George E. Stanley - Andrew Jackson: Young Patriot

The Childhood of Famous Americans series, seventy years old in 2002, chronicles the early years of famous American men and women in an accessible manner. Each book is faithful in spirit to the values and experiences that influenced the persons development. History is fleshed out with fictionalized details, and conversations have been added to make the stories come alive to todays reader, but every reasonable effort has been made to make the stories consistent with the events, ethics, and character of their subjects.

These books reaffirm the importance of our American heritage. We hope you learn to love the heroes and heroines who helped shape this great country. And by doing so, we hope you also develop a lasting love for the nation that gave them the opportunity to make their dreams come true. It will do the same for you.

Happy Reading!

The Editors

Young Patriot

illustrated by Meryl Henderson

If you purchased this book without a cover, you should be aware that this book is stolen property. It was reported as unsold and destroyed to the publisher, and neither the author nor the publisher has received any payment for this stripped book.

First Aladdin Paperbacks edition May 2003

Text copyright 2003 by George Edward Stanley

Illustrations copyright 2003 by Meryl Henderson

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The text of this book was set in Adobe Garamond.

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2 4 6 8 10 9 7 5 3

Library of Congress Control Number 2002107421

ISBN-13: 978-0-689-85744-7

eISBN-13: 978-1-439-11398-1

ISBN-10: 0-689-85744-6

ILLUSTRATIONS

Young Patriot

Ouch! eight-year-old Andrew Jackson cried. You stuck me!

Well, if you dont stand still, his mother admonished him, your leg is going to have more needle holes in it than your pants!

Why do I have to go to school anyway, Mother? Andy said. I already know more than the master does.

Andy Jackson! You hush that kind of talk, his mother scolded. Ill not hear any more of it.

Andys cousin, Jemima Crawford, looked up from washing the dishes. Andys telling the truth, Aunt Betty, she said. Hes read all three of the books, and he knows how to do addition and subtraction better than the schoolmaster.

Andys teaching me how to add and subtract, Aunt Betty, Louisa, another one of his cousins, said. I asked the schoolmaster to help me, but he said he was too sleepy.

Andys mother let out a sigh, but she didnt say anything. Andy knew what she was thinking, though. He had overheard her talking to Aunt Jane, his mothers invalid sister.

Its no school at all, Jane, she had said. The people of South Carolina dont want to waste their money on a real school.

Andy knew his mother was right, although hed never tell her so, because that would mean shed probably want to send him somewhere else. Many times she had told him that her dream was for him to become a Presbyterian minister.

There are other things I want to do instead, Andy thought. He longed to see the rest of this new country. Over and over he listened to the stories that passing travelers would tell about what lay to the south and north of where the Crawfords and the Jacksons lived in the Waxhaws, that broad strip of land between Charlotte, North Carolina, and Lancaster, South Carolina.

The log cabin school that Andrew Jackson attended in that year of 1775 stood in a grove of scrub pine trees. The cabin was small, about twenty square feet, and its one door was hung by leather hinges. It had no windows.

Suddenly Andy had an idea. Jemima! he said. Bring me that ouch! newspaper!

Jemima dried her hands and picked up the copy of the Charles Town Post. It had been left yesterday by a traveler. She handed it to her cousin.

While his mother continued mending the tear in his pants, Andy read out loud the stories on the front page. They were mostly about events happening in far-off places, such as the battles at Lexington and Concord in Massachusetts and the meetings of the Second Continental Congress in Pennsylvania.

All of a sudden Andy forgot the reason he had wanted to read the newspaper to his mother in the first placeto prove to her that he didnt really need to go to school. Now all that he could think about was how angry he was with the British, those people from across the wide Atlantic Ocean who thought they had the right to tell the Americans how to live their lives. One of these days, Andy vowed, he was going to fight these British!

There! Mrs. Jackson said. She cut the thread with a kitchen knife, tested the mend, and stood up. She ruffled Andys red hair. You need to take a brush to that before you go to school, she said. Without waiting for him to comment, she looked into his blue eyes and added, I know youd rather go with your uncle James on the cattle drive to Charles Town, Andy, instead of going to school, but then thats probably what youd end up doing for the rest of your life.

That wouldnt be so bad, Mother, Andy said. I like taking care of the cattle. I like being outdoors. That school building is so hot and stuffy.

Oh, Andy! You have so much potential, his mother said. She put her hands on his shoulders and drew him close to her. Im not against your helping your uncle James with the cattle, before and after school, because its important that you do your share of the hard work around here, but the only way to get ahead in life is to get an education. Without an education, youd be working in the fields from before the sun comes up until after its gone down, with little to show for it except baked skin and callouses on your hands. She sighed deeply. With your father dead, you and your brothers will have to make your own way. Learning is easy for you, Andy. Its not for Hugh and Robbie. Thats why I insist that you go to school!

School! Andy thought. He didnt even like the sound of that word.