Jackson, Andrew (1767–1845)

Early Life

Jackson was born in the Waxhaws region of the Carolinas in March 1767, shortly after his father died. His formative years were influenced by the British invasion of the Carolinas during the American Revolution. He was captured as a civilian by the British after fighting in the August 1781 battle of Hanging Rock, South Carolina. Jackson's lifelong hatred of the British was cemented when a British officer slashed him with his sword after Jackson refused to wipe mud from the officer's boots. This hatred grew even fiercer after his mother and two older brothers died while held by the British during the war.

Legal and Military Career

Admitted to the bar in 1787, Jackson moved to Tennessee to pursue lucrative opportunities in a new frontier state. He married into a prominent family and entered politics, serving as representative and senator in Congress, and judge on the Tennessee superior court. In 1792, Jackson's success led to an appointment as judge advocate for the Davidson County militia, beginning his association with citizen–soldiers. After losing his first bid to be elected major general of the Tennessee militia in 1796, Jackson won election to the same post six years later and came to regard that office as second only to that of state governor.

Agreeing to provide boats and manpower to Aaron Burr in 1805, Jackson anticipated joining Burr's expedition to wrest the Southwest from Spain and thereby expand the United States. When Burr was tried for treason, Jackson testified on his behalf. He considered coconspirator Gen. James Wilkinson, who had sworn allegiance to Spain in 1787, to be the real traitor. During the trial, Jackson's public attacks against Wilkinson and his supporters in the Jefferson administration curtailed his opportunities for further military advancement.

Deterioration of relations between Great Britain and the United States prompted Jackson to leave his plantation and make preparations for what he hoped would become a war with Britain. Jackson called for 2,500 Tennessee volunteers in March 1812 only to see his initiative rejected by Pres. James Madison. Six months later, Tennessee governor William Blount authorized Jackson to lead 2,000 Tennessee militia to assist General Wilkinson in defending New Orleans. Dismissed at Natchez, a dismayed Jackson returned to Nashville, despite having earned the respect and admiration of his men for his courage, fortitude, and leadership, traits that would characterize Jackson throughout his career.

In 1813, Jackson intervened in a dispute between his brigade inspector, William Carroll, and Thomas Hart Benton [Page 386]that culminated in a street brawl that left Jackson seriously wounded and weak from loss of blood. Jackson's recovery was cut short by news of the attack on Fort Mims, Alabama, by the Creek Indians. With his arm in a sling, Jackson led 5,000 regulars and volunteers from Tennessee to retaliate. Destroying the Creek village of Tallushatchee, Jackson's forces then defeated the Red Stick Creeks at Talladega. His troops endured great privations that strained Jackson's ability to maintain a cohesive fighting force, and he repeatedly threatened to execute soldiers who sought to return to Tennessee. Strengthened by the arrival of 800 recruits in January 1814, Jackson launched a spring campaign against the Creeks. On March 27, Jackson's force of regulars and militia successfully attacked a fortified Creek encampment at Horseshoe Bend, effectively ending Creek resistance. Dictating terms to the defeated Indians, the Treaty of Fort Jackson, signed in August 1814, ceded more than 23 million acres of Creek land in Georgia and Alabama to the United States.

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