Under a Wild Sky (60 page)

My own, unscientific, feeling is that Audubon lived in Kentucky at a time when a number of species once common in the area—bison, wolves, grizzly bears—were disappearing—so who knows? It seems clear that Audubon shot and drew an unusually large eagle. It seems equally clear that we'll never know for sure what it was.

161
   
It was mildly astonishing to the Audubons
Ford,
John James Audubon
, pages 90–92.

161
   
Meanwhile, Audubon and Tom Bakewell
Ibid., page 90.

162
   
When the Audubons' first daughter was born
Ibid., page 91.

162
   
Sick at first, as infants sometimes are
Ibid., pages 91–93.

162
   
By the time little Lucy died
Ibid., page 92.

12. EVER SINCE A BOY

163
   
Almost from the time construction began
Ford,
John James Audubon
, page 92. It seems that almost from the moment the mill was under construction, Audubon was having second thoughts, and Bakewell—apparently for the first time—realized that demand for lumber in the area was exceedingly small, as was the local wheat crop. They built anyway, in the vain hope that business would come. It never did.

163
   
When it was done, the mill was gargantuan
Personal inspection of several photographs of the mill in later years, notably published in Towles,
Henderson
, and Herrick,
Audubon the Naturalist
, vol. 1.

163
   
Crumbling remains of its stone footings
Personal observation. I visited the city park in Henderson in August 2002 and walked among the ruins.

164
   
The years following the successful conclusion
Harrison and Klotter,
A New History of Kentucky
, pages 96–97.

164
   
The war's interruption of trade
Ibid.

164
   
The Kentucky Insurance Company
Ibid., pages 143–44.

164
   
In 1818, the Kentucky Insurance Company failed
Ibid.

164
   
In the Panic of 1819
Ibid., page 97.

164
   
When the banks and then the state
Ibid.

165
   
Then, in 1818, his father died
Ford,
John James Audubon
, page 97.

165
   
After protracted litigation
Ibid., pages 97–98.

165
   
At the same time, Tom Bakewell
Ibid., pages 103–4.

165
   
In a convoluted exchange of credits
Ibid.

165
   
Audubon, rashly it would seem
Herrick,
Audubon the Naturalist
, vol. I, pages 257–59.

166
   
Even if he managed to catch up
Ford,
John James Audubon
, pages 105–6. The eventual sale of all their assets for $21,000 not long after this episode left the Audubons still deep in debt.

166
   
Because of either a lack of funds
Herrick,
Audubon the Naturalist
, page 259.

166
   
It was shortly after his return
Ford,
J
o
hn James Audubon
, pages 104–5.

166
   
A local judge, in dismissing an assault charge
Ibid.

166
   
By summer, Bowen was back on his feet
Ibid., page 105.

166
   
An old friend in Shippingport bought
Ibid., pages 105–6. The buyout was divided thus: $14,000 for the Audubon interest in the mill and $7,000 for his house, landholdings, and personal property. A note of indenture, dated October 13, 1819, includes a list of the items of personal property that is both heartbreaking and mysterious. Among the items the Audubons sold were Lucy's piano, 150 books—possibly including Wilson's
American Ornithology
—and, shockingly, “all my drawings, crayons, Paints, pencils, drawing paper, silver compasses, rules,” etc. Clearly, Audubon retained his essential portfolios of work; any drawings that actually changed hands were quite a bargain.

166
   
Adding to this crushing burden
DeLatte,
Lucy Audubon
, page 100.

167
   
In Louisville he was arrested
Ford,
J
o
hn James Audubon
, page 106.

167
   
When he asked his hosts to recommend him
Ibid., pages 106–7.

167
   
One of his specialties was
Audubon, Maria R.,
Audubon and His Journals
, vol. 1, page 36.

167
   
After a few weeks of painting
Ford,
John James Audubon
, page 107.

167
   
But before they could move
Ibid.

168
   
Watching his new daughter nursing
Corning (ed.),
Journal of J
o
hn James Audubon, 1820–1821
, pages 47–48. Only 225 copies of this remarkable document were published in 1929 by the Club of Odd Volumes in Boston. The original is in the Houghton Library at Harvard University.

168
   
Audubon applied and was hired
Ford,
John James Audubon
, page 109.

168
   
More significantly, his portfolio of bird drawings
Adams,
John James Audubon
, pages 194–95.

168
   
After repeatedly promising him his pay
Ford,
John James Audubon
, page 111.

168
   
Lucy, who'd anticipated this
Ibid.

168
   
Audubon thought he was
Ibid., page 112.

169
   
He was in command of a large flatboat
Corning (ed.),
Journal of John James Audubon, 1820–1821
, page 16. Audubon's opinion of Captain Aumack varied, and not long after the date of this entry he had a falling-out with Aumack. Except as indicated below, the balance of the account of Audubon and Mason's journey downriver and their first year in New Orleans—comprising the bulk of this chapter—is taken from Audubon's journal. Quotations and significant events are individually cited by page number in the Corning edition.

169
   
Late in the afternoon of October 12, 1820
Ibid., page 3.

170
   
Audubon persuaded Mason
Ibid., page 12.

172
   
The meeting of the Two Streams reminds me
Ibid., page 30.

172
   
One morning when it was too rainy to hunt
Ibid., pages 42–49.

173
   
Ever since a Boy
Ibid.

176
   
The sleekest and most deadly
Bull and Farrand,
The Audubon Society Field Guide to North American Birds, Eastern Region
, page 470.

179
   
New Orleans was the fifth-largest city
Richard,
Louisiana
, page 49.

179
   
The city was also a principal immigration point
Ibid.

179
   
Almost incomprehensibly, a few of these free blacks
Ibid.

179
   
Quadroon balls were popular events
Ibid., page 48.

180
   
The Mississippi River between New Orleans and Natchez
Ibid., page 49.

180
   
One bit of gossip hinted
Arthur,
Audubon
, pages 300–304.

181
   
He seemed a steadying and cheerful influence
Audubon to Lucy Audubon, May 24–May 31, 1821 (American Philosophical Society). This is the long letter that also included Audubon's journal excerpt regarding the mysterious Ms. Andre.

181
   
But sour feelings were never
Corning (ed.),
Journal of John James Audubon, 1820–1821
, page 116.

181
   
One day as he walked down a back alley
Audubon to Lucy Audubon, May 24–May 31, 1821 (American Philosophical Society).

183
   
In a long letter to Lucy
Ibid.

183
   
Weary and losing weight
Ibid. Audubon was, among other things, attempting to respond to a series of complaining letters he'd received from Lucy that spring.

183
   
Her father had recently died
Lucy to Euphemia Gifford, April 1, 1821 (Princeton University Library).

184
   
“[F]or the last year”
Ibid.

184
   
That same spring, Lucy was writing
Audubon to Lucy Audubon, May 24–May 31, 1821 (American Philosophical Society).

184
   
Her letters, he wrote in his journal
Corning (ed.),
Journal of John James Audubon, 1820–1821
, page 120.

185
   
“Wert thou not to give me hints”
Audubon to Lucy Audubon, May 24–May 31, 1821 (American Philosophical Society).

185
   
In June of 1821
Corning (ed.),
Journal of John James Audubon, 1820–1821
, page 159.

187
   
Audubon and Mason went back downriver
Ibid., pages 197, 200.

188
   
After weeks of meeting one boat, then another
Ibid., page 223.

188
   
Lucy got work as a governess
Ford,
John James Audubon
, page 134.

188
   
Lucy and the boys joined him at Natchez
Ibid., page 135.

189
   
Audubon gave Mason some paper and chalks
Herrick,
Audubon the Naturalist
, vol. I, page 321.

189
   
The woman, Jane Percy, lived on a plantation
Ford,
John James Audubon
, pages 136–38.

189
   
In better days, when business was good
Personal communication, Don Boarman, museum curator at John James Audubon State Park, Henderson, Kentucky. The museum holds all eight volumes of
American Ornithology
owned by Audubon. The first six were evidently purchased on a trading trip in the south, and bear the inscription “1816 Louisiana.”

189
   
Audubon attributed this unwillingness
Corning (ed.),
Journal of John James Audubon, 1820–1821
, page 122.

189
   
When George Ord was elected to
Rhoads, “George Ord.”
Cassinia: Proceedings of the Delaware Valley Ornithological Club
, No. XII, 1908.

190
   
In New York, to which he'd fled
Ford,
John James Audubon
, page 148.

191
   
After a slow bird-watching detour
Ibid., pages 149–52.

191
   
A skiff delivered him ashore
Herrick,
Audubon the Naturalist
, vol. I, pages 345–46. Herrick, along with virtually all of Audubon's subsequent biographers, accepts this early journal account of Audubon losing his way in the woods as a description of his return to Lucy in 1825, after his long visit to Philadelphia. Alice Ford, however, believes this is instead the story of his return to Lucy after his nearly three-year absence in England and Scotland several years later. Ford cites Maria Audubon's bowdlerized version of the journals as the main authority on this point, and I will grant that she may be right in doing so. However, Lucy changed employers during Audubon's British sojourn, and when he returned she had moved to a new house, the location of which would have been vague to Audubon if he knew it at all. The fact that he struck out at night, thinking he would find his way home in the rain and darkness, I think, argues that this was his earlier return from Pennsylvania, when he was going back to Beech Woods. Suffice it to say that, in both homecomings, Audubon's long absence made him eager to complete his journey and that husband and wife greeted one another each time with profound emotion.

191
   
Audubon was astonished to learn
Ford,
John James Audubon
, page 154.