At the Hermitage, Andrew Jackson lived the life of a recluse, old and infirm, rarely leaving home and avoiding public appearances. He and his family worried that a simple cold—and the accompanying cough—could endanger his life. Yet the general’s old determination still burned and, in December 1839, he decided that neither his fragile health nor his straitened finances could be allowed to stand in the way of a trip to New Orleans for the silver jubilee.
