some time.

The boy of sixteen had no one to advise him as to what to do. He tired
of life in the primitive Waxhaw country, and when the British evacuated
Charleston he went there, and saw something of city life. But his money
was soon spent, and he had to decide what he should turn his hand to.
The law appealed to him as a good field for advancement, just as it
appealed to so many ambitious youths of the new country.

At almost the same time there began the emigration of many Carolina
families westward into what was to become the territory of Tennessee.
Land was given to all who would emigrate and settle there. The idea of
growing up with a new community appealed to Andrew; he knew he had the
power to make his way. In 1788 he started on his journey west, traveling
in the company of about a hundred settlers. They had many adventures and
several times they were in danger of attack from Indians. Once it was
Jackson himself, sitting by the camp-fire after the others had gone to
sleep, who detected something strange in the hooting of owls about the
camp, and waked his friends just in time to save them from being
surrounded by a band of redskins on the war-path. At last they reached
the small town which had been christened Nashville, and there Andrew
decided to settle and practice law.

This was about the time that Washington was being inaugurated first
President of the United States.

[Illustration: ANDREW JACKSON AT THE BATTLE OF NEW ORLEANS]

Andrew grew up with Tennessee. He became a big figure in the western
country. He was known as a shrewd, aggressive man, and was sent to
Congress from that district. Later, when the War of 1812 came, he was
made a general of the American forces, and finally put an end to that
war by winning the battle of New Orleans. Some of the satisfaction of
that last campaign may have atoned to him for his own sufferings in the
Revolution. When the war ended he had won the reputation of a great
general, and was one of the most popular men in the United States. His
nickname of "Old Hickory" was given him in deep affection.

Shortly afterward he was elected President, and then reelected. He was
intensely democratic, absolutely fearless, a magnetic leader. There are
few more remarkable stories than that of the rise of the barefooted boy
of the Waxhaw to be the chief of the great republic.

XIV

Napoleon Bonaparte

The Boy of Brienne: 1769-1821

The playground of the French milita