Our Collection

At the Institute’s core is the Gilder Lehrman Collection, one of the great archives in American history. More than 85,000 items cover five hundred years of American history, from Columbus’s 1493 letter describing the New World through the end of the twentieth century.

Binns, John, 1772-1860 Monumental Inscriptions!

Order a pdf of this item here.

Gilder Lehrman Collection #: GLC01825 Author/Creator: Binns, John, 1772-1860 Place Written: Philadelphia, Pennsylvania Type: Broadside Date: 1828 Pagination: 1 p. : Height: 57 cm, Width: 44 cm Order a Copy

Depicts 6 fictitious funeral monuments, each to a militiamen executed by Jackson on 21 February 1815, after the Battle of New Orleans, for being deserters. The tombstones bear inscriptions detailing how each was a good man and soldier, and regardless of this, was "By the Orders of General Andrew Jackson, Shot to Death." Each monument was supposedly erected on 4 July, 1828. One monument reminds the reader "Let not the splendor of Military renown Blot out from your indignant recollection this bloody deed DONE BY A HERO." Includes a verse at the bottom entitled "Mournful Tragedy." Jackson had not actually ordered the men to be shot, but had signed off on the military court's verdict. Used as Anti-Jackson campaign propaganda in the 1828 presidential election, a campaign full of personal attacks on slanders on both candidates. Binns is attributed as the author of a like-named piece which bears the same text at the American Antiquarian Society (Shoemaker 32382). GLC08460 contains almost identical text in pamphlet form.

Binns, John, 1772-1860
Jackson, Andrew, 1767-1845

Citation Guidelines for Online Resources