Brian Kilmeade is an on-air personality for the politically conservative Fox network. This book was published around the time that Confederate statues were being removed from public places. My suspicion is that the motivation for this book was to ensure that monuments to Jackson in the South were allowed to stand. I suspect this because the book focuses on Jackson's affinity for inclusion and even mentions that Native Americans owned slaves (as if two wrongs make a right?).
The book characterizes Jackson as:
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TOUGH
"The men revered their general, who shared their hardships as they marched together... Along the way, one soldier remarked upon Jackson's toughness. Then another observed that he was as 'tough as hickory.' Said aloud, the comparison rang true and, soon enough, his men took to calling their commander 'Hickory' and eventually 'Old Hickory.'" [page 24]
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COMPASSIONATE
"Jackson arrived to inspect the smoking ruins of Tallushatchee... Jackson's interpreter, an Indian trader fluent in Creek, brought a Native American infant to the general... Having lost his mother in wartime, Jackson was moved by the orphaned boy. Only hours after ordering the assault on the Indian camp, the general mixed a few grains of brown sugar with water and coaxed the child to drink." [pages 32-33]
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SHREWD
"To the surprise of his men, Old Hickory did not order [the women and children murdering] Weatherford's imprisonment or execution. Instead, Jackson offered Red Eagle a deal: He would gain his life and liberty if he would serve as a peacemaker to the Creeks who were still fighting." [page 46]
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SOPHISTICATED (when necessary)
"When dinner was announced, [Jackson] exhibited perfect manners, offering his hostess his arm, and during dinner, he proved agreeable company. Mr. Livingston — soon to be Jackson's aid-de-camp — and the general departed early. But one guest who remained, both surprised and favorably impressed, remarked, 'Is this your backwoodsman? He is a prince!'" [page 99]
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UNPREJUDICED
"Against the advice of some Louisianians, Jackson accepted into his army two battalions of freemen of color. Though he required that officers of the two corps be white men, he also ordered that black soldiers be treated the same way as white volunteers, a shocking attitude in a society that doubted the humanity and trustworthiness of nonwhites... When one paymaster objected, Jackson made his position clear... 'Be pleased to keep to yourself your opinions... without inquiring whether the troops are white, black, or tea.'" [page 126]
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RESOURCEFUL
"Once cleared of weeds and silt, the Rodriguez Canal could be flooded with water from the river to serve as a moat, an obstacle to an oncoming army... Jackson issued an order to have every shovel in the area commandeered. By the time the morning fog had burned off, Jackson's men were at work, spades in hand, together with slaves from nearby plantations. ...Having to march through mud and standing water, Jackson thought, would slow any British attack." [pages 161-162]
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NOT AFRAID TO SPEAK TRUTH TO AUTHORITY
"He wrote defiant letters to both Secretary of War Armstrong and General Wilkinson. He would not, could not, abandon his troops. 'These brave men, at the call of their country,... followed me to the field — I shall carefully march them back to their homes.' He even wrote to the president: 'I cannot believe [that] after inviting us to rally 'round the standard of [the] country in its defense... you would dismiss us from service eight hundred miles from our homes, without money, without supplies.'" [pages 23]
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UNIFYING (when necessary)
"What Andrew Jackson had was a collection of Americans of all colors, creeds, and ethnic groups, melted into one fighting force, coming together to make military history." [page 184]
"General Jackson and his multiethnic, multigenerational army made up of people from every American social class and occupation had come together to do what Napoleon had failed to do: destroy the finest fighting force in the world [the British navy and army]." [page 205]
Despite the potential motivations behind the book, Andrew Jackson was an impressive man. His service to the country should not go unnoticed. The British wanted to control the Mississippi River to block America's expansion to the west. They wanted to punish America for succeeding 29 years earlier. Had they defeated Jackson at New Orleans, the United States would be a much different country today. In this regard, the Battle of New Orleans is as important to American history as the Revolutionary War.
It was an exciting read even though I knew the ending in advance. I recommend Andrew Jackson and the Miracle of New Orleans to anyone who is a fan of history, war strategy, or New Orleans.
History is alive in the lab.
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