10 Interesting Facts You Might Not Know About Andrew Jackson

Andrew Jackson is widely regarded as one of the most important figures in New Orleans history, so important that there’s an entire square dedicated to him in the French Quarter. Jackson Square features a statue of Jackson on horseback, and just outside its gates is the St. Louis Cathedral. 

Jackson is known to many as the 7th President of the United States, but is celebrated in the Big Easy for his win in the Battle of New Orleans. He protected the major port city from the British in the War of 1812. 

Today, the Andrew Jackson Hotel is named after the president and war hero. It's not only listed on the National Register of Historic Places, but it's also considered one of the most haunted places in New Orleans.

Here are five interesting facts about Andrew Jackson that might intrigue and surprise you.

Andrew Jackson was a prisoner of war

Jackson was a courier during the Revolutionary War and was taken as a prisoner by the British in 1781 alongside his brother. He was released after two weeks in captivity, but his brother died shortly thereafter. 

Jackson was the target of an assassination attempt 

On January 30, 1835, Jackson was leaving the U.S. Capitol when house painter Richard Lawrence approached him. Lawrence pulled a pistol on Jackson and, when it misfired, he pulled out a second pistol that also misfired. This made Jackson the victim of the first ever Presidential assassination attempt. 

He was Tennessee’s first elected Representative 

Tennessee was admitted to the Union in 1796 and, in that same year, Jackson became one of the state’s first representatives then became a Senator in 1797. He served in the U.S. House of Representatives for only nine months before quitting to run for Senate, but only stayed in the Senate for seven. 

Andrew Jackson was the adoptive father to two Native American boys

Despite being widely known for the Trail of Tears and the Indian Removal Act, Jackson actually adopted two Native American children. During the Creek War, Jackson found an infant named Theodore and a young boy named Lyncoya in his dead mother’s arms. He adopted both, being an orphan himself, but both later died. 

He killed a man in a duel 

It’s thought that Jackson may have participated in anywhere between 5 and 100 duels in his lifetime. Charles Dickinson insulted Jackson in a local newspaper, and Jackson was so upset he challenged the man to a duel. Dickinson shot Jackson in the chest, barely missing his heart, and Jackson shot back, killing the man. 

If hearing these interesting facts about Andrew Jackson has you intrigued to learn more, make your stay in New Orleans at the Andrew Jackson Hotel. You can get a deeper historical connection to Jackson while staying in the heart of the historic French Quarter. 

The hotel is on the site of the U.S. Federal Courthouse, in which Andrew Jackson was fined for contempt of court in 1815. In fact, here's one last interesting fact: many New Orleanians were not satisfied that the court had forced Jackson to pay a fine and even raised money to pay it back to him. He refused the payment, saying they should donate it elsewhere, and then was eventually repaid with interest by the Court a year before his death.