With the celebrations in New Orleans concluded, Jackson returned to his stateroom aboard the Vicksburg and the steamship began its voyage upstream. Back at the Hermitage, Jackson would live five more years before dying quietly, on June 8, 1845. A year later the sculptor Clark Mills would be commissioned to execute an equestrian stature of Jackson and, in 1853, the twelve-foot-tall likeness of Jackson astride a rearing horse was dedicated. It stood—and stands today—at the center of Jackson Square, as the Place d’Armes was renamed in honor of the general.
His legacy was large and, like the War of 1812 and the Battle of New Orleans, subject to debate. Saving New Orleans made Andrew Jackson a national hero and, with his nation still mourning George Washington, Jackson inherited the great man’s mantle. General Washington led the first fight with the British—but Andrew Jackson’s success at New Orleans preserved his nation’s hard-fought independence.
The boy becomes a man: a brutish British officer is about to strike young Andy Jackson. The boy survived, scarred and angry, to resist another British attack, this one at the Battle of New Orleans thirty-five years later.
CURRIER & IVES, LIBRARY OF CONGRESS
Hoping to expand America westward, President Thomas Jefferson sent James Monroe to Paris to negotiate the Louisiana Purchase in 1803. Pictured here, Monroe (left) and Robert R. Livingston (center) complete negotiations with French foreign minister Comte Talleyrand. Monroe would later go on to be involved in the territory’s defense in his positions as secretary of war and secretary of state during the War of 1812.
MPI/GETTY IMAGES
Captain James Barron of the USS Chesapeake formally surrenders, offering his sword to the captain of the victorious HMS Leopard in June 1807. The unprovoked attack by the British warship on the American frigate helped set the stage for the War of 1812.
UNIVERSAL HISTORY ARCHIVE/UIG VIA GETTY IMAGES
After the War of 1812, Jackson became known for his military demeanor, as captured in this image of him with his hand gripping his sword, his eyes fixed on his adversary. Major General Andrew Jackson was a confident and natural leader of men in battle.
JOHN VANDERLYN, THE HISTORIC NEW ORLEANS COLLECTION
Jackson’s beloved wife, Rachel Donelson Jackson (1767–1828), was the only person to whom Jackson could confide his innermost fears and doubts. Born into a well-established Nashville family, Rachel was a partner to the roughhewn Jackson in his rise to prominence.
JOHN CHESTER BUTTRE/ THE HISTORIC NEW ORLEANS COLLECTION
In 1812, James Madison (1751–1836) was an unpopular president; in 1817, after Jackson’s big victory in New Orleans, Madison left office riding a wave of popular acclaim. In the face of daunting odds, he had led his country into its second war of independence.
THE WHITE HOUSE HISTORICAL ASSOCIATION/WHITE HOUSE COLLECTION
Known as Chief Red Eagle to his fellow Creeks, William Weatherford (ca. 1781–1824) was born of mixed parentage, with a Scots father and a Native American mother. A courageous and resourceful opponent, Red Eagle had, by the time of the surrender (pictured here), won Andrew Jackson’s grudging respect.
J. R. CHAPIN, W. RIDGWAY, LIBRARY OF CONGRESS
The signing of the Treaty of Ghent on Christmas Eve 1814 appeared to bring the War of 1812 to a close. John Quincy Adams shakes hands with a uniformed British minister as Albert Gallatin (to the right of Adams) and Henry Clay (seated) look on.
SIR AMÉDÉE FORESTIER, SMITHSONIAN AMERICAN ART MUSEUM, WASHINGTON, DC/ART RESOURCE, NY
With the powerful Royal Navy patrolling the coast, American goods accumulated on the docks. At the port of New Orleans, that meant millions of dollars in bales of cotton.
E. H. NEWTON, JR., THE HISTORIC NEW ORLEANS COLLECTION
Dashing and dangerous, Jean Lafitte (1780–1823) was a privateer, smuggler, and entrepreneur. Along with his brothers and the other Baratarian pirates, many of them superb cannoneers, Lafitte lent his deep knowledge of the waters around New Orleans to the cause of saving New Orleans from the British.
UNIVERSAL HISTORY ARCHIVE/UIG VIA GETTY IMAGES
The wellborn Louise d’Avezac (1785–1860) married a prominent New Orleans lawyer, Edward Livingston (1764–1836). As Mrs. Livingston, she offered the transplanted New Yorker entrée into New Orleans society—and, in turn, Livingston, appointed an adjutant to General Jackson in 1814, helped Jackson win the support of the city’s powerful Creole class in the defense of the city.
BARD COLLEGE
A trusted aide to Jackson during the early days of the war, Thomas Hart Benton (1782–1858) played a role in the gunfight that almost killed the general in Nashville in 1813. Much later, as a powerful senator from Missouri, Benton proved to be a congressional ally of then president Andrew Jackson.
THE PRINT COLLECTOR/PRINT COLLECTOR/GETTY IMAGES
A stalwart friend and sometime business partner of Jackson’s, General John Coffee (1772–1833) proved his military skills again and again, leading his cavalry brigade of fellow Tennesseans against the Creeks and the British alike.
LITHOGRAPH © GETTY IMAGES
Perhaps the lowest point in the nation’s history, August 24, 1814, was the day the British set fire to the public buildings in Washington, DC, leaving both the President’s House and the Capitol smoking ruins. The humiliation of that moment proved to be a great motivation for Jackson and his men.
LITHOGRAPH © LIBRARY OF CONGRESS
The bombs bursting over Baltimore on the night of September 13, 1814, signaled a change in America's fortunes. The British failure to take the city in Maryland, together with other losses at Plattsburgh, New York, and New Orleans, assured that the United States would remain independent.
J. BOWER, GETTY IMAGES
The five American gunboats on Lake Borgne were besieged by a flotilla of British barges. In less than two hours, on December 14, 1814, the vastly larger British forces captured the outgunned American ships under the command of Lieutenant Thomas ap Catesby Jones.
THOMAS L. HORNBROOK, THE HISTORIC NEW ORLEANS COLLECTION
A veteran of the fight with the Tripoli pirates, Master Commander Daniel Todd Patterson (1786–1839) was the senior officer of the U.S. Navy at the New Orleans station. He and Jackson would collaborate by putting the limited naval resources in Patterson’s command to very good use to defend the city.
JOHN WESLEY JARVIS, CHRYSLER MUSEUM OF ART
Long before Jackson set foot in New Orleans, Governor William C. C. Claiborne (1775–1817) sought the general’s help. Appointed by President Jefferson as the first Louisiana territorial governor, Claiborne had been duly elected to that office with Louisiana’s statehood in 1812.
JAMES BARTON LONGACRE, THE HISTORIC NEW ORLEANS COLLECTION
Young Samuel Houston (1793–1863) fought with his fellow Tennesseans against the Creeks; despite sustaining wounds at the Battle of Horseshoe Bend, he rose to fight again. A longtime ally of Jackson’s, he later became governor of Tennessee and the first president of the Republic of Texas.
PHOTOGRAPH © LIBRARY OF CONGRESS
When the British arrived to attack New Orleans, their officers established headquarters at the mansion on the Villeré plantation, just downriver from the encampment of Jackson’s army.
ENGRAVING © THE HISTORIC NEW ORLEANS COLLECTION
Jackson set thousands of his men to hard labor to transform the Rodriguez Canal into a tall embankment lined with gun emplacements. Before that, the canal was little more than a drainage ditch.
ENGRAVING © THE HISTORIC NEW ORLEANS COLLECTION
A much-honored soldier who had fought bravely in E
urope under the command of his brother-in-law the Duke of Wellington, General Edward “Ned” Pakenham (1778–1815) was dispatched by London to lead the enormous British force to victory in New Orleans. After capturing Louisiana, he was to become the territory’s British governor—but General Jackson had different ideas.
GOUPIL & CO., THE HISTORIC NEW ORLEANS COLLECTION
Also a veteran of the French wars, Vice Admiral Sir Alexander Forrester Inglis Cochrane (1758–1832) commanded the British expeditionary force in the Gulf of Mexico. The greedy Cochrane looked both to improve his fortunes and to avenge the death of a brother killed in the American Revolution.
LIBRARY OF CONGRESS
In what is today’s Alabama, Jackson prepares to fight on Indian turf. Whether his opponent was Indian or British, Jackson was unafraid to ride into the heat of battle.
JOHN VANDERLYN, LIBRARY OF CONGRESS
Painted by Jean Hyacinthe de Laclotte, a Louisiana militiaman who fought in the January 8, 1815, battle, this vivid view of the events of the day was based on sketches Laclotte made as the battle unfolded.
JEAN HYACINTHE DE LACLOTTE, BATTLE OF NEW ORLEANS, THE NEW ORLEANS MUSEUM OF ART: GIFT OF EDGAR WILLIAM AND BERNICE CHRYSLER GARBISH, 65.7
The flag still waves—with Jean Lafitte and three freemen of color celebrating in the foreground while a dead General Pakenham, left, falls from his horse.
EUGENE LOUIS-LAMI, LOUISIANA STATE MUSEUM
In a historical exaggeration, this image portrays Jackson conferring with an aide near battlements consisting almost entirely of cotton bales.
DENNIS MALONE CARTER, THE HISTORIC NEW ORLEANS COLLECTION
This commemorative print, made ca. 1820, puts a lot of the battle's elements together in one composition. Along with General Jackson, it is thought to portray General William Carroll and Edward Livingston in the foreground, the redcoats and the U.S. infantry, and navy ships in the river at the horizon line.
SAMUEL SEYMOUR, THE HISTORIC NEW ORLEANS COLLECTION
For Major General Sir Edward Pakenham, the Battle of New Orleans ended in death. He sustained several wounds in the first hour before a musket ball severed his spine. His men laid him at the base of a massive live oak tree, where he quietly bled to death as both sides fought on.
FELIX OCTAVIUS CARR DARLEY, THE HISTORIC NEW ORLEANS COLLECTION
The Ursuline nuns of New Orleans prayed for victory, asking Our Lady of Prompt Succor—an honorific title the sisters used for the Blessed Virgin—to save their city from the invaders. In this late-nineteenth-century composite, an image (lower right) commemorates the Battle of New Orleans.
F. CHAMPENOIS, THE HISTORIC NEW ORLEANS COLLECTION
Jackson stood tall in the memories of American schoolboys for generations, as suggested by this 1922 illustration for a children’s magazine, The Youth’s Companion.
LIBRARY OF CONGRESS
A photograph of Andrew Jackson just before his death. When he saw it, a furious Jackson dismissed the likeness; he said it made him “look like a monkey.”
LIBRARY OF CONGRESS
The victorious general waves to the crowd from his open carriage in a mid-nineteenth-century image bearing the title Jackson’s Triumph at New Orleans from an illustrated magazine.
LOSSING & BARRITT, THE HISTORIC NEW ORLEANS COLLECTION
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
As someone who first fell in love with American history by learning about the local history where I grew up, I have a tremendous amount of appreciation for the enthusiasm that scholars, researchers, and reenactors bring to their study of the people and events who helped shape their corner of the world and the nation at large. This project was no exception. The dedication of the men and women in Louisiana and Tennessee who assisted us with our reconstruction of the Battle of New Orleans as well as the character of Andrew Jackson is a testament to their field.
This book could not possibly have happened without our superlative team at Sentinel, headed by Adrian Zackheim. He proved once again that he is a man of tremendous vision and appreciation for the impact of dynamic, meaningful stories; it is truly an honor to be able to develop these books under his guidance and expertise. Will Weisser can best be described as a high-octane executive who fuels all the books we have produced at Sentinel, and his involvement is essential and deeply appreciated. Bria Sandford, likewise, is one of the most outstanding individuals with whom I have ever had the pleasure of working. She keeps an unimaginable number of plates spinning and does so without ever breaking her stride or her smile. She is both gracious and tenacious, a delight and a powerhouse; it was her suggestion for the title, after many long and agonizing conversations as a team, that was the breakthrough that allowed this story to find its way.
Bob Barnett, our tremendous agent, has built a reputation as one of the most respected people in the business—and for good reason. He not only represents the book but also truly cares about its development and success in a way that goes above and beyond a simple business transaction. I am continually awed by and grateful for his involvement in our work, and his support for everything it takes to make each book all it can be.
It’s always great working with the award-winning writer Don Yaeger, whose humor, talent, and experience make these projects so much better and so much more fun. And with Don comes his longtime cohort Tiffany Yecke Brooks. Without her incredible contribution, this book would simply not be the same. (Here’s the big secret in my opinion, Don: Tiffany likes history more than sports.)
The research component of this project was staggering in its magnitude—primary documents, secondary documents, tangential documents that proved essential, and in-person tours of numerous sites. Thankfully, we were blessed with historian after historian who responded to our requests for information with amazing enthusiasm and humbling brilliance. In New Orleans, world-class historian Douglas Brinkley was able to share his tremendous knowledge as well as steer us to the great people at the Historic New Orleans Collection and the Jean Lafitte National Historical Park’s visitors’ center. Thank you, too, to Ron Drez, who does as much as anyone in this country to keep American history alive. And a huge thanks to Ron Chapman, who gave us way too much of his personal time taking us through the Chalmette Battlefield and giving us tours of downtown. His passion, knowledge, and book (The Battle of New Orleans: “But for a Piece of Wood”) helped bring this story to life.
In Tennessee, I’d like to spotlight the great help from Tom Kanon, a talented archivist with the Tennessee secretary of state’s office. His guidance was essential in helping us develop a fuller picture of the character of Andrew Jackson. Additionally, the entire staff at the Hermitage, Andrew and Rachel Jackson’s home, was unbelievably welcoming, helpful, and incredibly knowledgeable. I would especially like to thank Marsha Mullin, vice president of museum services and chief curator. Your dedication to preserving Jackson’s legacy is humbling, and your knowledge is astounding. Thank you for giving us such valuable insight while also showing true southern hospitality.
And to Hugh Howard, whose depth of knowledge never fails to astound me, thank you for your suggestions and guidance in getting us started and keeping us on track with what felt, at times, like an overwhelming number of sources.
The key to the success of any book is the promotion and marketing, and most of that falls on the shoulders of George Uribe and his company, Guestbooker. George and the outstanding Victoria Delgado Chism have headed the promotion, working tirelessly to make Thomas Jefferson and the Tripoli Pirates an enormous success and a New York Times bestseller. Their work to ensure past successes helped lay the path for future ones.
The entire Fox News family has been outstanding in all they have done to support my work on this project as well as to help spread its important message. I would
like to spotlight all those who built and sustain Fox News Channel today. Special thanks to Rupert Murdoch, Suzanne Scott, Jay Wallace, and Jack Abernathy for supporting my passion for American history and for launching the one-hour TV special in conjunction with the publication of the book. I’m grateful to John Finley for putting together an amazing team, including Brian Gaffney, Jennings Grant, and Carrie Flatley, leading up to the special’s release, and I owe tremendous thanks to Paul Guest and Amanda Muehlenkamp, social media mavens who worked around the clock to get the word out about this book. And nothing gets done without the legal team, of course, so I am indebted to them for all of their behind-the-scenes help, especially Dianne Brandi, the legal eagle who keeps us on the straight and narrow.
Steve Doocy and Ainsley Earhardt were great allies in the monumental process of getting this book out, all while Ainsley had the additional challenge of writing and promoting her children’s book. Their support for the project was truly appreciated.
I also am thrilled to spotlight the incredible support of the staffs of my two programs: on TV, Fox & Friends, and on the radio, The Brian Kilmeade Show. I have the pleasure of working with such great people on a daily basis, and they are consistently looking to bend their schedules so that I can develop and promote projects like this. To Vice President Lauren Petterson, how you oversee thirty hours of weekly programming and still support me in all my extra work is beyond me. Gavin Hadden, you are a positive, patriotic EP—thank you. I would also like to single out the ceaseless support from my other star TV producers: Sean Groman, Brian Tully, A. J. Hall, Andrew Murray, Lauren Peikoff, Chris White, Kelly McNally, Kelly May, Stephanie Freeman, and Lee Kushnir.
Andrew Jackson and the Miracle of New Orleans Page 20
