Florida Founder William P. DuVal: Frontier Bon Vivant

473 Pages·2015·41.877 MB·English

by  James M. Denham

Florida Founder William P. DuVal

Florida Founder
William P. DuVal
Frontier Bon Vivant
James M. Denham
The University of South Carolina Press
© 2015 University of South Carolina
Published by the University of South Carolina Press
Columbia, South Carolina 29208
www.sc.edu/uscpress
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Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
can be found at http://catalog.loc.gov/
ISBN 978-1-61117-466-3 (cloth)
ISBN 978-1-61117-467-0 (ebook)
Front cover illustrations: inset, William P. DuVal, courtesy of the
Collection of the Museum of Florida History; map, courtesy of the
Library of Congress
Contents
Illustrations vii
Preface ix
1. Scion of the Old Dominion 1
2. Soldier and War Hawk Politician 19
3. Judge and Governor 39
4. Founder of the Florida Territory 55
5. Neamathla and a New Territorial Capital 74
6. A “Corrupt Bargain” and a New Home in Florida 90
7. Trials, Tribulations, and “Left-H anded Justice” 106
8. “I have health, activity, good spirits, and
a small share of Perserverity” 126
9. “Harassed by the persecution of their neighbors” 141
10. Storm Clouds on the Horizon 155
11. “I intend to examine . . . Your relation to the President” 173
12. Nullifying an Election 185
13. “I shall return very poor to Kentucky” 202
14. “Do all you can for Texas” 224
15. Canals, Banks, and a Constitutional Convention 240
16. Faith Bonds, Division, Depression, and a Plague 263
17. “Tyler Too,” Washington Intrigue, and St. Augustine 284
18. State of Texas—S tate of Florida 304
19. “I will not be the cause of disunion in our ranks” 321
vi || Contents
20. Gone to Texas—G one to Washington 340
Epilogue 353
Abbreviations in Notes 357
Notes 357
Bibliography 417
Index 441
Illustrations
Maps
Wilderness Road to Kentucky Settlements, c. 1800 8
Kentucky, Indiana, and Illinois Territories during the War of 1812 24
William Pope DuVal’s Florida Territory, ca. 1834 187
IllustratIons
Henry Clay, ca. 1810 12
Washington Irving, ca. 1820 30
General Andrew Jackson in uniform 36
John C. Calhoun, ca. 1820 37
President James Monroe 45
James Gadsden, ca. 1820 65
Neamathla, ca. 1830s 71
Samuel Southard, ca. 1820s 81
Tallahassee Plan, 1824 100
Tuko- see- Mathla 116
Legislative Council Meeting House, Tallahassee, ca. 1826 128
John Gratton Gamble 130
Thomas Brown, ca. 1820s 131
Achille Murat, ca. 1820s 149
William Wirt 150
President Andrew Jackson 158
John Quincy Adams, ca. 1830s 167
William Pope DuVal, ca. 1830s 174
The Capitol, Washington, D.C. West from City Hall, 1832 204
Lewis Cass, ca. 1833 210
viii || Illustrations
City of Washington from beyond the Navy Yard, 1834 221
Louisville, Kentucky, Street Scene, ca. 1834 225
John Eaton, ca. 1834 228
Tallahassee Street Scene, ca. 1836 229
John P. DuVal 247
Samuel Parkhill and his brother John 256
Robert Raymond Reid 259
Martin Van Buren, ca. 1840 265
Richard Keith Call, ca. 1840 270
Washington Irving, ca. 1840 279
John Tyler, ca. 1840 285
William P. DuVal, ca. 1840 288
Thomas Douglas, 1840 289
St. Augustine Plaza, ca. 1840 294
David Levy Yulee 318
Edward Carrington Cabell, ca. 1848 335
Thomas Brown 338
John C. Calhoun, ca. 1850 342
Washington—C apitol, ca. 1848 349
Preface
BorN oNe year after the American Revolution in Richmond, Virginia, and dy-
ing six years before the Civil War, William Pope DuVal lived a life full of excite-
ment, adventure, triumph, tragedies, and disappointments. Son of a well-t o-d o
Richmond lawyer, Revolutionary War hero, and scion of a prominent Huguenot
family, the fifteen-y ear-o ld DuVal and his older brother joined thousands of other
Virginians heading west to Kentucky in 1800. The DuVal brothers’ purpose in
traveling to the “dark and bloody ground” of Kentucky was to patent thousands
of acres of Kentucky land their father had acquired from his service in the Amer-
ican Revolution. While the dangers of migration were real enough, the DuVal
brothers had advantages that other migrants to Kentucky lacked—c ash and con-
nections. With a loan from his father and land warrants in his saddlebags, DuVal
found relatives and his father’s business associates who eased the transition from
urbane Richmond to the Kentucky frontier.
Reading law in the Bardstown area, DuVal achieved notoriety as a lawyer and
politician. In 1812 he was elected to Congress, but before going to Washington,
D.C., he volunteered for service in the War of 1812. DuVal’s service in the Indiana
Territory during the War of 1812 was brief and inauspicious, but he did meet
numerous persons with whom he would associate in later years, such as William
Henry Harrison, Zachary Taylor, Ninian Edwards, Duff Green, and Lewis Cass.
As a “War Hawk” congressman representing Kentucky’s Tenth District in the
Thirteenth Congress, DuVal debated legislation on the controversial issues of the
day, including the embargo, conscription, and the National Bank. And in the fall
of 1814, he was among the members of the Thirteenth Congress who arrived to
find the capital in ashes after the British attack. DuVal met many men who would
have a significant impact on his future career in politics. Among these was his
lifelong mentor, John C. Calhoun. Returning to Kentucky after one term, he
practiced law but fell on hard times during the Panic of 1819. Relief came in 1821,
when Calhoun, James Monroe’s secretary of war, used his influence to have DuVal