Dr. Paul Vickery - Jackson: The Iron-Willed Commander

JACKSON
THE | GENERALS

JACKSON
The Iron-Willed Commander

THE | GENERALS

Paul S. Vickery, PhD

2012 by Dr. Paul S. Vickery, Ph.D.

All rights reserved. No portion of this book may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any meanselectronic, mechanical, photocopy, recording, scanning, or otherexcept for brief quotations in critical reviews or articles, without the prior written permission of the publisher.

Published in Nashville, Tennessee, by Thomas Nelson. Thomas Nelson is a registered trademark of Thomas Nelson, Inc.

Thomas Nelson, Inc., titles may be purchased in bulk for educational, business, fund-raising, or sales promotional use. For information, please e-mail SpecialMarkets@ThomasNelson.com.

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Vickery, Paul S.

Jackson : the iron-willed commander / Paul S. Vickery.

p. cm. -- (The generals)

Includes bibliographical references and index.

ISBN 978-1-59555-454-3 (hardback)

1. Jackson, Andrew, 1767-1845. 2. Generals--United States--Biography. 3. United States. Army--Biography. 4. Presidents--United States--Biography. 5. United States--Politics and government--1815-1861. I. Title.

E382.V53 2012

973.56092--dc23

[B]

2011052619

Printed in the United States of America

12 13 14 15 16 WOR 6 5 4 3 2 1

Contents

TO CONTEMPLATE THE lives of Americas generals is to behold both the best of us as a nation and the lesser angels of human nature, to bask in genius, and to be repulsed by arrogance and folly. It is these dichotomies that have defined the widely differing attitudes toward the man on horseback, which have alternatively shaped the eras of our national memory. We have had our seasons of hagiography, in which our commanders can do no wrong and in which they are presented to the young, in particular, as unerring examples of nobility and manhood. We have had our revisionist seasons, in which all power corruptsmilitary power in particularand in which the general is a reviled symbol of societal ills.

Fortunately, we have matured. We have left our adolescence with its gushing extremes and have come to a more temperate view. Now, we are capable as a nation of celebrating Washingtons gifts to us while admitting that he was not always a gifted tactician in the field. We can honor Pattons battlefield genius and decry the deformities of soul that diminished him. We can learn both from MacArthur at Inchon and from MacArthur at Wake Island.

We can also move beyond the mythologies of film and leaden textbook to know the vital humanity and the agonizing conflicts, to find a literary experience of war that puts the smell of boot leather and canvas in the nostrils and both the horror and the glory of battle in the heart. This will endear our nations generals to us and help us learn the lessons they have to teach. Of this we are in desperate need, for they offer lessons of manhood in an age of androgyny, of courage in an age of terror of prescience in an age of myopia, and of self-mastery in an age of sloth. To know their story and their meaning, then, is the goal here and the hope that we will emerge from the experience a more learned, perhaps more gallant, and, certainly, more grateful people.

Stephen Mansfield
Series Editor, The Generals

The reign of King MOB seemed triumphant. I was glad to escape from the scene as soon as possible.

Judge Story, John Quincy Adams supporter at the inaugural ball

THE MORNING OF Wednesday, March 4, 1829, dawned sunny and bright in the nations capital of Washington. Although patches of snow still lingered on the ground, it was a perfect day for a celebration. Not a room could be found as the city swelled by as much as thirty thousand spectators according to one account, many sleeping five to a bed. They had come from all over the nation to witness history in the making. For today, the Tennessean Major General Andrew Jackson, the peoples choice, was to be inaugurated the seventh president of the United States. It was to be an event unlike any previous inauguration because Jackson was a politician unlike any of his predecessors.

Born poor, he was a self-made manone who represented the South and the western frontier and its expansionist interests. Jackson and Reform had been the campaign slogan, and change was about to happen. For the first time in our history, the president was not a member of the economic or social elite, and he did not come from the Eastern Seaboard state of either Massachusetts or Virginia. He was elected largely by voters who were not previously a part of the political process. All free white males now cast their ballots. Many were poor farmers on the rugged frontier, or mechanics (a term used to include all urban workers) and small businessmen. He was also the first and only president who carried in his body two bullets: one near his heart from a duel, and one in his shoulder from a shootout. He was indeed a change from the past.

Building on his reputation as a strong military leader, Superior Court judge, Indian fighter, representative of the common man as congressman and senator, and Washington outsider, General Jacksons victory symbolized a fundamental shift in both the conduct and the perception of the office of president. No longer would Eastern elites rule for their own regional and self-interest. With Jackson as the leader of the modern Democratic Party, no longer would the masses be underrepresented. The people now had a champion, a symbol, and they came out en masse to show their support.

By ten oclock the Avenue was crowded with carriages of every description, wrote one eyewitness and author, Margaret Bayard Smith, from the splendid Barronet and coach, down to wagons and carts, filled with women and children, some in finery and some in rags for it was the peoples President and all would see him. Suddenly huzzas filled the air as the general himself emerged from Gadsbys hotel to walk up to the Capitol.

Recognizing the importance of symbolism, he rejected a military procession in favor of one where he could mingle with his adoring supporters. He wore a simple black suit with a black tie covered by a long black overcoat. Impeded by the cheering crowd, the tall, erect, bare-headed Jackson and his entourage walked slowly down Pennsylvania Avenue. Jostling in the crowd for a better view, someone remarked, There is the old man and his gray hair, there is the old veteran, there is Jackson.

Entering the Capitol through the basement, he first attended the swearing in of Vice President John C. Calhoun in the Senate chambers. Jackson and Calhoun had won one of the bitterest campaigns in American history. Conspicuous by his absence, the outgoing John Quincy Adams had made known his intention not to be present at his successors ceremony. Because Jackson believed Adams responsible for slander to his recently deceased wife, his beloved Rachel, the newly elected president was fine with this decision. Only polite yet frosty messages passed between the two. Adams, who would spend the day at the nearby home of a friend, sent Jackson a message stating he would vacate the White House and have it ready for occupancy on the fourth. Jackson sarcastically replied he hoped this didnt inconvenience his household staff. Finally it was time for the winner to take the oath of office.