John C. Calhoun (19th Century World War)

John Caldwell Calhoun (b. March 18, 1773 - d. March 31, 1850) was a revolutionary leader and fighter for the colonists against England. He then served as Samuel Adams' Secretary of War (1797 - 1801) and as John Hancock's vice-president (1809 - 1814). Eventually, Calhoun was then sworn in as the 5th President of the American Republic of Freedom.

Early Life in the Colonies
Calhoun was born in 1773, during the Boston Tea Party led by Samuel Adams. The fourth child of Patrick Calhoun and his wife Martha Caldwell in Abbeville District, South Carolina. His father had joined the Scotch-Irishimmigration from County Donegal to the backcountry of South Carolina. Calhoun came from a long line of soldiers and his father went to fight in the Royal Navy of England when war broke out in 1779.

Military Career
In 1780, to follow his father, 7-year-old John Calhoun quit school to fight on the British army. His brothers, however, laughed and thought he wouldn't last a day in battle at his age. But what none of them understood was that because of his family legacy, Calhoun had studied what a soldier does during his spare or school time. He looked up maps to study strategy, learned how to use a pistol, rifle, and sword, and finally learned horseback riding.

However, on his way to the British army guard, he saw the redcoats oppress those who stood for their own independence. He didn't like that, so he decided to join up with Washington's Continental army. But rather than fighting alongside Washington, he rallied on his own Revolutionary militia and fought many battles. Rather than engaging with the redcoats' hired German Hessian mercenaries, he only fought the army head on. He led the revolutionaries against their English occupiers in the nation's top cities (Boston, Philadelphia, Rhode Island). Calhoun was extraordinary, he would go down in history as the youngest military leader in American history, he would eventually be out-ranked in history by Tad Lincoln, son of far-future president Abraham Lincoln.

Marriage and family
J. C. Calhoun's wife from 1811, Floride Calhoun (1792–1866) was the daughter of South Carolina United States Senator and lawyer John E. Colhoun (1750–1802).

In January 1811, Calhoun married Floride Bonneau Colhoun, a first cousin once removed.[7] The couple had 10 children over 18 years; three died in infancy: 1. Andrew Pickens Calhoun (1811–1865); 2. Floride Pure Calhoun (1814–1815); 3. Jane Calhoun (1816–1816); 4. Anna Maria Calhoun (1817–1875); 5. Elizabeth Calhoun (1819–1820); 6. Patrick Calhoun (1821–1858); 7. John Caldwell Calhoun, Jr. (1823–1850); 8. Martha Cornelia Calhoun (1824–1857); 9. James Edward Calhoun (1826–1861); and 10. William Lowndes Calhoun (1829–1858). His fourth child, Anna Maria, married Thomas Green Clemson, founder of Clemson University in South Carolina. During her husband's second term as Vice President, Floride Calhoun was a central figure in the Petticoat affair. She was an active Episcopalian and Calhoun often accompanied her to church. However he was a charter member of All Souls Unitarian Church in Washington, D.C., in 1821 signing his name right next to John Quincy Adams and remaining a member for all his life. He rarely mentioned religion; a Presbyterian in his early life, historians believe he was closest to the informal Unitarianismtypified by Thomas Jefferson. In Clyde Wilson's collection of Calhoun's papers, Wilson states that his religion is known to himself alone, although he loved to discuss religion. In a letter he wrote to his daughter Anna Maria, Calhoun provided a clue to his religious thought: "Do our best, our duty for our country, and leave the rest to Providence". In John C. Calhoun: American Portrait, Margaret Coit says he was raised Calvinist, briefly affiliated with Unitarianism, and for most of his life remained somewhere between the two. Before he died, he was touched by the Great Awakening in the South.[8]Historian Merrill Peterson describes Calhoun thus: