I
will try my best and be a dutiful wife to you." "Miss," said Governor
Houston, even waiving the fact that he had just married her, "no white
woman shall be my slave; good-night." It is said that he mounted his
horse and rode to Nashville where he resigned at once his office as
Governor and departed for the Cherokee country, where and elsewhere his
subsequent career is well known. Having procured a divorce from his
wife, he married Margaret Moffette in the spring of 1840.

During the same winter I attended a party given by Mrs. Clement C. Hill,
as a "house-warming," at her residence on H Street. Many years later
George Bancroft, the historian, occupied this residence and it is still
called the "Bancroft house." Mr. Hill was a member of a prominent
Maryland family which owned large estates in Prince George County, and
his wife was recognized as one of the social leaders in Washington.

Another ball which I recall, which I attended in company with the
Scotts, was given by Colonel and Mrs. William G. Freeman at their
residence on F Street, near Thirteenth Street, the former of whom was at
one time Chief of Staff to General Scott. I well remember that General
Scott accompanied his daughter and me and that he wore at the time the
full-dress uniform of his high rank. As he measured six feet four in his
stocking-feet, the imposing nature of his appearance cannot well be
described. Mrs. Freeman, whose maiden name was Margaret Coleman, was one
of the joint owners of the Cornwall coal mines in Pennsylvania. Her
sister, Miss Sarah Coleman, shared her house for many years, and old
Washingtonians remember her as the "Lady Bountiful" whose whole life was
devoted to good works. Colonel and Mrs. Freeman's two daughters, Miss
Isabel Freeman and Mrs. Benjamin F. Buckingham, still reside in
Washington.

The first guest whom I recall at this ball was the sprightly Mary Louisa
Adams. She made her home with her grandfather, John Quincy Adams, who
lived in one of the two white houses on F Street, between Thirteenth
and Fourteenth Streets, now called the "Adams house." She was the
venerable ex-President's principal heir, and subsequently married her
relative, William Clarkson Johnson of Utica. George B. McClellan was
also a guest at this entertainment as one of the young beaux. His
presence made an indelible impression upon my memory as I was dancing a
cotillion with him when, to my nervous horror, the pictures in the
ballroom began to sp