THE YOUNG SCOUT
When Andrew Jackson was a little boy he lived with his mother in South
Carolina. He was eight years old when he heard about the ride of Paul
Revere and the famous fight at Lexington.
It was then that the long war, called the Revolutionary War, began. The king's soldiers were sent into every part of the country. The people called them the British. Some called them "red-coats."
There was much fighting; and several great battles took place between the British and the Americans.
At last Charleston, in South Carolina, was taken by the British. Andrew
Jackson was then a tall white-haired boy, thirteen years old.
"I am going to help drive those red-coated British out of the country," he said to his mother.
Then, without another word, he mounted his brother's little farm horse and rode away. He was not old enough to be a soldier, but he could be a scout—and a good scout he was.
He was very tall—as tall as a man. He was not afraid of anything. He was strong and ready for every duty.
One day as he was riding through the woods, some British soldiers saw him. They quickly surrounded him and made him their prisoner.
"Come with us," they said, "and we will teach you that the king's soldiers are not to be trifled with."