musical Quarterly 32:3 (July 1946): 437-448.↩