Hardened to Hickory: The Missing Chapter in Andrew Jackson's Life

A missing chapter in the biography of President Andrew Jackson based on unpublished documents. Written in a narrative that is "both original and thrillingly dramatic" (Kirkus), it provides "a fresh take on a familiar figure" (Publisher's Weekly). Unpublished documents reveal an Andrew Jackson who committed mutiny and shed tears as he thought his mistakes would lead to the deaths of teenagers under his command. Indians saved him. The backwoods Jackson, who had never commanded a battle, presumed to take on the mantle of General George Washington. Before Jackson became the next general to drive the British Army from American soil, he first had to defeat the commander of the U.S. Army, General James Wilkinson. Wilkinson embodied a privileged and unproductive establishment, and worse, he had sold his loyalty to work as a spy known as “Agent 13” on the payroll of a European enemy. It was a battle of wits and wills between two American titans. The missing piece of Jackson’s biography is how he was transformed into “Old Hickory” by challenges that would have crushed almost anyone else, an intense will to succeed, and an ability to recover from his own mistakes. The non-fiction Hardened to Hickory: The Missing Chapter in Andrew Jackson’s Life is set in a seemingly apocalyptic time in American history when both settlers and Indians thought the world was coming to an end. For months, massive earthquakes caused the ground to open like jaws and swallow houses whole. The Mississippi River flowed backward. A comet appeared as a second moon. The northern lights turned blood-red. The plight of a poor young mother taken hostage by Indian rebels seemed to signal a wider and final destruction and mobilized Jackson’s state to go to war. Political parties had divided themselves into two camps and refused to trust each other. The establishment that had won the Revolution and produced a new nation was no longer producing prosperity. The fledgling country seemed to be tearing itself apart at the same time enemy powers threatened to invade. Out of the turmoil, strong leaders rose on the frontier— Shawnee Tecumseh, Chickasaw Colbert, Choctaw Pushmataha and Andrew Jackson. Most of them had learned to survive as orphans, without relying upon the privileges of the old establishment that seemed to be crumbling around them. The narrative follows Jackson’s young Tennessee Volunteers in their expedition down the Natchez Trace and Mississippi River as Jackson attempted to outwit and overpower Wilkinson for control of the Gulf Coast and ultimately the U.S. Army. The new information describes a human side of a more complex Andrew Jackson than has been presented as he overcame overwhelming obstacles to become “Old Hickory,” general, and president.

Tony L. Turnbow, a Southern U.S. author, has studied the history of the Natchez Trace for more than 35 years. His grandparents lived on his ancestors' early 1800's farm along the historic Natchez Trace Chickasaw trail.
In 2021, Mr. Turnbow released "The Shadow of E. Z.'s Fear," t a young adult historical fiction set on the Natchez Trace in the early 1800's. It is the first in the series "Fighting Devil's Backbone." The second book in the series, E. Z. and the Chikasha Warrior, was released October 21, 2021. The old Trace earned the name "Devil's Backbone" as one of the bloodiest roads in American history. The mystery and adventure series will encourage younger readers to explore history to gain a better foundation to understand current events.
Mr. Turnbow is author of Hardened to Hickory: The Missing Chapter in Andrew Jackson's Life. The nonfiction is based upon unpublished documents that describe Jackson's first military command expedition. More importantly, it reveals Jackson's fight with the general in command of the U. S Army, who was also a spy for an enemy power.
Mr. Turnbow practices law in Franklin, Tennessee. With a Bachelor of Arts and a concentration in southern U.S. history from Vanderbilt University and a Juris Doctorate from the University of Tennessee College of Law, he has continued to use his training to explore unpublished primary sources about the Natchez Trace. He also speaks frequently to groups about stories he has learned from his historical research.