The Mystery of Elizabeth Hutchinson Jackson

The monument to Elizabeth Hutchinson Jackson 

Monument placed in the middle of 
the College of Charleston Campus
 to Elizabeth Hutchinson Jackson, mother 
of President Andrew Jackson.

seems odd in the middle of Cougar Mall on the College of Charleston campus but nonetheless historically important. What is the mystery behind her grave and how has it found itself in the middle of a college campus? 

To understand where and how she was buried we must understand how Hutchison was while she was living. Elizabeth Hutchinson was an Irish immigrant from Northern Ireland and immigrated to the United States in 1765 with her husband Andrew Jackson Sr. and two children Robert and Hugh. The Jackson's originally settled in the Waxhaw Settlement which southeast of present day Charlotte, North Carolina. Waxhaw was home to many Irish settlers at the time and therefore appealed to the Jackson family.

The family settled on 200 acres of infertile land in Waxhaw which was unsuitable for farming. Three years after settling in North Carolina Andrew Jackson Sr. died and Elizabeth was forced to move in with her in-laws on the Crawford Planation on the South Carolina side of Waxhaw. Some accounts recall Elizabeth as simply a nurse and maid at the plantation while others recount her as the nurse to all the children on the plantation who was highly respected by the household. Less than a month after the death of her beloved husband Elizabeth gave birth to Andrew Jackson Jr. on March 15, 1767.

Portrait of President Andrew Jackson done 
by Ralph E. W. Earl contributed by Wikipedia.

Elizabeth helped nurse patriots in the revolution and supposedly died of cholera nursing soldiers back to health here in Charleston. The burial of Elizabeth Hutchinson Jackson was unclear after the war and historians have prospected on wear her original burial ground is located in Charleston. Andrew Jackson wrote letter's about the missing remains of his mother including one to Agnes Barton, in which he wrote "I knew she died near Charleston.... If possible, Mrs. Barton can inform me where she was buried that I can find her grave. This to me would be great satisfaction, that I might collect her bones and inter them with that of my father and brothers," (Jackson's father's and bothers were buried in Old Waxhaw Presbyterian Church cemetery near Jackson's birthplace).

Agnes Barton was later interviewed on the burial site of Hutchinson. Agnes Barton moved to Waxhaw when Andy Jackson was two years old and then later moved right outside of Charleston. When Hutchinson became ill Agnes and her husband cared for her until her death, where Agnes then dressed Hutchinson in her own best dressed and buried in in a simple unmarked grave on a hill. 

The exact location of this "hill" is not known, but suspected to be in the Charleston area. Her bones were never recovered, but three monuments were erected in her name, according to google "The first one was donated by members of the U.S. military stationed at Fort Moultrie. However, the original location, on King Street extension, made the monument difficult to maintain. The second monument  was placed in the Old Waxhaw Cemetery. The third was made by the Daughters of the American Revolution when they were unable to acquire permission to move the first (King Street) monument. They dedicated their own monument to Mrs. Jackson in downtown Charleston’s Washington Park. In 1967, the original King Street monument was moved to the campus of the College of Charleston where it resides today and is, most likely, closest to the actual burial site of Elizabeth Hutchinson Jackson."

The whereabouts of Elizabeth Hutchinson Jackson remains may "remain" unknown, but the mystery of the monument in Cougar Mall has been solved.