Defending a Woman’s Honor

Andrew marches cheerfully behind George Washington as they go to bravely fight the British. When it’s discovered that the 13 year-old boy is an excellent rider, he’s given the job of courier. But within a year he is captured and taken prisoner of war bythe troops of Sir Banastre Tarleton, a British commander known throughout the Carolinas as “The Butcher.” 

As Andrew stands quietly at attention, Tarleton looks him over with a sneer. Lifting a muddy foot onto a wooden box in front of the lad, Tarleton says, “Boy, clean my boot.” Andrew replies by suggesting that Tarleton do something quite different with “that boot.” (Andrew’s suggestion, by the way, is anatomically unfeasible.) A viper-quick blow from Tarleton’s sword knocks Andrew off his feet and exposes the white bone of his forehead.Andrew is delirious for weeks and an invalid for months, but somehow he survives.

When the war is over, 21 year-old Andrew moves to Nashville where he rents a room from a Mrs. Donelson. He has been in her home only a few days when the door quietly opens and a young woman slips quickly inside, her wet cheeks bruised by the hand of a violent husband. Surprised by Andrew’s presence, the girl quickly wipes the tears from her cheeks, composes herself and politely asks, “Is my mother home? I’m Rachel Donelson Robards.” Smitten, Andrew instantly becomes Rachel’s guardian and protector. The two are married 3 years later in the honest but mistaken belief that Rachel’s husband, Lewis Robards, has been granted a legal divorce. They are stunned to hear, two years later, that Rachel’s divorce has only just become final. They are immediately remarried in a second wedding ceremony. 

Years later, when the famed duelist Charles Dickinson becomes furious at Andrew over a wager that he has lost, he publicly accuses Rachel of having abandoned her husband to live in adultery with Andrew. Rachel, the love of Andrew’s life, is devastated. Andrew immediately challenges Dickinson to a duel and tells a friend, “Though he shoot me in the brain, I will kill this man.”The pistols are brought. The distance is stepped off. They face one another from 24 feet. Knowing Dickinson to be a faster and better shot, Andrew doesn’t even try to shoot first, but calmly takes a bullet in the chest. It shatters two ribs and lodges near Andrew’s heart. Then, without flinching, Andrew takes long and careful aim. Charles Dickinson dies on the spot. 

Inoperable, Dickinson’s bullet was still in Andrew’s chest 23 years later when he was inaugurated to serve as the seventh president of these United States.

Am I glorifying violence? Don’t be silly. Today’s memo isn’t about violence, but about tenacity, commitment and resolve. Andrew Jackson knew what he was willing to die for.  Right or wrong, his life revolved around his commitment to the creation of an American nation and his guardianship of Rachel Donelson. The only way to create a crisis in Andrew’s life would have been to force him to choose between those two.

Is there anything that your life revolves around? If so, then your universe has a center; an anchor that gives you stability and allows you to focus your energy, prioritize your time and commit your heart. If your life has no such anchor, then you probably often feel as though you’re floating aimlessly through time, drifting on the muddy, mindless tides of daily circumstance. 

Am I right?

Roy H Williams