Mystery of Elizabeth Jackson

If you have ever been in Cougar Mall, you may have noticed the headstone in front of the Robert Scott Small building. 

Have you ever wondered why Elizabeth Jackson's headstone is there? Is there a specific reason? I did. 

I first noticed the headstone on my orientation for the College of Charleston. I walk past it almost everyday and always wonder why that headstone was there. 

Tonight in my FYE, we were assigned to see if we can figure out why her headstone is memorialized there.

The epitaph reads, "Near this spot is buried Elizabeth Jackson, Mother of President Andrew Jackson. She gave her life cheerfully for the independence of her country. On an unrecorded date of November 1781. And to her son Andy this advice: 'Andy never tell a lie. Nor take what is not your own. Nor sue for slander. Settle those cases yourself."

Her epitaph seems very directed to her son, Andy. 

In the late 1700's Elizabeth came to Charleston to help her nephews and other soldiers who were ill from Cholera. 

In 1781, she herself got the disease and took her own life in November of 1781. 

According my professor, Patrick Harwood , Ted Stern heard about her being buried in Charleston and asked that it be brought to campus. 

My professor also noted that the janitor of the school during the civil war, John Cahill, is credited with saving the college of possibly ransacking by the yankees. 

When everyone else evacuated, Cahill stayed here and appealed to the commander in chief for protection and it was granted to him. 

According to my professor, the Elizabeth Jackson headstone is the first monument that was donated by members of the United States military stationed at Fort Moultrie on Sullivan's Island.