Quotes

 -Hamilton Fish.

New York Congressman, described Cazneau as “full of schemes, avid of money, and devoid of scruples.”[1]

- George Bancroft / William Marcy.

Bancroft, was President Polk’s Secretary of the Navy, received a long letter in Washington telling him how to do his job and claiming,

“I mean to show you that I can call out an expression of public sentiment (and create it too) that Mr. Polk would be wise to respect.”

The letter was signed “Storms”. (Storms is one of the pen names Jane Cazneau used as an alias).  

“Who is Storms?” Bancroft wrote to his colleague William Marcy, the Secretary of War. “She” Marcy replied, “is an outrageously smooth and keen writer for the newspapers.”[2]

-Aaron Burr

Aaron Burr, prior to his embarrassing relationship with Cazneau, had written her a letter of introduction, and claimed she had “a peculiar discernment…courage, stability, and perseverance.”[3]

-Thomas Benton

Missouri Senator, complained of her “masculine stomach for war and politics.”[4]

-Henry Watterson

The influential Louisville Courier-Journal editor, believed "a braver, more intellectual woman never lived," adding that she was "a born insurrecto and a terror with her pen."[5]

-General Winfield Scott

Had concerns with sending important messages by a “by a plenipotentiary in petticoats.”[6]

-President James Polk

Described her as “an intelligent woman," but added, "when she retired I did not feel I was enlightened by any information which she had given me.”[7]

-Merton L. Dillon

A biographer of Cazneau, said her life was “a comedy of grandiose plans and bungled opportunities.”[8]

-New York Tribune (1878)

Cazneau’s obituary-

Few women leave a record more desirable than Mrs. Cazneau. Never a ‘woman’s rights woman’ in any sense, she was always eager to do the duty which lay next to her-to do it without ostentation, but thoroughly and completely. Her character is a marked one, and commanded the admiration of all who knew her.[9]

-Jane Maria Eliza McManus Storm Cazneau advised Presidents James K. Polk and Ulysses S. Grant. 

She also advised the cabinet members for the administrations of James K. Polk, Zachary Taylor, Franklin Pierce, James Buchanan, Abraham Lincoln, Andrew Johnson, and Ulysses S. Grant.[10]