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John Brahan

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John Brahan (June 8, 1774 – June 8, 1834) was a resident of the frontier-era U.S. South. He was a land speculator, public official, and militia officer in Tennessee and Alabama. In 1819 he resigned from his job as receiver of public monies at the public land office in Huntsville, Alabama because the federal bank account was short $80,000.

John Brahan
"129 Negroes for Sale" The Democrat, December 3, 1834

Biography

Brahan was originally from Fauquier County, Virginia.[1] Brahan was paymaster of the Tennessee militia in 1804 at Fort Southwest Point.[2] He and William Dickson were appointed to work at the Nashville Land Office on April 10, 1809.[1] Brahan was in the Natchez District of Mississippi Territory when his appointment came through.[3] A military staff list published at Natchez in May 1809 listed Brahan as a captain.[4]

Both Brahan and Dickson were land speculators.[1] Brahan's job was "receiver of public monies" and Dickson's job was registrar.[1] Both men had a connection to William P. Anderson who was the district surveyor "who had been one of those instrumental in effecting the Chickasaw Treaty of 1805,"[1] and an extended network of speculators and surveyors that included James Jackson, John Coffee, John Drake, John Strother, Edward Ward, and Thomas Freeman.[5] Many of this group were long-time allies of Andrew Jackson connected to one another by a dense web of business and family ties.[6]

These men were all early buyers of lands in the vicinity of the Big Spring, shortly thereafter organized as the town Twickenham, Madison County, Mississippi Territory. The settlement quickly discarded "Twickenham," reverting to the name which had been used by the squatters who already lived there, and by which it is now known: Huntsville, Alabama.[7] Per approved petition to the U.S. Congress made by Brahan, the Nashville Land Office became the Huntsville Land Office on August 7, 1811.[8] In 1811, Brahan was also serving as the receiving officer for the Cherokee Indian Agency at Huntsville, and wrote to Return J. Meigs, "It is rumored that the Creeks are preparing for war against us, if true they must be a blind  people, and will no doubt prove their own destruction." [9]

Brahan and Leroy Pope both served as "principal contractors for Jackson's army during the Creek War."[10] In March 1814, "from Fort Strother, Jackson subcontracted with the Huntsville firm of Pope and Brahan," ordering rations for 3,000 for 40 days.[11]

Leroy Pope was at the center of a crew of Virginians and Georgians including Thomas Bibb, William Bibb, Charles Tait, and his son-in-law John Williams Walker, who eventually became so politically powerful in Madison County and Alabama generally that they were called the "Royal Party."[12] This group were also connected to William H. Crawford, soon to be Secretary of the Treasury, and a once and future enemy of Jackson.[13] In January 1818, Brahan, John Read, three Popes (including LeRoy), Thomas Bibb, and others were named directors of Planters' and Merchants' Bank of Huntsville.[14] In November Brahan advertised that he had two cotton gins running in Spring Grove near Huntsville.[15] In 1818, a commission merchant in Natchez listed Braham & Hutchings of Huntsville as a reference in an advertisement; Braham was a common misspelling of Brahan, and Hutchings was most likely Andrew Jackson's nephew John Hutchings, although he had already died the prior autumn.[16]

The Panic of 1819 hit Tennessee and Alabama Territory hard, and the usual cascade of financial failure following times of rampant speculation began.[17] As hints of irregularities began to emerge, officials in Washington inquired with Brahan, but it was 17 months from start to finish before they received any kind of useful disclosure.[18] In March 1819, Josiah Meigs wrote him "I am directed by the Secretary of the Treasury to inform you that he is extremely dissatisfied on account of your neglecting to settle your accounts, that no longer delay is admissable—and that if an immediate settlement is not made it will be necessary to adopt such measures as will better secure the rights & interests of the Government."[19] In June 1819 Brahan wrote Meigs "I have the mortification to inform you that there is a considerable deficiency in my cash account, the cause I can only account for in part" and resigned from the job.[20] According to Treasury Secretary William H. Crawford the account was short US$80,000 (equivalent to $1,592,348 in 2023) and he suspected most of it was in Brahan's hands.[21] Historian Chase C. Mooney quotes a letter from Crawford about the Brahan–Huntsville debacle as the Secretary's de facto "code of ethics for the public official" of the United States:[18]

It is extremely desirable that the conduct of the officers of the government, especially those who have charge of the public money, should not only be correct, but there should be no possible cause of suspecting them to be incorrect. If there should exist any peculiarity in the situation of an officer which is calculated to excite suspicion, it is more imperiously to his interest and duty to exert more than ordinary diligence in the discharge of his official duties.

— William H. Crawford, 1819[18]

As it happened, explained historian Ruth Ketring Nuermberger: "Brahan himself ended up with 44,677 acres and an indebtedness of $318,579. The down payment of $78,901 he blandly made from federal funds. Under pressure from the secretary of the treasury for a settlement of his accounts, Brahan assigned all his property to the United States. Valued at just over $46,000, it included 1,260 acres of land, several town lots in Huntsville, and $31,425 in notes due Brahan." One of the receivers in charge of holding the accounts on behalf of the U.S. government was Leroy Pope.[22] George Mason wrote Clement Comer Clay, "Brahan will be considerably injured if not ruined; and the fur will be jerked off old Pope and some of his ill-gotten gains will go into the pockets of others. These men with several others of the same class have now got large debts running on them at ten per cent a month! ! !"[23] There was a Congressional investigation into Brahan's default, which can be found in House Doc., No. 130 (serial 69), 17th Cong., 1st sess. and No. 149 (serial 102), 18th Cong., 1st sess.[18] Brahan, Coffee, and John Read testified had been trying to buy up as much land as they could to keep the Georgia combination from doing it first, all in the interests of protecting the people.[24] On July 8, 1815, Brahan formed a partnership "for the purpose of carrying on the mercantile business in Nashville, Tennessee" with Will Atwood.[25] Brahan and Atwood moved to Huntsville in the fall of 1817, operating until March 1819 "when we sold out the remainder of our goods."[25]

In October 1819 Judge John Overton wrote Jackson, who was heading out on a trip to Alabama, that Brahan owed him $792.50 and "The money wd suit me best, but will take one or two likely healthy boys of 12 or 13 years of age at such price as you may think they are worth in Cash, and as you would trade for yourself."[26] The documents calendar in the Papers of Andrew Jackson records for November 1819 a "bill of sale for the slave Eli from John Brahan to John Overton. DS by AJ as witness, THi (7-0724)."[27] Overton and Brahan jointly owned a tract of land in Tennessee that was sold by court order in 1823.[28] In 1824 Brahan advertised to Huntsville that he would gin and bale cotton for "a twelfth part."[29] In 1827 the Pensacola Gazette and West Florida Advertiser credited Brahan with introducing to the state a grape variety known as the Bland Madeira, "which makes an excellent wine."[30]

In June 1828, Congress passed a "private act" appropriating $6,964.99 to repay Brahan for expenses of "clerk hire" while he was receiver of public monies in Alabama.[31] During the 1828 U.S. presidential election, there was a dispute over who had legally owned an enslaved man named John Amp, whom Jackson had reportedly armed to serve as an enforcer contra Choctaw agent Silas Dismore—was Amp the property of Jackson, former mayor of Nashville Joseph Coleman, or Brahan?[32] Anti-Jackson campaign organizer Andrew Erwin wrote a public letter addressing Jackson's work as a slave trader and commented on the circumstances of John Amp in 1811–12, "It seems from this letter, that the purchase from Epperson was not the only negro speculation in which your firm was concerned. You bought of John Brahan, and probably, if all the transactions could be brought to light, of several other persons."[33]

In August 1828, the trustees of the Cottonport Land Company, John Coffee, James Jackson, James Bright, and John Brahan, scheduled a company meeting for October in Nashville.[34]

 
A unique runaway slave ad where the slave owner seemingly knows a great deal about the family of his missing slaves, Matt and Granville (John Brahan owned some of their relatives) suggesting that kinship networks may have played a role in the slave trade between Tennessee and Alabama (The Democrat, Huntsville, May 3, 1832)

In 1832, Brahan's daughter, Jane Brahan, married Robert M. Patton, later governor of Alabama. The couple were married for over 50 years.[35] After Braham died in 1834 his executors planned to auction off 129 people he had legally enslaved.[36]

See also

References

  1. ^ a b c d e Roberts (2020), p. 87.
  2. ^ "Militia". The Tennessee Gazette and Metro-District Advertiser. August 8, 1804. p. 4. Retrieved 2024-09-19.
  3. ^ Roberts (2020), p. 88.
  4. ^ "Article clipped from The Weekly Democrat". The Weekly Democrat. May 27, 1809. p. 1. Retrieved 2024-09-19.
  5. ^ Roberts (2020), pp. 87–88.
  6. ^ Dupre (2018), pp. 196–197.
  7. ^ Roberts (2020), pp. 90–93.
  8. ^ Roberts (2020), p. 93.
  9. ^ Abram (2015), pp. 46–47.
  10. ^ Jackson (1994), p. 139.
  11. ^ Kanon (2015).
  12. ^ Dupre (2018), p. 197.
  13. ^ Browning (2019), pp. 110–111.
  14. ^ "Leroy Pope - Planters Bank". Huntsville Republican. January 13, 1818. p. 3. Retrieved 2024-09-19.
  15. ^ "Cotton Gins". Huntsville Republican. November 25, 1817. p. 4. Retrieved 2024-09-19.
  16. ^ "Braham & Hutchings". Natchez Gazette. August 1, 1818. p. 2. Retrieved 2024-09-19.
  17. ^ Roberts (2020), p. 138.
  18. ^ a b c d Mooney (2014), p. 115.
  19. ^ Carter (1952), p. 580.
  20. ^ Carter (1952), p. 647.
  21. ^ Carter (1952), pp. 673–674.
  22. ^ Nuermberger (2014), pp. 7.
  23. ^ Nuermberger (2014), pp. 7–8.
  24. ^ Browning (2019), p. 110.
  25. ^ a b "Notice - Brahan and Atwood". The Democrat. March 3, 1826. p. 4. Retrieved 2024-09-19.
  26. ^ Jackson (1994), p. 337.
  27. ^ Jackson (1994), p. 550.
  28. ^ "By virtue of two writs". National Banner and Nashville Whig. October 13, 1823. p. 3. Retrieved 2024-09-19.
  29. ^ "Notice My Water Gin". The Democrat. November 2, 1824. p. 4. Retrieved 2024-09-19.
  30. ^ "Culture of the Vine". Pensacola Gazette. April 20, 1827. p. 1. Retrieved 2024-09-19.
  31. ^ "Private. No. 66". Daily National Journal. June 23, 1828. p. 2. Retrieved 2024-09-19.
  32. ^ "Col. Weakley". Republican Banner. September 15, 1840. p. 2. Retrieved 2024-09-04.
  33. ^ "It seems from this letter..." Lancaster Reporter. August 28, 1828. p. 1. Retrieved 2024-09-19.
  34. ^ "Cottonport Land Company". National Banner and Nashville Whig. August 23, 1828. p. 1. Retrieved 2024-09-19.
  35. ^ "A Golden Wedding". Huntsville Weekly Democrat. January 25, 1882. p. 3. Retrieved 2024-09-19.
  36. ^ "129 Negroes for Sale". The Democrat. December 3, 1834. p. 3. Retrieved 2024-09-19.

Sources

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