Clarksville and Andy-- Part 2: Andrew Arrives in Town

On January 13, 1813, Andrew Jackson arrived in Clarksville, Tennessee, on the first of 13 boats carrying infantry on their first leg of a voyage down the Mississippi to stop the British in the Gulf of Mexico area.  Cavalrymen, including 31 from Montgomery County were moving overland to join him.

Jackson's quartermaster, Thomas Hart Benton, was in Clarksville and reputedly brandished a bayonet on local merchants to get them to sell 160 barrels of flour.  They did, but Benton ended up paying $8 a barrel instead of the current going rate of $5.50.

Jackson then continued on his journey, finally arriving at Natchez, Mississippi, where he received rumors that the British were amassing 14,000 troops in the West Indies for the purpose of capturing New Orleans.

Jackson prepared to go there to defend the city.