LYCOS RETRIEVER 
Andrew Jackson: Civil War
built 219 days ago
The film concludes with the words of Jackson’s first biographer, James Parton: “Andrew Jackson was a patriot, and a traitor. He was the greatest of generals, and wholly ignorant of the art of war. He was the most candid of men, and capable of the profoundest dissimulation. He was a democratic autocrat, an urbane savage, an atrocious saint.” Martin Sheen narrates.
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Jackson had barely taken office when he confronted his first political crisis. The trouble revolved around Secretary of War Eaton and his wife, Peggy. For various reasons, Eaton's appointment was unpopular with many Jackson supporters. Compounding this difficulty was Eaton's marriage on New Year's Day 1829 to Margaret O'Neale Timberlake. Peggy, the daughter of a Washington tavern keeper, had gained an unsavory reputation for being too forward with her father's boarders when her first husband, a naval officer, was away. Eaton was a frequent guest at the O'Neale tavern.
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Jackson found the city virtually defenseless. He declared martial law (rule by the military) and set up defenses. Jackson’s command of 5000 included blacks, Creoles, Frenchmen, and pirates, as well as sharpshooting Tennessee and Kentucky militia. The British seemed to have the advantage, with an army of 8700 veterans of European warfare, led by Lieutenant General Sir Edward Pakenham, who had fought with success against France in the Napoleonic Wars (1799-1815).
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Jackson devoted an inordinate amount of time during his first year in office gathering evidence to prove Mrs. Eaton's virtue and laboring to have his family and cabinet harmonize. His efforts had little effect, and the social war against Peggy Eaton continued unabated. Jackson was furious and miserable, but he continued to support the Eatons and insisted that loyalty to them was essential to his own success.
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After the outbreak of the American Revolution, Jackson, barely 13 years old, served as an orderly to Col. William Richardson. Following one engagement, Jackson and his brother were captured by the British and taken to a prison camp. When Jackson refused to clean an officer's boots, the officer slashed him with a sword, leaving a permanent scar on his forehead and left hand. Jackson was the only member of his family to survive the war, and it is generally believed that his harsh, adventuresome, early life developed his strong, aggressive qualities of leadership, his violent temper, and his need for intense loyalty from friends.
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Andrew was 14-years-old with out any immediate family. With the war over he started work making saddle and school teaching. With $300 that he inheritance from his grandfather, he went to Charlestor, South Caroline and then to the biggest city in the South. There he cut a dashing figure in society until his money ran out.
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