Rachel's Death | Andrew Mourns| Retaliation
Nashville Mourns | Obituaries | Her Memory Honored

In his three volume Jackson biography,
Robert Remini wrote—more times than anyone realized, Rachel broke down and cried over what was being said about her during the campaign in 1828.

She found it harder each day to face the criticism of her husband's political enemies. She needed rest. She needed relaxation. In the summer of 1828, she sometimes seemed so weary that she could barely function around the house. She complained of heart palpitations and suffered bronchial distress. It was said that she could hardly walk and often scarcely talked above a wheeze.

Then in June, Rachel suffered a debilitating blow when her son, Lyncoya, died suddenly at sixteen years old. Rachel was grief stricken and never fully recovered. Still, she tried to manage a brave face for her husband. Little did he know that his ambition was slowly turning her into a tired, sick, and weary old woman.

According to "Old Hannah," Rachel's faithful servant, Rachel drew her last breath in "Old Hannah's" arms. James Parton, author of the first three-volume biography on Andrew Jackson, published in 1860, says he learned the story of Rachel's death from "Old Hannah."

"It was Wednesday morning, December 17 (1828). All was going on as usual at the Hermitage. The General was in the fields … and Mrs. Jackson, apparently in tolerable health, was occupied in her household duties. Suddenly she (Old Hannah) heard a horrible shriek, placed her hands upon her heart, sunk into a chair, struggling for breath, and fell forward into Hannah's arms. While messengers hurried away for assistance, Old Hannah employed the only remedy she knew to relieve the anguish of her mistress, 'I rubbed her side,' said the plain spoken Hannah, 'till it was black and blue.'" [1]

The General came in, alarmed beyond description. The doctor arrived. Mrs. Jackson continued to suffer, for the space of sixty hours, during which her husband never left her side for ten minutes. Rachel was concerned about her husband knowing he had to attend a great banquet planned in Nashville to celebrate his victory. After several days in bed, On December 22, 1828, Rachel felt well enough to get up and she begged Andrew to get some rest. The doctor remained in the house, and servants Hannah and George agreed to sit up with their mistress. The General bid his wife good night and retired to the next room. He was gone only five minutes. At her bidding the servants lifted Rachel from her bed to arrange her sheets. While sitting in the chair, supported by Hannah, Rachel suffered another severe attack. She let out a long, loud cry. There was "a rattling sound in her throat." Her head fell forward onto Hannah's shoulder and she died. [2]

Footnotes :

1. James Parton, Life of Andrew Jackson, Volume III (New York: Mason Brothers, 1861) pp. 154-5.

2. Robert V. Remini, Andrew Jackson, Volume Two, The Course of American Freedom, 1822-1832 (Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press, 1998) p. 151.

Sources :

Robert V. Remini, Andrew Jackson, Volume Two, The Course of American Freedom, 1822-1832 (Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press, 1998) Chapter 8, "Triumph and Tragedy."

James Parton, Life of Andrew Jackson, Volume III (New York: Mason Brothers, 1861)

Katherine W. Cruze, An Amiable Woman: Rachel Jackson (Nashville: The Hermitage and the Ladies Hermitage Association, 1994)