Art & Architecture at the Main Library: Copper Panels

Alcove 4:
Andrew Jackson: Local Hero

This alcove is devoted to the life of General Jackson the war hero and eventual 7th President of the United States. Elected in 1828, he served two terms in the White House, returning to Nashville in 1837. Panel 1 shows Jackson's heroic exploits against the British and their Creek allies during the War of 1812. Panel 2 records the visit of American Revolutionary war hero Marquis de Lafayette in 1825. Andrew Jackson and the French general appeared together in the public square. One of the guests at a gala dinner and ball held in Lafayette's honor was 80-year-old Timothy Demonbreun. Panel 3 features Jackson in full military regalia mounted upon a prancing stallion, not unlike the equestrian monument to Jackson erected by the citizens of Washington, D.C. One of the two additional casts of the monument can be seen on Nashville's Capitol Hill today; the other graces Jackson Square in New Orleans. Jackson's nickname "Old Hickory" was coined by one of his soldiers, who claimed he was tough as hickory wood. Panel 4 depicts Jackson's home, The Hermitage, and commemorates the date of his election to the Presidency in 1828. The final panel in this group pairs portraits of Andrew Jackson and Rachel Donelson Jackson, who, to Andrew's great sorrow, died the same year that he entered the White House. The gun below Rachel's image refers to the famous 1806 duel between Jackson and Charles Dickinson over a horseracing bet and a slanderous remark about Jackson's marriage to Rachel before her divorce was finalized.

Alcove 5: Agriculture, Industry, and Transportation