Descripción
Broadsheet, 19 x 9 inches, text printed in two columns on both sides. Old folds, some chips to edges, minor loss to upper left corner and closed tear to bottom edge (no text affected). Two small holes (affecting just one word), a few areas of soiling, light foxing, even tanning. Manuscript annotations to verso. About very good. A rare broadside recounting Andrew Jackson's infamous execution of Private John Woods, published in 1828 by Jackson's opponents during the 1828 election. There was considerable mud-slinging between the Jackson and Adams camps during that campaign, which eventually saw the defeat of incumbent John Quincy Adams and the election of Andrew Jackson. This dense broadside recounts the events of March 1814 at Fort Strother during the Creek Campaign, when Jackson charged John Woods, an eighteen-year-old militiaman, with disobedience, disrespect, and mutiny. According to the text, the trial itself only occurred because Jackson's soldiers would not shoot Woods at the moment of the offense, despite Jackson's cries to "Shoot the damned rascal!.blow ten balls through the damned rascal!" The court-martial followed soon after; Woods was found guilty and sentenced to die. Some testimonies here state that Jackson offered to spare Woods' life if he would enlist in the regular army, but Woods refused; others disagree. He was executed thirty-six hours later. Then follows the sworn testimony of several witnesses: Thomas Couch, Robert Ferguson, Samuel Hanna, George A. Brock, Isaac Roberts, James Harris, William Stewart, Joseph Alexander, Isaac Anderson, Abm. Whitney, and John Williams, all fellow soldiers of Woods who witnessed or had personal knowledge of the facts in the case. Their accounts of Woods' supposed mutiny substantially downplay the severity of Woods' disobedience, suggesting that it was likely a misunderstanding; they also emphasize the draconian nature of the punishment, and make several mentions of Woods' aging and infirm parents. Williams' account closes: "It is not true that Woods, on the ground of Execution, with oaths and defiance, refused to promise obedience. On the contrary, he wept loud and bitterly." All of the testimonies are datelined in Tennessee in the first few months of 1828. The nature of the printing lends itself to the possibility of a Tennessee press. Though not as famous as the "Coffin Handbills" that appeared at the same time, listing Woods' execution among many other crimes by Jackson, this was definitely addressed to the same audiences. John Spencer Bassett, in his LIFE OF ANDREW JACKSON, notes that the "execution of mutinous militiamen in the campaigns of 1813 and 1814 was recalled to show [Jackson's] ferocious temper; and when a Philadelphia editor published a hand-bill showing a coffin with the victims standing by its side, the idea was caught up eagerly and repeated in all parts of the country." Not in Wise & Cronin, and we could find no listing for this broadside in OCLC, or in American Imprints. It has only appeared at auction twice, and then not since 1925, when Anderson Galleries offered a copy as part of the sale of the Henry De Puy collection, which was strong in Andrew Jackson material. The only copy in the trade seems to be one offered by the Eberstadts in 1939. N° de ref. del artículo WRCAM56513
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