Charles
Cite this Page
"Charles," White House Workers History Project, White House Historical Association, 2026, https://whha.whirlihost.com/Detail/workers/200.
- Position
- Coachman
- Years in President's House
- 1829 – circa 1837
- Legal Status
- Enslaved Person
- Gender
- Male
- Race/Ethnicity
- Black or African American
- Presidency
- Andrew Jackson
- Biography
- Charles was an enslaved man born between 1792-1795. (1) Details about his birth and early life remain unclear. A transaction from 1796 indicates Andrew Jackson purchased two enslaved children. It is likely one of these children was Charles. (2) Charles worked as a carriage driver for the Jackson family and also helped train horses. During Jackson’s military career, Charles served as his manservant and messenger. He married a woman named Charlotte and asked Jackson to purchase her so they could marry. By 1829, the couple had three children. (3)
When Andrew Jackson became president, Charles continued to serve as his messenger and carriage driver. It is unclear how much time he spent at the White House versus Jackson’s Tennessee plantation, The Hermitage. Although he spent some portion of the Jackson presidency at the White House, his wife Charlotte and their three young children remained at The Hermitage. Jackson trusted Charles enough to use him as a courier, so he may have occasionally seen his family when transporting messages and goods between Washington and Tennessee, but they were mostly separated for years. (4)
Family separation was typical of many enslaved workers traveling between the White House and a president’s home plantation. In 1830, Andrew Jackson even debated selling Charlotte and her children to a man named Robert Johnstone Chester. However, Jackson was aware of the impacts of family separation, writing, “My overseer had communicated to me the wish expressed by charlotte to be sold to you. She had before I left the Hermitage expressed the same desire to me, I then told her I would sell her if you wished to by her, but not her children–the fact was I did not wish to separate her & her children, from charles, particularly his children, and I had promised to let him return as soon as I reached this city [Washington]; but upon the receipt of Mr. Steels letter I enquired of charles whether he was contented to part with her & the children; he replied in the affirmative…” (5)
This quote demonstrates that Charles was in Washington at the time of this correspondence. It also indicates that Charles was okay with the sale of Charlotte and his children, at least according to Jackson. At the same time, Charlotte also requested her sale. Jackson goes on to indicate that he wished to personally sell Charlotte, “...for I assure you I have often wished her from the plantation altho’, one of the best servants I ever saw, if it was not for her ungovernable temper, and tongue—she has three of the finest children on my plantation.” It is unclear if this sale took place. (6)
Letters between Andrew Jackson in Washington and family and friends at The Hermitage indicate that Charles consistently traveled back and forth between the homes. He was also present for a devastating fire at The Hermitage in 1834. He likely continued to travel between for the remainder of Jackson’s presidency. (7) Details about Charles’ later life remain unclear. - (1) “Andrew Jackson to John Coffee, May 11, 1821,” The Papers of Andrew Jackson edited by Harold D. Moser, David R. Hoth, and George H Hoemann, Vol V, 1821-1824, 779, https://trace.tennessee.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1010&context=utk_jackson; “Andrew Jackson to Rachel Jackson, November 21, 1814, The Papers of Andrew Jackson edited by Harold D. Moser, David R. Hoth, Sharon Macpherson, and John H. Reinbold, Vol III, 1814-1815, 195.
(2) “Bill of Sale,” The Papers of Andrew Jackson Volume I edited by Sam B. Smith and Harriet Chappell Owsley, 1770-1803, 444, https://trace.tennessee.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1000&context=utk_jackson.
(3) "Andrew Jackson to Rachel Jackson, November 21, 1814, The Papers of Andrew Jackson edited by Harold D. Moser and J. Clint Clifft, Vol VI, 1825-1828, 195; Callie Hopkins, “The Enslaved Household of President Andrew Jackson,” White House Historical Association, https://www.whitehousehistory.org/slavery-in-the-andrew-jackson-white-house; “Memorandum of Slaves and Land in Davidson County, Tennessee,” The Papers of Andrew Jackson edited by Harold D. Moser, David R. Hoth, and George H Hoemann, Vol V, 1821-1824, 4; “Andrew Jackson to Robert Johnstone Chester,” The Papers of Andrew Jackson edited by Daniel Feller, Thomas Coens, and Laura-Eve Moss, Vol VIII, 1830, 611.
(4) Callie Hopkins, “The Enslaved Household of President Andrew Jackson,” White House Historical Association, https://www.whitehousehistory.org/slavery-in-the-andrew-jackson-white-house.
(5) “Andrew Jackson to Robert Johnstone Chester,” The Papers of Andrew Jackson edited by Daniel Feller, Thomas Coens, and Laura-Eve Moss, Vol VIII, 1830, 636.
(6) “Andrew Jackson to Robert Johnstone Chester,” The Papers of Andrew Jackson edited by Daniel Feller, Thomas Coens, and Laura-Eve Moss, Vol VIII, 1830, 611, 636.
(7) “Stockley Donelson to Andrew Jackson,” The Papers of Andrew Jackson edited by Daniel Feller, Thomas Coens, Laura-Eve Moss, and Aaron Crawford, Vol XII, 1834, 536. - Birthplace
- Unclear from Context
- Related Workers
- Adamcirca 1831 – 1832
- Dickcirca 1832
- Related Association Content
- https://www.whitehousehistory.org/slavery-in-the-andrew-jackson-white-house