| Notes |
- Source: Early Tennessee Settlers - 1700's to 1900's Genealogy.Com
Census of the Cumberland Settlements, 1770-90, Davidson County Census, Page 48
"Hand, Levi purchased lot in the town of Nashville: reference #29.
Levi was in Nashville in 1784.
His attorney, instrumental in dealing with his Will and other
documents, was Andrew Jackson.
(Source: Tommy Allen)
1789. December 22: North Carolinas western lands are ceded to the
United States, forming what will become the state of Tennessee.
Prepared by Tom Kanon, Tennessee State Library and Archives
The War of 1812 was a defining period in the early history of Tennessee. For the first time, Tennessee was thrust into the national spotlight through its political prowess and military victories. When war was declared on Great Britain in June 1812, it was a Tennessean,
Congressman Felix Grundy, who was given the lions share of credit (or blame) for steering Congress toward a declaration of war against one of the mightiest military powers of the day. Grundy, a Nashville lawyer, along with a group of Democratic-Republicans known as the War Hawks, provided the rhetoric necessary to lead the nation into a conflict that many considered unpopular. Tennessees accomplishments on the battlefield during the Creek War (1813-1814) gave the country something to cheer about in a period of otherwise dismal campaigns against the British. And, of course, Andrew Jacksons stunning victory at New Orleans showed the world that the United States was coming of age and could take its place among the nations of the world.
At the onset of the war, the theater of operations was concentrated on the Canadian American border. Tennessee, eager to get into the fray, offered its services to the government; but distance prevented the state from making any direct contribution. However, when President James Madison called on Tennessee to help defend the "Lower Country,"
Tennesseans volunteered en masse, earning the nickname "The Volunteer State." Tennessee Governor Willie Blount was asked to send 1,500 troops to the defense of New Orleans and/or Mobile. An expedition, under the command of Major General Andrew Jackson, was outfitted in December 1812.
Natchez Expedition:
(December 1812 - April 1813) The troops were mustered in at Nashville on 10 December 1812 and departed in early January 1813. The expedition consisted of two volunteer regiments, under Colonels Thomas Benton and William Hall, and one regiment of volunteer mounted gunmen under Colonel John Coffee. Coffees men rendezvoused at Columbia, Tennessee and marched overland into the Mississippi Territory (now the present-day states of Alabama and Mississippi). The rest of the expedition comprised a flotilla that went down the Cumberland, Ohio, and Mississippi Rivers and camped at their final destination near Natchez in mid-February 1813. After lingering there for several weeks, Jackson received orders from the Secretary of War that his services were no longer required and that he was to dismiss his troops. An angry and frustrated Jackson decided to march the army home at his own expense and, by his determined stance, acquired the sobriquet "Old Hickory" along the way. Many of the men who were part of this expedition were called to join the first campaign of the Creek War in September 1813. A journal of the expedition to Natchez (from December 1812 to early March 1813) can be found in John Spenser Bassetts The Correspondence of Andrew Jackson - Volume I (Washington D.C., 1926).
At the same time that West Tennesseans were marching to Natchez, the eastern section of the state made their own contribution with a similar campaign -- this one into Florida.
(Note: what was considered West Tennessee in 1812 is now the region of the state called Middle Tennessee. What we now call West Tennessee was Indian land.)
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1763 - 1813 (50 years)