Show ana anarT rT 4 4 t 3 r f I J c a X J f s sf st st t f 4 a t rr f S a Nn t I 0 4 II 1 Il t y 4 Y f 1 L Wib Ms y m. m 0 t Jt-t W Ji t J 1 t f 1 z K r k z f Ib t i ii f t f i. i f f i s I t 1 fl r. r t f 1 1 z j J iI hEL 2 fy ELMO SCOTT WATSON WATSON- y A 8 Is a il da day for recalling re reo recalling r c calling a famous American m fight tight and a u famous Amert AmerI American Amer Amer- OO t I ican can fighter The fi fight ht was the time battle of New ew Orleans j E t which thick took place on Jant January Jan JUlio t nary uary 8 1815 and und which is l re R t Ip history rv u us s heln being hehl b a n battle i after the time trtat treaty of peace end- end p e e. e war tear had been sl signed ue l. l The rime t was Gen Andrew Jackson lawyer h by profession isman natural military leader hailed balled y r p time tile war wm with the Creek Inand In In- land md and the tile war with ith the British 4 frontiersmen fellow as us Old OldIn mix In tribute to the toughness fiber as a man and Inter later tri tri- elected electer by hy them to the they ncy c y as the first lirt representative new Americium American democracy to toy y the White House after a lon long rc here b by Virginia and 13 ew rew Jackson Is a u symbol of or r ing so 80 Intensely American that ot of f a recent hlo biographer c People eople still delight in the legs legIt leg- leg s It t his 1118 prowess of or his lurid Id lans lan lan- sk s e of f his Imperious and t per As a small bo boy reeling Into American hIst hIs hIs- a ith t- t u a saber cut on on- his head the ne years ears gather upon him thc they with with steel and blood It was wasIng wasing J Ing g career carper resounding to the if jf If cheering multitudes of must must mus- mus I t. t t if t artillery He lIe was a aJ J a great soldier and a aI I rover over yer lIe He was fiery lIery quixotic And lo loyal loval al lIe Ho was S h q F lc picture of red headed Andy S I p 1 the bu boy and Old Hickory fin 4 cutting cuttin and slashing his lils hiser power power er a raucous mucous fellow an ex ex- handed j tell fellow ow but with with- i n n who had a code and lived t i t t Is too familiar to Amerl- Amerl necessitate culling calling It up again u n anniversary of his great Ireat vie vie- c. c time the light of or these character- character Is Is more amore Interesting to call cull up er picture of or him because of contrast contrast which It f presents presents- Ere Ire reO of or the great grent lover lovel who curiously y romantic For the theAndrew thet t t Andrew w Jackson and his he be- Rachel achel iel the woman he loved to tot t r f his Ids days Is one of Qt the time most L TI l rom romances In American his his- i pry OT- of ot this romance goes oes back r ir r 1779 when CoU Col John Donwell Duni Don Don- i well well well-to-do to Virginia planter I I rt of ot OO 00 elUl emigrants runts on a ae 1 e e trip h by from old i ick Henry In East Elst Tennessee e ee e e present city It of or kings KIngsport ort audio hIJo Basin Bashi of or Tennessee The down the upper branch Iston to th the Tennessee river i Jt V whole length to the Ohio j. j Ohio hlo o to the Cumberland and 4 Ili 11 that stream to the 4 oj oh James Hoh Robertson an and d an party arty of ot settlers had hall frontier r outpost hl which h was waR to h lie cl city of or Nashville ilIe It had 2 party four months t Jele etc te their journey and durin during they hind had known the horrors b attack hitter bitter winter weather treather scourge of smallpox Among 6 ly r was Donelson's twelve twelve- daughter Rachel who tic do- h hardships of frontier life S' S because 1 of ot them tires tires' them 1 grew W u up upI 1 i I womanhood gad Those who J chel l 1 never teter tired in 6 p i telling of h her r beauty her herf e f her Amer sweetness mid anti natural S nfl ays John Trott Trotwood o or oil Moore r t C CU ster n mE V TAvE r T. T Y A a Tennessee historian Sloe She Jle Is described de scribed as us heill being a brunette with olive complexion and high coloring black blacke blackeyes e eyes ewes es that danced and sparkled vivacious vivacious viva viva- cious kind kindly I lips that were true carnelian carnelian car- car nelian a rare wilderness beauty Colonel Donelson was killed b by the Indians during the early years ears of the settlement and his widow moved to Kentucky Kentuck There she rented a a house from another frontier widow a Mrs Robards whose son Lewis wooed and won Rachel Donelson But the marriage marriage marriage mar mar- was a failure from the begin begin- ning Robards was moody temperamental temperamental tempera tempera- mental and Intensely jealous of his wife So Rachel eventually left him returning to her mother who had inthe Inthe in inthe the meantime gone buck back to Nashville to live Faced with the time necessity of ot making her own living after her husbands husband's husbands husband's husbands husband's hus hus- bands band's death Mrs Donelson had hind taken takena a n few men boarders Into her home One of them was a young law lawyer er named John Overton who brought about a reconciliation between Rachel and Robards who then canine came to live with his wife and her mother Another boarder at fit the Donelson home was a red-headed red young Carolinian Caro Caro- linian named Andrew Jackson who had arrived ed in Nashville Nash In 1785 and be began an the practice of ot law Again Robards' Robards Jealousy flamed out ut and he accused Rachel Hachel of being In love with Jackson The Time young roun lawyers lawyer's protest to the husband when he heard the accusation accusation ac nc- ac- ac only made matters worse and Robards returned to Kentucky Through Overton's Intercession Rachel went there to live with him again but finding the situation Impossible soon returned resolved never again to live e with Robards Robards then applied to the legIslature legislature legislature legisla legIsla- ture of ot Virginia since Kentuck Kentucky was stilt still a u part of that state for a divorce divorce di ell- vorce orce and on December 2 29 1790 1700 that bod body passed an nn act permitting him to togo togo togo go Into court to seek a divorce from his wife Back to Tennessee came the report that the time divorce had been granted grunted grant grunt ed In the summer of 1791 1731 while Rachel Ra Ra- Hachel Rachel chel was visiting In Natchez Miss Jackson who had fallen In love with her hr lint hut hind had not spoken of his love while she was still Robards' Robards wife sought her out and the they were mar mar- ried red Time The young couple soon returned t t. t r n 1 L iu LV o i t Ull 1 and unu to lu IU live uye at ui al the me ule home Hunters Hunter's Hill lUll which Jackson now United States attorney and find a al already already al- al ready marked as a n man who would become become be be- come cHile famous had established In Nash Nash- vine ville Two years ears later Jackson and his wife learned that she was not legally divorced from Ho Robards ards when the marriage marriage mar mar- ringe ceremony In Natchez had taken place Th Time The scandal DJon mongers ers and Jackson's Jacksons Jacksons Jackson's Jack Tack Tacks s sons son's ns n's poUt political Ica I en enemies became busy s with the tale Robards had waited three years ears after filing his first application application cation before tin finally ally sec securing the final decree of divorce I Immediately Intel afterward afterwards after after- ward wards on January 17 1794 1734 Jackson remarried his wi wife e. e Then he bou bought ht two dueling pistols and served notice nutice upon his enemies that he lie would kill any man who assailed his wife's name or the purity of their motives motI when the they were first married For a time the ton tongues ues of his enemies ene ene- enemies mies were silenced Then as ns the result re re- stilt sult o of a dispute over a horse race a ayoung ayoung young oung man mean named Charles Dickinson who seems to have been made the time tool toot o of Jacksons Jackson's political enemies after atter a session of or heavy y drinking denounced denounced denounced de de- Jackson as a coward and a poltroon and added the further Insult of declaring that He lived H two years with his hits wife before he was married to her The rue result was the now fa Jackson Dickinson duel In which Dickinson was n killed Dickinson fired first and seriously wounded Jack Jack- son Later Luter Jackson said to his second second sec sec- ond If It he hind had missed me mc I Intended to shoot In the air all but hut when I felt his hall ball plow plots through n m my ribs rills I r would have killed him If he had land shot me through the heart hart The death ath of or Dickinson silenced Jackson's Jacksons enemies for awhile and he und and his ills tt wife Ife enjoyed ed a period o of hap happiness happiness Illness at ut Hunters Hunter's hill Then he lost the major part of or his hii estate of or some sonic f OOOO acres aCles through debt but on the part which h he retained he lie built a I group IOUp of log houses honses and one frame building To ro the time new estate he gave guye the name of The Hermitage Some Sometime Sometime Sometime time later he built a handsome two- two story brick house to care for the IncreasIng increasing increasing in In- creasing number of ot guests who were coming corning to visit this rising young fron fron- In 1 1790 iDO he lie was elected to congress and the time following year he accepted an appointment to fill fiU a seat in the time United States senate not so much because he lie was ambitious himself himself himself him him- self but because he lie wanted to lift his beloved Rachel to a social position which would show his pride in her Within a n year he resigned served ser a short time as a judge jUIge of the Supreme court In Tennessee and then happy in the thought that he was WIlS through with public life looked forward to spending the remainder of hla years ears as a gentleman planter at The Hermita Her Her- mita e. e But the time outbreak of the War of or 1812 called him min into service again again ns as the tile commander of ot Tennessee volunteers to fight the Creek Indians Indans who had gone on the warpath In January Januar 1814 he defeated the Creeks in two pitched battles and ended the war in March ch at the Great Grent Horseshoe Bend Bendon on the Tallapoosa river As the result of his splendid campaign he was made major general in the time regular army armory Then came word that the British were preparing to attack New Orleans and find Jackson with his small army of 2000 men there won soon one of ot the most astounding battles in history history defeat defeat defeating ing Pakenham's British veterans and inflicting upon them a n greater loss than Jacksons Jackson's own force This victory made him the hero of or orthe the old French city and in his triumph Rachel Hachel Jackson shared For he sent for her to come to New ew Orleans and there this dau daughter of the frontier won the time hearts of the time of ot Louisiana with her lien naturalness and her lack luck of ot self They presented her with a set of ot topaz Jewelry jewer and gave a n grand rand huH bull In her honor at which the time Victor of or New Orleans proudly led her out as his first choice as a dancing partner B By this time Jackson lackson had become a national figure with the promise of further public honors In store for him Ills His devoted Rachel hoped that he would return to Tennessee and und In the time quiet of life at ut the time Hermitage e 1 h L' L ate UC his illS nis which ii been Shattered Shat- Shat b by his arduous campaigns But she soon realized that her ambition was not to be realized As the Presidential PresIdential Presidential campaign n of ot 1821 drew near Tennessee was clamoring for her favorite fa fa- favorite son to be a candidate lIe He made the race won the lar largest est popular vote ote but in the college John Quincy Adams aided by Henry Clay CaY was the winner Four years eurs later another campaign was teas on and a again Jackson was lens a can can- The campaign of lS S was a bitter one anti and once more Jacksons Jackson's I enemies unearthed the charge of his I Illegal al marriage Jackson withheld his wrath until the election was over I but he lie desired more ardently than ever to win will so that he could vindicate I his wife by bj making her the First Lady of or the Land Lund That would be her supreme triumph over o those who spoke ill III of her lien The fhe result of or the election was a victory for Old Hickory When hen the news come came to the Hermitage hermitage Hermit HermIt- age Rachel lachel Jackson after much persuasion persuasion persuasion per per- suasion set forth for Nashville to obtain ob oh- tain tamn a wardrobe In keeping with her new station The lime honor of being the Presidents President's wife was ryas not mint one une which she had coveted eted but hut her husbands husband's wish aIsh was lien her law and ond she planned to accompany him to Washington ton and share In his triumph While seated J In Inthe Inthe inthe the back parlor of or a hotel In Nashville Nashville Nash Nash- ville she overheard o herself discussed as the woman who was hampering ll a n great mans man's ll rise else e to fame tame For the first time there came come to her horrified ears the stories which had hUll been circulated about her anti and which her I husband had succeeded In keeping from flom her knowl knon I- I edge elge Tier Her servants o ald she he returned to her h home looking stunned Within a few fety da days s 's she suffered a u aheart heart attack from which she failed to rally She had hind lost the desire to live For For 10 hours a It heart broken man sat at her bedside e helpless to aid nill her Then she died alII nail ami I with her died tiled all nU happiness for An Andrew rew Jackson Cc a. a 1930 Western Newspaper Union |