Being an eye-witness of the horrible massacre perpetrated by the bloody Tarlton at the Waxsaw settlement his patriotic zeal was terribly awakened, and at the tender age of thirteen we find him among the American forces, and his military career begins at Hanging Rock, where he witnesses the defeat of Sumter, and he is soon a prisoner of the enemy. The English officer ordered him to black his boots; at this all the lion in young Jackson is aroused, and he indignantly refuses, whereupon the officer strikes him twice with his sword, inflicting two ugly wounds, one on his arm, the other on his head. He had the small-pox while a prisoner, but his mother effected his exchange, and after a long illness he recovered, but his brother died of the same disease.
Soon after his mother was taken from him—his other brother was killed at Stono; thus left alone in the world he began a reckless course, which must have been his ruin but for a sudden change for the better, when he began the study of law at Salisbury, North Carolina, and before he was twenty was licensed to practice.
Being appointed solicitor for the western district of North Carolina—now Tennessee—he removed to Nashville, 1788. His practice soon became large which, in those days, meant a great deal of travel on horseback. He made twenty-two trips between Nashville and Jonesborough during his first seven years, and dangerous trips they were, too, for the Indians were numerous and hostile. When he came to Nashville he entered, as a boarder, the family of Mrs. Donelson, a widow.
A Mr. and Mrs. Robards were boarders at the same home. Mr. Robards becoming foolishly jealous of young Jackson applied to the legislature of Virginia for an act preliminary to a divorce. Jackson and Mrs. Robards, thinking the act of the legislature was a divorce of itself, were married before the action of the court. Judge Overton, a friend, was himself surprised to learn that the act of the legislature was not a divorce, and through his advice they were again married in the early part of 1794. The fact that Captain Robards' own family sustained Mrs. Robards in the controversy with her husband must strongly point to the groundlessness of the charges; while it is further conceded that Andrew Jackson was not the first victim of the suspicious nature of Captain Robards. However, this can never be regarded otherwise than a most unfortunate period in the life of Andrew Jackson, it being the immediate cause of more than one of the many obstacles with which he was obliged to contend in after years.
He was appointed district attorney of Tennessee when that country became a federal territory, and in 1796 when Tennessee became a State, he was a man of no small wealth. On January 11th, 1796, a convention met at Knoxville to draft a constitution for the new State, and Jackson was chosen one of five delegates from Davidson county to meet the other members from over the State. He was appointed on the committee to draft that important document. Having been elected to represent his State in the popular branch of Congress he accordingly took his seat in that legislative body in December, 1796. As Jackson entered the house on the eve of the retirement from public life of Washington, he voted on the measure approving Washington's administration; and, as he could not conscientiously vote otherwise, not approving some of Washington's measures, he is recorded among the twelve who voted in the negative.
He at this time belonged to the so-called Republican party, now Democratic, which was then forming under Jefferson, the incoming vice-president, under the Federal Adams. His record in Congress is made exemplary by his action on three important bills, namely: Against buying peace of the Algerians, against a needlessly large appropriation for repairing the house of the president, and against the removal of the restriction confining the expenditure of public money to the specific objects for which said money was appropriated.
As would be natural, such a course was highly approved by his constituents, and he was made a senator in 1797, but his senatorial career was not so fruitful, as it is believed that he never made a speech nor ever voted once and resigned his seat in less than a year. He was elected a justice of the supreme court of Tennessee, but he did nothing remarkable here either as none of his decisions remain. Nothing of note occurred for some time except his becoming involved in a quarrel with Governor Sevier, which came to a crisis in 1801, when Jackson was made Major-General of militia over Sevier. Jackson suspected Sevier of being involved in certain land frauds, and a duel was averted only by the influence of friends.
About this time Jackson became financially embarrassed. Thinking himself secure, he sold a large amount of land to a gentleman in Philadelphia, and, taking his notes, bought goods for the Tennessee market, depending on these notes for payment. The failure of these threw him into great difficulties; but his firm will came to his aid once more and saved him. He immediately resigned the position of judge, and sold land enough to clear himself from debt. He is said to have now removed to what subsequently became known as the "Hermitage," taking all his slaves, and dwelling in a log house.
He extended his business, being now at the head of the firm of Jackson, Coffee and Hatchings. This was a trading firm, raising wheat, corn, cotton, mules, cows and horses, it being a concern whose business extended to New Orleans, but it lost money, and finally came to an end, although through no fault of Jackson, as he generally carried to success whatever he personally managed, and this embarrassment grew out of reckless proceedings during his absence. We now come upon another dark page of Jackson's life.
During the year 1806 a quarrel was started, which led to the death of Charles Dickinson. This is one of his quarrels resulting indirectly from the manner in which he become married to Mrs. Robards. This Dickinson had spoken offensively of Mrs. Jackson, he once retracted his words and renewed them. In the meantime Jackson became involved in a quarrel with a man by the name of Swann over the terms of a horse race, and Jackson used some strong language relative to Dickinson, whose name had been meaningly introduced. Jackson's words were carried to Dickinson, as it appears he had intended. Afterward the quarrel with Swann resulted in a bar-room fight, it is said, begun by Jackson.