The Life and Diary of John Floyd, Governor of Virginia, an Apostle of Secession and the Father of the Oregon Country, by Charles H. Ambler

Published: Richmond, Richmond Press, 1918

The Diary part covers March 1831 to February 1834

CONTENTS:

PREFACE
CHAPTER I. A Child Of The Frontier.....9
CHAPTER II. A Spokesman Of The Frontier.....33
CHAPTER III. The Oregon Country.....52
CHAPTER IV. President Maker And Governor.....76
CHAPTER V. An Apostle Of Discontent (and Footnotes).....94
CHAPTER VI Parts A, B, C. Diary Of John Floyd.....123

This brief biography of John Floyd, one of Virginia's unique characters of the first half of the last century, was made possible by the acquisition of his papers by the Library of Congress and by an opportunity to use his long forgotten diary. His defense of the interests of the frontier, his fight for the Oregon country, his uncompromising stand for the state sovereignty theory of government, his bitter hostility to the administration of Andrew Jackson, and his part in the formation of the Whig party entitle him to a place among the statesmen and politicians of his day. To his contemporaries he was a visionary, known and ridiculed as "Old Oregon." Now, he is honored as the "Father of the Oregon Country," his celebrated report of 1821 on our rights and interests in the Columbia Valley bearing the same relation to the occupation and settlement of that part of the United States as does Richard Hakluyt's famous Discourse on Western Planting to the founding of the English colonies in America.

Mr. Floyd's "Diary," published herewith, covers the period from March, 1831 to February, 1834, and is reproduced in full, excepting only the daily comments of its author upon the weather and other commonplace subjects. The parts here given cast some new light upon the purposes and methods of the opposition to Jackson and upon the social life and happenings of Washington in the Jacksonian period. It is hoped that the lapse of time and the demands for a more scientific study of the past will be sufficient reasons for the publication of this source in the unexpurgated form in which it here appears. In bringing to light this Diary, neither the editor nor the publisher vouches for the truthfulness or justice of any of the references made by

Mr. Floyd to Jackson and his friends. Very few changes have been made in the spelling, the punctuation, the capitalization, and the paragraphing of the original document.

Mr. Floyd's "Diary" was first brought to my attention by Mr. J. M. Battin, a former student in my classes in Randolph-Macon College. Mr. Battin first used the "Diary" in writing a short biography of John Floyd. His paper was published in the John P. Branch Historical Papers of Randolph-Macon College, June, 1913.

In the preparation of these pages I have received helpful assistance from the late Dr. George Ben Johnston, of Richmond, Virginia, and from his niece, Ann Mason Lee, also of Richmond. They are direct descendants from Floyd and own his "Diary," together with other interesting and useful source materials relating to the Floyd, Johnston, and Preston families of Virginia. Acknowledgements are also due the authorities of the Library of Congress and the State Library of Virginia.

CHARLES H. AMBLER.

Randolph-Macon College,
Ashland, Va.
September 1, 1917.