General Nathaniel Taylor-- Part 2: A Question of Guns

As they marched southward, the men did a lot of road building and guarding wagons.

Many were stationed at Camp Mandeville near Mobile in February 1814, where they encountered much disease.  Captain Joseph Scott's 104-man company had 31 listed as sick in their final muster.

From the East Tennessee Historical Society.

From 1800 to 1814, Nathaniel Taylor became quite a rich and successful businessman and even had iron forges.

In 1814-1815, after the defeat of the Creek Indians, the U.S. Secretary of War directed a call for 2,500 Tennessee militia to march south and man forts in the recently captured territory.  Taylor's brigade was part of this.  Evidently, there was an acute lack of weapons and a bit of a confrontation along the way with the commander of a regular U.S. Army regiment about his having surplus guns.

On November 9, at Fort Jackson, half of Taylor's troops were without guns.

Brock-Perry