Name	Big Boi
Background	solo_singer
Birth name	Antwan André Patton
Alias	Daddy Fat Sax, General Patton, Sir Lucious L. Leftfoot, The Son of Chico Dusty, Sgt. Slaughter, Chief, Billy Ocean, Hot Tub Tony, Francis the Savannah Chitlin' Pimp
Born	February 01, 1975
Origin	Savannah, Georgia, United States
Instrument	Rapping, keyboards
Genre	Hip hop
Years active	1991–present
Label	Def Jam
Associated acts	OutKast, André 3000, Dungeon Family, Purple Ribbon All-Stars, Mary J. Blige, Chris Brown, Jay-Z, Gucci Mane, T.I., B.o.B, Janelle Monae, Sleepy Brown
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Antwan André Patton (born February 1, 1975), better known by his stage name Big Boi, is an American rapper, song-writer, record producer and actor, best known for being a member of American hip hop duo OutKast alongside André 3000. His work in the duo has produced six studio albums. During the duo's hiatus, he and André 3000 each announced plans to release a solo album. Big Boi's solo debut was released in July 2010 to respectable sales and critical acclaim.

Early life

Patton was born and spent the first half of his childhood in Savannah, Georgia, attending Herschel V. Jenkins High School before moving to Atlanta with his Aunt Renne. Eventually he decided to pursue his interest in music at Tri-Cities High School, a Visual and Performing Arts Magnet School.

Career

OutKast

He had a strong interest in hip-hop music, and met André "3000" Benjamin while attending Tri Cities High School in the early-1990s. The two eventually joined forces as OutKast and signed with LaFace Records.

Patton has often used his lyrics to criticize the problems that plague both the African American community and the world. An example is 2003's "War", a scathing attack on the Bush administration and the War on Terror. Another example is 2008's "Sumthin's Gotta Give" with Mary J. Blige talking about the state of America and Barack Obama.

Solo work

After four increasingly successful albums as a duo, the members of OutKast chose to make two solo albums, and release them as a double album under the OutKast name. André 3000 released The Love Below and Big Boi Speakerboxxx. The two albums were packaged together as Speakerboxxx/The Love Below in 2003. Speakerboxxx featured a style similar to OutKast's previous efforts, while The Love Below explored more offbeat territory, with André 3000 mainly singing rather than his usual rapping. One song from each album was released in September 2003 as a single.

Patton's choice was the single "The Way You Move", featuring Sleepy Brown. It was originally supported by urban radio, but then crossed over to pop charts and became almost as big a pop hit as Benjamin's "Hey Ya!". "The Way You Move" supplanted "Hey Ya!" as the #1 song on the US pop charts. The second single from Big Boi's side of the album was "Ghetto Musick", which featured both members of OutKast and a sample from Patti LaBelle's "Love, Need & Want You".

In 2007 after the sixth album under the OutKast name, Idlewild, Big Boi announced plans to release a full fledged solo album. While he had released a previous solo album in Speakerboxxx, it still was technically under the OutKast name. The album was to be titled . The album's first promotional single, "Royal Flush", was released in 2007, and featured Raekwon and André 3000. Over the next few years the album saw many delays, but multiple promotional and video singles were released such as "Shine Blockas" featuring Gucci Mane, "For Yo Sorrows" featuring George Clinton and Too $hort and "General Patton" featuring Big Rube. The first official single was "Shutterbugg" featuring Cutty and the second "Follow Us" featuring Vonnegutt. The album was released internationally on July 5. Guest artists include alternative urban songstress Janelle Monae; Big Boi's own new group Vonnegutt; plus established rappers T.I. and B.o.B. Sir Lucious Left Foot: The Son of Chico Dusty received general acclaim from most music critics, earning praise for its inventive sound, varied musical style, and Big Boi's lyricism.

In a July 2010 interview for The Village Voice, Big Boi revealed that he is working on the follow-up album to Sir Lucious Left Foot, entitled Daddy Fat Sax: Soul Funk Crusader, stating that he is "maybe about six songs into it". It is expected for a late-2011 release. The album's title originates from when Big Boi and André 3000 would visit a local White Castle in between recording/writing in their earlier years before ATLiens (1996), because of an employee known as Daddy Fat Sacks, for his habit of including multiple extra sliders in every 10-sack that they purchased, as he was a fan of their music.

On February 27, 2011, it was announced that Big Boi is creating a joint album along with rappers Mike Bigga and Pill. Later that day, Big Boi posted on his Twitter account that he was mixing Mike Bigga's album entitled, "PL3DGE".

Side projects

Patton and Benjamin star in Idlewild, a film about music during the Depression-era South. The film was released in August 2006. Patton also has plans in the works for a project partnering him with Sleepy Brown. He released a mixtape/compilation album, Got Purp? Vol 2, in conjunction with the Purple Ribbon All-Stars in November 2005 on Purple Ribbon Records; Aquemeni Records had become defunct after Benjamin left the company. The first single from the album was "Kryptonite", which cracked the Billboard Hot 100 and was a hit on hip-hop radio. Patton was also featured on the song "International Players Anthem (I Choose You)", which is the first single off of UGK's new album, Underground Kingz.

In 2006, Big Boi founded the Big Kidz Foundation a nonprofit organization to help youth in Atlanta.] The Foundation's mission is to provide culturally diverse experiences in the field of humanities while helping create socially-conscious youth. In January 2010, Big Boi and the Executive Director, Jennifer Shephard Lester launched the Big Kidz Foundation in Savannah, Georgia.

In 2010, Big Boi launched his custom Chuck Taylor sneakers with Converse. The shoes feature the title of his Def Jam solo album debut: "Sir Lucious Left Foot" on the left, and "Son of Chico Dusty" on the right. His Big Boi logo is featured on the tongue of the shoe.

On April 28th 2011, Big Boi announced that he would be working with Modest Mouse on their new unnamed album.

Acting career

Big Boi also appeared on Nick Cannon's Wild 'n Out Season 3 as one of the many guest stars, as well as guest starring and appearing as a musical guest on Chappelle's Show performing his song "The Rooster." Besides Idlewild he is currently reaching more into acting, having appeared in T.I.'s film ATL, OutKast's film Idlewild and starring in the recently released Who's Your Caddy?.

He sometimes refers to, or credits, himself as "Daddy Fat Sacks," which is a term that refers to a drug dealer who sells large amounts of marijuana, a banker or a pimp. In such songs as "ATLiens", "Walk It Out", "I'm So Hood (remix)" and "Morris Brown" Big Boi refers to this term.

Big Boi is a playable character in the videogame.

Big Boi has officially dropped his rivalry with former employee, Killer Mike, which had gone on for 3 years.

He has recently been seen in the episode "" The episode aired November 18, 2008 and Big Boi played Hip Hop artist,"Got$ Money."

Multidisciplinary collaborations

In 2008, Big Boi began a collaboration on a new show with the Atlanta Ballet. The show, entitled big, premiered at the Fox Theater in Atlanta April 10–13, 2008. The show was performed by Atlanta Ballet dancers, local youth and talent, as choreographed by Lauri Stallings. Music may be performed live onstage during the performance, as it was when the ballet created a live music/dance collaboration with the Indigo Girls.

Personal life

Patton is married to Sherlita Patton, with whom he has two children: daughter Jordan and son Cross. Another child, a son named Bamboo, is from a previous relationship. Numerous references to the Patton family are present in Big Boi's rhymes. His younger brother James raps under the name "Lil' Brotha", and is a member of hip-hop group Konkrete, while 'Uncle Donell' was 'locked up in prison' but has now been released. His other brothers, Marcus and Jason, also make their way onto some songs as well.

His wife Sherlita Patton is also the co-owner of a clothing boutique in Atlanta, Georgia called PValentine. She co-owns the store with Tracy Valentine. The expensive brands carried by the store and the ties to Big Boi attract many music artists and other celebrities to the store. The store was featured on an episode of MTV's "My Super Sweet 16" when R&B; artist Chris Brown went for a birthday gift from Big Boi. He is also a registered pit bull breeder.

Discography

2010:

TBA: Daddy Fat Sax: Soul Funk Crusader

2010: - as the Preacher

Video games

2007: '' – Himself

References

http://www.youngandthefly.com/2009/09/audio-big-boi-feat-george-clinton-and.html

External links

Category:1975 births Category:1990s singers Category:2000s singers Category:2010s singers Category:African American rappers Category:African American singers Category:American male singers Category:Rappers from Atlanta, Georgia Category:Dungeon Family Category:Musicians from Georgia (U.S. state) Category:Hip hop record producers Category:Outkast members Category:People from Atlanta, Georgia Category:People from Savannah, Georgia Category:Living people

Name	Gucci Mane
Background	solo_singer
Birth name	Radric Davis
Born	February 02, 1980 Birmingham, Alabama
Died
Origin	Atlanta, Georgia, United States
Genre	Hip hop
Occupation	Rapper
Years active	2001 – present
Label	1017 Brick Squad Records, Asylum, Warner Bros.
Associated acts	1017 Brick Squad, OJ Da Juiceman, Yo Gotti, Soulja Boy, Shawty Lo, E-40, Nicki Minaj, French Montana, Ludacris, Devin the Dude, Waka Flocka Flame
Url

Radric Davis (born February 2, 1980), better known by his stage name Gucci Mane, is an American rapper. He debuted in 2005 with Trap House and followed with albums such as Hard to Kill in 2006, Trap-A-Thon and Back to the Trap House in 2007. In 2009, his second studio album The State vs. Radric Davis was released. Gucci Mane has released many other mixtapes as well.

While serving a six-month jail term for assault in late 2005, Davis was charged with murder, though the charges were later dropped due to a lack of evidence. In 2009, he served a year-long prison term for violating probation for his 2005 assault conviction.

Biography

Early life

Davis was born in Birmingham, Alabama, and later moved with his single mother to Atlanta. He enjoyed writing poetry as a child, and began rapping at age 14. Gucci Mane signed to Warner Bros. Records in May 2009.

2009–2010: The State vs. Radric Davis

He appeared on remixes of the songs "Boom Boom Pow" by The Black Eyed Peas, "Obsessed" by Mariah Carey and "5 Star Chick" by Yo Gotti and made a guest appearance on Mario's "Break Up" (he has made 17 guest appearances total in 2009). Gucci Mane's second studio album The State vs. Radric Davis was released under the label Warner Bros. Records on December 8, 2009. Its first single, "Wasted" featuring Plies, was originally from Mane's 2009 mixtape Writing on the Wall. It peaked at number 36 on the Hot 100, number 3 on the Hot R&B;/Hip-Hop Songs, and number 3 on the Rap Songs making it Gucci Mane's most successful single to date. The second single is "Spotlight" featuring Usher. The third single is "Lemonade". The fourth single is "Bingo". On October 2, 2009, Gucci Mane was listed at number 6 on MTV's annual Hottest MC in the Game list.

2010–present: The Appeal: Georgia's Most Wanted

After being released from jail, Gucci Mane stated that he would start or change the label name from So Icey Entertainment to 1017 Brick Squad Records. The Appeal: Georgia's Most Wanted, was released on September 28, 2010. The first single from this release was titled "Gucci Time", produced by Swizz Beatz. It premiered on Gucci Mane's official MySpace page on August 6. The single features Swizz Beatz and was released to US urban radio stations on August 24, 2010.

Legal issues

In April 2001, Davis was arrested on cocaine charges and sentenced to 90 days in county jail.

On May 10, 2005, Davis was attacked by a group of men at a house in Decatur, Georgia. Davis and his companions shot at the group, killing one. The corpse of one of the attackers, Henry Lee Clark III, was found later behind a nearby middle school. Davis turned himself in to police investigators on May 19, 2005, and was subsequently charged with murder. Davis claimed that the shots fired by him and his party were in self-defense. Davis was released from jail in late January 2006. He was incarcerated in the Fulton County jail for probation violation and released on May 12, 2010.

On November 2, 2010, Gucci Mane was arrested for driving on the wrong side of the road, running a red light or stop sign, damage to government property, obstruction, no license, no proof of insurance and other traffic charges. He was taken to Grady Memorial Hospital.

On January 4, 2011, A judge in the Superior Court of Georgia’s Fulton County ordered rapper Gucci Mane to a psychiatric hospital, according to court documents. The documents reveal that his lawyers filed a Special Plea of Mental Incompetency on Dec. 27 arguing that he is unable “to go forward and/or intelligently participate in the probation revocation hearing.�

Personal life

After his release from hospital, Mane visited a tattoo parlour and had a large tattoo of an ice cream cone inked onto his face. Mane claims that he got this tattoo to symbolise how he lives his life, "cool as ice".

Discography

Back to the Trap House (2007)

The State vs. Radric Davis (2009)

(2010)

References

External links

Official website

Category:1980 births Category:Living people Category:2000s rappers Category:2010s rappers Category:African American rappers Category:American people convicted of assault Category:Asylum Records artists Category:People convicted of drug offenses Category:People from Birmingham, Alabama Category:Rappers from Alabama Category:Rappers from Atlanta, Georgia Category:Warner Bros. Records artists

Name	George S. Patton, Jr.
Placeofbirth	San Gabriel Township, California
Placeofdeath	Heidelberg, Germany
Placeofburial	American Cemetery and MemorialLuxembourg City, Luxembourg
Placeofburial label	Place of burial
Caption	George S. Patton as a Lieutenant General
Nickname	Bandito, Old Blood and Guts
Allegiance	USA
Branch	United States Army
Serviceyears	1909–1945
Rank	General
Commands	Machinegun Platoon/3/15th Cavalry RegimentK/3/15th Cavalry RegimentA/1/7th Cavalry RegimentHQs Troop/American Expeditionary Force302nd Tank Center1st Light Tank Battalion1st Light Tank Regiment1st Tank Brigade304th Tank Brigade3/3rd Cavalry Regiment5th Cavalry Regiment3rd Cavalry Regiment2/2nd Armored Division2nd Armored DivisionUS 1st Armored CorpsDesert Training CenterUS 1st Armored CorpsU.S. II CorpsUS 1st Armored CorpsU.S. Seventh ArmyU.S. Third ArmyU.S. Fifteenth Army
Battles	Mexican Revolution
Awards	Distinguished Service Cross (2)Distinguished Service Medal (3)Silver Star (2)Legion of MeritBronze StarPurple HeartOrder of the BathOrder of the British Empire
Relations	Major General George Patton IV (son) General John K. Waters (Son in law)
Portrayedby	George C. Scott in Patton

George Smith Patton, Jr. (November 11, 1885 – December 21, 1945) was a United States Army officer best known for his leadership while commanding corps and armies as a general during World War II. He was also well known for his eccentricity and controversial outspokenness.

Patton was commissioned in the U.S. Army after his graduation from the U.S. Military Academy at West Point in 1909. In 1916–17, he participated in the unsuccessful Pancho Villa Expedition, a U.S. operation that attempted to capture the Mexican revolutionary. In World War I, he was the first officer assigned to the new United States Tank Corps and saw action in France. In World War II, he commanded corps and armies in North Africa, Sicily, and the European Theater of Operations. In 1944, Patton assumed command of the U.S. Third Army, which under his leadership advanced farther, captured more enemy prisoners, and liberated more territory in less time than any other army in military history.

Family

George Smith Patton was born in San Gabriel Township, California in 1885 (in what is now the city of San Marino), to George Smith Patton Sr. (1856–1927) and his wife Ruth Wilson (1861–1928). Although he was actually the third George Smith Patton, he was called Junior. The Pattons were an affluent family of Irish and Scottish ancestry.

As a boy, Patton read widely in the classics and military history. His father was a friend of John Singleton Mosby, the noted cavalry leader of the Confederate Army in the American Civil War who served first under J.E.B. Stuart and then as a guerrilla fighter. Patton grew up hearing Mosby's stories of his adventures, and longed to become a general himself.

Patton came from a military family, his ancestors including General Hugh Mercer of the American Revolution. His great uncle, Waller T. Patton, died of wounds received in Pickett's Charge during the Battle of Gettysburg. John M. Patton and Isaac Patton, also his great uncles, were colonels in the Confederate States Army. His great uncle William T. Glassell was a Confederate States Navy officer. Hugh Weedon Mercer, a Confederate general, was his close relative. John M. Patton, a great-grandfather, was a lawyer and politician who had served as acting governor of Virginia.

Patton's paternal grandparents were Colonel George Smith Patton and Susan Thornton Glassell. His grandfather, born in Fredericksburg, Virginia, graduated from Virginia Military Institute (VMI), Class of 1852, second in a class of 24. After graduation, George Smith Patton studied law and practiced in Charleston, Virginia (now West Virginia). When the American Civil War broke out, he served in the 22nd Virginia Infantry of the Confederate States of America. Colonel George S. Patton, his grandfather, was killed during the Battle of Opequon. The Confederate Congress had promoted Colonel Patton to brigadier general; however, at the time, he had already died of battle wounds, so that promotion was never official.

ca. 1850]] Patton's grandfather left behind a namesake son, born in Charleston, Virginia (now West Virginia). The second George Smith Patton (born George William Patton in 1856, changing his name to honor his late father in 1868) was one of four children. Graduating from the Virginia Military Institute in 1877, Patton's father served as Los Angeles County, California, District Attorney and the first City Attorney for the city of Pasadena, California and the first mayor of San Marino, California. He was a Wilsonian Democrat.

His maternal grandparents were Benjamin Davis Wilson, (December 1, 1811 to March 11, 1878), mayor of Los Angeles in 1851–1852 and the namesake of Southern California's Mount Wilson, and his second wife, Margaret Hereford. Wilson was a self-made man who was orphaned in Nashville, Tennessee, came to Alta California as a fur trapper and adventurer during the American Indian Wars before marrying Ramona Yorba, the daughter of a California land baron, Bernardo Yorba, and made his fortune through the wedding dowry, receiving Rancho Jurupa, settling what would become California's San Gabriel Valley, after the Mexican American War.

Patton married Beatrice Banning Ayer (January 12, 1886 – September 30, 1953), the daughter of wealthy textile baron Frederick Ayer, on May 26, 1910. They had three children, Beatrice Smith (March 19, 1911 – October 24, 1952), Ruth Ellen Patton Totten (February 28, 1915 – November 25, 1993), who wrote The Button Box: A Loving Daughter's Memoir of Mrs. George S. Patton, and George Patton III (although christened George Patton IV) (December 24, 1923 – June 27, 2004), who followed in his father's footsteps, attending West Point and eventually rising to the rank of Major General as an armor officer in the United States Army.

Education and early military service

Patton attended Virginia Military Institute for one year, where he rushed VMI's chapter of the Kappa Alpha Order. He then left VMI and enrolled in the United States Military Academy. The Academy required him to repeat his first "plebe" year because of his poor performance in mathematics. However, he did so with honors and was appointed Cadet Adjutant (the second highest position for a cadet), graduating in 1909 instead of 1908 and receiving his commission as a cavalry officer.

1912 Summer Olympics

Patton participated in the first-ever modern pentathlon at the 1912 Summer Olympics in Stockholm. He finished fifth overall. He placed seventh out of 37 contestants in the 300 meter freestyle swimming. He was fourth out of 29 fencers. In the equestrian cross-country steeplechase, he was among the riders who turned in perfect performances, but he placed sixth because of his time. Patton "hit the wall" from the finish line of the four kilometer cross-country footrace, then fainted after crossing the line at a walk; he finished third out of 15 contestants. He made the U.S. Modern Pentathlon team for the 1916 Summer Olympics, scheduled for Berlin, Germany, but the Games were canceled because of World War I.

Pistol shooting controversy

In pistol shooting, Patton placed 20th out of 32 contestants. He used a .38 caliber pistol, while most of the other competitors chose .22 caliber firearms. He claimed that the holes in the paper from his early shots were so large that some of his later bullets passed through them, but the judges decided he missed the target completely once. Modern competitions on this level frequently now employ a moving background to specifically track multiple shots through the same hole. There was much controversy, but the judges' ruling was upheld. Patton neither complained, nor made excuses. Patton's only comment was

Master of the Sword and the Patton Saber

Following the 1912 Olympics, Patton traveled with his family to Dresden, Berlin, and Nuremberg. Seeking the greatest swordsman in Europe to study with, Patton was told the "beau sabreur" of the French Army would be the one. Adjutant M. Clèry was a French "master of arms" and instructor of fencing at the Cavalry School at Saumur. Patton went to Saumur for intense study with the master. Upon his return, Patton wrote a report that was revised for the Army and Navy Journal. Patton's first article for the Cavalry Journal appeared in the March 1913 issue. In the summer of 1913, after he advised the Ordnance Department on sword redesign, Patton was allowed to return to Saumur to study once again under Clèry.

Lieutenant Patton was made the Army's youngest-ever "Master of the Sword" at the Mounted Service School at Fort Riley, Kansas. While Master of the Sword, Patton became an instructor at Fort Riley and improved and modernized the Army's cavalry saber fencing techniques.

Earlier in the year, he assisted in the design of the Model 1913 Cavalry Saber. It had a large, basket-shaped hilt mounting a straight, double-edged, thrusting blade designed for use by light cavalry. Patton's 1914 manual "Saber Exercise" outlined a system of training for both mounted and on foot use of the saber. The weapon came to be known as the "Patton Saber." There is no one sword that this saber was modeled after. Patton suggested the revision from a curved sword and edge and cutting technique to a thrusting style of attack, following his extensive training in France. Patton's thoughts were expressed in his 1913 report "The Form and Use of the Saber":

The weapon was never used as intended. At the beginning of U.S. involvement in World War I, several American cavalry units armed with sabers were sent to the front, but they were held back. The nature of war had changed, making horse-mounted troops easy prey for enemy troops equipped with Gewehr 98 rifles and MG08 machine guns. Those cavalrymen who saw combat did so dismounted, using their horses only to travel. Patton instead adapted his style of move forward and attack technique to his use of tanks in battle. This became his trademark combat style in World War II.

Punitive Expedition into Mexico

During the Punitive Expedition of 1916, Patton was assigned to the 8th Cavalry Regiment at Fort Bliss, Texas. He served as aide to then-Brigadier General John J. Pershing in his pursuit of Pancho Villa, after Villa's forces had crossed into New Mexico, raided and looted the town of Columbus, and killed several Americans. Patton, accompanied by ten soldiers of the 6th Infantry Regiment, and using three armored cars, conducted the United States' first armored vehicle attack, and in the process killed two Mexican leaders, including "General" Julio Cardenas, commander of Villa's personal bodyguard who was shot by Patton himself. The bodies were brought back from San Miguelito to Pershing's headquarters strapped to the hoods of the vehicles in a manner similar to game animals brought back by hunters. For this action, as well as Patton's affinity for the Colt Peacemaker, Pershing titled Patton his "Bandido." Patton's success in this regard gained him a level of fame in the United States, and he was featured in newspapers across the nation.

World War I

At the outset of the U.S. entry into World War I, then-Major General Pershing promoted Patton to the rank of captain. While in France, Patton requested a combat command. Pershing asked him to undertake the establishment of a Light Tank Training School for U.S. troops, to which he agreed. In November 1917, Patton left Paris and reported to General Garrard of the French Army. At Champlieu, Patton drove a Renault char d'assault tank, testing its trench-crossing ability, and visited a Renault factory to observe the tanks being manufactured. Shortly after his arrival at Champlieu, the British launched what was then the largest armoured attack of the war at the Battle of Cambrai, and at the conclusion of his tour, on December 1, Patton went to Albert, 30 miles from Cambrai, to be briefed on the recent attack by the chief of staff of the British Tank Corps, Colonel J. F. C. Fuller. Patton received his first ten tanks on March 23, 1918 at the Tank School and Centre, which he commanded, at Langres, Haute-Marne département. The only one with tank driving experience, Patton himself backed seven of the light, two-man Renault FT tanks off the train.

For his successes and his organization of the training school, Patton was promoted to major, lieutenant colonel and then colonel, U.S. National Army. In August 1918, he was placed in charge of the 1st Provisional Tank Brigade, re-designated the 304th Tank Brigade on November 6, 1918. Patton's Light Tank Brigade was part of Colonel Samuel Rockenbach's Tank Corps, which was in turn part of the American Expeditionary Force. (Patton was not in charge of the Tank Corps as has often been misreported.) The 304th Tank Brigade fought as part of the First United States Army.

Patton commanded American-crewed French Renault tanks at the Battle of Saint-Mihiel and in the Meuse-Argonne Offensive. On September 26, 1918, Patton was wounded in the left leg while leading six men and a tank in an attack on German machine guns near the town of Cheppy during the Meuse-Argonne Offensive. The only survivors were the tank crew, Patton and his orderly Private First Class Joe Angelo, who saved Patton and was awarded the Distinguished Service Cross. While Patton was recuperating from his wounds, hostilities ended with the armistice of November 11, 1918 (which happened to be Patton's 33rd birthday).

For his service in the Meuse-Argonne Operations, Patton received the Distinguished Service Cross and the Distinguished Service Medal, and was brevetted full colonel. For his combat wounds, he was presented the Purple Heart.

Inter-war years

While on duty in Washington, D.C., in 1919, Captain (he reverted from his wartime temporary rank of colonel) Patton met Dwight D. Eisenhower, who would play an enormous role in Patton's future career. During their assignment at Fort Riley, Kansas, Patton and Eisenhower developed the armored doctrine which would be used by the US Army in World War II. In the early 1920s, Patton petitioned the U.S. Congress to appropriate funding for an armored force, but had little luck. Patton also wrote professional articles on tank and armored car tactics, suggesting new methods for their use. He also continued working on improvements to tanks, coming up with innovations in radio communication and tank mounts. However, the lack of interest in armor created a poor atmosphere for promotion and career advancement, so Patton transferred back to the horse cavalry.

Patton served in Hawaii before returning to Washington once again to ask Congress for funding for armored units. During his time in Hawaii, Patton was part of the military units responsible for the defense of the islands, and specifically wrote a defense plan anticipating an air raid against Pearl Harbor—10 years before the attack by the Imperial Japanese Navy on December 7, 1941. At the wedding of Patton's daughter Ruth Ellen (1940), a couple who knew Patton from Hawaii (Restarick and Eleanor Jones Withington) crashed the wedding, and explained they were in the area when they saw the wedding announcement and hoped Patton didn't mind them showing up uninvited. To this Patton unsheathed his sword and replied, "Restarick, if I'd found out you were within a hundred miles and not come, I'd have shoved this sword up your behind." The remark was typical of Patton.

In July 1932, Patton served under Army Chief of Staff General Douglas MacArthur as a major commanding 600 troops, including the 3rd Armored Cavalry Regiment. On July 28, MacArthur ordered these troops to advance on protesting veterans known as the "Bonus Army" in Washington, D.C. with tear gas and bayonets. One of the veterans dispersed by the cavalry was Joe Angelo, who had saved Patton's life in World War I. Patton was dissatisfied with MacArthur's conduct as he recognized the legitimacy of the veteran's complaints and had himself earlier refused to issue the order to employ armed force to disperse the veterans. (Source : De Este and Farago biographies)

In the late 1930s, Patton was assigned command of Fort Myer, Virginia. Shortly after Germany's blitzkrieg attacks in Europe, Major General Adna Chaffee, the first Chief of the U.S. Army's newly-created Armored Force was finally able to convince Congress of the need for armored divisions. This led to the activation of the 1st and 2nd Armored Divisions in 1940. Colonel Patton was given command of the 2nd Armored Brigade, US 2nd Armored Division in July 1940. He became the assistant division commander the following October, and was promoted to brigadier general on the second day of that month. Patton served as the acting division commander from November 1940 until April 1941. He was promoted to major general on April 4 and made commanding general of the 2nd Armored Division seven days later.

World War II

During the buildup of the United States Army prior to its entry into World War II, Patton commanded the 2nd Armored Division, which performed with mixed results in 1941 in both the Louisiana Maneuvers and Carolina Maneuvers. The 2nd Armored was stationed at Fort Benning, Georgia, until the unit, along with its commander was ordered to the newly established Desert Training Center in Indio, California, by the Chief of the Armored Force, Major General Jacob L. Devers. Patton was subsequently appointed commander of the newly activated I Armored Corps by Devers, and he was in this position when the corps was assigned to Operation Torch, the invasion of North Africa. In preparation, Patton trained his troops in the Imperial Valley. He commenced these exercises in late 1941 and continued them well into the summer of 1942. Patton chose a expanse of unforgiving desert, known for its blistering temperatures, sandy arroyos and absolute desolation. It was a close match for the terrain Patton and his men would encounter during the campaigns in North Africa. Tank tracks, foxholes and spent shell casings can still be found in an area about southeast of Palm Springs.

From his first days as an armored division commander, Patton strongly emphasized the need for armored forces to stay in constant contact with the enemy, concluding that aggressive, fast-moving mechanized and armored forces disrupted enemy defensive preparations while presenting less of a target to enemy gunners. His instinctive preference for relentless offensive movement was typified by an answer Patton gave to war correspondents in a 1944 press conference. In response to a question on whether the Third Army's rapid offensive across France should be slowed to reduce the number of U.S. casualties, Patton replied "Whenever you slow anything down, you waste human lives."

North African campaign

In November 1942, Major General Patton commanded the Western Task Force of the U.S. Army, which landed on the coast of Vichy French-held Morocco in Operation Torch for the North African Campaign. Patton and his staff arrived in Morocco aboard the heavy cruiser USS Augusta, which came under fire from the Vichy French battleship Jean Bart while entering the harbor of Casablanca. Casablanca fell after two days of fighting. So impressed was the Sultan of Morocco that he presented Patton with the special Order of Ouissam Alaouite, with the citation: "Les Lions dans leurs tanières tremblent en le voyant approcher" (The lions in their dens tremble at his approach).

Patton was one of the first American commanders in World War II to make full use of light Army observation aircraft to visit friendly troop forces as well as independently reconnoiter enemy positions. Flying with an Army pilot in a Taylorcraft L-2 or a Stinson L-5, Patton was able to inspect many more troop positions and headquarters in a day than could be accomplished by using a motor vehicle.

In 1943, following the defeat of the U.S. II Corps (then part of British 1st Army) by the German Afrika Korps, first at the Battle of Sidi Bou Zid and again at the Battle of the Kasserine Pass, General Dwight D. Eisenhower sent Major General Ernest Harmon to assess the II Corps.

On March 6, 1943, as a result of Harmon's report, Patton replaced Major General Lloyd Fredendall as commander of the II Corps. Patton was also promoted to lieutenant general. Soon thereafter, Patton had Omar Bradley reassigned to his corps as deputy commander. Thus began a long wartime association between the two different personalities.

It is said that his troops preferred to serve with him rather than his predecessor since they thought their chances of survival were higher under Patton. For instance, Patton required all personnel to wear steel helmets (even physicians in the operating wards) and required his troops to wear the unpopular lace-up canvas leggings and neckties since the leggings prevented injury from scorpions, spiders and rats which would climb up under soldiers' trousers. A system of fines was introduced to ensure all personnel shaved daily and observed other uniform requirements. While these measures may not have made Patton popular, they did tend to restore a sense of discipline and unit pride that may have been missing when Fredendall was still in command. In a play on his nickname, "Old Blood and Guts," troops joked that it was "our blood and his guts." This nickname however derives not from his casualty figures which were consistently lower than Bradley's, but from his days as Master of Sword when his colorful language about 'blood and guts' made an impression on junior officers.

The discipline Patton instilled paid off quickly. Patton found victory at the Battle of El Guettar. By mid-March 1943, the counter-offensive of the U.S. II Corps, along with the rest of the British 1st Army, pushed the Germans and Italians eastwards. Meanwhile the British Eighth Army, commanded by General Sir Bernard Law Montgomery, simultaneously pushed them westwards, effectively squeezing the Germans and Italians into a smaller and smaller portion of Tunisia and out of North Africa altogether by mid-May.

Sicily campaign

As a result of his performance in North Africa, Patton received command of the Seventh Army in preparation for the 1943 invasion of Sicily. The Seventh Army's mission was to protect the left (western) flank of the British Eighth Army as both advanced northwards towards Messina.

Officers quoted General Patton's speech to them before the invasion of Sicily, referring to Italians and Germans:

The Seventh Army repulsed several German counterattacks in the beachhead area before beginning its push north. Meanwhile, the Eighth Army stalled south of Mount Etna in the face of strong German defenses. The Army Group commander, Harold Alexander, exercised only the loosest control over his two commanders. Montgomery therefore took the initiative to meet with Patton in an attempt to work out a coordinated campaign.

Patton formed a provisional corps under his Chief of Staff, and quickly pushed through western Sicily, liberating the capital, Palermo, and then swiftly turned east towards Messina. American forces liberated the port city in accordance with the plan jointly devised by Montgomery and Patton. However, the Italians and Germans evacuated all of their soldiers and much of their heavy equipment across the Strait of Messina to the Italian mainland under the cover of anti-aircraft artillery.

Slapping incident

The "slapping incident" of Private Charles H. Kuhl of August 3, 1943, nearly ended Patton's career.

On August 3, General Patton was visiting wounded patients from the recent Sicilian campaign at the 15th Evacuation Hospital near Nicosia when he encountered 27-year-old Private Charles H. Kuhl of the 26th Infantry Regiment, 1st Infantry Division, sitting slouched on a stool midway through a tent ward filled with injured soldiers. Years later, Kuhl would affirm this version of his initial meeting with General Patton, recalling that when Patton entered the hospital tent, "all the soldiers jumped to attention except me. I was suffering from battle fatigue and just didn't know what to do." When Patton asked Kuhl where he was hurt, Kuhl shrugged and replied that he was "nervous" rather than wounded, adding "I guess I can't take it." In response, Patton slapped Kuhl across the chin with his gloves, then grabbed him by the collar and dragged him to the tent entrance, shoving him out of the tent with a final kick to Kuhl's backside.

Although the Kuhl incident received the most publicity, a second soldier, Private Paul G. Bennett of C Battery, 17th Field Artillery, 1st Infantry Division was slapped and berated under similar circumstances on August 10, 1943 at the 93rd Evacuation Hospital.

Patton's actions at the evacuation hospitals may have been motivated in part by an encounter with Gen. Clarence R. Huebner, the newly-appointed commander of the 1st Infantry Division in which Privates Kuhl and Bennett both served. Patton had asked Huebner how things were going at the front. Heubner replied "The front lines seem to be thinning out. There seems to be a very large number of 'malingerers' at the hospitals, feigning illness in order to avoid combat duty."

A group of news reporters filed a report on the Kuhl slapping incident with Bedell Smith, Eisenhower's chief of staff. When General Eisenhower learned of the matter, he ordered Patton to make amends, after which, it was reported, "Patton's conduct then became as generous as it had been furious," and he apologized to the soldier "and to all those present at the time," The news reporters who had sent their report to Bedell Smith demanded that Patton be fired in exchange for killing the story, a demand which Eisenhower refused. Contrary to popular impression, Eisenhower never seriously considered removing Patton from duty in the ETO: "If this thing ever gets out, they'll be howling for Patton's scalp, and that will be the end of Georgie's service in this war. I simply cannot let that happen. Patton is indispensable to the war effort – one of the guarantors of our victory." Eventually the story of Kuhl's slapping was broken in the U.S.A. after muckraking newspaper columnist Drew Pearson revealed it on his November 21 radio program. Pearson's version not only conflated details of both slapping incidents but falsely reported that the private in question was visibly "out of his head", telling General Patton to "duck down or the shells would hit him" and that in response "Patton struck the soldier, knocking him down." Pearson further stated that General Patton had been "severely reprimanded" as a result of his actions. Pearson punctuated his broadcast by twice repeating the statement that Patton would never again be used in combat, despite the fact that Pearson had no factual basis for making such a prediction. In response, Allied Headquarters denied that Patton had received an official reprimand, but confirmed that Patton had slapped at least one soldier. Demands for Patton to be relieved and sent home were made in Congress and in news articles and editorials across the country. However, public reaction was largely sympathetic to Patton, and Herman F. Kuhl, Private Kuhl's father, even wrote his own congressman, stating that he forgave Patton for the incident and requesting that he not be disciplined.

After the film Patton was released in 1970, Charles H. Kuhl recounted the incident, stating that Patton had slapped him across the face and then kicked him as he walked away. "After he left, they took me in and admitted me in the hospital, and found out I had malaria," Kuhl noted, adding that when Patton apologized personally (at Patton's headquarters) "He said he didn't know that I was as sick as I was." Kuhl, who later worked as a sweeper for Bendix Corporation in Mishawaka, Indiana, added that Patton was "a great general" and added that "I think at the time it happened, he was pretty well worn out himself." Kuhl died on January 24, 1971.

After consulting Army Chief of Staff General George Marshall, Secretary of War Henry L. Stimson, and Assistant Secretary of War John J. McCloy, Eisenhower retained Patton in the European theater, though without a major command. General Marshall and Secretary Stimson not only supported Eisenhower's decision, but defended it. In a letter to the Senate, Secretary Stimson stated that Patton must be retained because of the need for his "aggressive, winning leadership in the bitter battles which are to come before final victory."

Instead General Omar Bradley was promoted to lieutenant general. In late 1943, Bradley moved to London as commander in chief of the American ground forces preparing to invade France in 1944. Bradley was later chosen to command the US 1st Army after D-Day. This decision was not based on the slapping incident alone, but also on confirmed intelligence that the Germans believed Patton would be leading the Allied assault into Nazi-held territory. Eisenhower used Patton's "furlough" as a trick to mislead the Germans as to where the next attack would be, since Patton was the general that the German High Command believed would lead the attack. During the ten months Patton was relieved of duty, his prolonged stay in Sicily was interpreted by the Germans as an indication of an upcoming invasion of southern France. Later, a stay in Cairo was viewed as heralding an invasion through the Balkans. German intelligence duly misinterpreted Patton's movements, shifting forces in response to those of Patton.

In the months before the June 1944 Normandy invasion, Patton gave public talks as commander of the fictional First U.S. Army Group (FUSAG), which was supposedly intending to invade France by way of Calais. This was part of a sophisticated Allied campaign of military disinformation, Operation Fortitude. The Germans mis-allocated their forces as a result, and were slow to respond to the actual landings at Normandy.

In a story recounted by Professor Richard Holmes, just three days before D-Day, during a reception in the London Ritz Hotel, Patton shouted across a crowded reception in the direction of paratroop commander General Jim Gavin, "I'll see you in the Pas De Calais, Gavin!" (source: De Este and Farago biographies), much to the consternation of all those around him. The ploy appears to have worked as reports of overnight troop movements north from Normandy were detected by Bletchley Park code decrypts.

Normandy

Following the Normandy invasion, Patton was placed in command of the U.S. Third Army, which was on the extreme right (west) of the Allied land forces. His good friend Gilbert R. Cook was Deputy Commander whom Patton had later to relieve because of an illness, a decision which "shook him to the core." Patton's Third Army became operational at noon on August 1, 1944. Patton would lead the Third during the late stages of Operation Cobra, the campaign to break out from the Normandy hedgerows. The Third Army simultaneously attacked west (into Brittany), south, east towards the Seine, and north, assisting in trapping several hundred thousand German soldiers in the Chambois pocket, between Falaise and Argentan, Orne.

The Third Army typically employed forward scout units to determine enemy strength and positions. Each column was protected by a standing patrol of three to four P-47 fighter-bombers as a combat air patrol (CAP). Self-propelled artillery moved with the spearhead units and was sited well forward, ready to engage protected German positions with indirect fire. Light aircraft such as the L-4 Piper Cub served as artillery spotters and provided airborne reconnaissance. Once located, the armored infantry would attack using tanks as infantry support. Each vehicle would alternate its machine guns and/or cannon to the left or right respectively, firing continuously to cover the flanks on both sides of the column and suppress enemy counterfire. The U.S. .50 caliber M2 Browning heavy machine gun proved most effective in this role, often flushing out and killing German panzerfaust teams waiting in ambush as well as breaking up German infantry assaults against the armored infantry. In its advance from Avranches to Argentan the Third Army advanced unopposed over vast distances, covering in just two weeks. The speed of the advance forced Patton's units to rely largely on air reconnaissance and tactical air support. Flexibility, improvisation, and adaption were cardinal requirements for Third Army supply echelons of an armored division seeking to exploit a breakthrough. The Signal Section identified required radio nets, mapped circuits and obtained applicable supplies. The Combat Engineers conducted analyses of bridge requirements, road engineering studies, traffic circulation plans, supply requirements, and survey and map coverage for the proposed advance. Patton even read The Norman Conquest by Edward A. Freeman, "paying particular attention to the roads William the Conqueror used in his operations in Normandy and Brittany."

Patton's forces were part of the Allied forces that freed northern France, bypassing Paris. The city itself was liberated by the French 2nd Armored Division under French General Leclerc, insurgents who were fighting in the city, and the US 4th Infantry Division. The French 2nd Armored Division had recently been transferred from the 3rd Army, and many of the unit's soldiers believed they were still part of the latter.

Lorraine

General Patton's offensive, however, came to a screeching halt on August 31, 1944, as the Third Army literally ran out of fuel near the Moselle River, just outside of Metz, France. One explanation for this was that Patton's ambition was to conquer Germany and he refused to recognize that he was engaged in a secondary line of attack. Others suggest that General John C.H. Lee, commander of the Zone of Communication, chose that time to move his headquarters to the more comfortable environs of Paris. Some 30 truck companies were diverted to that end, rather than providing support to the fighting armies.

Patton expected that the Theater Commander would keep fuel and supplies flowing to support successful advances. However, Eisenhower favored a "broad front" approach to the ground-war effort, believing that a single thrust would have to drop off flank protection, and would quickly lose its punch. Still, within the constraints of a very large effort overall, Eisenhower gave Montgomery and his 21st Army Group a strong priority for supplies for Operation Market Garden. The combination of Montgomery being given priority for supplies, and diversion of resources to moving the Communications Zone, resulted in the Third Army running out of gas in Alsace-Lorraine while exploiting German weakness. In late September, a large German panzer counter attack sent expressly to stop the advance of Patton's Third Army was defeated by the 4th Armored Division at the Battle of Arracourt. Despite the victory, the Third Army stayed in place as a result of Eisenhower's order. Ironically, the Germans believed this was because their counterattack had been successful.

Patton's rapid drive through the Lorraine demonstrated his keen appreciation for the technological advantages of the U.S. Army. The major US and Allied advantages were in mobility and air superiority. The U.S. Army had a greater number of trucks, more reliable tanks, and better radio communications, which all contributed to a superior ability to operate at a high tempo. However, probably the key to Patton's success compared to all of the other U.S. and British forces, which had similar advantages, was his intensive use of close air support; the Third Army had by far more G-2 officers at headquarters specifically designated to coordinate air strikes than any other army. Third Army's attached close air support group was XIX Tactical Air Command, commanded by Gen. Otto P. Weyland. Developed originally by Gen. Elwood Quesada of IX TAC for the First Army at Operation Cobra the technique of "armored column cover" whereby close air support was directed by an air traffic controller in one of the attacking tanks was used extensively by the Third Army. In addition, because Patton's rapid drive resulted in a salient that was vulnerable to flanking attacks and getting trapped by the Germans, Weyland and Patton developed the concept of using intensive aerial armed reconnaissance to protect the flanks of this salient. Microwave Early Warning (MEW) radar, another technique pioneered by Quesada, was also used by XIX TAC to both cover against Luftwaffe attacks and to vector flights already in the air to new sites as an air traffic control radar. As a result of the close cooperation between Patton and Weyland, XIX TAC would end up providing far more air sorties for ground support for the Third Army than the other attached Tactical Air Commands would for the First and Ninth Armies. Despite their success, however, Eisenhower had faith only in the traditional method of advancing across a broad front to avoid the problem of flanking attacks, which most account for the decision to halt the Third Army.

The halt of the Third Army during the month of September was enough to allow the Germans to further fortify the fortress of Metz. In October and November, the Third Army was mired in a near-stalemate with the Germans, with heavy casualties on both sides. By November 23, however, Metz had finally fallen to the Americans, the first time the city had been taken since the Franco-Prussian War.

Battle of the Bulge

, Eisenhower, and Patton]] In late 1944, the German army launched a last-ditch offensive across Belgium, Luxembourg, and northeastern France, popularly known as the Battle of the Bulge, nominally led by German Field Marshal Gerd von Rundstedt. On December 16, 1944, the German army massed 29 divisions (totaling some 250,000 men) at a weak point in the Allied lines and made massive headway towards the Meuse River during one of the worst winters Europe had seen in years. General Eisenhower called a meeting of all senior Allied commanders on the Western Front to a headquarters near Verdun, France, on the morning of December 19 to plan strategy and a response to the German assault.

At the time, Patton's Third Army was engaged in heavy fighting near Saarbrücken. Guessing the intent of the Allied command meeting, Patton ordered his staff to make three separate operational contingency orders to disengage elements of the Third Army from its present position and begin offensive operations towards several objectives in the area of the Bulge occupied by German forces. At the Supreme Command conference, General Eisenhower led the meeting, which was attended by General Patton, General Bradley, General Jacob Devers, Major General Sir Kenneth Strong, Deputy Supreme Commander Arthur Tedder, and a large number of staff officers. Eisenhower commenced the meeting by announcing that the German offensive was to be viewed as an opportunity, not as a disaster, and that he wanted to see only "cheerful faces."

When Eisenhower asked Patton how long it would take him to disengage six divisions of his Third Army and commence a counterattack north to relieve the 101st Airborne, Patton replied, "As soon as you're through with me." Patton then clarified that he had already worked up an operational order for a counterattack by three full divisions on December 21, then only 48 hours away. Eisenhower was incredulous: "Don't be fatuous, George. If you try to go that early you won't have all three divisions ready and you'll go piecemeal." Patton replied that his staff already had a contingency operations order ready to go. Still unconvinced, Eisenhower ordered Patton to attack the morning of December 22, using at least three divisions. Patton strode from the conference room, located a field telephone, and upon reaching his commmand, uttered two words: "Play ball". This code phrase initiated a prearranged operational order with Patton's staff, mobilizing three divisions–the U.S. 4th Armored Division, the U.S. 80th Infantry Division, and the U.S. 26th Infantry Division–from the Third Army and moving them north towards Bastogne. The operations order included order of battle, road deployment order, fuel, resupply, security, and clearance of the road net. Within a few days, more than 133,000 Third Army vehicles were re-routed into an offensive that covered a combined distance of 1.5 million miles, followed by supply echelons carrying some 62,000 tons of supplies.

On December 21 Patton met with General Bradley to go over the impending advance: "Brad, this time the Kraut's stuck his head in the meatgrinder, and I've got hold of the handle."

Desiring good weather for his advance, which would permit close ground support by USAAF tactical aircraft, Patton ordered the Third Army chaplain, Colonel James O'Neill, to compose a suitable prayer: "Almighty and most merciful Father, we humbly beseech Thee, of Thy great goodness, to restrain these immoderate rains with which we have had to contend. Grant us fair weather for Battle. Graciously hearken to us as soldiers who call upon Thee that, armed with Thy power, we may advance from victory to victory and crush the oppression and wickedness of our enemies, and establish Thy justice among men and nations. Amen." When the weather cleared soon after, Patton awarded O'Neill a Bronze Star on the spot.

On December 26, 1944, the first spearhead units of the Third Army's U.S. 4th Armored Division reached Bastogne, opening a corridor for relief and resupply of the besieged forces. Patton's ability to disengage six divisions from frontline combat during the middle of winter, then wheel north to relieve besieged Bastogne was one of his most remarkable achievements during the war. Author John MacDonald cites it as one of the greatest extant examples of the mastery of military logistics, stating, "probably his greatest military achievement, unsurpassed at the time, was the logistic repositioning, within twenty-four hours, of a whole army corps at the Battle of the Bulge." Patton certainly thought so, claiming that the relief of Bastogne was "the most brilliant operation we have thus far performed, and it is in my opinion the outstanding achievement of the war. This is my biggest battle."

Crossing of the Rhine

By February, the Germans were in full retreat and Patton had pushed units into the Saarland. Once again, however, Patton found other commands given priority on gasoline and supplies. Field Marshal Montgomery suggested deprecatingly that Patton's forces be limited to holding a defensive line at the Rhine River. However, Patton had no intention of being left behind, and promptly began initiating several "reconnaissances in force". The 5th Mechanized Infantry Division of the Third Army crossed the Rhine at Oppenheim on the night of March 22, 1945, thirty-six hours ahead of Montgomery's Rhine crossing, Operation Varsity. To obtain gasoline and supplies, Third Army Ordnance units passed themselves off as First Army personnel, in one incident securing thousands of gallons of gasoline from a First Army gasoline dump. Within a day, Patton's forces had established a six-mile deep bridgehead, after capturing 19,000 demoralized German troops.

Task Force Baum

On March 26, 1945, Patton sent Task Force Baum, consisting of 314 men, 16 tanks, and assorted other vehicles, 50 miles (80 km) behind enemy lines to liberate an Allied POW camp, OFLAG XIII-B near Hammelburg, some 80 km (50 miles) behind the German lines. One of the inmates was Patton's son-in-law, Lieutenant Colonel John K. Waters. The raid was an utter fiasco. Only 35 men made it back; the rest were either killed or captured, and all 57 vehicles were lost. Waters himself was shot and had to be left at the camp. When Eisenhower learned of the secret mission, he was furious.

Patton later reported it was the only mistake he made during World War II. He felt the correct decision was to have sent a Combat Command, about three times larger.

Final offensive operations

On April 14, 1945 Patton was promoted to a full General with a four-star rank, a promotion long advocated by Secretary of War Stimson in recognition of Patton's battle accomplishments during 1944. Patton's operations staff was drafting plans to take Prague, when Eisenhower, under pressure from the Soviets, ordered American forces in Czechoslovakia to stop short of the city limits. Patton's troops liberated Pilsen, on May 6, 1945, and most of western Bohemia.

In its advance from the Rhine to the Elbe, Patton's Third Army captured 32,763 square miles of enemy territory. Its losses were by far the lightest of any Third Army operation: 2,102 killed, 7,954 wounded, and 1,591 missing. Enemy losses in the campaign totaled 20,100 killed, 47,700 wounded, and 653,140 captured. By comparison, the Third Army suffered 16,596 killed, 96,241 wounded, and 26,809 missing in action for a total of 139,646 men, a ratio of enemy to U.S. losses of nearly thirteen to one.

June 1945 visit to California

Largely overlooked in history is the warm reception that Patton received on June 9, 1945, when he and Army Air Forces Lieutenant General Jimmy Doolittle were honored with a parade through Los Angeles and a reception at the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum before a crowd of over 100,000 people. The next day, Patton and Doolittle toured the metropolitan Los Angeles area. Patton spoke in front of the Burbank City Hall and at the Rose Bowl in Pasadena. He wore his helmet with a straight line of stars, chest full of medals, and two ivory-handled (not pearl, as is often incorrectly asserted) pistols. He punctuated his speech with some of the same profanity that he had used with the troops. He spoke about conditions in Europe and the Russian allies to the adoring crowds. This may be the only time in America when civilians, en masse, heard and saw the famous warrior on the podium.

During this visit, Patton quietly donated an original copy of the 1935 Nuremberg Laws, which he had smuggled out of Germany in violation of JCS 1067, to the Huntington Library, a repository of historical original papers, books, and maps, in San Marino. Patton instructed physicist Robert Millikan, then the chairman of the board of trustees of the Huntington Library, to make no official record of the transaction, and to keep their possession of the materials secret during Patton's lifetime. The Huntington Library retained the Nuremberg Laws in a basement vault in spite of a legal instruction in 1969 by the general's family to turn over all of his papers to the Library of Congress. On June 26, 1999, Robert Skotheim, then the president of the Huntington Library, announced that the Library was to permanently lend the Nuremberg Laws to the Skirball Cultural Center in Los Angeles. On August 25, 2010, the National Archives announced that the Nuremberg Laws would be transferred from the Huntington Library to their collection.

Road accident and death

On December 9, 1945, Patton was severely injured in a road accident. He and his chief of staff, Major General Hobart R. "Hap" Gay, were on a day trip to hunt pheasants in the country outside Mannheim, Germany. Their 1938 Cadillac Model 75 was driven by Private First Class Horace L. Woodring (1926–2003), Patton sitting in the back seat on the right side, with General Gay on his left, as per custom. At 11:45 near Neckarstadt (Mannheim-Käfertal), a 2½ ton GMC truck driven by Technical Sergeant Robert L. Thompson made a left turn in front of Patton's Cadillac. Patton's car hit the front of the truck, at a low speed.

At first the crash seemed minor, the vehicles were hardly damaged, no one in the truck was hurt, and Gay and Woodring were uninjured. However, Patton was leaning back with trouble breathing. The general had been thrown forward causing his head to strike a metal part of the partition between the front and back seats. This impact inflicted a severe cervical spinal cord injury. Paralyzed from the neck down, he was rushed to the military hospital in Heidelberg, where quadriplegia was diagnosed. Patton died of a pulmonary embolism on December 21, 1945. The funeral service was held at the Christ Church (Christuskirche) in Heidelberg-Südstadt.

This incident was dramatized in the made for TV movie The Last Days of Patton in 1986 with George C. Scott reprising his role as Patton.

Patton was buried at the Luxembourg American Cemetery and Memorial in Hamm, Luxembourg along with other members of the Third Army, as per Patton's request to "be buried with my men." On March 19, 1947, his body was moved from the original grave site in the cemetery to its current prominent location at the head of his former troops. A cenotaph was placed at the Wilson-Patton family plot at the San Gabriel Cemetery in San Gabriel, California, adjacent to the Church of Our Saviour (Episcopal), where Patton was baptized and confirmed. In the narthex of the sanctuary of the church is a stained glass window honor which features, among other highlights of Patton's career, a picture of him riding in a tank. A statue of General Patton was placed on the grounds of the church. Patton's car was repaired and used by other officers. The car is now on display with other Patton artifacts at the General George Patton Museum at Fort Knox, Kentucky.

Controversies and criticism

Patton's problems with humor, his image, and the press

Unlike Dwight D. Eisenhower, who was popular with troops partly for his self-effacing humor, Patton disliked jokes aimed at himself, feeling that accepting such jokes would decrease the respect which he felt that troops should have toward their commanders.

Patton reportedly had the utmost respect for the men serving in his command, particularly the wounded. However, he tended to classify cases of psychological battlefield breakdown as malingering. Many of Patton's directives on caring for the enlisted men under his command, such as ordering that captured supplies of enemy food and liquor be delivered to frontline units were overlooked in the media in favor of more popular news items, such as his system of fines for officers and men who failed to shave daily and wear helmets and leggings at all times. The fighting elements of Patton's Third Army had guaranteed mail deliveries, priority on hot chow and showers, regular uniform issues, plus liberal distribution of passes and unit rotations out of the line. The Stars and Stripes cartoonist, Sergeant Bill Mauldin, who habitually portrayed front line infantry as exhausted, begrimed footsloggers Willie and Joe came in for special criticism, even prompting Patton to summon Sergeant Mauldin to his headquarters, where Patton unsuccessfully attempted to convince Mauldin into drawing a cleaned-up version of the popular comic strip.

Patton was capable of the occasional blunt witticism: "The two most dangerous weapons the Germans have are our own armored halftrack and jeep. The halftrack because the boys in it go all heroic, thinking they are in a tank. The jeep because we have so many God-awful drivers." During the Battle of the Bulge, he famously remarked that the Allies should "let the sons-of-bitches [Germans] go all the way to Paris, then we'll cut 'em off and round 'em up!" He also suggested facetiously that his Third Army could "drive the British [his allies] back into the sea for another Dunkirk."

While Patton has a reputation today as a senior general who was both impatient and impulsive, with little tolerance for officers who had failed to succeed on the battlefield, the truth is somewhat different. Compared to Omar Bradley, Patton actually fired only one general during the entire war, Orlando Ward, and only after two warnings, whereas Bradley sacked numerous generals during the war.

Patton deliberately cultivated a flashy, distinctive image in the belief that this would motivate his troops. He was usually seen wearing a highly polished helmet, riding pants, and high cavalry boots. He carried flashy ivory-handled, nickel-plated revolvers as his most famous sidearms (a Colt Single Action Army .45 "Peacemaker" and later also a S&W; Model 27 .357). His vehicles carried over-sized rank insignia and sirens. His speech was riddled with profanities. While Patton had many detractors in the press, he also received praise from others, including a tribute from a UPI writer who wrote, "Gen. George S. Patton believed he was the greatest soldier who ever lived. He made himself believe he would never falter through doubt. This absolute faith in himself as a strategist and master of daring infected his entire army, until the men of the second American corps in Africa, and later the third army in France, believed they could not be defeated under his leadership."

After the German surrender

After the surrender of May 8, 1945, eliminated the threat of Nazi Germany, Patton was quick to assert the Soviet Union would cease to be an ally of the United States. He was concerned that some 25,000 American POWs had been liberated from POW camps by the Soviets, but never returned to the US. In fact, he urged his superiors to evict the Soviets from central and eastern Europe. Patton thought that the Red Army was weak, under-supplied, and vulnerable, and the United States should act on these weaknesses before the Soviets could consolidate their position. In this regard, he told Undersecretary of War Robert P. Patterson that the "point system" being used to demobilize Third Army troops was destroying it and creating a vacuum that the Soviets would exploit. "Mr. Secretary, for God's sake, when you go home, stop this point system; stop breaking up these armies," pleaded the general. "Let's keep our boots polished, bayonets sharpened, and present a picture of force and strength to these people, the Soviets. This is the only language they understand." Asked by Patterson—who became Secretary of War a few months later—what he would do, Patton replied: "I would have you tell the Red Army where their border is, and give them a limited time to get back across. Warn them that if they fail to do so, we will push them back across it."

On a personal level, Patton was disappointed by the Army's refusal to give him a combat command in the Pacific Theater of Operations. Unhappy with his role as the military governor of Bavaria and depressed by his belief that he would never fight in another war, Patton's behavior and statements became increasingly erratic. Various explanations beyond his disappointments have been proposed for Patton's behavior at this point. Carlo D'Este, in , writes that "it seems virtually inevitable  ... that Patton experienced some type of brain damage from too many head injuries" from a lifetime of numerous auto- and horse-related accidents, especially one suffered while playing polo in 1936.

Later, Patton addressed a group of African-American tankers, saying:

Patton also insisted on the assignment of some black officers as judges in military tribunals involving black defendants,

Relations with Eisenhower

The relationship between George S. Patton and Dwight Eisenhower has long been of interest to historians in that the onset of World War II completely reversed the roles of the two men in the space of just under two years. When Patton and Eisenhower met in the mid 1920s, Patton was six years Eisenhower's senior in the Army and Eisenhower saw Patton as a leading mind in tank warfare, as both men had strong interest in tank warfare. During the inter-war period, budget cuts to the U.S. Army caused by the Great Depression resulted in a significant decline of available funding for tank development.

Between 1935 and 1940, Patton and Eisenhower developed a very close friendship to the level where the Patton and Eisenhower families were spending summer vacations together. In 1938, Patton was promoted to full colonel and Eisenhower, then still a lieutenant colonel, openly admitted that he saw Patton as a friend, superior officer, and mentor.

Upon the outbreak of World War II, Patton's expertise in mechanized warfare was recognized by the Army, and he was quickly made a brigadier general and, less than a year later, a major general. In 1940, Lt. Col. Eisenhower petitioned Brigadier General Patton, offering to serve under the tank corps commander. Patton accepted readily, stating that he would like nothing better than for Eisenhower to be placed under his command.

George Marshall, recognizing that the coming conflict would require all available military talent, had other plans for Eisenhower. In 1941, after five years as a relatively unknown lieutenant colonel, Eisenhower was promoted to colonel and then again to brigadier general in just 6 months time. Patton was still senior to Eisenhower in the Regular Army, but this was soon not the case in the growing conscript army (known as the Army of the United States). In 1942, Eisenhower was promoted to major general and, just a few months later, to lieutenant general—outranking Patton for the first time. When the Allies announced the invasion of North Africa, Major General Patton suddenly found himself under the command of his former subordinate, now one star his superior.

In 1943, Patton became a lieutenant general one month after Eisenhower was promoted to full (four-star) general. Patton was unusually reserved in never publicly commenting on Eisenhower's rapid rise. Patton also reassured Eisenhower that the two men's professional relationship was unaffected. Privately however, Patton was often quick to remind Eisenhower that his permanent rank in the Regular Army—both men were still colonels there throughout 1943—predated Eisenhower's.

When Patton came under criticism for the "Sicily slapping incident" (see above), Eisenhower met privately with Patton and reprimanded him.

Eisenhower is also credited with giving Patton a command in France, after other powers in the Army had relegated Patton to various unimportant duties in England. It was in France that Patton found himself in the company of another former subordinate, Omar Bradley, who had also become his superior. As with Eisenhower, Patton behaved with professionalism and served under Bradley with distinction.

After the close of World War II, Patton (now a full general) became the occupation commander of Bavaria, and made arrangements for saving the world-famous Lipizzaner stallions of Vienna, fearing that the Red Army would slaughter the horses for food. Patton was relieved of duty after openly revolting against the punitive occupation directive JCS 1067. His view of the war was that with Hitler gone, the German army could be rebuilt into an ally in a potential war against the Russians, whom Patton notoriously despised and considered a greater menace than the Germans. During this period, he wrote that the Allied victory would be in vain if it led to a tyrant worse than Hitler and an army of "Mongolian savages" controlling half of Europe. Eisenhower had at last had enough, relieving Patton of all duties and ordering his return to the United States. When Patton openly accused Eisenhower of caring more about a political career than his military duties, their friendship effectively came to an end.

In addition, Patton was highly critical of the victorious Allies use of German forced labor. He commented in his diary "I'm also opposed to sending PW's to work as slaves in foreign lands (in particular, to France) where many will be starved to death." He also noted "It is amusing to recall that we fought the revolution in defense of the rights of man and the civil war to abolish slavery and have now gone back on both principles." (See also Rheinwiesenlager).

Patton as viewed by his contemporaries

On February 1, 1945 General Eisenhower wrote a memo ranking the military capabilities of his subordinate American generals in the ETO. Army General Omar Bradley and Army Air Force General Carl Spaatz shared the number one position, while Walter Bedell Smith, (a staff officer with no field command experience during the war), was ranked number 2. Eisenhower ranked Patton at a distant number 3. Eisenhower revealed his reasoning in a 1946 review of the book Patton and his Third Army: "George Patton was the most brilliant commander of an army in the open field that our or any other service produced. But his army was part of a whole organization and his operations part of a great campaign." Eisenhower believed that other generals such as Omar Bradley should be given the credit for planning the succcessful Allied campaigns across Europe in which Patton was merely "a brilliant executor". Eisenhower once remarked, "George, you are a great leader, but a poor planner." Patton shot back, "Except for Operation Torch, which I planned and which was a great success, I have never been given the chance to plan."

Notwithstanding Eisenhower's estimation of Patton's abilities as a strategic planner, his overall view of Patton's military value in achieving Allied victory in Europe can best be seen in Eisenhower's refusal to even consider sending Patton home after the 'slapping incident' of 1943. As Assistant Secretary of War John J. McCloy told Eisenhower: "Lincoln's remark after they got after Grant comes to mind when I think of Patton – 'I can't spare this man, he fights'." After Patton's death, Eisenhower would write his own tribute: "He was one of those men born to be a soldier, an ideal combat leader...It is no exaggeration to say that Patton's name struck terror at the hearts of the enemy." It was well known that the two men were polar opposites in personality, and there is considerable evidence that Bradley despised Patton both personally and professionally. Patton in turn resented Bradley's frequent "borrowing" of Patton's own ideas and operational concepts to convert into war plans for which Bradley got the credit. Patton's diary reports, "I do not want any more of my ideas used without credit to me, as happens when I give them orally." On the other hand, Roosevelt's successor, plain-spoken Harry S. Truman appears to have taken an instant dislike to the flamboyant Patton.

For the most part, British commanders did not hold Patton in high regard. Field Marshal Alan Brooke noted in January 1943 that "I had heard of him, but I must confess that his swashbuckling personality exceeded my expectation. I did not form any high opinion of him, nor had I any reason to alter this view at any later date. A dashing, courageous, wild and unbalanced leader, good for operations requiring thrust and push but at a loss in any operation requiring skill and judgment." One possible exception was none other than Field Marshal Bernard Montgomery. Although the latter's rivalry with Patton was well known, Montgomery appears to have actually admired Patton's ability to command troops in the field, if not his strategic judgment.

Other Allied commanders were more impressed, the Free French in particular. General Henri Giraud was incredulous when he heard of Patton's dismissal by Eisenhower in late 1945, and invited him to Paris to be decorated by President Charles de Gaulle at a state banquet. At the banquet, President de Gaulle gave a speech placing Patton's achievements alongside those of Napoleon. Soviet leader Joseph Stalin was apparently an admirer, stating that the Red Army could neither have planned nor executed Patton's rapid armored advance across France.

Patton as viewed by the enemy

From 1943 on, it was clear that a consensus existed in the German Army officer corps that of all Allied ground force commanders, the enemy general they feared the most was Patton. Adolf Hitler himself was impressed by Patton, reportedly calling him "that crazy cowboy general", and "the most dangerous man [the Allies] have." Generaloberst Alfred Jodl, chief of staff of the German Army stated that Patton "was the American Guderian. He was very bold and preferred large movements. He took big risks and won big successes.� Generalfeldmarschall Albert Kesselring noted that “Patton had developed tank warfare into an art, and understood how to handle tanks brilliantly in the field. I feel compelled, therefore, to compare him with Generalfeldmarschall Rommel, who likewise had mastered the art of tank warfare. Both of them had a kind of second sight in regard to this type of warfare." Referring to the escape of the Afrika Korps Panzerarmee after the battle of El Alamein, General Fritz Bayerlein opined that "I do not think that General Patton would let us get away so easily." Oberstleutnant Horst Freiherr von Wangenheim, operations officer of the 277th Volksgrenadier Division, stated that "General Patton is the most feared general on all fronts. [His] tactics are daring and unpredictable...He is the most modern general and the best commander of [combined] armored and infantry forces." After the war, General der Infanterie Günther Blumentritt revealed that "We regarded Patton extremely highly, as the most aggressive Panzer-General of the Allies. A man of incredible initiative and lightning-like action." General der Panzertruppen Hasso von Manteuffel, who had fought both Soviet and Anglo-American tank commanders, agreed: "Patton! No doubt about this. He was a brilliant panzer army commander."

In an interview conducted for Stars and Stripes just after his capture, Field Marshal Gerd von Rundstedt summed up the predominant German view of the American general: "Patton," Rundstedt concluded simply, "he is your best."

Patton, the film

Patton was the focus of the epic 1970 Academy Award-winning film Patton, with the title role played by George C. Scott in an iconic, Academy Award winning performance. The film was a huge commercial success, and spawned fierce critical debates over the accuracy of its portrayal of General Patton.

Screenwriters Francis Ford Coppola and Edmund H. North wrote most of the film based on two biographies, General Bradley's A Soldier's Story and Ladislas Farago's Patton: Ordeal and Triumph. General Bradley also served as a military advisor and consultant to the film's producers. As the film was made without access to General Patton's diaries or any information from his family, it largely relied upon observations by Bradley and other military contemporaries when attempting to reconstruct Patton's thoughts and motives. In a review of the film Patton, S.L.A. Marshall, who knew both Patton and Bradley, stated that "The Bradley name gets heavy billing on a picture of [a] comrade that, while not caricature, is the likeness of a victorious, glory-seeking buffoon...Patton in the flesh was an enigma. He so stays in the film...Napoleon once said that the art of the general is not strategy but knowing how to mold human nature...Maybe that is all producer Frank McCarthy and Gen. Bradley, his chief advisor, are trying to say." yet unrivalled in his ability to inspire and lead large forces of men in a desperate and ultimately victorious struggle against a determined enemy. |bgcolor = cornsilk |border = 2px |fontsize = 100% |salign = right |quoted = 1 |align = right |qalign = center }} , Luxembourg ]]

General George Patton Museum at Fort Knox, Kentucky.

General Patton Memorial Museum Ettelbruck, Luxembourg

Place du Général Patton in Paris (next to Avenue de la Grande Armée) is named after Patton. Some 10 other French towns and cities, including Avranches, Thionville, Troyes and Le Mans, have a "Place du Général Patton" in his honor.

A museum dedicated to Patton, and his efforts training thousands of soldiers for African desert combat, is located at the site of the Desert Training Center in Chiriaco Summit, California. A statue of Patton can be seen from nearby Interstate 10.

Two active United States Army installations are named in memory of General Patton. Patton Barracks in Heidelberg, Germany houses the headquarters for the United States Army Garrison Heidelberg.

Patton Army Air Field, located on Camp Arifjan, Kuwait, provides rotary-wing aviation support for Army units in southern Kuwait.

Patton United States Army Reserve Center, in Bell, California is named for General Patton.

Patton Hall, located in Fort Riley, Kansas, houses much of the Judge-Advocate General (JAG) Corps at the base.

Patton Junior High School at Fort Leavenworth, Kansas is named for him. The Patton series of tanks is named for him. A chapter of the Sons of the American Revolution is named for Patton.

Patton Monument (West Point)

There is a large Patton Monument in Avranches, France.

At the Episcopal Church of Our Savior in San Gabriel, California, there is a stained glass window depicting Patton as a version of Saint George. He is shown in a tank fighting a dragon festooned with swastikas. The lettering in the window reads "I fought a good fight." The Wilson-Patton family members are buried in the San Gabriel Cemetery about 120 yards to the west of the Church, including the patriarch, Benjamin (Don Benito) Wilson. The exception is General Patton, buried in Luxembourg.

Hamilton, Massachusetts, where Patton's summer home was located, dedicated its central park to Patton, boasting a World War II–era tank in the center of town, and the town's school sports teams play under the name "Generals." In addition, the French government gave two statues to the town commemorating Patton's service to their nation. They were improved in 2003 and sit at the entrance to Patton Park.

Patton was named the class exemplar for the United States Air Force Academy's class of 2005, the only non-aviator to receive this honor.

A street in Arlon in the province of Luxembourg, Belgium, is named for General Patton, and a street in the comune of Ixelles, in Brussels.

Patton Monument, Lacy Park, San Marino, CA

1220 Patton Court, San Marino, CA; former residence of the Patton family. The house is a private residence and is not open to the public.

Boston, Massachusetts – The standing portrait statue of General George Smith Patton, Jr., designed by sculptor James Earle Fraser, was installed at the Charles River Esplanade along the Hatch Shell Circle in 1953. The 8-foot tall bronze statue depicts a uniformed Patton raising a pair of binoculars up to his eyes, atop a 4-foot pink granite base. Patton wrote much material, including speeches, lectures, and poetry. Incorporating the biblical phrase "Through a Glass, Darkly" he composed a poem imbued with his personal interpretations of reincarnation:

Awards and decorations

United States awards

as they would appear today]] {| |- | |Distinguished Service Cross with one oak leaf cluster |- | |Distinguished Service Medal with two oak leaf clusters |- | |Silver Star with one oak leaf cluster |- | |Legion of Merit |- | |Bronze Star |- | |Purple Heart |- | |Silver Lifesaving Medal |- | |Mexican Service Medal |- | |World War I Victory Medal with five battle clasps |} {| |- | |American Defense Service Medal |- | |American Campaign Medal |- | |European-African-Middle Eastern Campaign Medal with one silver and two bronze service stars |- | |World War II Victory Medal |- | |In 1955, the U.S. Army posthumously presented General Patton with the Army of Occupation Medal for service as the first occupation commander of Bavaria. |}

Foreign and international awards

{| |- | Honorary Knight Commander of the Order of the British Empire |- | Honorary Companion of the Order of the Bath |- | |  Major General, Regular Army: August 16, 1944 |- | |  Lieutenant General, Regular Army: December 4, 1944 |- | |  General, Army of the United States: April 14, 1945 |}

See also

Notes

References

Bibliography

Primary sources

George S. Patton, Jr., War As I Knew It; Houghton MifflinISBN 0-395-73529-7;(1947/1975); (Soft Cover)ISBN 0-395-08704-6 (1947/1975); (Hard Cover)

George S. Patton, Jr., The poems of General George S. Patton, Jr.: Lines of fire, edited by Carmine A. Prioli. Edwin Mellen Press, 1991.

Patton's photographs: War as he saw it, edited by Kevin Hymel. Potomac Books,ISBN 1-57488-871-4 (2006) (Hard Cover);ISBN 1-57488-872-2 (2006) (Soft Cover; Alkali Paper). Blumenson, Martin, The Patton Papers. Vol. 1, 1885–1940,ISBN 0-395-12706-8 (Hard Cover) Houghton Mifflin Co., 1972. 996 pp.ISBN 0-306-80717-3 (Soft Cover; Alkali Paper) Da Capo Press; 1998; 996 pp. Blumenson, Martin, The Patton Papers: Vol. 2, 1940–1945,ISBN 0-395-18498-3 (Hard Cover); Houghton Mifflin, 1974. 889 pp.ISBN 0-306-80717-3 (Soft Cover; Alkali Paper); Da Capo Press, 1996. 889 pp. Patton, Robert H., The Pattons: A Personal History of An American Family,ISBN 1-57488-127-2 (Soft Cover); Crown Publishers (1994); Brassey's (1996) 320 pp. Platt, Anthony M. with O'Leary, Cecilia E., Bloodlines: Recovering Hitler's Nuremberg Laws, From Patton's Trophy To Public Memorial,ISBN 1-59451-140-3 (paperback); Paradigm Publishers, 2006. 268 pp.

Secondary sources

Axelrod, Alan, Patton: A Biography, Palgrave Macmillan, 2006.

Martin Blumenson, Patton: The Man Behind the Legend, 1885–1945 ISBN 0-688-06082-X; 1985

Blumenson, Martin, The Battle of the Generals: The Untold Story of the Falaise Pocket—the Campaign That Should Have Won World War II; 1993.

Brighton, Terry, Patton, Montgomery, Rommel: Masters of War, Crown, (2009). ISBN 978-0-307-46154-4

Carlo D'Este, Patton: A Genius for War, HarperCollins, (1995). ISBN 0-06-016455-7

Carlo D'Este, Eisenhower: A Soldier's Life, New York: Henry Holt & Co., ISBN 0805056874 (2002)

Dietrich, Steve E., "The Professional Reading of General George S. Patton, Jr.", Journal of Military History 1989 53(4): 387–418. Issn: 0899-3718 Fulltext in Jstor

Eisenhower, John S.D., The Bitter Woods, Cambridge MA: Da Capo Press, ISBN 9780306806520, 9780306806520 (1995)

Essame, H., Patton: A Study in Command, New York: Scribner & Sons, ISBN 9780684136714, 9780684136714, 1st ed. (1974)

Farago, Ladislas, Patton: Ordeal and Triumph ISBN 1-59416-011-2

Gooderson, Ian, Air Power at the Battlefront, 1998, Frank Cass Publishers, 0714642118.

Hirshson, Stanley P., General Patton: A Soldier's Life (2002) ISBN 0-06-000982-9

}}

McNeese, Tim, Battle of the Bulge, Chelsea House Publications, ISBN 0791074358, 9780791074350 (2003)

Nye, Roger H., The Patton Mind: The Professional Development of an Extraordinary Leader, Avery; 1993.

Pullen, John J. "'You Will Be Afraid.'", American Heritage 2005 56(3): 26–29. Issn: 0002-8738 Fulltext in Ebsco. Patton's March 1945 was made famous by the movie, which sanitized it. Patton used harsh and foul language and castigated cowards, or "psychoneurotics", and those who used self-inflicted wounds to get out of combat. The basic message was "shoot and keep shooting."

Reit, Seymour, Masquerade: The Amazing Camouflage Deceptions of World War II, Hawthorn Press, 1978. ISBN 0-8015-4931-0.

Rickard, John Nelson, Patton at Bay: The Lorraine Campaign, September to December 1944, Praeger, 1999.

Dennis Showalter, Patton and Rommel: Men of War in the Twentieth Century (2005). ISBN 978-0-425-20663-8.

Smith, David Andrew, George S. Patton: A Biography, Greenwood, 2003.

Sobel, Brian, The Fighting Pattons, ISBN 0-440-23572-2 (Soft Cover) Dell Publishing, 1997; Praeger Publishers Reprint, July, 2000.

Spires, David N., Patton's Air Force: Forging a Legendary Air-Ground Team, Smithsonian Inst. Pr., 2002.

von Mellenthin, F.W., Panzer Battles, Ballantine, 1971, first published by the University of Oklahoma Press, 1956 ISBN 0-345-32158-8

Brenton G. Wallace, Patton & His Third Army ISBN 0-8117-2896-X

Russell F. Weigley, Eisenhower's Lieutenants: The Campaign of France and Germany 1944–1945, (1990)

Wilson, Dale Eldred, 'Treat 'Em Rough'! The United States Army Tank Corps in the First World War; Temple U. Press (1990).

Zaloga, Steven, Armored Thunderbolt, Stackpole, 2008, ISBN 978-0-8117-0424-3

External links

The Patton Society Homepage

Cadet Patton at VMI Virginia Military Institute Archives

On Spartacus Schoolnet

General George Patton Museum

Patton: Ordeal and Triumph by Ladislas Farago

archived version of Patton Uncovered

Lost Victory – Strasbourg, November 1944

National Museum of Military History

General Patton: Rare and Unseen – slideshow by Life magazine

Letter by Eisenhower where he comments on Patton's "unpredictable" behavior.

Cenotaph at San Gabriel Cemetery Retrieved 2010-05-16

The General George S. Patton Story, United States Army, from The Big Picture, narrated by Ronald Reagan

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Nationality	American
Caption	Official White House portrait of Jackson
Order	7th President of the United States
Term start	March 4, 1829
Term end	March 4, 1837
Predecessor	John Quincy Adams
Successor	Martin Van Buren
Order2	Military Governor of Florida
President2	James Monroe
Term start2	March 10, 1821
Term end2	November 12, 1821
Predecessor2	José María Coppinger
Successor2	William P. Duval
Jr/sr3	United States Senator
State3	Tennessee
Term start3	September 26, 1797
Term end3	April 1, 1798
Predecessor3	William Cocke
Successor3	Daniel Smith
Term start4	March 4, 1823
Term end4	October 14, 1825
Predecessor4	John Williams
Successor4	Hugh Lawson White
State5	Tennessee
District5	At-Large
Term start5	December 4, 1796
Term end5	September 26, 1797
Predecessor5	None (statehood)
Successor5	William C. C. Claiborne
Birth date	March 15, 1767
Birth place	Waxhaws area, the Carolinas, U.S.
Death date	June 08, 1845
Death place	Nashville, Tennessee
Nickname	Old Hickory
Spouse	Rachel Donelson Robards Jackson (1791–1794, invalid)Rachel Donelson Robards Jackson (1794-1828)
Children	(all adopted:)Andrew Jackson, Jr.Lyncoya JacksonJohn Samuel DonelsonDaniel Smith DonelsonAndrew Jackson DonelsonAndrew Jackson HutchingsCarolina ButlerEliza ButlerEdward ButlerAnthony Butler
Occupation	Prosecutor, Judge, Farmer (Planter), Soldier (General)
Party	Democratic-Republican and Democratic
Vicepresident	John C. Calhoun (1829–1832) None (1832–1833) Martin Van Buren (1833–1837)
Religion	Presbyterian
Signature	Andrew Jackson Signature-.svg
Signature alt	Cursive signature in ink
Branch	Tennessee MilitiaUnited States Army
Rank	ColonelMajor General
Battles	American Revolutionary War
Awards	Thanks of Congress

Andrew Jackson (March 15, 1767 June 8, 1845) was the seventh President of the United States (1829–1837). Based in frontier Tennessee, Jackson was a politician and army general who defeated the British at the Battle of New Orleans (1815) and the Creek Indians at the Battle of Horseshoe Bend (1814). A polarizing figure who dominated the Second Party System in the 1820s and 1830s, he destroyed the national bank and relocated most Indian tribes to the west. His enthusiastic followers created the modern Democratic Party, and the 1830-1850 period later became known as the era of Jacksonian democracy.

Jackson was nicknamed "Old Hickory" because of his toughness and aggressive personality that produced numerous duels, some fatal. He was a rich slave owner who appealed to the masses of Americans and fought against what he denounced as a closed undemocratic aristocracy. He expanded the spoils system during his presidency to strengthen his political base, regardless of the cost of inefficiency and bias.

As president, he supported a small and limited federal government but strengthened the power of the presidency, which he saw as spokesman for the entire population–as opposed to Congressmen from a specific small district. He was supportive of state's rights, but, during the Nullification Crisis, declared that states do not have the right to nullify federal laws. Strongly against the national bank, he vetoed the renewal of its charter and ensured its collapse. Whigs and moralists denounced his aggressive enforcement of the Indian Removal Act, which resulted in the forced relocation of Native American tribes to Indian Territory (now Oklahoma).

His legacy is now seen as mixed by historians. He is praised as a protector of popular democracy and individual liberty for American citizens, but criticized for his support for slavery and Indian removal.

Early life and career

Parents and birth

's Shankill Road]] Jackson was born on March 15, 1767. His parents were Presbyterian Scotch-Irish colonists Andrew and Elizabeth Hutchinson Jackson, who had emigrated from Ireland two years earlier. Jackson's father was born in Carrickfergus, County Antrim, in Ireland around 1738. The house that Jackson's parents lived in, in the village of Boneybefore in County Antrim, Northern Ireland, is now preserved as the Andrew Jackson Centre and is open to the public.

When they emigrated to America in 1765, Jackson's parents probably landed in Pennsylvania and made their way overland to the Scotch-Irish community in the Waxhaws region, straddling the border between North and South Carolina. They brought two children from Ireland, Hugh (born 1763) and Robert (born 1764).

Jackson's father died in an accident in February 1767, at the age of 29, three weeks before Jackson was born. Jackson was born in the Waxhaws area, but his exact birth site is unclear because he was born around the time his mother was making a difficult trip home from burying Jackson's father. The area was so remote that the border between North and South Carolina had not officially been surveyed yet.

Revolutionary War

).]] During the American Revolutionary War, Jackson, at age thirteen, joined a local militia as a courier. His eldest brother, Hugh, died from heat exhaustion during the Battle of Stono Ferry, on June 20, 1779. Jackson and his brother Robert were captured by the British and held as prisoners; they nearly starved to death in captivity. When Jackson refused to clean the boots of a British officer, the officer slashed at the youth with a sword, leaving Jackson with scars on his left hand and head, as well as an intense hatred for the British. While imprisoned, the brothers contracted smallpox. Robert died a few days after their mother secured their release, on April 27, 1781. After his mother was assured Andrew would recover, she volunteered to nurse prisoners of war on board two ships in Charleston harbor, where there had been an outbreak of cholera. She died from the disease in November 1781, and was buried in an unmarked grave, leaving Jackson an orphan at age 14. Later, he taught school and studied law in Salisbury, North Carolina. In 1787, he was admitted to the bar, and moved to Jonesborough, in what was then the Western District of North Carolina. This area later became the Southwest Territory (1790), the precursor to the state of Tennessee.

Though his legal education was scanty, Jackson knew enough to be a country lawyer on the frontier. Since he was not from a distinguished family, he had to make his career by his own merits; soon he began to prosper in the rough-and-tumble world of frontier law. Most of the actions grew out of disputed land-claims, or from assault and battery. In 1788, he was appointed Solicitor of the Western District and held the same position in the government of the Territory South of the River Ohio after 1791.

Jackson was a delegate to the Tennessee constitutional convention in 1796. When Tennessee achieved statehood that year, Jackson was elected its U.S. Representative. The following year he was elected U.S. Senator as a Democratic-Republican, but he resigned within a year. In 1798, he was appointed a judge of the Tennessee Supreme Court, serving until 1804.

Planter, merchant, and investor

Besides his legal and political career, Jackson prospered as a slave owner, planter, and merchant. He built a home and the first general store in Gallatin, Tennessee in 1803. The next year he acquired the Hermitage, a plantation in Davidson County, near Nashville, Tennessee. Jackson later added to the plantation, which eventually grew to . The primary crop was cotton, grown by enslaved workers. Jackson started with nine slaves, held as many as 44 by 1820, and later held up to 150 slaves. Throughout his lifetime Jackson may have owned as many as 300 slaves.

Jackson was a major land speculator in West Tennessee after he had negotiated the sale of the land from the Chickasaw Nation in 1818 (termed the Jackson Purchase) and was one of the three original investors who founded Memphis, Tennessee in 1819 (see History of Memphis, Tennessee).

Military career

War of 1812

Jackson was appointed commander of the Tennessee militia in 1801, with the rank of colonel.

During the War of 1812, Tecumseh incited the "Red Stick" Creek Indians of northern Alabama and Georgia to attack white settlements. Four hundred settlers were killed in the Fort Mims Massacre. In the resulting Creek War, Jackson commanded the American forces, which included Tennessee militia, U.S. regulars, and Cherokee, Choctaw, and Southern Creek Indians.

Jackson defeated the Red Stick Creeks at the Battle of Horseshoe Bend in 1814. Eight hundred "Red Sticks" were killed, but Jackson spared chief William Weatherford. Sam Houston and David Crockett served under Jackson in this campaign. After the victory, Jackson imposed the Treaty of Fort Jackson upon both the Northern Creek enemies and the Southern Creek allies, wresting twenty million acres (81,000 km²) from all Creeks for white settlement. Jackson was appointed Major General after this action.

. General Andrew Jackson stands on the parapet of his makeshift defenses as his troops repulse attacking Highlanders, as imagined by painter Edward Percy Moran in 1910.]] Jackson's service in the War of 1812 against the United Kingdom was conspicuous for bravery and success. When British forces threatened New Orleans, Jackson took command of the defenses, including militia from several western states and territories. He was a strict officer but was popular with his troops. It was said he was "tough as old hickory" wood on the battlefield, which gave him the nickname of "Old Hickory". In the Battle of New Orleans on January 8, 1815, Jackson's 5,000 soldiers won a decisive victory over 7,500 British. At the end of the battle, the British had 2,037 casualties: 291 dead (including three senior generals), 1,262 wounded, and 484 captured or missing. The Americans had 71 casualties: 13 dead, 39 wounded, and 19 missing.

The war, and especially this victory, made Jackson a national hero. He received the Thanks of Congress and a gold medal by resolution of February 27, 1815. Alexis de Tocqueville later commented in Democracy in America that Jackson "...was raised to the Presidency, and has been maintained there, solely by the recollection of a victory which he gained, twenty years ago, under the walls of New Orleans."

First Seminole War

Jackson served in the military again during the First Seminole War. He was ordered by President James Monroe in December 1817 to lead a campaign in Georgia against the Seminole and Creek Indians. Jackson was also charged with preventing Spanish Florida from becoming a refuge for runaway slaves. Critics later alleged that Jackson exceeded orders in his Florida actions. His directions were to "terminate the conflict." Jackson believed the best way to do this was to seize Florida. Before going, Jackson wrote to Monroe, "Let it be signified to me through any channel... that the possession of the Floridas would be desirable to the United States, and in sixty days it will be accomplished." Monroe gave Jackson orders that were purposely ambiguous, sufficient for international denials.

in Pensacola, Florida]]

The Seminoles attacked Jackson's Tennessee volunteers. The Seminoles' attack, however, left their villages vulnerable, and Jackson burned them and the crops. He found letters that indicated that the Spanish and British were secretly assisting the Indians. Jackson believed that the United States could not be secure as long as Spain and the United Kingdom encouraged Indians to fight, and argued that his actions were undertaken in self-defense. Jackson captured Pensacola, Florida, with little more than some warning shots, and deposed the Spanish governor. He captured and then tried and executed two British subjects, Robert Ambrister and Alexander Arbuthnot, who had been supplying and advising the Indians. Jackson's action also struck fear into the Seminole tribes as word spread of his ruthlessness in battle (Jackson was known as "Sharp Knife").

The executions, and Jackson's invasion of territory belonging to Spain, a country with which the U.S. was not at war, created an international incident. Many in the Monroe administration called for Jackson to be censured. Jackson's actions were defended by Secretary of State John Quincy Adams, an early believer in Manifest Destiny. When the Spanish minister demanded a "suitable punishment" for Jackson, Adams wrote back, "Spain must immediately [decide] either to place a force in Florida adequate at once to the protection of her territory ... or cede to the United States a province, of which she retains nothing but the nominal possession, but which is, in fact ... a post of annoyance to them." Adams used Jackson's conquest, and Spain's own weakness, to get Spain to cede Florida to the United States by the Adams-Onís Treaty. Jackson was subsequently named military governor and served from March 10, 1821, to December 31, 1821.

Election of 1824

The Tennessee legislature nominated Jackson for President in 1822. It also elected him U.S. Senator again. By 1824, the Democratic-Republican Party had become the only functioning national party. Its Presidential candidates had been chosen by an informal Congressional nominating caucus, but this had become unpopular. In 1824, most of the Democratic-Republicans in Congress boycotted the caucus. Those who attended backed Treasury Secretary William H. Crawford for President and Albert Gallatin for Vice President. A Pennsylvanian convention nominated Jackson for President a month later, stating that the irregular caucus ignored the "voice of the people" and was a "vain hope that the American people might be thus deceived into a belief that he [Crawford] was the regular democratic candidate." Gallatin criticized Jackson as "an honest man and the idol of the worshippers of military glory, but from incapacity, military habits, and habitual disregard of laws and constitutional provisions, altogether unfit for the office."

Besides Jackson and Crawford, Secretary of State John Quincy Adams and House Speaker Henry Clay were also candidates. Jackson received the most popular votes (but not a majority, and four states had no popular ballot). The Electoral votes were split four ways, with Jackson having a plurality. Since no candidate received a majority, the election was decided by the House of Representatives, which chose Adams. Jackson supporters denounced this result as a "corrupt bargain" because Clay gave his state's support to Adams, and subsequently Adams appointed Clay as Secretary of State. As none of Kentucky's electors had initially voted for Adams, and Jackson had won the popular vote, it appeared that Henry Clay had violated the will of the people and substituted his own judgment in return for personal political favors. Jackson's defeat burnished his political credentials, however; many voters believed the "man of the people" had been robbed by the "corrupt aristocrats of the East."

Election of 1828

of Gen. Jackson, Jackson County Courthouse, Kansas City, Missouri]]

Jackson resigned from the Senate in October 1825, but continued his quest for the Presidency. The Tennessee legislature again nominated Jackson for President. Jackson attracted Vice President John C. Calhoun, Martin Van Buren, and Thomas Ritchie into his camp (Van Buren and Ritchie were previous supporters of Crawford). Van Buren, with help from his friends in Philadelphia and Richmond, revived the old Republican Party, gave it a new name as the Democratic Party, "restored party rivalries," and forged a national organization of durability. The Jackson coalition handily defeated Adams in 1828.

During the election, Jackson's opponents referred to him as a "jackass". Jackson liked the name and used the jackass as a symbol for a while, but it died out. However, it later became the symbol for the Democratic Party when cartoonist Thomas Nast popularized it.

The campaign was very much a personal one. As was the custom at the time, neither candidate personally campaigned, but their political followers organized many campaign events. Both candidates were rhetorically attacked in the press, which reached a low point when the press accused Jackson's wife Rachel of bigamy. Though the accusation was true, as were most personal attacks leveled against him during the campaign, it was based on events that occurred many years prior (1791 to 1794). Jackson said he would forgive those who insulted him, but he would never forgive the ones who attacked his wife. Rachel died suddenly on December 22, 1828, before his inauguration, and was buried on Christmas Eve.

Inauguration

Jackson was the first President to invite the public to attend the White House ball honoring his first inauguration. Many poor people came to the inaugural ball in their homemade clothes. The crowd became so large that Jackson's guards could not keep them out of the White House, which became so crowded with people that dishes and decorative pieces inside were eventually broken. Some people stood on good chairs in muddied boots just to get a look at the President. The crowd had become so wild that the attendants poured punch in tubs and put it on the White House lawn to lure people outside. Jackson's raucous populism earned him the nickname "King Mob".

Election of 1832

In the 1832 presidential election, Jackson easily won reelection as the candidate of the Democratic Party against Henry Clay, of the National Republican Party, and William Wirt, of the Anti-Masonic Party. Jackson jettisoned Vice President John C. Calhoun because of his support for nullification and involvement in the Petticoat affair, replacing him with longtime confidant Martin Van Buren of New York.

Presidency 1829–1837

Name	Jackson
President	Andrew Jackson
President start	1829
President end	1837
Vice president	John C. Calhoun
Vice president start	1829
Vice president end	1832
Vice president 2	None
Vice president start 2	1832
Vice president end 2	1833
Vice president 3	Martin Van Buren
Vice president start 3	1833
Vice president end 3	1837
State	Martin Van Buren
State start	1829
State end	1831
State 2	Edward Livingston
State start 2	1831
State end 2	1833
State 3	Louis McLane
State start 3	1833
State end 3	1834
State 4	John Forsyth
State start 4	1834
State end 4	1837
War	John H. Eaton
War start	1829
War end	1831
War 2	Lewis Cass
War start 2	1831
War end 2	1836
Treasury	Samuel D. Ingham
Treasury start	1829
Treasury end	1831
Treasury 2	Louis McLane
Treasury start 2	1831
Treasury end 2	1833
Treasury 3	William J. Duane
Treasury date 3	1833
Treasury 4	Roger B. Taney
Treasury start 4	1833
Treasury end 4	1834
Treasury 5	Levi Woodbury
Treasury start 5	1834
Treasury end 5	1837
Justice	John M. Berrien
Justice start	1829
Justice end	1831
Justice 2	Roger B. Taney
Justice start 2	1831
Justice end 2	1833
Justice 3	Benjamin F. Butler
Justice start 3	1833
Justice end 3	1837
Post	William T. Barry
Post start	1829
Post end	1835
Post 2	Amos Kendall
Post start 2	1835
Post end 2	1837
Navy	John Branch
Navy start	1829
Navy end	1831
Navy 2	Levi Woodbury
Navy start 2	1831
Navy end 2	1834
Navy 3	Mahlon Dickerson
Navy start 3	1834
Navy end 3	1837

Federal debt

In January 1835, Jackson paid off the entire national debt, the only time in U.S. history that has been accomplished. However, this accomplishment was short lived. A severe depression from 1837 to 1844 caused a tenfold increase in national debt within its first year.

Electoral College

Jackson repeatedly called for the abolition of the Electoral College by constitutional amendment in his annual messages to Congress as President. In his third annual message to Congress, he expressed the view "I have heretofore recommended amendments of the Federal Constitution giving the election of President and Vice-President to the people and limiting the service of the former to a single term. So important do I consider these changes in our fundamental law that I can not, in accordance with my sense of duty, omit to press them upon the consideration of a new Congress."

Spoils system

When Jackson became President, he implemented the theory of rotation in office, declaring it "a leading principle in the republican creed." However, the effect was not as drastic as expected or portrayed. By the end of his term, Jackson dismissed less than twenty percent of the Federal employees at the start of it. While Jackson did not start the "spoils system", he did indirectly encourage its growth for many years to come.

Opposition to the National Bank

, "is trying to kill me, but I will kill it!"]] The Second Bank of the United States was authorized for a twenty year period during James Madison's tenure in 1816. As President, Jackson worked to rescind the bank's federal charter. In Jackson's veto message (written by George Bancroft), the bank needed to be abolished because:

It concentrated the nation's financial strength in a single institution.

It exposed the government to control by foreign interests.

It served mainly to make the rich richer.

It exercised too much control over members of Congress.

It favored northeastern states over southern and western states.

Banks are controlled by a few select families.

Banks have a long history of instigating wars between nations, forcing them to borrow funding to pay for them.

Following Jefferson, Jackson supported an "agricultural republic" and felt the Bank improved the fortunes of an "elite circle" of commercial and industrial entrepreneurs at the expense of farmers and laborers. After a titanic struggle, Jackson succeeded in destroying the Bank by vetoing its 1832 re-charter by Congress and by withdrawing U.S. funds in 1833. (See Banking in the Jacksonian Era)

.]]

The bank's money-lending functions were taken over by the legions of local and state banks that sprang up. This fed an expansion of credit and speculation. At first, as Jackson withdrew money from the Bank to invest it in other banks, land sales, canal construction, cotton production, and manufacturing boomed. However, due to the practice of banks issuing paper banknotes that were not backed by gold or silver reserves, there was soon rapid inflation and mounting state debts. Then, in 1836, Jackson issued the Specie Circular, which required buyers of government lands to pay in "specie" (gold or silver coins). The result was a great demand for specie, which many banks did not have enough of to exchange for their notes. These banks collapsed.

The U.S. Senate censured Jackson on March 28, 1834, for his action in removing U.S. funds from the Bank of the United States. When the Jacksonians had a majority in the Senate, the censure was expunged.

Nullification crisis

Another notable crisis during Jackson's period of office was the "Nullification Crisis", or "secession crisis", of 1828 â€“ 1832, which merged issues of sectional strife with disagreements over tariffs. Critics alleged that high tariffs (the "Tariff of Abominations") on imports of common manufactured goods made in Europe made those goods more expensive than ones from the northern U.S., raising the prices paid by planters in the South. Southern politicians argued that tariffs benefited northern industrialists at the expense of southern farmers.

The issue came to a head when Vice President Calhoun, in the South Carolina Exposition and Protest of 1828, supported the claim of his home state, South Carolina, that it had the right to "nullify"—declare void—the tariff legislation of 1828, and more generally the right of a state to nullify any Federal laws that went against its interests. Although Jackson sympathized with the South in the tariff debate, he was also a strong supporter of a strong union, with effective powers for the central government. Jackson attempted to face down Calhoun over the issue, which developed into a bitter rivalry between the two men.

Particularly notable was an incident at the April 13, 1830, Jefferson Day dinner, involving after-dinner toasts. Robert Hayne began by toasting to "The Union of the States, and the Sovereignty of the States." Jackson then rose, and in a booming voice added "Our federal Union: It must be preserved!" â€“ a clear challenge to Calhoun. Calhoun clarified his position by responding "The Union: Next to our Liberty, the most dear!"

The next year, Calhoun and Jackson broke apart politically from one another. Around this time, the Petticoat affair caused further resignations from Jackson's cabinet, leading to its reorganization as the "Kitchen Cabinet". Martin Van Buren, despite resigning as Secretary of State, played a leading role in the new unofficial cabinet. At the first Democratic National Convention, privately engineered by members of the Kitchen Cabinet, Van Buren replaced Calhoun as Jackson's running mate. In December 1832, Calhoun resigned as Vice President to become a U.S. Senator for South Carolina.

In response to South Carolina's nullification claim, Jackson vowed to send troops to South Carolina to enforce the laws. In December 1832, he issued a resounding proclamation against the "nullifiers", stating that he considered "the power to annul a law of the United States, assumed by one State, incompatible with the existence of the Union, contradicted expressly by the letter of the Constitution, unauthorized by its spirit, inconsistent with every principle on which it was founded, and destructive of the great object for which it was formed." South Carolina, the President declared, stood on "the brink of insurrection and treason," and he appealed to the people of the state to reassert their allegiance to that Union for which their ancestors had fought. Jackson also denied the right of secession: "The Constitution... forms a government not a league... To say that any State may at pleasure secede from the Union is to say that the United States is not a nation."

Jackson asked Congress to pass a "Force Bill" explicitly authorizing the use of military force to enforce the tariff, but its passage was delayed until protectionists led by Clay agreed to a reduced Compromise Tariff. The Force Bill and Compromise Tariff passed on March 1, 1833, and Jackson signed both. The South Carolina Convention then met and rescinded its nullification ordinance. The Force Bill became moot because it was no longer needed.

Indian removal

Perhaps the most controversial aspect of Jackson's presidency was his policy regarding American Indians, which involved the ethnic cleansing of several Indian tribes. Jackson was a leading advocate of a policy known as Indian removal. Jackson had been negotiating treaties and removal policies with Indian leaders for years before his election as president. Many tribes and portions of tribes had been removed to Arkansas Territory and further west of the Mississippi River without the suffering of what later became known as the Trail of Tears. Further, many white Americans advocated total extermination of the "savages", particularly those who had experienced frontier wars. Jackson's support of removal policies can be best understood by examination of those prior cases he had personally negotiated, rather than those in post-presidential years. Nevertheless, Jackson is often held responsible for all that took place in the 1830s.

In his December 8, 1829, First Annual Message to Congress, Jackson stated:

}}

Before his election as president, Jackson had been involved with the issue of Indian removal for over ten years. The removal of the Native Americans to the west of the Mississippi River had been a major part of his political agenda in both the 1824 and 1828 presidential elections. After his election he signed the Indian Removal Act into law in 1830. The Act authorized the President to negotiate treaties to buy tribal lands in the east in exchange for lands further west, outside of existing U.S. state borders.

While frequently frowned upon in the North, and opposed by Jeremiah Evarts and Theodore Frelinghuysen, the Removal Act was popular in the South, where population growth and the discovery of gold on Cherokee land had increased pressure on tribal lands. The state of Georgia became involved in a contentious jurisdictional dispute with the Cherokees, culminating in the 1832 U.S. Supreme Court decision (Worcester v. Georgia), which ruled that Georgia could not impose its laws upon Cherokee tribal lands. Jackson is often quoted (regarding the decision) as having said, "John Marshall has made his decision, now let him enforce it!" Whether he said it is disputed.

In any case, Jackson used the Georgia crisis to pressure Cherokee leaders to sign a removal treaty. A small faction of Cherokees led by John Ridge negotiated the Treaty of New Echota with Jackson's representatives. Ridge was not a recognized leader of the Cherokee Nation, and this document was rejected by most Cherokees as illegitimate. Over 15,000 Cherokees signed a petition in protest of the proposed removal; the list was ignored by the Supreme Court and the U.S. legislature, in part due to delays and timing. The treaty was enforced by Jackson's successor, Van Buren, who ordered 7,000 armed troops to remove the Cherokees. Due to the infighting between political factions, many Cherokees thought their appeals were still being considered until troops arrived. This abrupt and forced removal resulted in the deaths of over 4,000 Cherokees on the "Trail of Tears".

of Jackson.]] By the 1830s, under constant pressure from settlers, each of the five southern tribes had ceded most of its lands, but sizable self-government groups lived in Georgia, Alabama, Mississippi, and Florida. All of these (except the Seminoles) had moved far in the coexistence with whites, and they resisted suggestions that they should voluntarily remove themselves. Their nonviolent methods earned them the title the Five Civilized Tribes.

More than 45,000 American Indians were relocated to the West during Jackson's administration. A few Cherokees escaped forced relocation, or walked back afterwards, escaping to the high Smoky Mountains along the North Carolina and Tennessee border.

Jackson's administration bought about 100 million acres (400,000 km²) of Indian land for about $68 million and 32 million acres (130,000 km²) of western land. Jackson was criticized at the time for his role in these events, and the criticism has grown over the years. U.S. historian Robert Vincent Remini characterizes the Indian Removal era as "one of the unhappiest chapters in American history."

Attack and assassination attempt

's attempt on Jackson's life, as depicted in an 1835 etching.]]

The first attempt to do bodily harm to a President was against Jackson. Jackson ordered the dismissal of Robert B. Randolph from the Navy for embezzlement. On May 6, 1833, Jackson sailed on USS Cygnet to Fredericksburg, Virginia, where he was to lay the cornerstone on a monument near the grave of Mary Ball Washington, George Washington's mother. During a stopover near Alexandria, Virginia, Randolph appeared and struck the President. He then fled the scene with several members of Jackson's party chasing him, including the well known writer Washington Irving. Jackson decided not to press charges. Lawrence was then restrained, with legend saying that Jackson attacked Lawrence with his cane, prompting his aides to restrain him. Others present, including David Crockett, restrained and disarmed Lawrence.

Richard Lawrence gave the doctors several reasons for the shooting. He had recently lost his job painting houses and somehow blamed Jackson. He claimed that with the President dead, "money would be more plenty" (a reference to Jackson's struggle with the Bank of the United States) and that he "could not rise until the President fell." Finally, he informed his interrogators that he was a deposed English King—specifically, Richard III, dead since 1485—and that Jackson was merely his clerk. He was deemed insane and institutionalized.

Afterward, due to curiosity concerning the double misfires, the pistols were tested and retested. Each time they performed perfectly. When these results were known, many believed that Jackson had been protected by the same Providence that had protected the young nation. This national pride was a large part of the Jacksonian cultural myth fueling American expansion in the 1830s. Andrew Jackson]]

Judicial appointments

In total Jackson appointed 24 federal judges: six Justices to the Supreme Court of the United States and eighteen judges to the United States district courts.

Supreme Court appointments

John McLean â€“ 1830.

Henry Baldwin â€“ 1830.

James Moore Wayne â€“ 1835.

Roger Brooke Taney (Chief Justice) â€“ 1836.

Philip Pendleton Barbour â€“ 1836.

John Catron â€“ 1837.

Major Supreme Court cases

Cherokee Nation v. Georgia â€“ 1831.

Worcester v. Georgia â€“ 1832.

Charles River Bridge v. Warren Bridge â€“ 1837.

States admitted to the Union

Arkansas â€“ June 15, 1836.

Michigan â€“ January 26, 1837.

Regrets

On the last day of the presidency, Jackson admitted that he had but two regrets, that he "had been unable to shoot Henry Clay or to hang John C. Calhoun."

Family and personal life

of Andrew Jackson at age 77 or 78 (1844 or 1845)]]

Shortly after Jackson first arrived in Nashville in 1788, he lived as a boarder with Rachel Stockley Donelson, the widow of John Donelson. Here Jackson became acquainted with their daughter, Rachel Donelson Robards. At the time, Rachel Robards was in an unhappy marriage with Captain Lewis Robards, a man subject to irrational fits of jealous rage. Due to Lewis Robards' temperament, the two were separated in 1790. According to Jackson, he married Rachel after hearing that Robards had obtained a divorce. However, the divorce had never been completed, making Rachel's marriage to Jackson technically bigamous and therefore invalid. After the divorce was officially completed, Rachel and Jackson remarried in 1794. To complicate matters further, evidence shows that Donelson had been living with Jackson and referred to herself as Mrs. Jackson before the petition for divorce was ever made. It was not uncommon on the frontier for relationships to be formed and dissolved unofficially, as long as they were recognized by the community.

The controversy surrounding their marriage remained a sore point for Jackson, who deeply resented attacks on his wife's honor. Jackson fought 13 duels, many nominally over his wife's honor. Charles Dickinson, the only man Jackson ever killed in a duel, had been goaded into angering Jackson by Jackson's political opponents. In the duel, fought over a horse-racing debt and an insult to his wife on May 30, 1806, Dickinson shot Jackson in the ribs before Jackson returned the fatal shot; Jackson allowed Dickinson to shoot first, knowing him to be an excellent shot, and as his opponent reloaded, Jackson shot, even as the bullet lodged itself in his chest. The bullet that struck Jackson was so close to his heart that it could never be safely removed. Jackson had been wounded so frequently in duels that it was said he "rattled like a bag of marbles." At times he coughed up blood, and he experienced considerable pain from his wounds for the rest of his life.

Rachel died of a heart attack on December 22, 1828, two weeks after her husband's victory in the election and two months before Jackson took office as President. Jackson blamed John Quincy Adams for Rachel's death because the marital scandal was brought up in the election of 1828. He felt that this had hastened her death and never forgave Adams.

Jackson had two adopted sons, Andrew Jackson Jr., the son of Rachel's brother Severn Donelson, and Lyncoya, a Creek Indian orphan adopted by Jackson after the Creek War. Lyncoya died of tuberculosis in 1828, at the age of sixteen. .]] The Jacksons also acted as guardians for eight other children. John Samuel Donelson, Daniel Smith Donelson and Andrew Jackson Donelson were the sons of Rachel's brother Samuel Donelson, who died in 1804. Andrew Jackson Hutchings was Rachel's orphaned grand nephew. Caroline Butler, Eliza Butler, Edward Butler, and Anthony Butler were the orphaned children of Edward Butler, a family friend. They came to live with the Jacksons after the death of their father.

The widower Jackson invited Rachel's niece Emily Donelson to serve as host at the White House. Emily was married to Andrew Jackson Donelson, who acted as Jackson's private secretary and in 1856 would run for Vice President on the American Party ticket. The relationship between the President and Emily became strained during the Petticoat affair, and the two became estranged for over a year. They eventually reconciled and she resumed her duties as White House host. Sarah Yorke Jackson, the wife of Andrew Jackson Jr., became cohost of the White House in 1834. It was the only time in history when two women simultaneously acted as unofficial First Lady. Sarah took over all hosting duties after Emily died from tuberculosis in 1836. Jackson used Rip Raps as a retreat, visiting between August 19, 1829 through August 16, 1835.

Jackson remained influential in both national and state politics after retiring to The Hermitage in 1837. Though a slave-holder, Jackson was a firm advocate of the federal union of the states, and declined to give any support to talk of secession.

Jackson was a lean figure standing at 6 feet, 1 inch (1.85 m) tall, and weighing between 130 and 140 pounds (64 kg) on average. Jackson also had an unruly shock of red hair, which had completely grayed by the time he became president at age 61. He had penetrating deep blue eyes. Jackson was one of the more sickly presidents, suffering from chronic headaches, abdominal pains, and a hacking cough, caused by a musket ball in his lung that was never removed, that often brought up blood and sometimes made his whole body shake. After retiring to Nashville, he enjoyed eight years of retirement and died at The Hermitage on June 8, 1845, at the age of 78, of chronic tuberculosis, dropsy, and heart failure. located at their home, The Hermitage.]] In his will, Jackson left his entire estate to his adopted son, Andrew Jackson Jr., except for specifically enumerated items that were left to various other friends and family members. About a year after retiring the presidency, Jackson became a member of the First Presbyterian Church in Nashville.

Jackson on U.S. Postage

Andrew Jackson is one of the few American presidents ever to appear on US Postage more than the usual two or three times. He died in 1845, but the U.S. Post Office did not release a postage stamp in his honor until 18 years after his death, with the issue of 1863, a 2-cent black issue, commonly referred to by collectors as the 'Black Jack'. In contrast, the first Warren Harding stamp was released only one month after his death, Lincoln, one year exactly. As Jackson was a controversial figure in his day there is speculation that officials in Washington chose to wait a period of time before issuing a stamp with his portrait. In all, Jackson has appeared on thirteen different US postage stamps, more than that of most US presidents and second only to the number of times Washington, Franklin and Lincoln have appeared. During the American Civil War the Confederate government also issued two Confederate postage stamps bearing Jackson's portrait, one a 2-cent red stamp and the other a 2-cent green stamp, both issued in 1863. Jackson also appears on other U.S. Postage stamps of the 19th and 20th centuries. In all, Jackson appears on twelve US Postage stamps to date.

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Memorials

Statue near the White House in Washington, D.C..]] .]]

Jackson's portrait appears on the United States twenty-dollar bill. He has appeared on $5, $10, $50, and $10,000 bills in the past, as well as a Confederate $1,000 bill.

Jackson's image is on the Black Jack and many other postage stamps. These include the Prominent Americans series (1965–1978) 10¢ stamp.

Memorials to Jackson include a set of four identical equestrian statues located in different parts of the United States. One is in Jackson Square in New Orleans. Another is in Nashville on the grounds of the Tennessee State Capitol. A third is in Washington, D.C. near the White House. The fourth is in Downtown Jacksonville, Florida. Equestrian statues of Jackson have also been erected elsewhere, including one with Jackson on horseback together with seated figures of James K. Polk and Andrew Johnson on the State Capitol grounds in Raleigh, North Carolina.

Numerous counties and cities are named after him, including Jacksonville, Florida; Jackson, Louisiana; Jackson, Michigan; Jackson, Mississippi; Jackson County, Mississippi; Jackson, Missouri; Jackson County, Oregon; Jacksonville, North Carolina; Jackson, Tennessee; Jackson County, Florida; Jackson Parish, Louisiana; Jackson County, Missouri; and Jackson County, Ohio.

Andrew Jackson State Park is located on the site of his birthplace in Lancaster County, South Carolina. The park features a museum about his childhood, and a bronze statue of Jackson on horseback by sculptor Anna Hyatt Huntington.

In Nashville, Old Hickory Boulevard, named for Jackson, is a historic road that encircles the city. Originally the road, aided by ferries, formed an unbroken loop around the city. Today, it is interrupted by lakes and rerouted sections. It is the longest road in the city.

Two suburbs in the eastern part of Nashville, near The Hermitage, are named for Jackson and his home: Old Hickory, Tennessee, and Hermitage, Tennessee.

A main thoroughfare in Hermitage, Tennessee is named Andrew Jackson Parkway. Several roads in the same area have names associated with Jackson, such as Andrew Jackson Way, Andrew Jackson Place, Rachel Donelson Pass, Rachel's Square Drive, Rachel's Way, Rachel's Court, Rachel's Trail, and Andrew Donelson Drive.

One of the most popular lakes in middle Tennessee is Old Hickory Lake.

Andrew Jackson High School, in Lancaster County, SC, is named after him and uses the title of "Hickory Log" for its Annual photo book.

The section of U.S. Route 74 between Charlotte, North Carolina and Wilmington, North Carolina is named the Andrew Jackson Highway.

The U.S. Army installation Fort Jackson in Columbia, South Carolina, is named in his honor.

Fort Jackson, built before the Civil War on the Mississippi River for the defense of New Orleans, was named in his honor.

USS Andrew Jackson (SSBN-619), a Lafayette-class nuclear-powered ballistic missile submarine, which served from 1963 to 1989.

Jackson Park, the third-largest park in Chicago, is named for him.

Jackson Park, a public golf course in Seattle, Washington is named for him.

Andrew Jackson Centre, the Andrew Jackson Cottage and US Rangers Centre is a "traditional thatched Ulster–Scots farmhouse built in 1750s" and "includes the home of Jackson's parents. It has been restored to its original state."

See also

Second Party System

List of Presidents of the United States

List of US Presidents on US currency

US Presidents on US postage stamps

References

Secondary sources

Biography

Brands, H. W. Andrew Jackson: His Life and Times (2005), scholarly biography emphasizing military career excerpt and text search

Brustein, Andrew. The Passions of Andrew Jackson. (2003). online review by Donald B. Cole

Hofstadter, Richard. The American Political Tradition (1948), chapter on Jackson. online in ACLS e-books

James, Marquis. The Life of Andrew Jackson Combines two books: The Border Captain and Andrew Jackson: Portrait of a President, 1933, 1937; winner of the Pulitzer Prize for Biography in 1938.

Meacham, Jon. American Lion: Andrew Jackson in the White House (2009), excerpt and text search

Parton, James. Life of Andrew Jackson (1860). Volume I, Volume III.

Remini, Robert V. The Life of Andrew Jackson. Abridgment of Remini's 3-volume monumental biography, (1988).

* Andrew Jackson and the Course of American Empire, 1767–1821 (1977); Andrew Jackson and the Course of American Freedom, 1822–1832 (1981); Andrew Jackson and the Course of American Democracy, 1833–1845 (1984).

Remini, Robert V. The Legacy of Andrew Jackson: Essays on Democracy, Indian Removal, and Slavery (1988).

Remini, Robert V. Andrew Jackson and his Indian Wars (2001).

Remini, Robert V. "Andrew Jackson", American National Biography (2000).

Wilentz, Sean. Andrew Jackson (2005), short biography, stressing Indian removal and slavery issues excerpt and text search

Specialized studies

Cave, Alfred A.. Abuse of Power: Andrew Jackson and the Indian Removal Act of 1830 (2003).

Gammon, Samuel Rhea. The Presidential Campaign of 1832 (1922).

Hammond, Bray. Andrew Jackson's Battle with the "Money Power" (1958) ch 8, of his Banks and Politics in America: From the Revolution to the Civil War (1954); Pulitzer prize.

Latner Richard B. The Presidency of Andrew Jackson: White House Politics, 1820–1837 (1979), standard survey.

Ogg, Frederic Austin ; The Reign of Andrew Jackson: A Chronicle of the Frontier in Politics 1919. Short popular survey online at Gutenberg.

Parsons, Lynn H. The Birth of Modern Politics: Andrew Jackson, John Quincy Adams, and the Election of 1828 (2009) excerpt and text search

Ratner, Lorman A. Andrew Jackson and His Tennessee Lieutenants: A Study in Political Culture (1997).

Rowland, Dunbar. Andrew Jackson's Campaign against the British, or, the Mississippi Territory in the War of 1812, concerning the Military Operations of the Americans, Creek Indians, British, and Spanish, 1813–1815 (1926).

Schama, Simon. The American Future: A History (2008).

Schlesinger, Arthur M. Jr. The Age of Jackson. (1945). Winner of the Pulitzer Prize for History. history of ideas of the era.

Syrett, Harold C. Andrew Jackson: His Contribution to the American Tradition (1953). on Jacksonian Democracy

Historiography

Bugg Jr. James L. ed. Jacksonian Democracy: Myth or Reality? (1952), excerpts from scholars.

Mabry, Donald J., Short Book Bibliography on Andrew Jackson, Historical Text Archive.

Sellers, Charles Grier, Jr. "Andrew Jackson versus the Historians", The Mississippi Valley Historical Review, Vol. 44, No. 4. (March 1958), pp. 615–634. in JSTOR.

Taylor, George Rogers, ed. Jackson Versus Biddle: The Struggle over the Second Bank of the United States (1949), excerpts from primary and secondary sources.

Ward, John William. Andrew Jackson, Symbol for an Age (1962) how writers saw him.

External links

The White House

Andrew Jackson Biography and Fact File, via American-presidents.com

Andrew Jackson, the national bank and censure

American Political History Online

White House Biography

Andrew Jackson on the Web (resource directory)

Critical Resources: Andrew Jackson and Indian Removal

A genealogical profile of the President, via argeron.com

Jackson's medical history, via doctorzebra.com

Jackson letters to Richard K. Call

Jackson's Cheddar

Andrew Jackson's Candidacy, August 25, 1828 From Texas Tides

Andrew Jackson's veto speech in 1832 regarding the Bank of the US

Transcripts of letters of Andrew Jackson at the Gilder Lehrman Institute of American History

Essay on Jackson, each member of his cabinet and First Lady - the Miller Center of Public Affairs

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