Some More on Patrick Gass-- Part 6: The Journal and Back to Soldiering and the War of 1812

Patrick Gass received his pay for the Lewis & Clark Expedition in gold, with the promise of future consideration, and went home to his friends in Wellsburg.

Here, he arranged with  the Irish schoolmaster, David M'Keehan, for the publication of his journal of the expedition, which appeared early in 1807, thus seven years before that of Lewis and Clark's own narrative was published.

Gass never exchanged the pen, though, for his sword.  In the spring of 1807, he was a soldier again.  He served for the next four years at the then frontier post of Kaskaskia, Illinois.

Then came the Second War of Independence, the War of 1812.  Formal declaration of war was made June 18, 1812,  under the administration of James Madison.  Shortly before this happened, Gass was at Nashville, Tennessee, where he was drafted into the regiment raised by Andrew Jackson  to fight the Creek Indians.  Some disturbances had broken out along the frontier.

--Brock-Perry

Action Around Apalachicola Bay-- Part 5: The Creek War and the Battle of Horseshoe Bend

Angered that they were turned down by Spanish governor Gonzalez Manrique. they turned to John Innerarity at the Forbes store  in Pensacola.  Innerarity feared that an Indian war was about to begin and showed them only empty barrels and turned down their request for guns and gunpowder

However, Governor Manrique decided to help the Creeks and  provided Chief Peter McQueen with 1,000 pounds of gunpowder.  An attack on Fort Mimms caused the United States to declare war on the Creeks.

Alarmed that the Creeks would become a dangerous threat if the British armed them, Andrew Jackson's Tennessee volunteers marched to the Alabama River from Nashville and defeated the Creeks at the Battle of Horseshoe Bend on March 27, 1814, and forced the Indians to ceded half of their territory to the Americans.

With some justification,  hostile factions among the Creeks and Seminoles blamed Forbes & Company for their lack of firearms and gunpowder that led to their defeat and loss of land.

--Brock-Perry

Stokely Donelson Hays-- Part 2: The Fight Between Andrew Jackson and the Bentons

OIn September 1813, Andrew Jackson, Gen. John Coffee and Stokely hays deliberately strolled by the Nashville City Hotel where they knew Thomas Hart Benton and his brother Jesse were staying.  A feud had been brewing between Jackson and the Bentons and they were there to provoke it even more.

Both sides had threatened the other.  And, a confrontation occurred.  never one to back down from a fight, Andrew Jackson was wounded and the others fought.  Jackson just barely survived his wound.

Sounds like the making a a good book.

Stokely Hays fought with Jackson and Coffee in the Creek War and at the Battle of New Orleans.

--Brock-Perry

Montgomery Bell-- Part 3: His Money used for the Montgomery Bell Academy

Montgomery Bell gave $20,000 in his will to educate children ages 10-14 who would otherwise not be able to get an education and that bequest has resulted in the Montgomery Bell Academy in Nashville, Tennessee

The Montgomery Bell Academy was established in 1867 as the successor to two previous schools, one of which was the Western Military Institute, which Sam Davis, the "Boy Hero of the Confederacy" attended and the University of Nashville.

In 1881, the school moved to an estate and received the name Montgomery Bell Academy because of his endowment to the school with the stipulation that it remain all male.

It still exists.

--Brock-Perry

Cumberland Furnace-- Part 2: Montgomery Bell's Ironworks

The Highland Rim around Nashville and area was found to have abundant iron ore deposits, so locating in the area was a natural choice.

In 1793, General James Robertson and William Sheppard purchased 640 acres from James Campbell, a private in North Carolina's Continental Line during the American Revolution.  They erected a furnace for an ironworks.

It was in operation by 1796.  In 1804, Montgomery Bell of Chester, Pennsylvania, bought the furnace for $16,000 and built a second furnace and by 1812 had a contract to furnish the U.S. government with cannon shot, gunpowder and whiskey.  (Not sure what the whiskey had to do with the ironworks.  It must have been a side business for Bell.)

During the War of 1812, Montgomery Bell became the chief supplier of heavy armaments for both the Navy and Andrew Jackson's army.

--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

Trump to Visit Hermitage for Jackson's Birthday-- Part 1

From the March 13, 2017, Lebanon (Tennessee) Democrat.

President Trump was to visit Andrew Jackson's Hermitage outside of Nashville on Wednesday before a rally in that city.  He becomes the 14th president to visit and the first since Ronald Reagan did in 1982.  He will lay a wreath on Jackson's grave.  Trump also has placed a picture of Jackson in the Oval Office.  All this coming at a time when Jackson is being blackballed by many for owning slaves and his treatment to the Indians.  Plus, his picture on the twenty dollar bills is going to be replaced.

I admire President Trump for taking this stance.

Andrew Jackson is a big reason the United States became as strong of a country as it is.

Way to Go, President.  --Brock-Perry

Tennessee's William Carroll: War of 1812 and Governor-- Part 1

From the Tennessee Encyclopedia of History & Culture.

(1788-1844).

War of 1812 veteran and served as state governor for all but two years between 1821 and 1835.

Born near Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania and was oldest son of Thomas Carroll who was an associate of Albert Gallatin, Secretary of the Treasury for Presidents Jefferson and Madison.

He came to Nashville in 1810, at age 22, with a letter from Gallatin to Andrew Jackson he used to establish connections to open a hardware store and nail factory.  These businesses were very successful and he rose to the forefront of the town's development.

In 1816,he purchased the General Jackson, the first steamboat on the Cumberland River.

His War of 1812 Service Next.  --Brock-Perry

Thomas Hart Benton-- Part 2: Got Into Brawl With Jackson

From Wikipedia.

Born March 14, 1782   Died April 10, 1858.

Thomas Hart Benton moved his family to a plantation in Tennessee, near Nashville, and continued his legal education.  While there, he came to know Andrew Jackson.

With the outbreak of the War of 1812, Jackson made Benton his aide-de-camp with the rank of lieutenant-colonel.  Jackson then assigned Benton to go to Washington, D.C., to represent his interests there.  Benton did not like this assignment.

In 1813, he engaged Jackson in a frontier brawl in which Jackson was wounded.

--Brock-Perry

Tennessee's George Washington Campbell-- Part 5: After the War and His Connection to Tennessee's Capitol

After the war, Campbell was a U.S. Senator and helped negotoiate the Jackson Purchase of Indian land.

Then he became the first Tennesseean to be an ambassador when he was appointed to Russia.  He helped adjust Denmark's claims against U.S. privateers for disruption of commerce during the War of 1812.  After that it was back to Tennessee as a judge.

On December 11, 1843, he sold a tract of land known as "Campbell's Hill" to the City of Nashville for $30,000.  It was transferred to the State of Tennessee and became the site of Tennessee's capitol.

He died in 1848 and is buried in the family plot in the Nashville City Cemetery.

--Brock-Perry