The life and times of Andrew Jackson

Front matter

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I'kKSKNTKI) liY

Chapter I

Birth; Childhood; Jackson's father and mother; the Jacksons pagb during the Revolutionary War; Young Jackson sows wild oats ........ 9

CHAPTER n.

Andrew Jackson studies law; Characteristics as a young man 20

CHAPTER HI.

The State of Franklin; Glorious John Sevier; Andrew Jackson leaves North Carolina and settles in Tennessee 31

CHAPTER IV.

Jackson practising law in Jonesboro; Buys a young negro woman; Origin of O. K.; Jackson stabs a fellow citizen; Moves to Nashville; Anecdote of the Indians . . 44

CHAPTER V.

Jackson boards with the widow jJonelson; Her daughter Rachel who is unhappily married; She and Jackson fall in love with each other; She elopes with Jackson; Her husband secures a divorce from her; Fatal consequences of Jackson's too hasty marriage . . . .54

CHAPTER VI.

Jackson prospers as a lawyer; Becomes a large land-owner; "Primitive conditions in Tennessee; Jackson as a gentleman-gambler . • . . .76

CHAPTER Vri.

Jackson chosen delegate to Tennessee Constitutional Convention; On committee to draft Constitution; Member of Congress; His vote against congratulatory address of Congress to President Washington; United States Senator from Tennessee; resigns from the Senate; Elected .^udge Tennessee Supreme Court; Major General of the State militia; Quarrels with John Sevier; Seeks appointment to Governorship of Louisiana Territory; Storekeeper; Chicken fighter and horse racer ... 89

CHAPTER VIII.

Horse race arranged between a horse owned by Jackson and one owned by Capt. Ervin; Race called off and forfeit paid; Controversy over notes in which forfeit was paid; Jackson challenged by Thomas Swann; Ignores challenge; Canes Swann; McNairy takes Swann's part; Jackson denounces Charles Dickinson; Duel between McNairy and John Coffee; Coffee wounded; Dickinson's card in reply to Jackson; Dickinson challenged by Jackson; Accepts challenge; Duel is fought in Kentucky and Dickinson is killed ........ 103

CHAPTER IX.

Aaron Burr's schemes to found empire; Visits Nashville; Guest at Jackson's home; Jackson fellow-conspirator with Burr; Abandons Burr when he learns of his treasonable designs; Jackson's home life; Race track anecdotes; Row with Silas Dinsmore, U. S. Indian agent . . 119

CHAPTER X.

Jackson leads troops against Florida; Anecdote of Rev. Learner Blackman; Forces against Florida dismissed; Jackson's return to Tennessee; Wins nickname of "Old Hickory;" Presentation of flag to returning troops by ladies of East Tennessee; Jackson's speech of acceptance; Jackson threatened with financial ruin; Thomas H. Benton rescues him; Jackson acts as second for William Carroll in duel with Jesse Benton; Thomas H. Benton denounces Jackson; Jackson threatens to horsewhip him; Fight between the Benton brothers on one side and Jackson, John Coffee and Stokely Hayes on the other; Jackson badly wounded by Jesse Benton; Jesse Benton's irreconciliable spirit ..... 133

CHAPTER XI.

Battle of Buchanan's Station between whites and Indians;

Massacre of Fort Mims . . . . . .148

CHAPTER XII.

Effect of the slaughter of Fort Mims; Georgians, Mississippians and Tennesseans take the field; Sketch of the Creeks; Their advancement in the arts of civilization; Indians defeated at Tallushatches by General Coffee and at Talladega by General Jackson; Pathetic incident of the Battle of Tallushatches; Accounts of the battles of Tallushatches and Talladega by Davy Crockett 16i

CHAPTER XIII.

Effect of the victories at Tallushatches and Talladega; Hillibees sue for peace; Slaughter of Hillibees by Tennessee troops; Jackson's row with Generals Cocke and White; Embarrassing position of General White; Causes General Cocke's arrest at the head of his troops; He retires from the service; Is tried by court-martial and acquitted;

Mutiny among Jackson's troops; Jackson a strict disciplinarian; His men go to their homes; Davy Crockett's accounts; New levies arrive; Indians attack Jackson's force at Enotachopco Creek; Colonel John Williams, of the Regular Army, joins Jackson with his regiment, through the persuasions of Judge Hugh L. White; Choctaw Indians join Jackson; Unjustifiable execution of John Woods . .. .170

CHAPTER XIV.

Jackson's fine army; Crushes the Indians at Horse Shoe Bend; Sam Houston's bravery; William Weatherford, Indian Chief, hero of the Creek War; His career sketched; Anger of Colonel Williams at Jackson's official report of the battle of Horse Shoe Bend; Jackson defeats vVilliams in race for the United States Senate; Colonel King challenges Jackson to a duel .... 183

CHAPTER XV.

British preparing to attack New Orleans; Jackson scatters his troops; Jackson dines at Edward Livingston's; His dress and manners; Makes favorable impression on the ladies; Commodore Patterson warned of the approach of the " British fleet; British destroy American squadron on Lake Borgne; Jackson aroused; Gets down to work; Orders in his scattered forces; Reinforcements arrive; British land at Bien venue; Capture Major Villere; Villere escapes; Warns Jackson of the peril of New Orleans; Jackson rises to the occasion; To arms! The enemy is at hand! Jackson's motley army; He attacks the British at night; Takes position behind Rodriguez Canal; Errors of the British ••...... 196

CHAPTER XVr.

Numerical strength of the British army; Its magnificent makeup; Strength of Jackson's force; Battle of New Orleans; British storm the American works and are signally defeated; Losses on both sides . . .209

CHAPTER XVII.

Rejoicings over the victory of New Orleans; Jackson crowned with laurel; Mrs. Jackson comes down to New Orleans; Jackson holds the city under martial law; Protest of a citizen; He is clapped into jail; Writ of habeas corpus Issued in his behalf; Jackson arrests the Judge who had issued the writ, and banishes him; Has six of his soldiers shot; Fined $1,000 for contempt of court; Heartily welcomed on his return to Nashville; Triumphal progress to Washington; Created Major General of the Southern Division .. . . .218

CHAPTER XVIII.

Results of the War of 1812; Autonomy of the Union preserved; Conduuct of the New England States during the

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war; How the victory of New Orleans saved the Louisiana Purchase to the United States; Jackson becomes Tennessee's richest citizen; Cause of the first Seminole War; Destruction of the Negro Port . . .225

CHAPTER XIX.

Encroachments upon Florida Indians by citizens of Georgia; War precipitated by General Gaines; Burning of Fowltown; General Jackson rushes to arms; His army out of proportion to the task in hand; Seminoles ambush a party of soldiers on the Appalachicola; Another party attacked; General Jackson's arrival at Fort Scott; General Mcintosh's aspirations; Jackson's army has its "Baptism of Fire;" Jackson seizes St. Marks; Arbuthnot, a Scotch merchant, taken into captivity; Indian Chiefs murdered; Jackson's army arrives at Suwannee, to find it deserted; Burning of Suwannee; End of the Seminole War; Court-martial and execution of Arbuthnot and Ambrister 236

CHAPTER XX.

Jackson takes possesion of Pensacola and Fort Barrancas; His explanation of this proceeding; Begins his homeward march; Anger of Great Britain and Spain at Jackson's high-handed conduct; They are pacified; Horrible massacre of friendly Indians at Cheha by Captain Obed Wright, of the Georgia Militia; Correspondence between Jackson and Governor Rabun in reference to the matter; Jackson finds a foeman worthy of his steel 248

CHAPTER XXI.

Jackson's secret purpose in going to war with the Seminoles; Opinion of Jackson's conduct in Florida held by members of President Monroe's Cabinet; Calhoun and Crawford would censure him; John Quincy Adams his staunch defender; Jackson comes off with flying colors; Spain cedes Florida to the United States; Jackson resigns his commission in the Army; Is appointed Governor of Florida by President Monroe; Arrests and' imprisons the Spanish ex-Governor at the complaint of a mulatto woman; President Monroe contemplates appointing Jackson Minister to Russia; Thomas Jefferson's comment; Jackson resigns the Governorship and returns to the Hermitage ........ 254

CHAPTER XXII.

Life at the Hermitage; Jackson's household; The outcast, Henry Lee; Jackson as a host; His devotion to his wife; Character sketches of Daniel Webster, Henry Clay, John C. Calhoun, Thomas H. Benton and John Randolph . 264

CHAPTER XXIII.

Other great men of the period; Compromises and principles upon which our Government was founded; Cavalier and

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Puritan; Quarrels between the sections; The Jay treaty; Constitutional Convention of 1787; Dissensions therein 276

CHAPTER XXIY.

The Federalists; They organize the Government and control it for twelve years; Tneir defeat; Coming in of the "Virginia House;'' The JefEersonian Republicans; A National "machine;" Presidential nominations by the Congressional caucus system; William H. Crawford's opportunity; Split among the Jefferson Republicans; Effort by politicians to overthrow the House of Virginia; Jackson sounded; Says he isn't fit, but at length consents to make the race; rlis competitors; Sketches of William H. Crawford and John Quincy Adams . . . .292

CHAPTER XXV.

Glen made great support of obscure friends; William H. Lewis' efforts in behalf of Andrew Jackson a striking example; He resolves to make Jackson President; Congressional caucus nominates Crawford; Jackson nominated by the Legislature of Tennessee; Is elected United States Senator . . . . . , . 300

CHAPTER XXVI.

Jackson's queer votes in the Senate; The Coleman letter; Progress of the Jacksonian campaign; Jackson's serenity and conciliatory manners; Refuses to intrigue for the Presidency; The result of the race; Jackson among the first to congratulate Adams on his election . . 306

CHAPTER XXVII.

Presidential aspirant; Sad plight of William H. Crawford; charges against his "administration of the Treasury Department made by a Calhoun organ; His previous friendship for Calhoun turned into bitter hatred; George M. Troup; His determination to extinguish the Indian title to all lands held by them in Georgia in accordance with the agreement of 1802; Treaty at Indian Spring; Killing of General Mcintosh; President Adams sends General Gaines to Georgia; threat of Federal coercion; Governor Troup's bold stand; The Georgia Militia ordered to prepare for fight; President Adams backs down ' . 311

CHAPTER XXVIII. •

Jackson and Calhoun elected President and Vice-President; Aunt Rachel's death; A crushing blow; Jackson on his way to his inauguration; Incidents of the trip; He takes the reins of office . .321

CHAPTER XXIX.

Charming Peggy O'Neal; Her gayety; Her social ostricism; Calhoun slated as Jackson's successor; Martin Van Buren's

PA6B aspirations; Plans collision between Jackson and Calhoun; Becomes Mrs. Eaton's champion; Wives of Cabinet officers refuse to receive Mrs. Eaton; Cabinet resigns, or is dismissed; Mrs. Calhoun's refusal to recognize Mrs. Eaton as her social equal kindles Jackson's implacable resentment; begins to seek for quarrel with Calhoun; Crawford's letter to John Forsyth; Rupture between Jackson and Calhoun; Anecdotes of the period . . 329

CHAPTER XXX.

The manufacturing system one of the ^causes of the inequalities of wealth in this country; The South never in favor of a protective tariff; The "Tariff of Abominations;" Georgia and South Carolina bitterly oppose it; South Carolina passes Nullification" ordinances; Jackson influenced in his course toward South Carolina by hatred of Calhoun; Issues proclamation of remonstrance and warning against nullification; Makes preparations to collect the Custom-House duties in South Carolina; Empowered to use the military to enforce the law; Calhoun's defiance of Jackson; The protective principle surrendered; Civil war averted; Incidents and anecdotes of contemporary characters ••...... 345

CHAPTER XXXI.

Money; The United States Bank; Clay's premature effort for its re-charatering; The bill introduced; Jackson proposes changes;,. Clay and Webster decline their acceptance; The bill passes Congress; Jackson vetoes it; Extracts from his Message; The Presidential campaign of 1832; Jackson re-elected; Orders removal of the Government deposits from the United States Bank; Duane's refusal; He is removed from office and succeeded by Taney; The deposits are checked out; Description of Jackson's heroic bearing in the matter ........ 364

CHAPTER XXXII.

Jackson the originator of the spoils system in office; Ousts his political opponents; Two cruel examples; Pathetic end of James Monroe; Extracts from Prentiss' "Speech on Defalcation;" Anecdotes . . . .377

CHAPTER XXXIII.

Benton's warfare upon the United States Bank; Calhoun's idea of State-built railroads; Close of Jackson's administration; Van Buren his successor; Failure of his administration; Jackson returns to the Hermitage; Interest and influence in subsequent political events; Joins the church; His health gives way; Closing scenes; His death .400

Life and Times of Andrew Jackson

CHAPTEE I.

Andeew Jackson was born on March 15, 1767.

There has been a hot dispute over the place of his birth, but the weight of the legal evidence favors South Carolina.

His parents were immigrants from the northern part of Ireland, where the people are mainly Presbyterians in religion, and where there is an inter-mixture of Scotch blood; but there seems to be no positive proof that the Jacksons belonged to the over-worked family of Scotch- Irish.

They were poor people, living at Carrickfergus, linen weavers by trade, and,, if any one of them had ever been prominent in any way, the story is lost. The most painstaking researches made by enthusiastic hero-worshippers have failed to trace the Jackson lienage to a single cattlelifting lord, or to any other member of that upper world into which the biographical snob is so eager to cast his anchor.

The Jacksons were plain, common, industrious, honest folks, who held a respectable, independent place in their own community, but who were not so prosperous as to resist the temptation to try their fortunes in the New World.

Hugh Jackson, brother to Andrew's father, had been a soldier in a British regiment, and had served in America. He was present at Braddock's defeat, and may have known Fausett, the Virginia scout, who is said to have given the rash British general the wound of which he died. (See note.)

Apparently, Hugh Jackson became interested in the efforts of the Catawba Land Company to colonize its

2aj 9 holdings in the Carolinas, for upon his return to Ireland he began to get together a band of kinspeople, neighbors and friends, for the purpose of emigrating to America.

Among those whom Hugh Jackson persuaded was his brother, Andrew. But, before everything could be got ready for the voyage, Hugh Jackson fell in love with the daughter of well-to-do parents, and married her ; and the wife of Hugh was so satisfactory in herself and her surroundings that the happy husband decided to remain in the old country — his wife having vetoed his emigration scheme.

His brother Andrew, however, had probably already made his arrangements to go to America, and, having become unsettled, found it not so easy to sink back into his former life; therefore, after some hesitation, he and the three Crawfords, one of whom was the husband of his wife's sister, took ship for Charleston.

Upon his coming to North Carolina, it seems that Andrew Jackson was too poor to buy land. Instead, therefore, of locating in the Waxhaw Settlement, where most of the immigrants from Carrickfergus had bought homes, he went to Twelve-mile Creek, a branch of the Catawba.

Here he was seven miles distant from the Waxhaw Settlement, and was face to face with the gigantic task of carving out a farm from the wilderness.

The historian, the orator, the painter, have been eager in the duty of blazoning the deeds of our pioneer missionaries, law-makers and soldiers. The names of these heroes live, and deserve to live, in letters of light upon the records of our country. But, to our pioneer

Note:

"The Virginia provincials, under Washington, by their knowledge of border warfare, and cool courage, alone saved the day.

Braddock was himself mortally wounded by a provincial named Fausett. A brother of the latter had disobeyed the silly orders of the General, that the troops should not take position behind the trees, when Braddock rode up and struck him down. Fausett, who saw the whole transaction, immediately drew up his rifle and shot him through the lungs."

"The Great West," Howe.

farmers, justice has never been done. Theirs was a combat calling for every soldierly trait of John Smith and Miles Standish. The patient courage which swung the axe, in the depths of primeval woods, was no less heroic than the bravery which made the musket conquer. The toil of the warrior's march was slight by comparison with the homely, but exhausting, work of preparing the soil for the sowing of seed. The arrows of the red men were not more deadly to the soldier than were the fevers which rose from the swamps and pulled down the settler as he struggled to open out his farm.

In the South, in the East, in the West, the story of the pioneer plowman of America is one of dauntless courage, of quiet heroism. He found the New World a wilderness and he has well-nigh made it a garden. His axe, his spade, his hoe, his plow, his muscle, his brain, his very heart and soul have all been enlisted in the work; and never once have his lips uttered the craven's plea for '* Protection." Never once has he gone to the doors of legislation begging special favors. Never once has he lied to government and people for the purpose of securing a selfish advantage at the expense of his fellowman.

No. He has not only not demanded of the government either Protection or Privilege, but he has submitted — yes, for one hundred years he has submitted! — to be robbed of a portion of his annual produce in order that our Infant Industry Capitalists should be able to build up the corporate power which now, in the form of Trusts, dominates the Eepublic and secures the lion's share of all the wealth created in every field of industry.

Like many another pioneer of the American wilderness, Andrew Jackson found the task too hard. He died under the strain. The impression which his famous son had as to the immediate cause of his death was that he ruptured a blood vessel in the handling of a heavy log.

The body of the hero who had fallen in the fight for his wife and little ones — the fight to make a home for them in the wilderness — was buried in the graveyard of the Waxhaw Settlement church. In after years, when efforts were made to identify the spot it could not be done.

According to local tradition, there was held at the cabin-home of the dead man the grewsome "wake" which was customary among the Irish in the Old Co1mtry. Eelatives from the Waxhaw settlement came out to Jackson's "clearing," when they learned that he was no more; and, after preparing the body for burial, their grief gradually wore itself out, and the whiskey-jug became the ruling factor of the occasion. As lamentation gave place to' revelry, it is said that "the corpse came in for his share of the refreshments." What this may mean, each reader shall judge for himself.

The same tradition claims that the body was hauled from the cabin to the graveyard upon a rough wooden frame or sled, and that such was the disorder of the journey that the corpse was jolted off the sled and "tumbled on its face in a little bottom," on the banks of Waxhaw Creek, near the crossing.

The man who was riding the horse, which was hitched to the sled, had not known that he had lost his load until one of the funeral party in advance, happening to look back, saw "the sled bouncing up and down, in a very light way."

They had to go back miles before they came to the spot where the body had rolled off the sled.

The numerous biographers of Andrew Jackson have shunned this local tradition as something entirely too horrible to put in print; yet books are only valuable to the extent that they tell the truth. The story is useful as an illustration of the extreme roughness of frontier conditions at that time, the poverty of the Jacksons, and the rude simplicity of border funerals.

The immigrant had gone into the unbroken wilderness to build his log cabin ; and apparently there was no' wagon road from his "clearing" to the Waxhaw Settlement.

The use of the wooden frame or sled to carry the

Funeral of Jackson's father body on, would indicate more strongly the lack of a road than the lack of a wagon, for, even though the Jacksons had no such vehicle, the Waxhaw relatives would have brought one if there had been a passable road. The corpse, tumbling off the sled and being left behind on its face in the little bottom, is uncanny, but to the dead the uncanny is not the uncommon.

The brilliant soldier — son of the Emperor Charles V — Don John of Austria, who broke the sea-power of the Turks in the battle of Lepanto, died dismally in the Netherlands ; and his body was carried On horse-back to Spain, in two sacks — half of the body in one sack and half in the other. *

When Abraham Lincoln died, his face discolored so rapidly that those in charge, to save the feelings of the people who would want to gaze upon the revered features, painted out the shocking discoloration; and, thus artificially masked, the martyred President waa borne to his tomb.

The wido"w Jackson and her two little boys did not go back to the distant, lonely cabin on Twelve-mile Creek. From the church-ground where the husband and father had been buried, they went to the home of George Mc- Camie, who had married Mrs. Jackson's sister. Here, within a fortnight of the funeral, a son was born to the widow ; and this son she named Andrew, after his father.

As soon as she was able to travel, the widow Jackson left the McCamie home and went to live with James Crawford, her brother-in-law.

Mrs. Crawford was an invalid, and Mrs. Jackson took charge of the Crawford housekeeping. Thus she and two of her boys lived for several years, the oldest son, Hugh, remaining with George McCamie.

The family name of Andrew Jackson's mother was Hutchinson. She had, at least, a primary English education, for it was she who taught Andrew to read. That she was a woman of strong, lovable traits, is proven by the sound advice she impressed upon the mind of her great son, and by the passionate attachment to her which he carried throughout his life.

After the battle of New Orleans, when the victor had been crowned with laurel in the Cathedral and acclaimed like a demi-god through the streets, it was of his mother that he spoke to the officers whom he was about to disband — thier glorious work being done.

** Gentlemen, if only she could have lived to see this day!"

As you follow the narrative of Andrew Jackson's career, you will hear him say many things that you will not approve, will see him do many things which you cannot applaud, but when you recall that at the very topnotch of his success and his pride, his heart stayed in the right place, and was sore because his mother could not be there to gladden her old eyes with the glory of her son — you will forgive him much in his life that was harsh and cruel and utterly wrong.

During each Winter, for two or three years, after he had reached the age of seven, Andrew Jackson was sent to the old-field school of a Mr. Branch. After this, he attended the select school which a Presbyterian preacher, Dr. David Humphreys, taught in the Waxhaw settlement. He appears to have been going to this higher school in the spring of 1780, when the inroad of Tarleton created a panic in that portion of the Carolinas. At some later period of his youth, he is said to have attended the old Queen College or Seminary at Charlotte a couple of terms, but the time is not definitely known.

As to education, therefore, it may be safely stated that Andrew Jackson enjoyed much more than the ordinary advantage of a back-woods boy of his time. At the age of ten, he had become so good a reader that he was often chosen to read the newspaper to the assembled neighbors ; and he remembered with pride, in after years, that he had thus had the honor of "reading out loud" the Declaration of Independence upon his arrival in the Waxhaw Settlement. For a lad of ten this was, indeed, something to remember with honest satisfaction.

He also learned to write "a good hand," which can be easily read even to this day: he was well up in arithmetic, and was fond of geography: grammar he detested, as most of us did. While yet a school-boy he wrote a composition which was in the nature of a patriotic proclamation, reminding his countrymen that they must expect occasional defeats and that they could hope to win only by steady effort and resolute courage.

From the advent of Tarleton, in 1780, and the Buford Massacre, until the surrender of Cornwallis, the widow Jackson and her boys were tossed hither and thither in the whirlwind of the Revolutionary War. The people of the Carolinas were divided, as they were in other States, some being Tories and in favor of remaining subjects of Great Britain, while the majority \^ere Whigs, and in favor of Independence.

The feud between the two local factions waxed bitter, splitting into savage groups almost every neighborhood, and often setting in hostile array, the one against the other, members of the same family.

The troops sent over to this country by King George committed many atrocities^ some of which historians have shrunk from recording, but it is also true that many a nameless horror was perpetrated by our own people upoii each other. In the later stages of the conflict, almost no mercy was shown by Tory to Whig, or by Whig to Tory.

After Gates' disastrous defeat at Camden, Andrew Jackson made his home for a while at the house of Mrs. Wilson, a distant connection of Mrs. Jackson. This lady lived a few miles from Charlotte. During his stay with her, Andrew made himself useful pulling fodder, going to mill, driving cows to pasture, gathering vegetables for the table, carrying in the wood, and taking farm tools to the blacksmith shop to be mended.

Mrs. Wilson had a son who became Andrew Jackson's playmate and friend; and this son, who was afterward a prominent minister of the Gospel, used to relate that whenever young Jackson went to the blacksmith shop lie would bring back with him some new weapon, spear, club, tomahawk, or grass blade with which to kill the British.

Dr. Wilson remembered having told his mother one day, when speaking of Jackson, "Mother, Andy will fight his way in the world."

A girl of the neighborhood, who became in due time Mrs. Smart, happened to see Andrew Jackson as he passed along the road, on his way to the home of Mrs. Wilson.

She described the lad as being almost a scarecrow. He was riding a little grass-fed pony or colt, which was so small that the long thin legs of "the gangling fellow," Jackson, could almost meet under the horse's belly. The rider wore a wide-brimmed hat which flapped down over his face, which was yellow and worn. His figure was covered with dust, and as this Knight of the Sorrowful Countenance galloped along the road, he and his shabby little hol-se presented the forlornest spectacle that had ever greeted the laughing eyes of the girl who was to become known in Jacksonian annals as Mrs. Susan Smart.

Hugh Jackson, the oldest of the three boys, joined the band of patriots which was raised and equipped, at his own expense, by that noble leader, Colonel William R. Davie, of South Carolina. Only sixteen years of age, Hugh Jackson left the field hospital, where he had been suffering from fever, and joined in the assault upon Stono Ferry. The excitement, the exertion, the heat of the day (June 20, 1779), brought on a relapse, and the gallant youth died.

As to' Andrew Jackson, he himself said :

"Take it altogether, I saw and heard a good deal of war in those days, but did nothing toward it myself worth mention. ' '

However, he further stated that he acted for Colonel Davie as mounted orderly, or messenger, "being a good rider and familiar with all the roads in those regions."

He witnessed the battles of Hanging Rock and Hobkirk 's Mill, and took part in a skirmish with the Tories at the house of Captain Sands.

Andrew and Robert Jackson were taken prisoners, and it was while so held that the boys were ordered, Robert first and then Andrew, to clean the boots of one of Tarleton's lieutenants. Both refused, and to each was dealt a savage sabre-cut which had much to do with Robert 's death soon afterward, and which gave to Andrew a scar and a hatred which he bore to his grave.

To the rescue of her boys, came Mother Jackson, she who was "as gentle as a dove and as brave as a lioness."

The lads were so young, and were in such a desperate plight with smallpox, that the British officers were perhaps glad to get rid of such an encumbrance ; at any rate they were released or exchanged, and the dismal group, the mother and her sick boys, journeyed back to their home.

But Robert was already so far gone that he died; and when the smallpox left Andrew, he was a mere skeleton. ''It took me all the rest of the year (1781) to recover my strength and get flesh enough to hide my bones."

To the sacred cause of liberty, Elizabeth Jackson had already given two of her sons. The third had barely escaped a like fate. But the golden-hearted woman was not to be cast down, or taught cowardly prudence. No sooner was Andrew out of danger, than she sent him to the home of Joseph White, another brother-in-law, and set out, herself, to carry food and medicine to the sick and wounded patriots who were confined in the British hulks in Charleston Harbor.