Memorial and Biographical History of Dallas County, Texas. Page: 49 of 1,110

ANDREWf~~~ b~[ACKSON. it')~~
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-I ANDREW JACKSON,

the seventh President
*, i^ j^ Xof the United States,
1 829-'37, was born at
the Waxhaw Settle_
ment, Union Coun)1AT.W
ty, North Carolina,
J , March I6, IZ67. His parents
were Scotch-Irish, natives of
Carrickfergus, who came to
1 America in 1765, and settled
on Twelve-Mile Creek, a tribJ~
utary of the Catawba. His
A father, who was a poor farm
laborer, died shortly before Andrew's
birth, when his mother removed to
Waxhaw, where some relatives resided.
Few particulars of the childhood of Jackson
have been preserved. His education
wasof the most limited kind, and he showed
no fondness for books. He grew up to be a
tall, lank boy, with coarse hair and freckled
cheeks, with bare feet dangling from
trousers too short for him, very fond of athletic
sports, running, boxing and wrestling.
He was generous to the younger and
weaker boys, but very irascible and overbearing
with his equals and superiors. He
was profane-a vice in which he surpassed
all other men. The character of his mother

he revered; and it was not until after her
death that his predominant vices gained
full strength.
In I780, at the age of thirteen, Andrew,
or Andy, as he was called, with his brother
Robert, volunteered to serve in the Revolutionary
forces under General Sumter, and
was a witness of the latter's defeat at Hanging
Rock. In the following year the
brothers were made prisoners, and confined
in Camden, experiencing brutal treatment
from their captors, and being spectators of
General Green's defeat at Hobkirk Hill.
Through their mother's exertions the boys
were exchanged while suffering from smallpox.
In two days Robert was dead, and
Andy apparently dying. The strength of
his constitution triumphed, and he regained
health and vigor.
As he was getting better, his mother
heard the cry of anguish from the prisoners
whom the British held in Charleston,
among whom were the sons of her sisters.
She hastened to their relief, was attacked
by fever, died and was buried where her
grave could never be found. Thus Andrew
Jackson, when fourteen years of age, was
left alone in the world, without father,
mother, sister or brother, and without one
dollar which he could call his own. He