The news & observer. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 1894-current, 1895-09-01

Young Jackson Moved to Tennessee in
I7ss and Became District Attorney
twas Here That he Met Pretty Mrs.
Richards and Fell in Loye-~He Was
the First Representative in Congress
From Tennessee After Its Admission
Into the Union, and Later, Senator.
Continued from Last sundayl
WASHINGTON, D. O., Aug. 80.
General Jackson's early life was one
of great bardships; and yet they failed
to break bis resolute spirit. From his
boyhood he displayed the indomitable
will which characterized him as the ccm-
mander of armies, and as the dictator of
political policies. The Wings commented
with severity upon the declaration of his
ardent admirers, that General Jackson
was born to commando" but the declare
ton was true. He displayed this quality
at every stage of his eventtul career
from the day on which he assumed com
mand of the whole population Of the town
of Jonesborough, organized them into a
fire company and saved the town, to
that in which he "took the responsible
ity" at New Orleans, and set aside
the civil authority, invaded Florida,
and hung the British subjects; and
later, so often ''took the responsibility,
in the administration of affairs in this
city, as President of the United States.
1t may be said of Jackson, as was said
of Alexander the Great, that he never
looked back, and never failed in any en-
terprise, truth which attests the sound
ness of his Judgment, no less than the
invincible spirit that inspired him. 1t is
related of Alexander that when about
to engage in seemingly desperate en-
terprise, his wise and able Lieutenant
General, Parmenio, ventured to say to
him: "If / were Alexander, would not
make that venture. Alexander replied:
"And if / were Parmenio / would not
make it." Many a time the cautious
friends of Jackson would, and some
times did undertake to suggest less dan
gerous courses to him, and received re-
bluffs as little complimentary as that
which Alexander administered to his
right hand man.
Andrew Jackson the boy, saw something
of Revolutionary service, young as he
was. He had the honor of being made
prisoner, while defending the house of
a friend, and was marched off to a mill
tary prison, or block house, in South
Carolina, where he suffered for days the
pangs of hunger, and took the small pox.
His oldest brother Hugh, was killed in
battle; his next older brother, Robert,
died of wounds received in the defence
of the family where Andrew frought
and was captured; and his good mother
lost her life by disease, smallpox or
yellow fever, at Charleston, where she
went to relieve the sufferings of the sol
diers-her relatives and friends, from
the WaXhaw settlement. These early i'm
pressions of British tyranny and cruelty
inspired Jackson with patriotic hatred
of England, which he was slow to be rid
Of.
believe | stated, last week, that his
mother, who was a pious Presbyterian,
wished to make of Andrew a clergyman.
This is what John Il. Eaton, an init
mate friend of jackson, said of him,
but If true, the good lady utterly mistook
the character of her son. His was a
nature adapted to action, and to arms,
and never to learning and meditation.
Not that he was wanting in reverence
for religion. On the contrary, amid his
wild and savage early career, ne never
quite forgot the lessons learned at his
mothers kee. His heroic devotion to
what he deemed the cause of right and
truth attests his faith in God. All he
roes are believers in a higher power.
Andrew Jackson, in 1888, went to
Tennessee, which was then the Western
Judicial District of North Carolina, in
the capacity of District Attorney, or
Solicitor. His friend McNaury had been
appointed to the Office of Judge, and
they travelled together. They stopped
only short time at Jonesboro, and then
went on to Nashville, a settlement on
the Cumberland, in which at that day,
the most pretentious edifce was double
log cabin, OF two such cabins, with a
shelter spanning the distance be-
tween them, and which in summer
served the double purpose of
dining room and parlor-not a de-
spicable mode of living in a country of
SURPRISING fertility, and ab5unding in
all the necessaries of life. The settle
ment had been made only a year or two
before, under the leadership of Captain
James Robertson, man of sterling
worth; and by COL John Donelson, who,
instead of moving down the country,
through the wilderness, with wagons,
manufactured boats, and descended the
Tennessee River. This great stream rises
in North Carolina and Kentucky. The
upper Tennessee, ia North Carolina, and
the Holston, in Kentucky. The streams
run together four miles above Knoxville,
which thence makes its way to the Mis-,
sissippi Ia very round about course,
first down into North Alabama, then
back into Tennessee, and across the
State, into Kentucky, where it falls into
the Ohio. The Cumberland, whose head
streams rise in Kentucky, also
come together, and from the
Cumberland, which runs into
Tennessee, and makes its way
TO the Ohio, along the northern border
of Tennessee, returns into the State of
Kentucky and there joins the Ohio, some
miles above the mouth of the Tennessee.
OF course, the geographical facts are
familiar to every small school boy and
girl, but | bring them into view to illus
trate the method of the pioneers in reach
ing Nashville hundred years ago. Col.
Donelson, with his family, including the
beautiful Rachel, who afterwards became
Mrs. Jackson; and with other families
and individuals, reached that place after
voyage which lasted many weeks. down
Tannascnn inf InL