The Explosion Aboard the Princeton
This past Thursday was the 169th anniversary of the explosion aboard the USS Princeton which claimed the lives of eight persons, including Secretary of State Abel Upshur. This tragedy took place on February 28, 1844. On board the ship at the time were President John Tyler, all of the members of his Cabinet, former first lady Dolley Madison, and approximately four hundred guests. The guests viewed the firing of the ship's guns and then retired below decks for lunch and refreshments. When they were summoned once more to view another test firing, the firing of a large gun known as the "Peacemaker", the firing caused the gun to burst, sending shrapnel into the crowd. Instantly killed were Secretary Upshur, Navy Secretary Thomas Gilmer, Capt. Beverly Kennon (who was Chief of the Bureau of Construction, Equipment and Repairs), Virgil Maxcy of Maryland (who had served as Chargé d'Affaires to Belgium from 1837 to 1842), Colonel David Gardiner of New York (the father of Julia Gardiner later became the President's wife), the President's valet - a slave named Armistead, and two sailors. It also injured about 20 people, including Capt. Robert F. Stockton. President Tyler unharmed, having been below decks when the gun exploded. When Julia Gardiner, who was aboard, found out her father had died in the explosion she fainted into Tyler's arms.
Following is an accounting of that incident by author Edward P. Crapol from his 2006 biography John Tyler: The Accidental President, (which I reviewed in this community here). At pages 208-9, Crapol writes:
Amid the merriment, hilarity and spontaneous outbreak of song, one party reveler, noticing they were passing Mount Vernon, requested a last firing of the "Peacemaker" in honor of the first President, George Washington. At first Captain Stockton refused and said "no more guns tonight." But he relented when Secretary of Navy Gilmer pulled rank and asked for another firing of the big gun. A number of the slightly inebriated crowd, including Stockton, Upshur, Gilmer and David Gardiner, went topside to witness the final ceremonial salvo. Once again the loquacious Julia Gardiner tarried below, as did the President, who hesitated at the bottom of the stairs to hear a song his son-in-law, William Waller, had just begun singing. That momentary diversion may have saved John Tyler's life.
In an instant there was a loud boom on deck, which the guests below initially cheered, then shrieked in anguish when they realized that catastrophe had occurred. The "Peacemaker" had exploded, killing Abel Upshur, Thomas Gilmer, David Gardiner, Virgil Maxy, a retired diplomat from Maryland, Captain Beverly Kennon of the United States Navy, two regular seamen, and Henry, Tyler's black slave and body servant. Captain Stockton was dazed and wounded, as were several others, including Senator Thomas Hart Benton of Missouri.
When a horrified President Tyler came upon the scene of carnage, he immediately grasped the full extent of the tragedy that had befallen the nation - and his administration. As he sorrowfully observed in describing the calamity to one of his daughters a few days later, "A more heart-rendering scene scarcely ever occurred. What a loss I have sustained in Upshur and Gilmer. They were truly my friends and would have aided me for the next twelve months with effect."
After absorbing the shock of the bloodbath he encountered on the deck of the Princeton, President Tyler turned his attention to the distraught and grief-stricken Julia Gardiner. She had fainted upon learning of her father's death. When Julia regained consciousness, the President carried her across the gangplank to a rescue vessel that had come alongside to take the wounded and many of the dazed passengers ashore. Over the following weeks Tyler consoled and comforted Miss Gardiner in her sorrow and grief. Four months later, on June 26, 1844, the fifty-four year old President married his twenty-four year old sweetheart in a private ceremony at the Church of the Ascension on Fifth Avenue in New York City. Across the nation the tittering gossips and salacious scandalmongers had a field day, but the happy May-December couple ignored the hubbub. John and Julia Gardiner Tyler lived happily together for almost two decades. They had seven children and shared a blissful union until John Tyler's death in 1862.
Tyler ultimately may have found personal happiness after a brief bout of pain and grief, but as he instinctively understood the Princeton tragedy devastated his Texas agenda. The deaths of Upshur and Gilmer deprived him of two of his best people and the most important architects of his administration's annexation policy.Tyler was not alone in that realization. Both friend and foe of the administration recognized that the political landscape had been rocked as if by an earthquake by the February blast on the Potomac.
Following is an accounting of that incident by author Edward P. Crapol from his 2006 biography John Tyler: The Accidental President, (which I reviewed in this community here). At pages 208-9, Crapol writes:
Amid the merriment, hilarity and spontaneous outbreak of song, one party reveler, noticing they were passing Mount Vernon, requested a last firing of the "Peacemaker" in honor of the first President, George Washington. At first Captain Stockton refused and said "no more guns tonight." But he relented when Secretary of Navy Gilmer pulled rank and asked for another firing of the big gun. A number of the slightly inebriated crowd, including Stockton, Upshur, Gilmer and David Gardiner, went topside to witness the final ceremonial salvo. Once again the loquacious Julia Gardiner tarried below, as did the President, who hesitated at the bottom of the stairs to hear a song his son-in-law, William Waller, had just begun singing. That momentary diversion may have saved John Tyler's life.
In an instant there was a loud boom on deck, which the guests below initially cheered, then shrieked in anguish when they realized that catastrophe had occurred. The "Peacemaker" had exploded, killing Abel Upshur, Thomas Gilmer, David Gardiner, Virgil Maxy, a retired diplomat from Maryland, Captain Beverly Kennon of the United States Navy, two regular seamen, and Henry, Tyler's black slave and body servant. Captain Stockton was dazed and wounded, as were several others, including Senator Thomas Hart Benton of Missouri.
When a horrified President Tyler came upon the scene of carnage, he immediately grasped the full extent of the tragedy that had befallen the nation - and his administration. As he sorrowfully observed in describing the calamity to one of his daughters a few days later, "A more heart-rendering scene scarcely ever occurred. What a loss I have sustained in Upshur and Gilmer. They were truly my friends and would have aided me for the next twelve months with effect."
After absorbing the shock of the bloodbath he encountered on the deck of the Princeton, President Tyler turned his attention to the distraught and grief-stricken Julia Gardiner. She had fainted upon learning of her father's death. When Julia regained consciousness, the President carried her across the gangplank to a rescue vessel that had come alongside to take the wounded and many of the dazed passengers ashore. Over the following weeks Tyler consoled and comforted Miss Gardiner in her sorrow and grief. Four months later, on June 26, 1844, the fifty-four year old President married his twenty-four year old sweetheart in a private ceremony at the Church of the Ascension on Fifth Avenue in New York City. Across the nation the tittering gossips and salacious scandalmongers had a field day, but the happy May-December couple ignored the hubbub. John and Julia Gardiner Tyler lived happily together for almost two decades. They had seven children and shared a blissful union until John Tyler's death in 1862.
Tyler ultimately may have found personal happiness after a brief bout of pain and grief, but as he instinctively understood the Princeton tragedy devastated his Texas agenda. The deaths of Upshur and Gilmer deprived him of two of his best people and the most important architects of his administration's annexation policy.Tyler was not alone in that realization. Both friend and foe of the administration recognized that the political landscape had been rocked as if by an earthquake by the February blast on the Potomac.