Partnership Educators,
Lord Francis Rawdon gazing from a window in his quarters could hardly believe his eyes. There through the main gate of the stockade strode a tiny red-haired blue-eyed woman. She was unarmed and unaccompanied and yet issuing orders to the prison camp guards as though she might be the King of England herself. She insisted on seeing her sons. Lord Rawdon, the camp's commander, was impressed and amused and so invited this bold intruder to tell him the story of her sons. “You are holding my two sons prisoner. The younger is barely fourteen and they were captured following a skirmish three miles from here,” she exclaimed. The woman, Elizabeth Hutchinson, went on to relate how they were sword slashed by an arrogant British Army Officer who was angered that his young captives had refused to shine his boots. They were forced to march without food or water and without bandages for their wounds all the way to Camden, South Carolina, and to this very stockade. Lord Rawdon allowed her to speak with her sons but he warned her that there was an outbreak of smallpox among the prisoners. Elizabeth brushed that warning aside and demanded that she be let see her boys. Lord Rawdon hoped by letting her see her boys would be the end of it.
A short while later, Elizabeth returned banging with her fists on the commander's door. Her sons on the daily rations of a piece of stale bread were starving to death. Their wounds from the British Officer remained untreated and for all she knew they were both contracting the deadly disease that was ravaging the camp. Elizabeth had heard there was to be an exchange of prisoners with the rebels and so she demanded that her sons be included among the prisoners that they release. Lord Rawdon was most impressed with the bravery of the fiery-eyed Irish Immigrant, so he granted her request.
For Elizabeth’s eldest son Robert, help had arrived too late. The forty-mile journey home had been made arduous by a cold drenching downpour and had weakened Robert further and he died of smallpox. Robert’s younger brother had become infected as well and so his mother watched over him day and night until he was out of danger. She then hurried off to Charleston harbor, more than sixty miles away, to nurse ailing American captives aboard disease-ridden British prison ships. It was in this effort that she died several weeks later.
Don't let it be forgotten as we revisit and revere the men on whose deeds the foundation of this fledgling nation was laid. That one of those men would certainly not have survived to make a difference if not for the daring of his mother, Elizabeth Hutchinson Jackson. Who had alone and unrelentingly snatched her son from British captivity in 1781. The history of the American Revolution reveals the patriot who went on to become our 7th President of the United States, Andrew Jackson.
Andrew Jackson was certainly a man of courage and by reading this story, you know where he got that from. Courage doesn't come from a lack of fear but from the strength and faith to continue despite the fear. It also doesn't mean that you continue to go forward into danger if there are other options for success. Thanks for always having the courage to charge forward in building exceptional systems for our student's success. Sometimes that means taking the harder road, but in the end, it is best for the students and families that we serve.
Enjoy this Veteran's Day Holiday week. Enjoy celebrating our courageous Veterans who served on our behalf and thanks to those Veterans who serve alongside us as a part of our district family.
Have a great week and three day holiday weekend.
Rob