Famous Acquaintances

The following famous people are said to have been acquaintances of the Dibrells:
   Andrew Jackson
   The Marquis de LaFayette
   Sam Houston

Oddly enough, it appears that all three of the above were Freemasons. Lafayette's wife made the apron that George Washington used in his ceremonies. It is not known which of the early Dibrells were Freemasons. However, it is likely that this is the way the Dibrells made the acquaintance of these great men.

President Andrew Jackson

Charles Lee Dibrell, Sr., son of Anthony Dibrell and Elizabeth Lee, was an acquaintance of Andrew Jackson and visited him in the Hermitage from time to time. It has been said that this friendship was instrumental in preventing a duel between Andrew Jackson and George Washington Gibbs, Charles' son-in-law, who apparently had different political beliefs and did not agree with Jackson and called him a name which was not appreciated. No doubt it was this friendship that enabled Charles and his wife to attend the festivities when the Marquis de Lafayette arrived in Nashville while on his Grand Tour in 1824.

The Marquis de Lafayette

One of the family heirlooms of the Dibrell family is a brown silk shawl given by the Marquis de Lafayette to to Lucy Patteson Dibrell, wife of Charles Lee Dibrell. The following is a story about the shawl which was written largely by my mother, Mary Nan Crowther:

THE LAKE COUNTY STAR, Friday, April 16, Sec. 1, Page 2, [1965].

THE STORY OF A SHAWL, the gift of the Marquis de La Fayette to her great-great-great-great-grandmother, wife of the former Ensign Charles Lee Dibrell who was at Yorktown at the surrender of Lord Cornwallis, was recounted by Mrs. Robert Crowther to members of Julia Watkins Brass Chapter, Daughters of the American Revolution at their meeting Wednesday night. In the picture taken in the family’s home on White Oak drive at Hermit’s Lake, Mrs. Crowther is wearing the memento, a length of brown silk, apparently handwoven, and bordered narrowly with a darker shade of matching fringe.

It was through Charles Dibrell that Mrs. Crowther established her ancestral line for membership in the DAR, who local chapter she joined last October.

With her husband and three children, Mrs. Crowther has made Crown Point her home since 1951. she is a native Oklahoman and Mr. Crowther, from Ohio, is a research supervisor for American Oil company in Whiting, a position that brought the family to Lake county. The children are Philip, Deborah and Hugh.

The story which Mrs. Crowther has written about LaFayette’s gift shawl appears here.

- - -

The story that I am about to tell concerning this shawl can be partly found in history books but part of it has been handed down through the years along with the shawl. The shawl had recently been shown at the Charles Lee Dibrell chapter in New Mexico and at two other chapters; one in Florida and one in Union City, Tennessee, where Charles Lee Dibrell is buried. It will soon be sent to the Tennessee State museum in Nashville, to be put on display with a portrait of Charles Dibrell donated by his granddaughter.

When at last parliamentary duties in the new government of France did not demand his presence, the Marquis de LaFayette, the French hero of the American War for Independence, consented to make another visit to the United States. American friends had been writing to him urging him to come out once more. President Monroe, with a flattering Resolution of Congress, placed a frigate at his disposition. Accompanied by Auguste Levasseur, his secretary, the Marquis (as he was still affectionately called) took passage on the merchantman Cadmus. He arrived in New York on August 14, 1824 and spent many weeks visiting old friends there and in Boston and Connecticut.

Crowds Jubilant

LaFayette was received with much jubilation. Crowds were everywhere and there was always just one more place to visit, one more place to see. Day and night he went on, in this turbulent, boisterous, overflowing enthusiasm, this boom of guns, peal of bells and roar of the hurrahs. He wrung thousands of hands, meeting every situation with the grace and tact of one who had learned his manners under Louis XV, remembering every one, sending away old soldiers of the Revolution on their last legs sobbing with joy at this magic touch of their glorious youth, bringing into starved and provincial lives the only colour and romance they had ever known, so that the whole nation gave itself over to an almost hysterical emotion. It would have killed any other man; he was never alone a second. The mere presence of so many people - those swarming multitudes, those indefatigable committees were enough to slay a giant in his prime. But no LaFayette; he thrived on it. A new generation had grown up since the War of Independence. The Revolution had reached into a past now remote enough to invest it with the glamour of romance. Instead of the legendary hero, the gallant and romantic Marquis who had crossed the sea to bear his sword for them, they saw now a hale old man of 68, grown a little fat and wearing a wig, limping on one lame leg from one triumphal arch to another, and the saw him through a blur of sentimental tears.

Often Sees Jackson

LaFayette stayed in Washington City for several months and stayed at Gadsby’s Hotel, where another general and hero was living, Andrew Jackson, Senator from Tennessee. There was much in common between the two soldiers and friends of liberty, but what won the fiery heart of Old Hickory was the gracious and elaborate attention the Marquis showed to Mrs. Jackson. Rachel Jackson had had a less flattering experience with the snobbish and partisan society of Washington City.

The Marquis was anxious to get back to France as he was weary and homesick, but he had been invited to lay the cornerstone for the monument at Bunker Hill on June 17, 1825. He was eager to see more of the new nation so George and General Bernard drew up an itinerary of a rapid journey through the South and West that would cover over 4,000 miles in a carriage over wretched roads and through a wilderness.

Start on Journey

The Marquis, George and his Secretary, Levasseur, started out February 23, on a steamboat down the Potomac for Norfolk. By carriage they went to Raleigh, North Carolina, and reached Fayetteville on March 4. At Camden he laid a cornerstone for a monument for Baron de Kalb, who had offered his services at the same time as LaFayette but had been killed in North Carolina. From here he proceeded to Charleston, South Carolina, where he was given the “elegant steamboat Henry Schultz” to Savannah because the roads were so bad. At Savannah the steamboat “Augusta” took them to Augusta, Georgia. After leaving there the roads were so bad that the Marquis became ill, but after a good night’s rest he was able to proceed. They went on to Alabama and spent the night in a log cabin, sitting with trappers and hunters before roaring fires, on a Creek reservation near Macon. When they reached the Chattahoochee river, the Creeks gathered in warpaint to receive him. The Chief, MacIntosh, accompanied them to Montgomery. Here he embarked on a steamer for Mobile, where the “Natchez” took them all to New Orleans.

All through his southern tour the only thing that marred his serenity was having to look on human slavery. He insisted on receiving a delegation of Negroes who had fought under Andrew Jackson in the Battle of New Orleans and greeted them with a warmth that he purposely made as ostentatious as he could to show he practiced the principles he went about preaching. He then took the “Natchez” to Baton Rouge.

Among Prominent Men

Then the “Natchez” left civilization behind and started on her long trip up the Mississippi river to St. Louis. It took 10 days and could have been a chance for rest had it not been for the monstrous clouds of mosquitos that swarmed out from the dense forests. On April 28 they came to the mouth of the Ohio and lay anchor. The next morning the Governors of Missouri and Illinois came aboard and they headed for St. Louis. After the celebrations there, the “Natchez” left at midnight and steamed down the river and up the Ohio to the mouth of the Cumberland river where the steamboat “Mechanic” was waiting to take them up the Cumberland to Nashville. On the “Mechanic” was a contingent of prominent men from Nashville, among who were Charles Dibrell and his son-in-law, George W. Gibbs.

At 8 o’clock on the morning of May 4, 1825, the deep sound of the church bells of Nashville floated across the Cumberland. A cannon began firing at one-minute intervals and a great crowd was gathered along the river banks. In those days the population of Nashville was not more than 5,000, but it had been augmented by people for 100 miles around. Everybody who could walk, ride or float was there.

As the “Mechanic” proceeded up the river, under the new bridge and past the landing, LaFayette stood hatless on the deck while the crowd greeted him. The boat was tied up “above the waterworks” and LaFayette came ashore. He was greeted by General Andrew Jackson. Governor William Carroll welcomed LaFayette on behalf of the State of Tennessee.

Under Triumphal Arch

A carriage drawn by four elegant grey horses took the distinguished party to the top of College hill, accompanied by a troop of cavalry. The militia lines along Market street were made up of volunteers from seven counties. For days they had been encamped on the South field, extending from the present Customs House to the river, awaiting the tardy arrival of LaFayette.

Where Market street entered the square the procession passed under a great triumphal arch. An American eagle was perched on the arch and on it was inscribed, “Welcome, LaFayette, Friend of Liberty.” A lance above the arch supported a liberty cap and from it floated the American flag. Windows and roof tops were crowded and flags were everywhere, including the flag of General Nathaniel Greene, a friend and fellow Revolutionary officer of LaFayette.

Officially Welcomed

LaFayette was driven to the home of Dr. Boyd McNairy, where he was again officially welcomed, this time by Nashville’s Mayor Robert B. Currey. He was then allowed a little repose, but managed to slip out long enough to visit with Mrs. Littlefield, daughter of his old friend, General Greene, and with Mrs. Andrew Jackson. He then repaired to the Masonic hall where appropriate apartments were provided in which to receive the visits of the ladies of Tennessee. At 4 o’clock in the afternoon of that eventful day LaFayette was conducted to the Nashville Inn, where he sat down to a public dinner with more than 200 prominent citizens of Nashville and Middle Tennessee. Among the guests was the venerable Timothy Demonbreun, first settler of Nashville. General Jackson was the host. At the end of the dinner LaFayette and his genial hosts drank 24 toasts. In the great lodge hall, decorated with evergreens and artificial flowers made by the ladies of Nashville, 300 Masons in colorful costumes received the Marquis.

The next morning LaFayette was up early, along with Jackson, and soon the old soldiers were doing what the liked to do best - inspecting the militia. After watching the maneuvers of the troops and eating breakfast with them, the two soldiers traveled to the Feminine academy, where a special welcome was given by 100 young ladies.

Shawl Presented

And now it was time to go aboard the “Mechanic” for a trip up the Cumberland to the Hermitage, where LaFayette would have dinner with General and Mrs. Jackson and their neighbors. After a great dinner General Jackson took his special guest over his farms, showing his horses and cattle with pride. When they returned to the house, some of the gentlemen asked to see Jackson’s famous collection of arms, trophies of the War of 1812 and the war against the Seminoles. He politely laid a sword, a sabre and a brace of pistols on the table. The General handed the pistols to the Marquis and asked if he recognized them. The Marquis examined the pistols a moment and said “Yes, they are the ones I gave to General Washington in 1778.” “And,” he added, “I feel a real satisfaction in finding them in the hands of a man so worthy of such a heritage.” The long, lean face of the old warrior who had fought so many battles for his country and so many duels for his wife, reddened to the roots of his brush of bristling hair and his blue eyes flashed with pride. “Yes,” he said with the simplicity of a great soul, “I believe myself worthy of them - if not for what I have done, at least for what I wished to do for my country.” In his will Jackson left the pistols to LaFayette’s son George.

That night in the receiving line with the Marquis at the grand ball where many dignitaries of Tennessee, the former Ensign Charles Lee Dibrell, who had been at Yorktown at the surrender of Lord Cornwallis, Mrs. Dibrell, their daughter and son-in-law, George Washington Gibbs. It was at this time that the brown silk shawl was presented to Mrs. Dibrell by the Marquis de LaFayette as a gift in memory of his visit.

Sam Houston

Many Dibrells ended up settling in Texas. This may have been, in part the result of their acquaintance with Sam Houston. Charles Lee Dibrell, Sr., son of Anthony Dibrell and Elizabeth Lee, became acquainted with the young Sam Houston through his friendship with Andrew Jackson. Charles Lee Dibrell, Sr., son of Anthony Dibrell, Jr. and Wilmoth Watson, knew Sam Houston from his early days in Rockbridge County, Virginia.