had forfeited their right to God's grace, but he admired them as mighty
warriors, worthy foes to his superior skill.
There was another contradiction that puzzled James. For all Andrew's
disregard for the rights of the Indians to their land, he was kind and
generous to individuals.
"They are children," he said. "ney need the strong, guiding hand of a
father who knows what is best for them."
Later, when the war that Andrew longed for came, when John Coffee's men
had destroyed the village of Talluhatchee and killed two hundred braves,
they brought Andrew a little Creek boy, whose parents were dead. The
women would not look after him. Andrew took the boy to his heart, called
him
BLOODLINES 117
Lincoyen, sent him to Rachel, his new mother, and made him part of the
family. He had found another son.
Andrew's real wrath was directed toward weak white men, especially those
who tried to achieve by politics what they were afraid to achieve in
honest battle. Most of all, he despised the increasing encroachment of
government into the lives of the pioneers, the true sons of the soil.
He loved Nashville and was bored by it. He found quarrels where he could,
and defended his, and his wife's, honor against the merest slight. He
ignored weak men, and challenged those strong men who were at variance
with him.
He longed to prove himself in war, and despised the tyranny of peace. His
dearest ambition was to avenge his mother's death. Elizabeth Jackson had
died of the plague, but Andrew blamed the British, and the intolerable
circumstances brought about by the Revolutionary War.
When his old friend Aaron Burr proposed a wild scheme to persuade the
British to aid him in a rebellion that would free the Mississippi Valley,
or Florida, or anywhere, from the govemance of, or alliance with, the
United States, and to make himself ruler of that new country, Andrew was
ready to listen.
But he gave a cautious response. He encouraged Burr, but kept his options
open. Perhaps he believed that if Burr succeeded, there would be war, and
he would fight valiantly for his country against his old friend. Perhaps
he believed in Burr's vision, but detested Burr's readiness to parlay
with Britain. Perhaps he was simply humoring his old friend to explore
the limits of himself.
Burr failed. He was tried for treason and eventually acquitted, against
the strong influence of Thomas Jefferson, but was forced into exile.
Although Andrew was never directly implicated in Burr's plot, the taint
of it stayed with him for some years, and turned many in Washington
against him.
Andrew languished in Nashville, gathered about him likeminded fellows,
befriended James Jackson, and waited impatiently for his day, which he
believed must come, for it was his destiny.
15
'There is to be war," James told Sally,
Sally nodded.
"I suppose it was inevitable," she said. "And will you fight?"
James shook his head.
"Andrew has other plans for me."
Sally closed her eyes, and said a silent prayer of thanks. She had lost one
husband already, and did not want to lose another. For the first time since
she had known him, she blessed Andrew Jackson.
Jefferson was gone. Madison, the last of the Founding Fathers, was
president. The economies of the northern and eastern states were in tatters.
As predicted by Andrew, Jefferson's foreign policies toward the British and
the French had brought the country to its knees. The protracted negotiations
with the British had produced nothing. Still the country expanded. The
Spanish, and several Spanish colonies, had revolted against Napoleon, and
Florida had declared itself independent. Madison, unsure and uncertain of
himself in other matters, annexed the territory as part of the District of
New Orleans, and admitted Louisiana to the Union. The New England states,
already staring at bankruptcy, threatened to rebel. More slave states would
reduce their influence, and would dilute the original Union and its
constitution. At loggerheads with Madison, they wanted peace with Britain
and the chance to restore their trade. Foolishly advised as to Britain's
position, encouraged by the Spanish revolt against the French, and to
placate New England, Madison lifted the embargo on trade with France.
The British blockaded the American ports, an American naval vessel opened
fire on a British ship, and the southern war
118
BLOODLINES 119
hawks in the government, led by Henry Clay and William Crawford, and many
throughout the land, pressed Madison to declare war on Britain. The
immediate and long-desired prize was the British territory of Canada, the
other America, which many, like Andrew, believed was part of the God-given
whole.
Andrew was in a quandary. He despised Madison as a weak man, but approved
of the war. Immediately, he volunteered himself and a militia division
of two thousand five hundred men, vowing to take Quebec. His offer was
noted and ignored.
"it is because of my friendship with Aaron Burr," he told James bitterly.
"They will make me pay for it."
Andrew had other reasons for despising Madison. The president had
recently rechartered the national bank of the United States, and Andrew
was livid with rage. The bank was a monster, the tool of government,
whose octopus tentacles spread throughout the land, discouraging
competition and issuing the false god of paper.
"Specie, cash money, is the one true cuffency," he roared. "All else is
fraudulent paper."
He had reasons for his bitterness. He had frequently been the victim of
promissory notes whose issuers failed to deliver what the paper promised,
and he had lost more than one fortune because of it. Moreover, he was a
resolute champion of the sovereignty of the individual states and
believed that a central bank, the lapdog of the federal government, would
eventually destroy their financial independence, and make the states
entirely reliant on Washington.
Now, with the country at war, Andrew, like a champion stallion ready for
the race, chafed at the bit. The Hermitage became his war room, and he
called in all the young men he had trained and encouraged to be ready for
this moment: Davy Crockett, the frontiersman, John Coffee, the loyal and
fearless lieutenant, and young Sam Houston, an odd and eccentric youth who
had abandoned his white family and lived tribally, with the Creek. Sam
could speak three Indian languages fluently, knew all the ways and
customs, was a frequent drunk, and was a daring, unconventional warrior.
Andrew adored him.
James was there too. They sat around the table for hours on
120 ALEX HALEY'S QUEEN
end, debating the news, railing against the disastrous conduct of the war,
drowning in liquor their fury at the loss of Detroit w
ithout a single
shot, and venting in impotent anger their frustration that they were not
part of it.
Unknown to any of them, they had an unlikely ally to their cause, the
Shawnee chief Tecumseh, which meant Crouching Panther.
The American expeditions into Canada were abject failures. The New
Englanders, who had never wanted war, were ready to sue for peace. The
tiny American army and smaller navy were overextended, facing three
battlefronts-the north, the south in Florida, and the Gulf Coast,
centered on New Orleans, which was vulnerable to attack from the British
possessions in the Caribbean.
In the West, the charismatic Tecumseh was able to do what few other
Indians had done, and gathered the tribes into a common cause against the
white man. He had a vision of a great confederation of the Indian people
which would extend from the northern lakes to the southern gulf, and
would annihilate the whites. Encouraged by British agents to believe they
would side with him against the Americans, Tecumseh and his devoted
followers waged a war of attrition on the settlements of Ohio and the
Mississippi.
Faced with disaster on all sides, the War Office finally accepted
Andrew's offer, if he, in turn, would accept a subordinate command under
General Wilkinson, in New Orleans. Andrew ranted and raved, but any
action was better than no action, so he agreed. Perhaps as a sop, he was
given the rank of major general.
Jubilation swept the Hermitage war room. Within two days they had raised
the full complement of twenty-five hundred men, and made preparations to
leave for New Orleans.
"But what can I do?" James said, rather plaintively, because he was
feeling left out. He had thought of offering to enlist, but considered
it better he stay with Sally, who was pregnant.
Andrew looked at him as if he had forgotten who he was, and then assumed
his most benign and confidential manner.
"You have a marvelously important job to do here," he told James. "You
must look after Rachel, who will be bathed in tears at my departure."
BLOODLINES 121
It was a job that suited James exactly, but Andrew had something else for
him. Generous to a fault, he was perpetually short of money. He asked for
a loan from James, to equip and uniform his men, and feed them, until
funds arrived from Washington.
He needed five thousand dollars. James was only too happy to agree,
thinking that he was making a magnificent contribution to the war effort,
if only by proxy.
Besides, all Andrew had to do was ask. All he ever had to do was ask, and
James would have given him the moon.
Andrew's division set off for New Orleans in the middle of the worst
winter anyone could remember.
General Wilkinson wanted Andrew's men, but not Andrew. He ordered them
to make camp at Natchez, to await developments. This made sense to Andrew
for it would position his unit to respond to any British invasion along
the coast, not just at New Orleans. Then an order arrived from the War
Office ordering Andrew to disband his men and return to Nashville.
Andrew understood the ploy immediately. Without funds to feed his men,
they would be easy recruits for Wilkinson. He wrote accepting the
dismissal of his services, but insisted that he would return his men to
their homes at his own expense.
The bad weather got worse, but Andrew triumphed. He led his men on an
impossible journey through the snow and bitter cold, cajoling, urging,
encouraging, careless of his own comfort, and he became the stuff of
legend. His soldiers revered him for it, called him tougher than hickory,
and because he was their father, he became known to them, and to the
country, as Old Hickory.
On their return to Nashville, tattered and torn, cold and weary, reduced
to eating horseflesh, never having fired a shot in anger, they were feted
as heroes and showered with honors.
James glowed with pride and patriotism. Under the circumstances he could
not possibly ask for the return of his loan, for it was his money that
had sustained the gallant soldiers through their arduous trek.
Nor could he refuse Andrew another loan, for another expedition, this
time against the Creek, in Alabama.
122 ALEX HALEY'S QUEEN
Tecumseh-Crouching Panther-had inspired many of the younger braves
throughout the country, and if many rejected his calls for violence,
several listened. A half-breed, William Weatherford, whose father laid
claim to being the principal Creek chief, organized a war party, and
attacked and destroyed the settlement at Fort Mims in southern Alabama.
Encouraged by this success, other Creek had joined him, and now much of
Alabama was under threat.
The news came to Andrew on his sickbed. He had been wounded by Thomas
Benton and his brother Jesse, after a silly misunderstanding that had led
to a duel between Jesse and Billy Carroll, Andrew's brigade inspector.
Andrew had no part in it, and, wanting to keep his nose clean with
Washington, had discouraged the antagonists, but to no avail. The duel
was fought with Jesse winning the toss. He fired first but missed, and
panicked, and turned his back on Billy Carroll, who promptly shot him in
the rump.
Tennessee thought Jesse's discomfort was a grand joke, but Tom Benton,
who had been a favorite of Andrew's, took his brother's side. He accused
Andrew of inciting the duel, and Andrew had threatened to horsewhip him.
It all came to a head at the Nashville Inn when Thomas and Jesse, with
some others, attacked Andrew. John Coffee, guns blazing, put them to
flight, but Andrew was severely wounded, shot twice in the arm, and the
doctors recommended amputation.
"I will keep my arm," Andrew said.
Rachel and Alfred nursed him, but none of their ministrations succeeded
as well as the news that two hundred and fifty whites had been massacred
at Fort Mims, and Weatherford was marching north, to other white
settlements.
"By the eternal, these people must be saved," he announced, and Tennessee
agreed.
Andrew got up from his bed and made ready for war. The governor of
Tennessee commissioned a punitive expedition, and John Coffee formed the
cavalry.
The day had come. This was Andrew's time.
He borrowed more money from James, against the promise of repayment as
soon as he had Treasury funds, and again, James gave it willingly.
BLOODLINES 123
All Andrew had to do was ask.
James didn't tell anyone but Sally about the loan, because when he told
her, she was angry. Andrew had often borrowed small sums from James and
never repaid them. He still owed five thousand from the Natchez
adventure. Now there was more.
It was the first sustained argument of their marriage, for James could
not make her see h
is position, nor could he tell her with any truth what
his position was. The loans made him feel part of the war, part of the
adventure, but obviated any risk, except the financial one which he could
well afford. Until this time, he had shared all his money dealings with
Sally, but now he began to close this part of his life to her, and kept
his business to himself.
The Creek War, as it came to be called, was a triumph for Andrew, and all
who served him loyally. Sam Houston used his formidable knowledge of the
Creek and their customs to send spies to the Indians, and encouraged those
who had not fought to join with Old Hickory, who was undefeatable. Cher-
okee and Chickasaw, Choctaw and some Creek joined with Andrew. The spies
reported Weatherford's numbers and intentions. Davy Crockett led a small
band of men in forays of lightning speed and ferocity, aided by the shock
of surprise, which all reinforced the concept of Andrew's invincibility.
It was winter again, and the Creek were poorly supplied. Armed only with
bows and arrows, a few muskets, and a desperate faith in their cause, they
soon fell to the greater numbers and artillery of the army that they
faced.
Andrew's obstacles were not all of Indian invention, but all added to his
reputation. Four times, his poorly fed, poorly uniformed, and poorly
supplied troops rebelled, and each time Andrew suppressed the mutiny by
the sheer force of his personality and his iron determination. Still weak
from loss of blood, wracked with dysentery, and living on acorns and
horseflesh, he would not ask men to endure anything he would not suffer
himself.
He thought of the men as his children, and called them such. In the case
of Private John Woods, he sacrificed one of his children. Woods was
condemned to death for refusing to obey
124 ALEX HALEY'S QUEEN
a disciplinary order. Andrew believed he was part of a previous mutiny, but
Woods, who was seventeen, had only recently taken his brother's place in the
ranks. Militiamen, irregular volunteers, were seldom put to death, no matter
how grave their offense, and Andrew had the power to reduce the sentence,
but, like Abraham sacrificing Isaac, he chose not to do so, and no divine
power stayed his hand.
Woods was duly executed by firing squad.
There was little talk of mutiny after that, and his men came to respect
Andrew as never before.
Still he stared at disaster. After Andrew had won two small victories, some
Creek sued for peace, and Governor Blount of Tennessee was prepared to
parlay. The increasing disaster that was the war against the British had
soured him on military conquest, but Andrew would not accept his orders to
abandon his base and return to Nashville. In a passionate letter to Blount
he insisted that the frontier would never be peaceful until this
insurrection was put down, and demanded more men. His obstinacy, and the
War Office, which was desperate for any success, no matter how small,
persuaded Blount, and Andrew marched on with five thousand extra troops.
After several minor battles he surrounded the Creek stronghold at Horseshoe
Bend. Believing that the Great Spirit had promised them victory, the Creek
fought almost to the last man, and by the end of the day the battlefield
was a scene of carnage. Weatherford himself had not been at Horseshoe Bend,
and Andrew went in search of him. At Fort Toulouse, which was renamed Fort
Jackson, Weatherford surrendered.
The Creek war was over, and the victorious troops and their general went
home.
To glory.
To a population utterly depressed by a failed war with Britain, Andrew was
the hero they needed. His fame spread throughout the land, and cheering
crowds lined the streets on his approach to Nashville. A state dinner was
organized, and a victory parade.
All the buildings were draped in flags and bunting, and people came from
all over Tennessee to see the triumph. Andrew sat on the official stand
with Rachel, and because all his lieutenants and men were marching, James