Nashville-Davidson, Tennessee, June 8, 1845—Past president, Andrew Jackson, died today and went on to join his wife, Rachel Robards. Jackson was assassinated at his home in Hermitage, Tennessee. He recently came back from seeing his friend, Martin Van Buren, sworn in to the White House as president. He was born in the Carolinas, in a log cabin, on March 15, 1767 and died today, at 88 years old. Andrew Jackson’s parents, Andrew and Elizabeth Hutchinson Jackson, were poor Scotch Irish immigrants. They came to America in 1765 with their first two sons, Hugh and Robert. His father built a log cabin and started farming to make a living, but died just before Jackson was born. At age eleven, he was sent to a boarding school and studied reading, writing, grammar, and geography. He grew up with people who were ready to fight anytime and to defend their honor which makes people believe why he never wanted to give up. Andrew had an ambition to never give up and this led him into many fights. Whenever he was in a fight and he knew he was probably going to lose he continued fighting because he was so determined. In 1780 British troops invaded South Carolina, Andrew and Robert joined South Carolina’s militia. A British raiding party captured Andrew and Robert in April 1781. Then the British forced Andrew and his brother to march 40 miles to a military prison at Camden, South Carolina. It was there that the brothers caught smallpox. Their mother got them back by an exchange for prisoners. Robert and their mother died of smallpox a couple of days later and Hugh died in an earlier battle in the Revolutionary War. Andrew became an orphan at the young age of fourteen years old. Jackson lived in the Nashville boarding house of Mrs. John Donelson, and later married her daughter Rachel Donelson Robards. Rachel was married before to Lewis Robards, and believed that her previous husband filed the divorce. When she met Andrew she became married to him in August of 1791. In December of 1793 the couple later learned that Lewis had not filed for the divorce and she was legally still married to him until September of 1793. This affected his career in politics later in life. Jackson and Rachel remarried January 18, 1794 in Nashville. They had no kids but adopted a four year old nephew of Mrs. Jackson because the boy’s mother, Rachel’s sister, was in very poor health. They named him Andrew Jackson Jr. Jackson practiced law and made money by selling land to new settlers. He bought the land for as little as ten cents and sold it for as much as three dollars an acre. In 1804 he bought a plantation about twelve miles from Nashville and later the plantation became known as Hermitage. He served as a delegate to the state constitution convention that prepared for Tennessee’s admission into the Union. He was elected to the United States House of Representatives in 1796. He was also elected to the U.S. Senate in 1797 and then took a leave of absence in April 1798 and went home. He then resigned from the senate to take care for personal affairs such as what happened with Rachel. Six months later Tennessee legislature elected Jackson as Justice of the State Supreme Court, he held the office for six years and in 1804 he resigned the judgeship. In 1805, Jackson and John Hutchings established a general store at Clove Bottom near the Hermitage. Jackson built a stable near the store and bought several race horses. His income was fairly steady and winnings on the horses added to it.
In the War of 1812 Jackson gained the nick name “Old Hickory.” He was given this nick name because one of his men said that he was as tough as hickory so that became his nick name following his military career. The Federal government commissioned Jackson a major general in the regular army. The army expected a British attack at New Orleans and Jackson was assigned to command the U.S. forces along the southern coast. Jackson asked permission to seize Pensacola in Spanish, Florida.