25 chapters
9 hour read
Selected Chapters
25 chapters
PREFACE.
PREFACE.
Tue military life of Andrew Jackson lasted nine years, of which about two years were passed in the field. He was in no proper sense of the word a professional soldier, and he resented the phrase “military chieftain ” which Henry Clay, knowing its irritating power, so often applied to him. He was simply a Tennessee farmer and militia-general who, when his country was invaded, led his neighbors and fellow-citizens to its defense. In doing this duty of a citizen he displayed military talents which
4 minute read
Read Chapter
Read Chapter
GENERAL JACKSON, I PARENTAGE AND EDUCATION.
GENERAL JACKSON, I PARENTAGE AND EDUCATION.
Ix 1765, Andrew Jackson, the father of the Andrew Jackson whose career we are about to relate, emigrated, with his wife and two sons, from Carrickfergus, in the north of Ireland, to South Carolina. His sons were named Hugh and Robert; Andrew was not yet born. In his native country he had cultivated a few hired acres, and his wife had been a weaver of linen. Like most of the inhabitants of the north of Ireland, he was of Scottish origin; but his ancestors had lived for five generations in the nei
7 minute read
Read Chapter
Read Chapter
II. DURING THE REVOLUTIONARY WAR.
II. DURING THE REVOLUTIONARY WAR.
It was on the 29th of May, 1780, that Tarleton, with three hundred horsemen, surprised a detachment of militia in the Waxhaw settlement and killed one hundred and thirteen of them, and wounded a hundred and fifty. The wounded, abandoned to the care of the settlers, were quartered in the houses of the vicinity; the old log Waxhaw meeting-house itself being converted into a hospital for the most desperate cases. Mrs. Jackson was one of the kind women who ministered to the wounded soldiers in the c
14 minute read
Read Chapter
Read Chapter
III HE STUDIES LAW, AND BECOMES A TENNESSEE LAWYER,
III HE STUDIES LAW, AND BECOMES A TENNESSEE LAWYER,
CorNwaLLis surrendered at Yorktown on the 19th of October, 1781. Savannah remained in the enemy's hands nine months, and Charleston fourteen months after that event; but the war, in effect, terminated then, North and South. The Waxhaw people who survived returned to their homes, and resumed the vocations which the war had interrupted. With returning health returned the frolicsome spirit of the youth, which now began to seek gratification in modes less innocent than the sportive feats of his scho
9 minute read
Read Chapter
Read Chapter
IV. IN PUBLIC LIFE, AND AS A MAN OF BUSINESS,
IV. IN PUBLIC LIFE, AND AS A MAN OF BUSINESS,
In November, 1795, the Governor of the Territory announced, as the result of a census ordered by the Legislature, that Tennessee contained seventy-seven thousand two hundred and sixty-two inhabitants, of whom ten thousand six hundred and thirteen were slaves. He therefore called upon the people to elect delegates to a convention for making a Constitution, and named January 11, 1796, as the day for their assembling at Knoxville. The convention met accordingly, fifty-five members in all, five from
10 minute read
Read Chapter
Read Chapter
V, DUEL WITH CHARLES DICKINSON.
V, DUEL WITH CHARLES DICKINSON.
THE Revolutionary War introduced among the people of rustic America the practice of resorting to arms for the settlement of quarrels. Every man who had worn a sash or even shouldered a musket in that contest seems to have hugged the delusion that he was thenceforth subject to the code of honor. He retained the title and affected the tone of a soldier. I call it affectation, believing that no man with Saxon blood dominant in his veins ever yet fought a duel without being distinctly conscious that
14 minute read
Read Chapter
Read Chapter
VI. AT HOME.
VI. AT HOME.
BETWEEN the fighting of this bloody duel and the beginning of the War of 1812 there is not much to relate of General Jackson. A few incidents and anecdotes of his private life may detain us a moment from the stirring scenes of his military career. He removed, as we have before related, from Hunter’s Hill, about the year 1804, to the adjoining estate, which he named the Hermitage, The spacious mansion now standing on that estate, in which he resided during the last twenty-five years of his life,
8 minute read
Read Chapter
Read Chapter
VIL IN THE FIELD.
VIL IN THE FIELD.
AT the beginning of the War of 1812 there was nota militia general in the Western country less likely to receive a commission from the General Government than Andrew Jackson. There were unpleasant traditions and recollections connected with his name in Mr, Madison's Cabinet, as we know. There were those, however, who were strongly convinced that General Jackson was the very man, of all who lived in the valley of the Mississippi, to be intrusted with its defense. Aaron Burr thought so for one, He
21 minute read
Read Chapter
Read Chapter
VIIL THE MASSACRE AT FORT MIMS,
VIIL THE MASSACRE AT FORT MIMS,
AUGUST 30, 1813, was the date of this most terrible eveat. The place was a fort, or stockade-of-refuge, on the shores of Lake Tensaw, in the southern part of what is now the State of Alabama. One Samuel Mims, an old and wealthy inhabitant of the Indian country, had inclosed with upright logs an acre of land, in the middle of which stood his house, a spacious one-story building, with sheds adjoining. The inclosure, pierced with five hundred portholes three and a half feet from the ground, was ent
15 minute read
Read Chapter
Read Chapter
IX. THE CREEK COUNTRY INVADED.
IX. THE CREEK COUNTRY INVADED.
THERE must have been swift express riding in those early days of September, and as stealthy as swift through the Indian country; for, on the 18th of the month, nineteen days after the massacre, we find the people of Nashville assembled in town meeting to deliberate upon the event, the Rev. Mr. Craighead in the chair. The news of the massacre produced everywhere in Tennessee the most profound impression. Pity for the distressed Alabamans, fears for the safety of their own borders, rage against th
50 minute read
Read Chapter
Read Chapter
GHAPTER X. THE FINISHING BLOW.
GHAPTER X. THE FINISHING BLOW.
THE excursion over, and the new levies from Tennessee approaching, Jackson dismissed his victorious troops, whose term of service was about to expire. He bade them farewell in an address abounding in kind and flattering expressions; and they left him feeling all that soldiers usually feel toward the general who ‘has led them to victory. The return of these troops, animated by such sentiments, gave a new impetus to the cause in Tennessee, and fired the troops who were on their way to the seat of
22 minute read
Read Chapter
Read Chapter
XI
XI
MOBILE DEFENDED, AND THE ENGLISH DRIVEN FROM PENSACOLA, IT may have surprised the reader that a commander so remarkable for celerity of movement as General Jackson should have lingered a whole month at the junction of the Coosa and Tallapoosa, concluding a treaty with the Creeks. But that was by no means his principal employment there, as shall now be shown. All that summer he had had a watchful and frequently a wrathful eye on Florida. That the flying Creeks should have been afforded a refuge i
28 minute read
Read Chapter
Read Chapter
XII.
XII.
JACKSON AT NEW ORLEANS, AND APPROACH OF THE BRITISH. New ORLEANS was all unprepared for defense against a powerful foe. When the first rumor of the approaching invasion reached the city, Edward Livingston, the leading lawyer of the State, caused a meeting of the citizens of New Orleans to be convened at Tremoulet’s coffee-house, to concert measures for defense, The meeting occurred on the 15th of September, 1814. Upon taking the chair, Livingston presented a series of spirited resolutions, breat
29 minute read
Read Chapter
Read Chapter
XIIL NIGHT BATTLE OF DECEMBER 23D.
XIIL NIGHT BATTLE OF DECEMBER 23D.
Four o'clock in the afternoon.—Most of the American troops have reached the Rodriguez Canal; others are coming up every moment. They are all on or near the high-road which runs along the river's bank. The Second Division of the British army, consisting of the Twenty-first, the Forty-fourth, and the Ninety-third Highlanders, is nearing the fishermen’s village at the mouth of the Bayou Bienvenu. The party in advance is quiescent and unsuspecting on and about the Villeré plantation. General Keane a
17 minute read
Read Chapter
Read Chapter
XIV. SHOVELS AND WHEELBARROWS.
XIV. SHOVELS AND WHEELBARROWS.
THE Rodriguez Canal was an old mill race partly filled up and grown over with grass. In the early days of the colony the planters built their mills on the levee, and obtained water power by cutting canals from the river to the swamp, through which poured an abundant flood during the periodical swellings of the river. The Rodriguez Canal crossed the plain where the plain was narrowest ; and this circumstance it was that rendered the position chosen by General Jackson for his line of intrenchments
23 minute read
Read Chapter
Read Chapter
XV. SECOND ADVANCE OF THE ENGLISH,
XV. SECOND ADVANCE OF THE ENGLISH,
GENERAL PaxenHAM had seen the American lines. The inference he drew from the sight was that the way to carry the American position was to make regular approaches to it, as to a walled and fortified city. During the last three days of the year 1814 the British army remained inactive on the plain, two miles below the American lines and in full view of them, while the sailors were employed in bringing from the fleet thirty pieces of cannon of large caliber, with which to execute the scheme that had
22 minute read
Read Chapter
Read Chapter
XVI THE 8TH OF JANUARY.
XVI THE 8TH OF JANUARY.
AT one o'clock on the morning of this memorable day, on a couch in a room of the McCarty mansionhouse, General Jackson lay asleep in his worn uniform. Several of his aides slept upon the floor in the same apartment, all equipped for the field. A sentinel paced the adjacent passage. Sentinels moved noiselessly about the building, which loomed up large, dim, and silent in the foggy night, among the darkening trees. Most of those who slept at all that night were still asleep, and there was as yet l
33 minute read
Read Chapter
Read Chapter
XVII END OF THE CAMPAIGN,
XVII END OF THE CAMPAIGN,
How pleasant it would be to dismiss now the conqueror home to his Hermitage, to enjoy the congratula. tions of his neighbors and the plaudits of a nation whose pride he had so keenly gratified! His work was not done. The next three months of his life at New Orleans were crowded with events, many of which were delight ful, many of which were painful in the extreme. The trials of the American army, so far as its patience was concerned, began, not ended, with the victory of the 8th of January, The
26 minute read
Read Chapter
Read Chapter
XVIIL COMMANDER OF THE SOUTHERN DEPARTMENT.
XVIIL COMMANDER OF THE SOUTHERN DEPARTMENT.
Four months’ rest at the Hermitage. In the cool days of October we find the general on horseback once more, riding slowly through Tennessee, across Virginia, toward the city of Washington—the whole journey a triumphal progress. At Lynchburg, in Virginia, the people turned out ez masse to greet the conqueror. A number of gentlemen rode out of town to meet him, one of whom saluted the general with an address, to which he briefly replied. Escorted into the town on the 7th of November, he was receiv
35 minute read
Read Chapter
Read Chapter
XIX. A CANDIDATE FOR THE PRESIDENCY,
XIX. A CANDIDATE FOR THE PRESIDENCY,
THE presidential campaign of 1824 was the least in structive one that ever occurred, because it was the most exclusively personal. But it was far from being the least exciting. ‘The long lull in the political firmament had given every one a desire for a renewal of the old excitements, and there was everywhere an eager buzz of preparation. During the last three years of Mr, Monroe's second term the great topic of conversation throughout the country was, Who shall be our next President? Five candi
10 minute read
Read Chapter
Read Chapter
XX, INAUGURATION.
XX, INAUGURATION.
Haccarp with grief and watching, “twenty years older in a night,” as one of his friends remarked, the President-elect was compelled to enter without delay upon the labor of preparing for his journey to Washington. His inaugural address was written at the house of Major Lewis, near Nashville. But one slight alteration was made in this document after the general reached the seat of government. Before leaving home, the general drew up a series of rules for the guidance of his administration, one of
6 minute read
Read Chapter
Read Chapter
XXIL TERROR AMONG THE OFFICE-HOLDERS.
XXIL TERROR AMONG THE OFFICE-HOLDERS.
It is delightful to observe with what a scrupulous conscientiousness the early Presidents of this republic disposed of the places in their gift. Washington demanded to be satisfied on three points with regard to an applicant for office : Is he honest? Is he capable? Has he the confidence of his fellow-citizens? Not till these questions were satisfactorily answered did he deign to inquire respecting the political opinions of a candidate. Private friendship between the President and an applicant w
14 minute read
Read Chapter
Read Chapter
XXIIL THE SECOND TERM. .
XXIIL THE SECOND TERM. .
Tue triumphant re-election of General Jackson in 1832 was a sore disappointment to Mr. Calhoun, and to his friends the “nullifiers ” of South Carolina. The War of 1812 left the country burdened witha debt of one hundred and thirty millions of dollars, and blessed with a great number of small manufactories, The debt and the manufactories were both results of the war, By cutting off the supply of foreign manufactured articles, the war had produced upon the home manufacturing interests the effect o
25 minute read
Read Chapter
Read Chapter
XXIIL IN RETIREMENT.
XXIIL IN RETIREMENT.
GENERAL JACKSON was seventy years of age when he retired from the presidency. He was a very infirm old man, seldom free from pain for an hour, never for a day. Possessed of a most beautiful and productive farm and a hundred and fifty negroes, he yet felt himself to be a poor man on his return to the Hermitage. “I returned home,” he writes to Mr. Trist, * with just ninety dollars in money, having expended all my salary, and most of the proceeds of my cotton crop; found everything out of repair; c
17 minute read
Read Chapter
Read Chapter
INDEX.
INDEX.
Ambrister, Robert C., Indian trader, captured by Jackson, 264; trial and execution of, 266-268, Arbuthnot, Alexander, Scotch trader at Fort St. Marks, arrested by Jackson, 262 ; accused issues order for arrest of, 47; defended by Jackson, 47. Calhoun, John C., Vice-President United States, tariff reformer, 298; advocate of nullification, 300; counsels moderation, 308. of treachery, 263; trial and exCoffee, Colonel John, business ecution of, 266-268. Bailey, Captain, succeeds Major Beasley in com
9 minute read
Read Chapter
Read Chapter