American Phoenix Read online

  Praise for American Phoenix

  “Long before ‘Barack and Michelle’ or ‘Bill and Hillary,’ there were ‘John and Louisa.’ Leave it to my friend Jane to set us straight on America’s first real power couple. And leave it to this incredible historian, to show how John Quincy and Louisa Adams not only took themselves to new heights, but this country to new heights as well. Just when I thought I knew everything about John, along comes Jane to whack me upside the head and complete the power picture . . . with Louisa. Great story. Great book. Great, period.”

  —NEIL CAVUTO, ANCHOR AND SR. VP, FOX NEWS AND FOX BUSINESS

  “This wonderful book from Jane Hampton Cook goes a long way in shining a light on a compelling—and little known—woman in American history. British-born American Louisa Catherine Adams was a patriot and diplomat and did her part to secure America’s sovereignty and power among nations at a time when America was a country in name only. With unending faith in the promise of our new nation, this future First Lady endured hardship, loneliness, illness, economic uncertainty and a heartbreaking separation from two of her children to help secure America’s place on the world stage.”

  —ANITA MCBRIDE, AMERICAN UNIVERSITY, AND FORMER ASSISTANT TO PRESIDENT GEORGE W. BUSH AND CHIEF OF STAFF TO FIRST LADY LAURA BUSH

  “Jane Hampton Cook’s storyteller’s narrative and penchant for detail vividly portrays John Quincy and Louisa Adams’s watershed quest to establish America’s sovereignty among nations. The couple’s perseverance to diplomacy in the establishment of early America’s free trade and to crossing European cultural divides to promote peace during wartime helped turn the tide of American and world history. Cook’s glimpse, through diary entries, into the Adamses’ sacrificial and loving devotion to one another amid scenes of political intrigue transcends time, inspiring reader and historian. A mesmerizing tale of two patriotic and focused faith-filled lives as needed and relevant today as it was 200 years ago.”

  —CATHY GOHLKE, CHRISTY AWARD–WINNING AUTHOR OF PROMISE ME THIS AND BAND OF SISTERS

  “Jane Hampton Cook’s American Phoenix is a hugely entertaining and deep and dramatic portrait of America’s sixth president and his wife Louisa, the only First Lady born outside of the United States. It tells the forgotten story of the Adamses in exile, when John Quincy was James Madison’s minister to Russia, and how his diplomacy, with Louisa’s assistance, helped to end the War of 1812, America’s perilous second revolution. Cook creates vivid, cinematic scenarios, reminiscent of a David Lean epic set in Napoleonic Europe. The title is telling. If there is a better example of a political and historical comeback and a continuation of service to country than American Phoenix, I’ve yet to read it.”

  —KEVIN KNOBLOCK, WRITER, DIRECTOR, AND DOCUMENTARY FILMMAKER, A CITY UPON A HILL

  “John Quincy Adams has what it takes to obtain America’s full sovereignty as an infant nation, but has no idea what that assignment will cost him. American Phoenix recounts the rise of JQA from the ashes of political irrelevancy to strategic obscurity. Caught in the life-altering wake of her husband’s diplomatic service in St. Petersburg, Russia, Louisa Adams navigates through loneliness, loss, and depression. Along the way she is forced to face that which has sought to destroy her very heart, soul, mind, and marriage. What Jane Hampton Cook has unearthed in American Phoenix is a magnificent love story. John and Louisa Adams knew they deeply loved their country, but what they needed to find out when the ice of service and sacrifice melted, was if their love for one another would survive the ordeal. If you love America, a realistic love story, and cheering for the underdog, American Phoenix offers you an outlet for all three. You won’t be disappointed!”

  —DONNA TALLMAN, SCREENWRITER

  “When Jane Hampton Cook brings history to life, she gives us what many don’t: the full human experience behind the names of those long gone, textured with emotion, riddled with conflict, and surprisingly relevant to us today.”

  —JOCELYN GREEN, AUTHOR OF THE HEROINES BEHIND THE LINES SERIES

  “American Phoenix by Jane Hampton Cook is an immaculate work of nonfiction, though it reads like a page-turning novel. Cook’s attention to detail and historical accuracy transports us as readers back to the time of the War of 1812 and immerses us in the lives and drama that played out—much of it behind the scenes—at that time. If you like American history as told through the hearts and lives of those who lived it and sacrificed for its outcome, you will love American Phoenix!”

  —KATHI MACIAS, MULTI-AWARD-WINNING AUTHOR OF NEARLY 40 BOOKS, INCLUDING THE GOLDEN SCROLLS 2011 NOVEL OF THE YEAR, RED INK (WWW.KATHIMACIAS.COM)

  © 2013 by Jane Hampton Cook

  All rights reserved. No portion of this book may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means—electronic, mechanical, photocopy, recording, scanning, or other—except for brief quotations in critical reviews or articles, without the prior written permission of the publisher.

  Published in Nashville, Tennessee, by Thomas Nelson. Thomas Nelson is a registered trademark of Thomas Nelson, Inc.

  Thomas Nelson, Inc., titles may be purchased in bulk for educational, business, fund-raising, or sales promotional use. For information, please e-mail [email protected].

  Adams Family Papers, permission from the Massachusetts Historical Society.

  Scripture quotations are taken from the King James Version (public domain).

  Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

  Cook, Jane Hampton.

  American phoenix : John Quincy and Louisa Adams, the War of 1812, and the exile that saved American independence / Jane Hampton Cook.

  pages cm

  Includes bibliographical references and index.

  ISBN 978-1-59555-541-0

  1. Adams, John Quincy, 1767-1848. 2. Adams, Louisa Catherine, 1775-1852. 3. United States--History--War of 1812--Biography. 4. United States--History--War of 1812--Diplomatic history. 5. United States--History--War of 1812--Peace. 6. United States--Foreign relations--Russia. 7. Russia--Foreign relations--United States. 8. Diplomats--United States--Biography. 9. Presidents--United States--Biography. 10. Presidents’ spouses--United States--Biography. I. Title.

  E377.C67 2013

  973.5’22092--dc23

  2012039898

  Printed in the United States of America

  13 14 15 16 17 RRD 6 5 4 3 2 1

  In memory of my fiercely independent grandmother, Kathryn

  Jane McKewen Travis, who would have recognized some of

  herself—and her daughters and granddaughters—in

  Louisa Catherine Johnson Adams

  Contents

  Author’s Note: Recalling the Ones Who Were

  PART 1: JOURNEY INTERRUPTED

  1. Murder Outside

  2. Thief Inside

  3. Lost

  4. The Crossing

  PART 2: JOURNEY BEGINS

  5. Fireworks

  6. Good-bye, Boston Birches

  7. Danish Prey

  8. Three Hundred Americans

  9. Caricature vs. Character

  10. All the World’s a Stage

  11. Baltic Circle

  12. Fig Leaves

  13. Déjà Vu

  14. Eve’s Leaves

  15. Loneliness and Splendor

  16. When in Rome . . .

  17. French Économie

  18. Ice Hills

  19. Divorce

  20. Water

  21. Winter Woes

  22. Contradictions

  23. Pretense and Propriety

  24. Plato’s Beard

  25. Moving On

  26. Fencing Pirates

  27. French Choice

  28. French Accomplice

&
nbsp; 29. Obstinate

  30. American Cinderellas

  31. Christening

  32. The Snub

  33. New Year’s Bang

  34. Exit Strategy

  35. French Cooling

  36. Recall and Relocation

  37. Correspondence and Contractions

  38. Supreme Recall

  39. Summer Solstice

  40. The Removal

  41. The Confinement

  42. Christening Reprise

  43. Comets

  44. Baltic Freeze

  45. Interference

  46. Tomorrow

  47. Heaven

  48. Enemy Within

  49. Impressment

  50. Retreat

  51. Dry Bones

  PART 3: JOURNEY RESURRECTED

  52. Escape

  53. American Phoenix

  54. Queen of Hearts

  55. King of Spades

  56. “The Star-Spangled Banner”

  57. Antebellum

  58. Vive!

  Epilogue: The Birches of Boston

  Acknowledgments

  Notes

  Bibliography

  Index

  About the Author

  Author’s Note

  RECALLING THE ONES WHO WERE

  The phoenix riddle hath more wit. By us, we two being one, are it.

  —JOHN DONNE, ENGLISH POET, CIRCA 1631

  THOUGH HE OFTEN CONCEALED HIS TRUE FEELINGS FROM POLITE society, President John Quincy Adams kept detailed diaries throughout his life. Dipping a pen into his inkwell was as natural to him as breathing. In contrast his letters—particularly to his parents, brother, and wife—revealed this reserved man’s deeper passions of love, justice, and a manly quest for honor.

  An avid reader, John also understood the value of eyewitness accounts to historians. If his life proved influential at all—something he longed for—he suspected scholars just might collect his diaries and correspondence. He was right. Researchers throughout the years have published his writings in many volumes.

  His wife, Louisa, also loved the written word. She, too, dared to dream that someone just might take an interest in her life. In her own Jane Austen–like way, she kept a diary and even dabbled in drafting fiction. When she wrote about one of the most dramatic times in her life, she hoped that one day, maybe—just maybe—her story could make a difference in someone else’s life too.

  “It may perhaps at some future day serve to recall the memory of one who was—and show that many undertakings which appear very difficult and arduous to my sex, are by no means so trying as imagination forever depicts them.”

  Writing was the key to being remembered in their generation. Photography didn’t exist in their heyday, much less the concept of video. They understood the sentiment behind Benjamin Franklin’s quip: “If you would not be forgotten, as soon as you are dead and rotten, either write things worth reading, or do things worth the writing.” John Quincy and Louisa Adams did both.

  Through this book I hope to bring to life the story of their honorable exile for you—a modern-day reader—in a way that resonates with your mind, heart, and soul. In scouring their diaries for main conflicts and combining their viewpoints, I sought to write a nonfiction book that also leverages the age-old fiction structure of conflict-setback-conflict-setback-climax-resolution. Their quotations come from their diaries and letters, updated only through modern spellings, corrected punctuation, and other essential editing elements required for modern publication standards. My desire is to portray the Adamses as they were—and as we all are—flawed human beings longing for love and respect.

  Their journey also awakened me to the significance of the lesser-known War of 1812. Back then America was a country in name only and in desperate need of honor—much like John Quincy himself. We were a country whose national sovereignty was laughed at, spit upon, and joked about around the world. In 1776 independence depended, in part, on the senior John Adams. By 1812 independence depended again on an Adams—on two of them. John and Louisa Adams’s sacrifices for their nation and the cause of liberty are as inspiring as those made during the American Revolution decades earlier.

  Communication changes. Technology transforms time, but the human heart doesn’t change. The need for honor, family, acceptance, justice, reunion, faith, hope, and love is as real today as it was from 1809 to 1815. From being down on your luck to rising stronger than before, American Phoenix shows “the ones who were” and the triumph that can come when anyone’s life—yours, mine, or theirs—takes an unexpected journey.

  Warmly,

  Jane Hampton Cook

  PART 1

  Journey Interrupted

  RUSSIA, FEBRUARY 1815

  PANORAMIC VIEW OF ST. PETERSBURG, J.A. ATKINSON, CIRCA 1805 TO 1807. LIBRARY OF CONGRESS.

  PUBLIC DOMAIN.

  1

  Murder Outside

  LOUISA ADAMS EXPECTED TO DEAL WITH THE HAZARDS OF SNOW and ice as she said good-bye to St. Petersburg, Russia, in February 1815. She knew traveling by land to Paris in winter wouldn’t be easy. The distance alone was overwhelming—sixteen hundred miles.

  What she didn’t expect to slow her down was the inconvenience of a murder.

  Weather woes, however, were her first worry. When she left St. Petersburg, she traveled more than 330 miles southwest along an icy, winding road toward Mitau, the capital of Courland. Centuries earlier, Baltic merchants had used this pathway to transport their most abundant natural treasure—fossilized amber—to jewelry makers and medicinal healers throughout the Roman Empire. No matter the era, ice still ruled these roads in winter.

  Not far from Mitau, her carriage became stuck in icy sludge, which had refrozen after a brief thaw. Today, Mitau is called Jelgava, a city in Latvia, an independent Baltic nation about the size of West Virginia. In Louisa’s day the region was a rugged country of swamps, forests, hills, valleys, and crusty roads dimpled by deep holes—and stuck wheels.

  When her carriage wouldn’t budge, her hired post drivers rang bells to rally the locals for help. Several Russian farmers came to her aid by bringing pickaxes and shovels. As their amber-supplying ancestors had witnessed centuries earlier, so they also saw many coaches and wagons become stuck in refrozen slush. While offering their hands and brawn and hacking around the wheels, these men made a startling discovery.

  Louisa was not Russian, as her carriage’s insignia indicated. She was an American, and a female at that.

  Few of them had seen an American, let alone a lady from that land. To most Europeans, Americans were Yankee Doodles—buffoons in beaver hats. Others envisioned Native American chiefs with feathered headdresses and scantily clad wives who resembled Eve in buckskin fig leaf. Louisa was neither of these. What they didn’t realize was this: she was more demure than Dolley Madison, the perfectly mannered, snuff-inhaling socialite wife of the president of the United States, and as sensible, opinionated, and observant as Jane Austen, the popular but still anonymous English novelist.

  More than her sex, Louisa’s aloneness plagued the propriety of these Russians that winter day. She was traveling to Paris without her husband, brother, or grown son. Gypsies did that—not a lady clad in clean clothing in the high-waist Empire style or riding in her own carriage. Then again, maybe American ladies were different—more independent—than European women.

  With the skill of sculptors and the speed of dogs digging for bones, the farmers chiseled and shoveled until the carriage loosened and the icy sludge cracked. They cheered the instant the wheel broke free. Thanking them, Louisa resumed her journey.

  When she arrived at the post house in Mitau later that day, she was emphatic. Her stay was to be short. She was already lagging behind her schedule, which was as realistic as chasing a comet. Rest, not recreate. Then resume.

  “Here I stopped to rest for some hours, with a determination to proceed one stage more to sleep,” she recalled.

  Travelers were at the mercy of innkeepers, post hous
e managers, and others who opened their houses to strangers. Unlike a modern voyager, Mrs. Adams couldn’t use her smartphone to make hotel reservations via the Internet or call ahead by telephone. None of these advances, not even the telegraph, had been invented yet. All she had were hired drivers, called postilions. They were her communication network, the social media of the day. Postilions worked for post house managers, who furnished fresh horses and drivers from stage to stage for traveling carriages and post coaches.

  For centuries Europe’s postal systems were nothing more than messenger boys riding alone on horseback to carry letters to the next post or town. This system changed in the 1780s, when postal services, such as the one operated by the famed Thurn and Taxis family, began using coaches to carry both mail and passengers from post to post. Russia’s postal system was similar. Louisa, however, was paying for post drivers and horses to transport her private carriage.

  Russia’s mammoth postal system differed in one significant way from the rest of Europe. In compact England postal stations were close together, allowing drivers to change horses every six to twelve miles. The Russians spurred their beasts much farther, forcing horses to pull a coach eighteen miles or more to the next station.

  No matter the country, postal drivers were sometimes suspicious characters. One Englishman described a postal carrier as “an idle boy mounted on a worn-out hack, who so far from being able to defend himself against a robber, was more likely to be in league with him.”

  Despite this, local drivers knew these postal paths better than anyone and recommended places to stay. One thing was certain. Travelers could usually find shelter at post houses, but hospitality—especially along roads recently ripped by Napoleon’s army and the czar’s pursuing Cossacks—was no guarantee.

  Louisa found an inn at Mitau, called upon its master, and ordered dinner for her party, which included her seven-year-old son, Charles; a nurse; and two servants. Everything was comfortable—at least for the first sixty minutes.

  “In about an hour after my arrival, Countess Mengs, a lady with whom I was slightly acquainted at St. Petersburg, called and gave me a most kind and urgent invitation to her house entreating me to remain with her some days.”