Petticoat Affair

Margaret O'Neal
Timblerlake Eaton

Margaret Eaton saved the Union. This, in retrospect,
seen century plus later, but it's obvious. Irish barmaid
catches eye of patron who marries, then widows, her
by killing himself. Seems he wasn't only man
who lusted for the lass, but this one she truly loves,
though D.C. gossips drag her through the mud.
Love's worth that and the fact society will not welcome
wife of Mr. Eaton, U.S. cabinet member. A president
next gets involved, grief-stricken when his own poor wife
succombs to hateful, spiteful talk about her pedigree, her past. No woman should be analyzed and scrutinized, he thinks, adopting Mrs. Eaton's reputation as a project. VP resigns, husband of chief gossip of the capitol; ambition aside, he won't cross her. Throws his back into actions that lay groundwork for rebel uprising,
seed of secession from the Union sown. Van Buren steps
into the void and pays a call to Peggy, pegged thus by
by those who wish her ill and when he does, he pleases
Andrew Jackson. This leads, in turn, to being president
He'll  pull for Lincoln later, abolitionist at heart.
Without this brazen hussy, brave enough to follow
heart into the darkness of gossip, without Van Buren's
courtesy to society's banished barmaid,
history may well have written different story.
One pretty woman, ill-treated, and abused, outcast
who touched the heart of grieving husband.
Thus tongues were stopped and thus, it would appear,
the Union was secured.


(c) Ellen Gillette, 2013

I'd never heard about the Petticoat Affair, but was fascinated by an account on the radio program An American Life. I've been the butt of gossip, and it's no fun - but she managed to get the president of the United States to stick up for her, changed the face of his cabinet, and by extension, the face of American history. Go, Margaret!