Timeline

1. 1812 Jan.

   Jackson arrives in Nashville from Natchez with 26 slaves.

2. 1812 Apr. 8

   Louisiana is admitted into the Union.

3. 1812 June 18

   U.S. Congress declares war against Great Britain.

   

4. 1812 Nov. 1

   Governor Blount authorizes Jackson to mobilize troops for southern expedition

5. 1812-1815

   Jackson leads troops against both Indians and the British

6. 1813 Jan.-Feb.

   Jackson leads Tennessee volunteers as far as Natchez.

7. 1813 Mar.-Apr.

   Returns with troops to Nashville. In this period, earns the nickname "Hickory" or "Old Hickory" from the soldiers under his command, because of his attitude of tough determination.

8. 1813 Aug. 30

   Settlers killed at Fort Mims by Creek Indians.

9. 1813 Sept.

   Jackson engages in armed brawl with brothers Jesse and Thomas Hart Benton in a Nashville hotel. Jackson is seriously wounded by a pistol shot in the shoulder. Born in North Carolina, and a lieutenant colonel aide-de-camp to Jackson in the War of 1812, Thomas Hart Benton (1782-1858) will become a leading U.S. senator and advocate of western expansion for the state of Missouri.

10. 1813 Oct. 5

    Shawnee leader and orator Tecumseh (1768-1813) is killed in the Battle of the Thames. With him dies his hope for an independent inter-tribal confederacy under the protection of the British.

11. 1813 Oct.

    Amidst concerns over possible Spanish alliances with southwestern Indians, Jackson is ordered by Tennessee's governor into warfare against the Red Stick Creeks.

12. 1813 Nov. 3

    Mass slaughter of the residents at the Creek village of Talluschatchee (Tallaseehatchee) in Alabama under Jackson friend and Tennessee state militia general John Coffee (1772-1833) (claimed as a retaliation for Indian slaughter of Americans at Fort Mims). Jackson unofficially adopts the Indian child Lyncoya who is found orphaned after the onslaught.

13. 1813 Nov. 9

    Jackson's troops claim victory at the Red Stick village of Talladega

14. 1813-1814

    Supply shortages and poor conditions lead to demoralization and threats of desertion by militiamen under his command.

15. 1814 Jan. 22

    Battle of Emuckfau (Emuckfaw) against the Red Stick Creeks.

16. 1814 Jan. 24

    Battle of Enitachopko (Enotachopo, Enotochapco) against the Red Stick Creeks.

17. 1814 Feb. 3

    Orders court-martial of Second Brigade captains.

18. 1814 Mar. 14

    Enforcing discipline among his troops, orders execution of insubordinate soldier John Woods for mutiny.

19. 1814 Mar. 27

    Battle of Tohopeka (Horsehoe Bend). Jackson's volunteers are joined by Creek and Cherokee allies. The great loss of life among the Red Sticks leads to the surrender of Red Eagle and the Creek rebellion is defeated. 23 million acres of Indian-occupied lands will be ceded to the U.S., including lands of former allies as well as enemies, and subsequently opened to American land speculators and farmers.

20. 1814 May 24

    Appointed as Creek treaty negotiator, replacing Thomas Pinckney.

    

21. 1814 May 28

    Commissioned major general in the U.S. Army (holds commission until his resignation in 1821). Jackson suffers from chronic ill health, including dysentery contracted during the Creek campaign and after-effects of the wound obtained in his conflict with the Bentons.

22. 1814 Aug. 9

    Treaty of Fort Jackson imposed upon the Creek Nation.

23. 1814 Aug-Sept.

    Occupies Mobile, Ala., and repulses British attack.

24. 1814 Oct. 25

    Florida invasion begins.

25. 1814 Nov. 7

    Takes Pensacola.

26. 1814 Nov.

    Evacuates Pensacola. Goes to Mobile, then departs for New Orleans.

    

27. 1814 Dec. 1-16

    Arrives in New Orleans and imposes martial law in the city. Contingents of free black soldiers and loyalist Creek Indians join American side over the objections of slaveholders. In following days they are reinforced by the arrival of Tennessee recruits under Major General William Carroll and Mississippi dragoons under Major Thomas Hinds.

28. 1814 Dec. 23-28

    Repulses British advances at New Orleans.

29. 1814 Dec. 24

    Treaty of Ghent signed by the British and Americans, defining negotiated terms for the end of the War of 1812. Word of the peace treaty travels slowly to the U.S.

    

30. 1815 Jan. 8

    Battle of New Orleans. Under Jackson leadership, and with further reinforcement of newly arrived Kentucky militiamen, the still-outnumbered Americans prevail over the British under the command of Lieutenant General Sir Edward Pakenham, and force redcoat withdrawal. The British suffer a greatly disparate percentage of casualties in comparison to the American forces.

31. 1815 Feb.

    News of the American victory at New Orleans reaches Washington. Gains celebrity status as a military hero of what was termed by many the Second American Revolution.

    

32. 1815 Feb. 17

    U.S. ratifies Treaty of Ghent, officially ending war with the British.

33. 1815 April 6

    Leaves New Orleans for Nashville.

34. 1815 Oct.

    Leaves Nashville for trip to Washington with Rachel Jackson.

35. 1815 Nov. 4

    Calls on Thomas Jefferson at Poplar Forest.

36. 1815 Dec. 24.

    Departs Washington. Arrives Nashville February 1816.

37. 1816

    U.S. commences further white-settler expansionism through land cession treaties with the Cherokees and the Chickasaws.

38. 1816 Mar. 22

    Cherokee treaty signed in Washington.

39. 1816 April 10

    President James Madison approves bill chartering the Second Bank of the U.S.

40. 1816 April 27

    Tariff Act imposes a 25% duty on various manufactures, including those made of wool and cotton.

41. 1816 Sept. 8-Oct. 4

    Treaty negotiations with Cherokees and Chickasaws.

42. 1817 Jan. 1

    Jackson names a vice-president of the American Colonization Society, which advocates out-migration of free blacks and former slaves in the U.S. to West Africa.

43. 1817 Jan. 7

    Second Bank of the U.S. begins operations out of Philadelphia, on a twenty-year charter (1816-1836).

44. 1817 June

    Commences Cherokee negotiations.

45. 1817 July 8

    Signs Cherokee Treaty.

46. 1817 Dec.

    Takes command of suppression of the Seminoles (First Seminole War)

47. 1818 Mar. 15

    Invades Spanish Florida.

48. 1818 Apr.

    Destroys Seminole town of Mikasuki. Captures St. Marks in Spanish Florida. Attacks Bowlegs's Town.

49. 1818 April 7

    Arrests Scottish trader and merchant Alexander Arbuthnot (1748-1818).

50. 1818 April 18

    Captures British subject Robert Ambrister (1797-1818) of the Bahamas, who is trading with Indians in Spanish Florida.

51. 1818 April

    Alexander Arbuthnot and Robert Ambrister are tried before a military tribunal for aiding the Seminoles and Creeks. They are executed under Jackson's order, in St. Marks, on April 29.

52. 1818 May 24

    Captures Pensacola.

53. 1818 June

    Returns to Tennessee.

54. 1818 Oct. 19

    Treaty with the Chickasaws. Ratified by the U.S. Senate Jan. 6, 1819.

55. 1818 Nov. 20

    Former business partner John Hutchings dies, leaving his son, Andrew Jackson Hutchings (b. 1811), to Jackson's care. The child is taken on as a ward by the Jacksons.

56. 1819

    Tours with President James Monroe in the West as "Old Hickory," the lauded military hero. Avoids censure by the House of Representatives for conduct of the Seminole campaign.

    

57. 1819 Jan. 20

    Henry Clay criticizes the invasion of Florida in the U.S. House of Representatives, as Jackson is on his way to Washington.

58. 1819 ca. Jan. 23

    In Washington, Jackson purchases a slave girl named Sally for Rachel Jackson.

59. 1819 Feb. 8

    House of Representatives exonerates Jackson, though rumors swirl that the Florida invasion protected land speculation there by Jackson and friends.

60. 1819 Feb. 17

    Sits for portrait by Thomas Sully in Philadelphia, on his way from Washington to New York.

61. 1819 Feb. 22-24

    Adams-Onis treaty ceding Florida to the U.S. is signed and ratified by the U.S. Senate. Spain will ratify the treaty in October 1820 and the Senate re-ratify in February 1821.

62. 1819 Feb. 28

    Sits for portrait by Rembrandt Peale in Baltimore on return trip to Washington.

63. 1819 June

    President Monroe visits the Hermitage.

64. 1819 August

    Construction of a new mansion home at the Hermitage.

    

65. c. 1820

    Aaron and Hannah Jackson wed. They will have ten children who live to adulthood. Hannah will be present at both the deaths of Rachel Jackson and Andrew Jackson. She will flee the Hermitage with her daughter Martha during the Civil War and become a Nashville midwife.

66. 1820 Sept.

    Negotiations with the Choctaws.

67. 1820 Oct. 18

    Treaty with the Choctaws.

68. 1821 Mar.

    Appointed governor of Florida Territory.

69. 1821 July 17

    Receives West Florida on behalf of the U.S., from Spain.

70. 1821 Nov.

    Resigns as governor of Florida and returns to Tennessee.