Nevertheless, the couple prepared to move to Washington. There was little time for Rachel to rest.
Then, just a few days before the Jacksons were to move, two doctors were called to the Jackson home. They found Rachel in great pain. She seemed to be having a heart attack.
After a day or so, she appeared to be better. She was able to sit up and talk with friends. But her mind was still troubled about the years ahead in Washington. "I had rather be a doorkeeper in the house of God," she said, "than to dwell in that palace in Washington."
In December of 1828, a few nights before Christmas, Rachel was sitting in a chair. Her husband had already gone to sleep. Suddenly, Rachel cried out and fell to the floor. The servants screamed. Jackson ran to the room, picked Rachel up and carried her to the bed. But he could see that life had already left her.
Witnesses said Jackson continued to sit next to her, holding his head in his hands.
Rachel was buried two days later. Ten thousand people went to the funeral. The Reverend William Hume spoke of Rachel Jackson's life. He talked of her kindness and humility. And he told how she had been upset about the personal accusations against her during the election campaign.
Jackson believed those accusations were a cause of Rachel's death. His anger is expressed on the stone above Rachel’s grave. One line of the inscription says, “A being so gentle and so virtuous, slander might wound but could not dishonor.”
最新
2013-11-25
2013-11-25
2013-11-25
2013-11-25
2013-11-25
2013-11-25