Andrew Jackson was born in Waxhaw, South Carolina March 15, 1767, the son of Andrew and Elizabeth
Hutchinson Jackson. Only 9 years old when the Revolution broke out, Andrew, along with his younger brother, were
captured by the British after fighting in the Battle of Hanging Rock. They contracted smallpox while in prison
where Robert died, but Andrew's mother nursed him back to health. In 1781 Mrs. Jackson, who had been widowed before
Andrews birth, contracted a fever and died, leaving 14 year old Andrew an orphan.
After a few years at Charleston and some experience as a schoolteacher, Andrew began to study
law. Following 2 years of studies he moved to Jonesborough and was admitted to the bar. In 1788 he came to the
new settlement of Nashville.
By 1815 Andrew was easily the most popular man in the State. His defeat of the Creek Indians
at Horseshoe Bend in March of 1814 had been followed in January of 1815 by his smashing victory over the British
at the Battle of New Orleans.
As President, Jackson ruled with an iron hand, making enemies of many national leaders along
the way. Among other things, he led the fight to kill the Second Bank of the United States, regularly opposing
internal improvements of the national expense, introduced important administrative reforms in Federal agencies,
put down the nullification crisis of South Carolina and also removed the Indians from the Southeastern United
States. His dictatorial actions created a strong opposition that united the Whig Party, and brought on a revolt
against him in his own state. During his declining years in the Hermitage he tried continually to keep Tennessee
in the Democratic Party, but met with little success. He died in 1845, and was buried at the Hermitage beside his
wife, Rachel.
Andrew Jackson, soldier, lawyer and statesman, familiarly known throughout the civilized world as "Old Hickory,"
was prominently identified with the early history of Tennessee, and also with the history and progress of the American
Republic. He was born in what was known as the Waxhaw settlement, near the boundary line between North and South
Carolina. Considerable discussion has been indulged in as to which state was really his birth place, and though
a majority of his biographers have fixed it as being in North Carolina, Jackson himself twice publicly announced
that he was born in South Carolina. One of these occasions was in the proclamation to the "Nullifiers,"
in 1832, and in his last will and testament he calls South Carolina his "native state." A similar difference
of opinion exists regarding the dwelling place of his ancestry. Some confidently state that his ancestors for
several generations lived near the town of Carrick Fergus, on the north coast of Ireland, while others say his
father was a Scotchman by birth, who came to America in 1765, and died a few years after his arrival in this country.
Andrew was the youngest of three sons born to Andrew and Elizabeth (Hutchinson) Jackson. The death of his father
left the family on a half-cleared farm in the Waxhaw district, with no slaves to aid in its cultivation. The support
of the family, therefore, devolved upon the two older sons, and as soon as Andrew was old enough to be of any assistance
he was made to bear his part. But it was the rugged life of the frontier that developed in him those sturdy traits
of character that in after years became so widely known and added to his fame. His education was of the most limited
character, being confined to reading, writing and the simplest calculations in arithmetic. Much of his education
was acquired under the teachings of his mother, who also sent him to schools kept by clergymen, in the hope that
he would someday enter the ministry. But Andrew would rather fight than preach. In boyhood he was fonder of athletic
sports than books, and if those sports contained an element of personal danger they became all the more attractive.
He has been described as a wild, impetuous, reckless boy, with great moral and physical courage, and a will-power
that at times descended almost to obstinacy. When the battle of Lexington was fought he was eight years old.
His two brothers entered the Colonial army and the eldest lost his life at Stono Ferry. In 1778 Andrew, though
but thirteen years old, entered the service, and fought with his remaining brother, Robert, under General Sumter,
until the close of the war. Toward the close of the war he and his brother were captured. The British commander
ordered Andrew to brush his boots, but the high-spirited lad refused. The officer struck him twice with his sword,
wounding him upon the arm and also on the head. Robert, who spoke up in defense of his brother, was knocked down.
The two boys were then put in prison at Camden, S. C., where they saw the defeat of General Greene at Hobkirk
Hill. Through the influence of their mother the young prisoners were exchanged. Robert soon afterward died of
small pox, at the Waxhaw home, and Andrew was sick for several months. As soon as he had sufficiently recovered,
his mothe4r left home to nurse American soldiers in prison at Charleston, and there died in 1781. Andrew was now
left alone in the world, broken in health and practically penniless. His courage did not desert him, however,
and he went to work to learn the trade of saddler, but soon afterward found employment as a school teacher in the
Waxhaw district. After the independence of the country was established, he went to Salisbury, N. C., and entered
the office of Spruce McCay, as a law student. Notwithstanding the fact that he frequently deserted his studies
to attend a horse race, or some other such sport, he was admitted to the bar before he was twenty years of age.
Jackson first appears in what is not the State of Tennessee, on May 112, 1788, at Jonesboro, on which day he was
formally admitted by order of court to practice law. The same year he was appointed public prosecutor in that
section. His duties in connection with this appointment were rather arduous, requiring him to ride on horseback
about 1,000 miles each year through a country infested by troublesome Indians. In 1790 became the romance of Jackson's
life. He engaged rooms with a Mrs. Donelson, who husband, John Donelson, had come from North Carolina some years
before and settled near Nashville, where he died. Their daughter Rachel, who has been described as a bright, vivacious
girl, married Capt. Lewis Robards, of Kentucky. Her husband seems to have been of a rather moody disposition and
jealous to an inordinate degree. For a time they lived with Captain Robards' mother, but Rachel finally returned
to her mother's home to escape the persecutions of her husband. About this time Jackson became a boarder at the
Donelson home. He found in Mrs. Robards a congenial companion, because of her lively disposition, though their
relations were recognized as being correct in every respect. Nevertheless, her husband became incensed, went before
the Kentucky legislature and applied for the passage of an act granting him a divorce, charging his wife with undue
familiarity with the young prosecutor. The bill was passed and Jackson, supposing it to be a complete decree of
divorce, went with Mrs. Robards to Natchez, in 1791, and was there married. It was not until two years later that
the couple learned that the act of the legislature was not a complete decree, and they were remarried after a full
divorce had been obtained by Captain Robards. Several times in subsequent years this marriage cast a shadow over
Jackson's life, being used as a weapon by his political opponents. Mr. Jackson made his first appearance in the
political arena as a delegate to the convention to formulate the first Tennessee constitution, and was a member
of the committee to draft that document. When the state was admitted, in 1796, he was elected the first representative
to Congress, and took his seat in December of that year. He soon became identified with Jefferson and his co-laborers
in opposition to some of the acts of Washington's administration, and particularly to the policy of Alexander Hamilton.
His first speech in Congress was in favor of remuneration for services against the Indians. Some of his opponents
accused him of a selfish motive, as he had been engaged in warfare with the Indians during the early settlement
of Tennessee, and with such prowess that he had won from the savages the complimentary appellations of "Sharp
Knife" and "Pointed Arrow." But nothing was farther from Jackson's mind than the intention to profit
personally by the passage of such a measure. In fact, his notions of economy were so rigid that he opposed an
appropriation to furnish the president's residence, "except in the plainest manner." In 1797 he was
elected to the United States senate, but he felt out of place in that body, senatorial courtesy seeming to him
tedious and ridiculous. He therefore resigned in April, 1798, and was soon after elected to a judgeship in the
Tennessee superior court of law and equity at a salary of $600 a year. This position he held until 1804, when
he resigned to settle up his private affairs, which had been seriously affected by a Philadelphia failure in 1798.
He sold his estate at "Hunter's Hill," together with some 25,000 acres of land in other parts of the
state, and paid off his debts. He then retired with his slaved to a log house, afterward known as "The Hermitage,"
about eleven miles from Nashville, and engaged in agricultural pursuits. About this time he was visited by Aaron
Burr, who enlisted his cooperation in a proposed war with Spain. A ball was given in Burr's honor, Jackson introducing
him to the guests, and a little later he supplied Burr with boats and provisions to begin the conquest of the Southwest.
But soon afterward his suspicions were aroused that Burr was not acting in good faith, and he wrote to Governor
Claiborne and President Jefferson, giving his opinions of the movement. He remained Burr's personal friend, however,
and although a witness against him in the trial was zealous in his defense. Jackson continued to live at the Hermitage
until the declaration of war against Great Britain, in 1812. He was at that time the commander of 2,500 men of
the state militia, whose services he tendered, in connection with his own, to the government. In October the governor
of Tennessee was asked to send a force of 1,500 men to the assistance of General Wilkinson, who was in command
at New Orleans. Two thousand infantry and cavalry were assembled at Nashville, under the command of Jackson.
The former were sent down the river in boars, while the latter made their way overland. The two forces united
at Natchez, where they remained until March, when they received orders from Washington to disband. Jackson refused
to obey the order, as it mean the dismissal of his men 500 miles from their homes, without pay, provisions or transportation,
and he marched them back in a body to Nashville, where they were formally disbanded on May 22, 1813. His action
was finally approved by the government and the men paid for their time. The war with the mother country had aroused
the Indians to hostilities, emissaries of England going among them, with all sorts of fair promises, to enlist
their aid against the United States. The massacre at Fort Mimms, Aug. 30, 1813, aroused the whole State of Tennessee,
and General Jackson, as commander-in-chief of the militia, issued a call for volunteers. In September he sent
Colonel Coffee with 500 men against the Creeks, and a month later followed with a still larger force. On November
9th, was fought the battle of Talladega, in which the Creeks were defeated, leaving nearly 300 of their number
dead on the field. The warfare was kept up until the following spring, when the Indians received another crushing
defeat on the Tallapoosa river, which ended the trouble. Immediately after this engagement Jackson started for
New Orleans, which was now the objective point of the British in the South. He arrived at New Orleans on December
2nd, and at once set about putting the city in a state of defense. His forces consisted of about 6,000 men, six
gunboats, two armed vessels and a few regulars in the forts. Many of the men were inexperienced in war, and some
of the Kentuckians were with arms, as the vessel carrying guns had been delayed on the river. With this force
he had to do battle against a fleet of fifty ships, the pride of the British navy, manned by 20,000 veterans under
the command of Sir Edward Pakenham. After preliminary engagements the battle of New Orleans was fought on Sunday,
Jan. 8, 1815, some weeks after the treaty at Ghent had been made. The assault was made by the British early in
the morning, hoping to take the Americans at a disadvantage, but Jackson was not that kind of a commander. He
was always ready for a fight. So fierce was the fire of the Americans that in twenty-five minutes the British
were completely routed, General Pakenham being among the killed. Within two hours every British gun was silenced
and the assailants driven from the field. The English lost in killed, sounded and prisoners, about 2,600 men,
while Jackson lost but eight killed and thirteen wounded. This affair made him a hero, and for many years the
Eighth of January was celebrated with almost as much enthusiasm as the Fourth of July. Jackson's name was now
frequently mentioned in connection with the presidency. In November, 1817, his military skill was again called
into requisition to suppress an uprising of the Seminoles in Florida. Here he found the Indians abetted by the
Spanish authorities, and he invaded Spanish territory and seized a garrison of that province. Although he was
censured for his action, President Monroe sustained him, and when Florida was, soon after, ceded to the United
States, appointed him governor of the new territory. But the duties of the position were uncongenial, and after
a few weeks in office he resigned and returned to the Hermitage. In 1823 he was again elected to the United States
senate, and at the same time the legislature nominated him for the presidency. He received the nomination of the
Democratic party, in 1824, and received ninety-nine elector votes to eight-four for Adams, forty-one for Crawford,
and thirty-seven for Clay. The election was thrown into the house of representatives, where Clay's strength went
to Adams, and Jackson was defeated. Four years later he was again the nominee of his party, and this time received
178 electoral votes to Adams' 83. His administrations, for he was re-elected in 1832, having passed into history
as the acts of one of the most honest and courageous men who ever occupied the presidential chair. His veto of
the bill re-chartering the United States bank, his suppression of the "Nullifiers" in south Carolina,
the liquidation of the national debt and similar acts have made his administration celebrated in history, while
the introduction of the theory that "to the victors belong the spoils" and the "kitchen cabinet"
has made it one of the most picturesque. If he lacked the education and polish of those who had preceded him in
the high office of president, the deficiency was more than offset by his high courage, his inflexible honesty of
purpose and his unflinching patriotism. His combativeness, the readiness with which he resented real or fancied
insults, frequently embroiled him with men who were or had been, his best friends. While serving as supreme judge
of Tennessee, he was the patron of Thomas H. Benton, when the latter was admitted to the bar in 1811, at Nashville.
Two years later a general fight occurred at an inn in Nashville, between Benton and his brother on one side and
Jackson, General Coffee and two of their friends on the other. In this affair Jackson was shot and Benton pitched
headlong downstairs. The friendship between Jackson and Benton was restored, however, and they remained warm personal
and political friends for the remainder of their lives. While practicing law, he fought a duel with an opposing
counsel, and about the time that Tennessee was admitted he threatened to shoot Governor Sevier on sight, because
the latter made some remark in reference to Mrs. Robards' divorce and marriage with Jackson. Sometime after this,
Charles Dickinson happened to use some objectionable language regarding Jackson's marriage to Mrs. Robards. A
challenge followed, and in the duel which resulted Jackson had a rib broken and Dickinson was killed. Several
stories have been circulated as to how he received the sobriquet of "Old Hickory." Of the two most probable,
one is that during the war with the Creeks in 1813, when provisions ran short, he set his men an example of feeding
on hickory nuts. The other is that when he was ordered to join General Wilkinson at New Orleans, but only reached
Natchez, his courage and endurance so inspired his men that they gave him the name, to signify that he was as tough
as hickory wood. Upon retiring from the presidency, General Jackson published a farewell address, took up his
residence at the Hermitage and died there on June 8, 1845. His wife died on Dec. 22, 1828, after his election
to the presidency, but before he was inducted into office. Her death was the greatest blow of his life. To some
of his friends who called shortly after her death he said: "What are the world and its honors to me since
she is taken from me?" They sleep side by side, not far from the old dwelling, their remains covered by a
massive monument of Tennessee limestone, but his memory will endure for centuries.
Notable Men of Tennessee, Vol. I, Publ. 1905. Transcribed by Nancy Overlander
