The troops were mustered in at Nashville on 10 December 1812 and departed in early January 1813.
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 for the defense of the lower Mississippi region and an expedition under the command of Andrew Jackson, major general of the Tennessee militia, was outfitted in December 1812. Tennessee, eager to get into the fray, offered its services to the government but distance prevented the state from making any direct contribution. And, of course, Andrew Jackson’s 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.Īt the onset of the war, the theater of operations was concentrated on the Canadian-American border. Tennessee’s 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. 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. When war was declared on Great Britain in June 1812, it was a Tennessean, Congressman Felix Grundy, who was given the lion’s share of credit (or blame) for steering Congress toward a declaration of war against one of the mightiest military powers of the day. For the first time, Tennessee was thrust into the national spotlight through its military and political prowess. The War of 1812 was a defining period in the early history of Tennessee. Prepared by Tom Kanon, Tennessee State Library and Archives
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