Friday, June 12, 2015

Legends of Chief Cobmoosa & Pres. A.J. - 18

        Andrew Jackson had an illustrious career as a valiant Indian fighter before he ever aspired to become President of the United States (1829-1837).  Most of his claim to that fame originated from his days stopping the bloodshed of settlers in Florida from rampaging Seminoles.  Frequently when the settlers started pushing into the jungles of Florida there were those renegades (spies) who excited peaceful members and they began waging war with Washington. 
        President Monroe sent a letter to Gen. Jackson appealing for help at a time when the coffers to pay militiamen wasn't available nor was any money sent to pay the men.  Jackson didn't want the men to lay down their lives for nothing so he became paymaster.    He paid 1500 men approximately $4000 out of his own pocket for their services to stop settler killings in the wilds of Florida.
       When the settlers began to arrive they quickly overran Indian land.  Indians feeling pressure from Washington went on a rampage like swarms of disturbed bees, but when Gen. Jackson arrived with his men he found the Seminole villages empty, they scattered to survive.  As Gen. Jackson pushed deeper into Florida, the Indian spies in the dense jungle sent word to the chiefs that a detachment of militia was coming and the Indian scattered making it very difficult to find them.  Jackson's expeditionary force had arrived in 1817 to protect US territory citizens.
        The Seminoles called Gen. Jackson "sharp knife."  His militiamen sought out the Seminoles and the bloodshed between Indians and settlers ceased.  Later in life he became known as "Old Hickory," the tough man who when animated by someone was a fighter from his earlier days.  Since growing up without a father's perspective he was considered a wild boy, the head of the rowdies in Salisbury, N.C. in 1784.  He was the most roaring, rollicking, game-cocking, card shark, horse-racing gambler and mischievous fellow the local girls laid eyes upon.
        The local girls were constantly talking about this tall young square shouldered 18 year old Irish Celt with intense blue eyes and a long, fair, pock-marked and scarred face that ended somewhere  in his ruddy hair.  He held an acute imagination animated face - imagination face destined for action, fierce in its loyalties and hatreds in the Waxhaw settlement hinterlands and yet destined him for a steep social climb. 
        The Waxhaw settlement was comprised of about 50 families.  He was the poorboy living among the richest, but he feared nobody in Salisbury, North Carolina.  He was a snappy dresser, better than he could afford.  Debts or not he rode the best horse and none were ridden better.  He consumed liquor and mulatto (European & Negro) mistresses that legends assigned to them in the history of the student's residence in Salisbury.  As such Andrew attained a position of leadership among the  socially eligible bloods of the countryside.
        A young woman named Nancy Jarret often met him at parties, balls and at the house of her relative.  She knew Andrew as well as any other men...when she was single.  All the girls in the settlement knew him as wild, a gambler who was by no means a Christian, but he would come full circle and embrace Christianity before he entered the White House as President. 
        He was calm and talked slowly and methodical in language, but excited he became animated with a North-Irish brogue meaning ' a soft local pronunciation of Irish-English accent'.  Not only did the young ladies talk about Andrew but their mothers, too, feared he was a gambler who was not a good sportsman who could afford to lose a bet.  They feared the two hundred acre Waxhaw settlement couldn't support Jackson's scale of living and Andrew became a guest of the McNairy's whose neighbor was Governor Martin of North Carolina and so spiraled upwards into the militia and political history.
         Jackson and Cobmoosa were the same age and grew up in similar circumstances just separated by about 1000 miles.  Jackson had used his cunning skills of Indian management to prevent anymore Indian War's in America.  Educated Indians feared Washington - to start a war was foolish - the masses would win and the Indian would lose more than they could ever gain. (continued)