Albert Gallatin
passed through Providence, where he took sail for New York. Stopping for
an hour at Newport for dinner, he reached New York on July 21, 1783. The
same day the frigate Mercury arrived from England with news of the
signature of the definitive treaty of peace. He was delighted with the
beauty of the country-seats above the city, the vast port with its
abundant shipping, and with the prospect of a theatrical entertainment.
The British soldiers and sailors, who were still in possession, he found
rude and insolent, but the returning refugees civil and honest people.
At Boston Gallatin made the acquaintance of a French gentleman, one
Savary de Valcoulon, who had crossed the Atlantic to prosecute in person
certain claims against the State of Virginia for advances made by his
house in Lyons during the war. He accompanied Gallatin to New York, and
together they traveled to Philadelphia; Savary, who spoke no English,
gladly attaching to himself as his companion a young man of the ability
and character of Gallatin.
At Philadelphia Gallatin was soon after joined by Serre, who had
remained behind, engaged also in giving instruction. The meeting at
Philadelphia seems to have been the occasion for the dissolution of a
partnership in which Gallatin had placed his money, and Serre his
enthusiasm and personal charm. A settlement was made; Serre giving his
note to Gallatin for the sum of six hundred dollars,--one half of their
joint expenses for three years,--an obligation which was repaid more
than half a century later by his sister. Serre then joined a
fellow-countryman and went to Jamaica, where he died in 1784. At
Philadelphia Gallatin and Savary lodged in a house kept by one Mary
Lynn. Pelatiah Webster, the political economist, who owned the house,
was also a boarder. Later he said of his fellow-lodgers that "they were
well-bred gentlemen who passed their time conversing in French."
Gallatin, at the end of his resources, gladly acceded to Savary's
request to accompany him to Richmond.
Whatever hesitation Gallatin may have entertained as to his definitive
expatriation was entirely set at rest by the news of strife between the
rival factions in Geneva and the interposition of armed force by the
neighboring governments. This interference turned the scale against the
liberal party. Mademoiselle Pictet was the only link which bound him to
his family. For his ingratitude to her he constantly reproached himself.
He still styled himself a citizen of Geneva, but this was only as a
matter of convenience and security to his correspondence. His
determination to make America his home was now fixed. The lands on the
banks of the Ohio were then considered the most fertile in America,--the
best for farming purposes, the cultivation of grain, and the raising of
cattle. The first settlement in this region was made by the Ohio
Company, an association formed in Virginia and London, about the middle
of the century, by Thomas Lee, together with Lawrence and Augustine,
brothers of George Washington. The lands lay on the south side of the
Ohio, between the Monongahela and Kanawha rivers. These lands were known
as "Washington's bottom lands." In this neighborhood Gallatin determined
to purchase two or three thousand acres, and prepare for that ideal
country home which had been the dream of his college days. Land here was
worth from thirty cents to four dollars an acre. His first purchase was
about one thousand acres, for which he paid one hundred pounds,
Virginia currency. Land speculation was the fever of the time. Savary
was early affected by it, and before the new friends left Philadelphia
for Richmond he bought warrants for one hundred and twenty thousand
acres in Virginia, in Monongalia County, between the Great and Little
Kanawha rivers, and interested Gallatin to the extent of one quarter in
the purchase. Soon after the completion of this transaction the sale of
some small portions reimbursed them for three fourths of the original
cost. This was the first time when, and Savary was the first person to
whom, Gallatin was willing to incur a pecuniary obligation. Throughout
his life he had an aversion to debt; small or large, private or public.
It was arranged that Gallatin's part of the purchase money was not to be
paid until his majority,--January 29, 1786,--but in the meanwhile he
was, in lieu of interest money, to give his services in personal
superintendence. Later Savary increased Gallatin's interest to one half.
Soon after these plans were completed, Savary and Gallatin moved to
Richmond, where they made their residence.
In February, 1784, Gallatin returned to Philadelphia, perfected the
arrangements for his expedition, and in March crossed the mountains,
and, with his exploring party, passed down the Ohio River to Monongalia
County in Virginia. The superior advantages of the country north of the
Virginia line determined him to establish his headquarters there. He
selected the farm of Thomas Clare, at the junction of the Monongahela
River and George's Creek. This was in Fayette County, Pennsylvania,
about four miles north of the Virginia line. Here he built a log hut,
opened a country store, and remained till the close of the year. It was
while thus engaged at George's Creek, in September of the year 1784,
that Gallatin first met General Washington, who was examining the
country, in which he had large landed interests, to select a route for a
road across the Alleghanies. The story of the interview was first made
public by Mr. John Russell Bartlett, who had it from the lips of Mr.
Gallatin. The version of the late Hon. William Beach Lawrence, in a
paper prepared for the New York Historical Society, differs slightly in
immaterial points. Mr. Lawrence says:--
"Among the incidents connected with his (Mr. Gallatin's) earliest
explorations was an interview with General Washington, which he
repeatedly recounted to me. He had previously observed that of all
the inaccessible men he had ever seen, General Washington was the
most so. And this remark he made late in life, after having been
conversant with most of the sovereigns of Europe and their prime
ministers. He said, in connection with his office, he had a cot-bed
in the office of the surveyor of the district when Washington, who
had lands in the neighborhood, and was desirous of effecting
communication between the rivers, came there. Mr. Gallatin's bed
was given up to him,--Gallatin lying on the floor, immediately
below the table at which Washington was writing. Washington was
endeavoring to reduce to paper the calculations of the day.
Gallatin, hearing the statement, came at once to the conclusion,
and, after waiting some time, he himself gave the answer, which
drew from Washington such a look as he never experienced before or
since. On arriving by a slow process at his conclusion, Washington
turned to Gallatin and said, 'You are right, young man.'"
The points of difference between the two accounts of this interview are
of little importance. The look which Washington is said to have given
Mr. Gallatin has its counterpart in that with which he is also said to
have turned upon Gouverneur Morris, when accosted by him familiarly with
a touch on the shoulder. Bartlett, in his recollection of the anecdote,
adds that Washington, about this period, inquired after the forward
young man, and urged him to become his land agent,--an offer which
Gallatin declined.
The winter of 1784-85 was passed in Richmond, in the society of which
town Mr. Gallatin began to find a relief and pleasure he had not yet
experienced in America. At this period the Virginia capital was the
gayest city in the Union, and famous for its abundant hospitality,
rather facile manners, and the liberal tendency of its religious
thought. Gallatin brought no prudishness and no orthodoxy in his
Genevese baggage. One of the last acts of his life was to recognize in
graceful and touching words the kindness he then met with:--
"I was received with that old proverbial Virginia hospitality to
which I know no parallel anywhere within the circle of my travels.
It was not hospitality only that was shown to me. I do not know how
it came to pass, but every one with whom I became acquainted
appeared to take an interest in the young stranger. I was only the
interpreter of a gentleman, the agent of a foreign house, that had
a large claim for advances to the State, and this made me known to
all the officers of government, and some of the most prominent
members of the Legislature. It gave me the first opportunity of
showing some symptoms of talent, even as a speaker, of which I was
not myself aware. Every one encouraged me, and was disposed to
promote my success in life. To name all those from whom I received
offers of service would be to name all the most distinguished
residents at that time in Richmond."
In the spring of 1785, fortified with a certificate from Governor
Patrick Henry, commending him to the county surveyor, and intrusted by
Henry with the duty of locating two thousand acres of lands in the
western country for a third party, he set out from Richmond, on March
31, alone, on horseback. Following the course of the James River he
crossed the Blue Ridge at the Peaks of Otter, and reached Greenbrier
Court House on April 18. On the 29th he arrived at Clare's, on George's
Creek, where he was joined by Savary. Their surveying operations were
soon begun, each taking a separate course. An Indian rising broke up the
operations of Savary, and both parties returned to Clare's. Gallatin
appeared before the court of Monongalia County, at its October term, and
took the "oath of allegiance and fidelity to the Commonwealth of
Virginia." Clare's, his actual residence, was north of the Virginia
line, but his affections were with the old Dominion. In November the
partners hired from Clare a house at George's Creek, in Springfield
township, and established their residence, after which they returned to
Richmond by way of Cumberland and the Potomac. In February, 1786,
Gallatin made his permanent abode at his new home.
Mention has been made of the intimacy of the young emigrants with Jean
Badollet, a college companion. When they left Geneva he was engaged in
the study of theology, and was now a teacher. He was included in the
original plan of emigration, and the first letters of both Gallatin and
Serre, who had for him an equal attachment, were to him, and year by
year, through all the vicissitudes of their fortune, they kept him
carefully informed of their movements and projects. For two years after
their departure no word was received from him. At last, spurred by the
sharp reproaches of Serre, he broke silence. In a letter written in
March, 1783, informing Gallatin of the troubles in Switzerland, he
excused himself on the plea that their common friend, Dumont, retained
him at Geneva. In answer, Gallatin opened his plans of western
settlement, which included the employment of his fortune in the
establishment of a number of families upon his lands. He suggested to
Badollet to bring with him the little money he had, to which enough
would be added to establish him independently. Dumont was invited to
accompany him. But with a prudence which shows that his previous
experience had not been thrown away upon him, Gallatin recommends his
friend not to start at once, but to hold himself ready for the next, or,
at the latest, the year succeeding, at the same time suggesting the idea
of a general emigration of such Swiss malcontents as were small
capitalists and farmers; that of manufacturers and workmen he
discouraged. It was not, however, until the spring of 1785, on the eve