Elizabeth Jackson, hero of the Revolution and mother to a Presedent

“Andy, never tell a lie nor take what is not your own nor sue for slander. Settle those cases yourself.”
This is what it says on the headstone located on the College of Charleston campus right off of the cougar mall. It was made to mark the life of Elizabeth Jackson, mother of President Andrew Jackson. But how did it come to make its way onto the campus, and is she really buried there? The story of how she made her way to Charleston and her eventual death is very important to the life of our seventh president

The headstone on the cougar mall

 Elizabeth Hutchinson was born in 1740 in Ireland. She married Andrew Jackson Sr. in 1761 and the couple emigrated to America in 1765 to escape religious persecution. In February 1767 Andrew Jackson Sr. died unexpectedly aged 29 while Elizabeth was pregnant with Andrew Jackson and three weeks later he was born. In 1780, the British launched an invasion of South Carolina and captured Charleston on May 12. Groups of soldiers and Tory sympathizers began to loot and pillage the countryside with soldiers leveling settlements and killing more than a hundred patriots. 

The Jackson family tended to the wounds and administered first aid. After the attacks, Andrew (age 13) and his brothers Hugh and Robert joined a patriot regiment. Soon thereafter, Hugh and Robert both died due to Revoluntary war involvement
Having already had lost her two eldest sons, Elizabeth traveled to Charleston to care for two ill nephews. She also reportedly tended other sick soldiers on a prisoner-of-war ship off the Charleston harbor before succumbing to yellow fever, typhus or some other illness and dying in Charleston in the fall of 1781. Sadly, that is all we know about her death. Nobody is quite sure of the whereabouts of her body

Elizabeth's son Andrew Jackson, 7th president

The mystery of Mrs. Jackson’s burial site is more than just a historical footnote; Andrew later in life went on a sort of mission to find her bones and bring them back to be buried with his family. A Jackson biographer Jon Meacham’s describes how Jackson tried in vain to find her final resting place.“He long sought the whereabouts of his mother’s grave but to no avail. Perhaps partly in reaction to what he may have viewed as the lack of respect or care others had taken with his mother’s burial, he became a careful steward of such things -- a devotee of souvenirs, a keeper of tombs, and an observer of anniversaries.”In 1942, several service members responded to a newspaper’s call to honor Mrs. Jackson. These men commissioned the marker and placed it in a railroad right of way.

They didn’t choose the site by chance. According to an 1825 letter from James H. Witherspoon to Jackson himself said that: "Your mother is buried in the suburbs of Charleston about one mile from what was then called the Governor’s Gate, which is in and about the forks of Meeting and Kingstreet Roads.”Sadly, it wasn't quite a scenic place and the stone quickly fell into disrepair as early as 1947. eventually, local historians succeeded in getting it moved to the College of Charleston in 1967 around when Ted Stern became president. It again fell into disrepair until in 2005 when it was revealed and brought back forward in cougar mall for anyone passing by to see.The story of Elizabeth Jackson and the tragic tale of her life and how her stone came to be on our campus is one that will intrigue and inspire others for generations