Tennessee Volunteer Militia Leave Clarksville for New Orleans

The Tennessee Volunteer Militia left Clarksville, Tennessee, on November 15, 1814 and got to New Orleans in time to take part in the night battle on December 23, 1814, and then the decisive Battle of New Orleans on January 8, 1815.

In addition to guns, powder and supplies, the transport boats also carried cannonballs made by Ironmaster Montgomery Bell from his Cumberland Furnace in Dickson County.

Clarksville had a reenactment of the event on November 15, 2014, two hundred years later.  Bicentennial, you know.

--Brock-Perry

Andy and Clarksville-- Part 3: "Old Hickory"

In February 1813, Andrew Jackson learned that the War Department had ordered him to disband his army and send them home.  He refused to do that and said he'd would instead lead them back home himself.

He them marched them back to Tennessee and was really hard on his force, so tough that the men said he was "Tough as Hickory," from whence he got the name "Old Hickory."

Once back in Nashville, he got involved in a duel as a second between Jesse Benton, Thomas Hart Benton's brother and William Carroll (Later Tennessee governor).   The duel fortunately did not result in any deaths.

Later there was a free-for-all fight between Thomas Hart Benton and Jackson.

Boys Will be Boys.  --Brock-Perry

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.

Clarksville, Tn., and Andy in the War of 1812-- Part 1: British meddling In Indian Affairs

From the November 2, 2014, Clarksville (Tn) Leaf-Chronicle "Remember When: Andy and Tennessee in the War of 1812" by Rubye Patch.

The last two posts were about Tennessee militia leaving Clarksville to go to fight with Andrew Jackson at New Orleans at the Battle of New Orleans in 1815.  A marker was placed by where they left Clarksville for their river trip.

As it turns out, in this article, the general and militia had left from the same place the year before in what ended up as a move down the Mississippi that was ordered back by the U.S. government.

A big reason for the War of 1812 was British meddling with American Indians and getting them to resist and fight white settlers moving into their territory.  This was a huge reason Tennessee supported the war.

--Brock-Perry

Marker Dedication in Tennessee-- Part 1: With Jackson to New Orleans

From the October 4, 2017, Clarksville (Tn) Online  "War of 1812 talk, marker dedication set for October 15th."

The Clarksville-Montgomery County Arts and Heritage Council along with the Customs House Museum will unveil a historical highway marker commemorating Clarksville's role in the War of 1812.

It will be placed at Riverside Drive near the site where Tennessee militia boarded flatboats for the long journey to fight with Jackson at the Battle of New Orleans.

The marker will be unveiled between 2 and 4 p.m. at the Customs House Museum.

--Brock-Perry