Andy Jackson Smith News Today

An escaped slave with a central Illinois connection grabbed the colors from a falling comrade and charged the cannons in a Civil War battle. Hear how Andy Jackson Smith won the Medal of Honor more than a century after his bravery. Senator Dick Durbin comes to Normal to push for electric vehicle infrastructure as part of the Democratic party effort to build support for the Biden jobs and infrastructure bill. And the Illinois House Speaker and Republican leader talk about the state budget.

Sharon MacDonald Andrew Jackson Smith was born a slave in Kentucky in 1842, the probable son of a slave holder. He escaped to the Union Army, became the servant of an officer from central Illinois, and later a soldier who distinguished himself for bravery "even in the cannon’s mouth." Up from slavery That is not the only remarkable think about Smith, according to retired Illinois State University history professor Sharon MacDonald, who has written a book about the life of Andy Jackson Smith...