Lyncoya Jackson

Lyncoya Jackson (c. 1811 – July 1, 1828)[2] was a Creek Indian child adopted and raised by American President Andrew Jackson and his wife Rachel Jackson. He had been presented Lyncoya by Creek women, who suggested for the baby to be murdered due to the fact his parents had been killed. Deciding to protect him, Andrew Jackson sent him along to be raised by his wife while he continued to lead his army.[3] Born to Creek (Muscogee/Red Stick) parents, he was orphaned during the Creek War following the Battle of Tallushatchee. Lyncoya was brought to Jackson after the surviving women in the village refused to care for him.[1] Jackson took pity on the orphan, writing that he felt an "unusual sympathy" for the child, perhaps because of Jackson's own past as an orphan.[1]

A Pictorial Biography of Andrew Jackson by John Frost (New York, 1860)[1]

Lyncoya was brought to the Jackson home, The Hermitage, in 1813.[4][5] He was educated along with Andrew Jackson's first adopted son, Andrew Jackson Jr.,[4][5][6] and Jackson even had aspirations to send him to the American military academy, West Point, but this proved impossible. Instead, Lyncoya was apprenticed to be a saddle maker until he died of tuberculosis in 1828.[4][5][6]