ANDREW JACKSON: WAR HERO
When I read about the Battle of New Orleans, I immediately felt indebted to some of America’s early heroes from the War of 1812. Major General Andrew Jackson and his army took on the British Navy as they tried to enter the Mississippi River. His army was composed of military, various state militias, Choctaws, free African Americans, and pirates. This unlikely army, led by Jackson, accomplished their incredible feat against all odds. Our side was far outnumbered.* Yet, Jackson was a brilliant general, who defeated the British with this willing army, putting an end to the War of 1812.
We freedom-loving Americans owe our country to all of these brave men from our American history. The British would have plunged us back under their tyranny. We would have become British subjects once again. Forced to obey the British monarch, we would have no longer had a hope of being a free people.
WHY HAS ANDREW JACKSON BEEN VILIFIED?
So, why has Andrew Jackson been vilified? Actually, he may be one of the most attacked war heroes, ever. Jackson has been libeled about his war record. He has been accused of ethnic cleansing over his presidency. And, it has been noted that he owned slaves. Yet, our country’s patriots made a stand against the tyranny which had been the reality for their own ancestors from ancient times. They also laid the groundwork for freedom for all within their written documents. Our patriots of the Revolutionary War and of the War of 1812 fought valiantly against the world’s most powerful military. By the grace of God, they won. Although they were not perfect, they were brave.
By vilifying Jackson, the glory and honor due to the other American heroes who valiantly fought these battles is being overlooked, as well. African American men, who risked their lives to fight these battles, knew that their freedom would not exist under the British Crown and its class system. Some of the Native Americans were fully aware that England had encouraged warring among native peoples, as well. Even pirates rejected British offers of money and pardons to side with America. After viewing an inaccurate historical documentary, I was led to learn more.
BATTLES WITH THE RED STICKS
Andrew Jackson has been accused of harshness in his dealing with a rebel division of the Creek Indians, the British allied Red Sticks. This warring faction of the Creeks had viciously massacred hundreds, including men, women, and children, burning some alive in their fort. (fortmims.org) Working for the British, the Shawnee had also attempted this in Kentucky with Daniel Boone’s fort just thirty-five years earlier. However, it began raining, putting an end to the British controlled Shawnee’s savage attack. The people of Fort Mims were sadly not so fortunate. Included in their numbers were slaves, Creek Indians, and Americans.
Surely, this slaughter, during the War of 1812, was disturbing for both Jackson and his militia. Southern Creeks and Cherokees were also outraged about the Red Stick’s aggression. Under General Coffee’s orders, the militia, Cherokee, and Creek Indians had surrounded the Red Sticks’ Tallushatchee Village. Many Red Sticks surrendered to be taken prisoner when they realized that they were surrounded. Those who fired on the militia were killed.
Forty-six warriors had taken refuge in a house. A woman sat in the doorway, drawing an arrow, in front of the surrounding militia. She shot and killed a lieutenant. The house was heavily fired upon and afterward set on fire by the militia. The dead warriors had not been burned alive, according to my understanding of Davy Crockett’s account in his autobiography (pages 55-56). All who had surrendered were taken prisoner. Aside from the woman in the doorway, there was no intentional targeting of women or children.
THE BATTLES OF HORSESHOE BEND AND PENSACOLA
Under Jackson, southern Creeks and Cherokees fought with the militia against the Red Sticks, during the Battle of Horseshoe Bend. This battle decisively ended the Red Sticks killing spree against Creeks and Americans. After discovering that the British were training the Red Sticks in Spanish Pensacola, Jackson’s forces overtook Pensacola (Battle of Pensacola 1814), as well. Then, Jackson and his militias hurriedly made their way to the Mississippi River where they defeated the British in the Battle of New Orleans.
PROTECTING OUR NATION FROM COLONIZERS
As president, Jackson continued ongoing treaties to remove the Native Americans from eastern areas of the country. It had been convenient for the British and the Spanish (in Florida’s Seminole Wars) to enlist this area’s natives as their mercenaries. During the Beaver Wars, the French and Indian War, the American Revolution, and the War of 1812, British Crowns enlisted the help of several Native American tribes to wage war against Native Americans and settlers.
Most of this warring had been directed against other Native Americans, during the Beaver Wars. These wars, within lands west of British colonial settlers, were started in the early 1600s by the Dutch. After over a hundred years, the same motives led to the French and Indian War. In later wars, Britain was directing its native allies to attack settlers, as well. This practice of the British monarch was clearly denounced in our Declaration of Independence.
PRESIDENT JACKSON HAS BEEN ACCUSED OF STEALING THE NATIVE'S GOLD
Some tribal people today claim that Andrew Jackson pushed for the Indian Removal Act because of a gold discovery in Georgia in 1828. However, the removal process (through treaties) had been going on for close to thirty years, according to President Jackson, when he addressed Congress in 1830.** Under President Thomas Jefferson, our new country had purchased land from France, the Louisiana Purchase, in order, to secure our nation. Lewis and Clark were sent by President Jefferson on an expedition to claim the land on North America’s western coast. These measures were taken to keep Britain from occupying this land and to stop them from making new armies out of Native Americans who lived farther west.
President Jackson’s stated goals for the removal were to prevent warring and to prevent the possible extermination of Native American tribes. Starting with the Beaver Wars, the eastern region of North America had endured about two hundred years of savage combat from several native tribes, usually at the behest of some of Europe’s monarchs. The Indian Removal Act gave new land and money to Native American tribes to relocate into the heartland of our country. Many went willingly. However, the holdouts were forced by soldiers after Jackson’s presidency, resulting in what the Native Americans refer to as the “Trail of Tears.”
JACKSON'S ADMINISTRATION DID NOT SEIZE THE GOLD
According to the history in Dahlonega, Georgia, gold was discovered by a hunter. The mining began in 1828 after this discovery. During his hunt, a man had stumbled over a rock which was laden with gold. Our government did not seize the gold to claim it. A European monarch would have done this, though. Instead, there was a state level lottery for those who wished to mine the land. If Jackson had seized the gold for the government, then it might be plausible to wonder about his motivations. Yet, we do know that he had experienced the brutal wars caused by the British, using Native Americans as their allies.
ALL TRIBES WERE REMOVED BECAUSE OF THE BRITISH CROWN
Sadly, some of the tribes, who were relocated, were peaceful. Some had not allied with British monarchs. All of the tribes were sent to the heartland because of the other warring tribes. The tribes which claimed the largest areas of land in the east had been armed by both the Dutch and the British. These tribes had overtaken other tribal lands to expand their hunting territories for the fur trade. Entire tribes had been destroyed, in order, to accomplish this expansion. President Jackson alluded to this reality in his 1830 address when he said, “The tribes which occupied the countries now constituting the Eastern States were annihilated…”.
Both the Dutch and the British were encouraging these tribal wars, especially to infringe on the French’s fur trade. Many Native Americans, who were not slaughtered, were sold into the slave trade by these warring tribes. Natives were sold through ports in South Carolina and Virginia in the South. Others were driven off of their land. By the time of the French and Indian War, many of the peaceful tribes in the east had already been overpowered by tribal allies for England. In 1830, both colonizing Spain and Britain were still immediate threats to our country’s security, as well, as to our Native American tribes, which they exploited without conscience.
THE JACKSONS ADOPTED A NATIVE AMERICAN CHILD
There is one more thing to consider about Andrew Jackson when it came to his attitude toward Native Americans. He was almost killed by a Red Stick warrior during the War of 1812. Yet, he adopted a ten-month-old child, orphaned on a battlefield, and raised him as his own child. None of the Red Stick Creek women wanted to adopt the child. So, Andrew Jackson did.
Obviously, Jackson desired to treat Native Americans as equals to his own countrymen. He would not have adopted this child to raise with his other adopted children, if he was a racist. In his address to Congress, President Jackson spoke of hope for even the warring tribal Native Americans to progress into a productive people in their new territory. Yet, some have actually labeled one of our nation’s greatest war heroes as an ethnic cleanser because of the Indian Removal Act.
JACKSON DID OWN SLAVES
The last attack on our country’s war hero is accurate. Like some of the other men of his time, Andrew Jackson owned slaves. He had grown up at a time when slavery was still lawful. According to whitehouse.gov, he believed in treating his slaves well, so that they would not run away from him. Some of the Native Americans of Jackson’s time period also owned slaves. But, all of the American men of this time period owned their wives and daughters, as well.
Throughout most of history, women were slaves. It is no doubt that some decent men felt that this was the only way to protect their women from other predatory men. But, this practice led to abuse. Women were also perceived as not very intelligent, compared to men. Women needed the more competent men to address their needs because of their inferior intelligence.
It is sad that men of history were so barbaric, believing that they could own other humans. But, humanity started out very primitive. When Jesus taught the people of Israel, He addressed slavery in parables. He also spoke words which could set us free, such as, to treat others like we ourselves wish to be treated (Matthew 7:12). Rejected by the political leadership of His own people’s religion, Jesus was sentenced to a slave’s death by the conquering Romans.
MANKIND HAS BEEN AWAKENING FROM THOUSANDS OF YEARS OF DOMINATION
However, the hardened hearts of men of history, who saw their women as property, continued to ensure an acceptance of slavery. If it was acceptable for the men to own their women, then how could it not be acceptable to own other people? In many ways, children and young adults also were dominated over by their fathers. Historically, many cultures practiced arranged marriages. Also, the status of an apprentice was often a slave-like relationship when young men were learning a trade. President Abraham Lincoln, who finally ended slavery, felt as if he had been treated like a slave by his father, according to some historians’ opinions about his writing.
Mankind has been awakening from thousands of years of domination toward their wives, children, and others. As hard as this barbarianism is for us to fathom today, God has wanted to save humanity from bondage all along. He has also wanted to save the slavers from being monsters. One of the greatest songs in Christianity, “Amazing Grace,” was written by a repentant slave trader, who was instrumental in the Abolitionist Movement in England. God has been working on freeing the oppressed throughout history.
GENERAL ANDREW JACKSON WAS CERTAINLY A WAR HERO
Personally, I am grateful for Andrew Jackson’s military service to ensure our freedoms. Eventually this amazing service by Jackson, our military, militias, Native Americans, African Americans, and even pirates resulted in freedom for all of us. Although he owned slaves, I prefer not to judge him by today’s evolved conscience. He was an amazing war hero for our country’s battle against tyranny. His contribution was a necessary step toward our country’s cause of freedom.
As far as Jackson’s treatment of Native Americans, I will accept his own words from his 1830 address to Congress. He said that the goals of the Indian Removal Act were to prevent warring and to prevent the possible extermination of Native American tribes. Since he had adopted a Native American baby, orphaned from a war, I think that he actually did care. I believe that his efforts were a response to the very real threat of war from colonizing Europe.
*www.crt.state.la.us/louisiana-state-museum/online-exhibits/the-cabildo/the-battle-of-new-orleans
**“Indian Territory”, The Encyclopedia of Oklahoma History and Culture which is featured on the Oklahoma Historical Society’s Website.
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