THE ICON: Gen. Andrew Jackson
THE LEGACY: In what is still considered one of the greatest military upsets in modern history, Andrew Jackson pulled together a diverse force of militia, volunteers, free men of color, Indians and pirates, to defend New Orleans from an attack by better-equipped, better-trained British troops in a showdown that began Jan. 8, 1815. Jackson’s commanding personal presence and military strategy not only preserved New Orleans from foreign occupation, but reasserted the nation’s independence from its former colonial masters.
THE ARTIST: Connie Kittok, WhereYart.net
THE INSPIRATION: “Before he was the people’s president, he was America’s military hero. His victory over the British at the Battle of New Orleans was judged the greatest triumph of American arms since the Revolutionary War. Jackson was hailed as the second General Washington. Where Washington had won American independence from Britain at Yorktown, Jackson confirmed independence at New Orleans.” – H.W. Brands, author of “Andrew Jackson