HOW THE STATE OF TENNESSEE GOT ITS NICKNAME, SAVED THE COUNTRY, AND GOT A NUMBER ONE COUNTRY SONG

Edition 2. Issue 1.

HOW THE STATE OF TENNESSEE GOT ITS NICKNAME, SAVED THE COUNTRY, AND GOT A NUMBER ONE COUNTRY SONG

On October 16, 2020, the Tennessee Volunteer Statue was unveiled and dedicated at the Camp

Blount Historic site in Fayetteville Tennessee. For those that do not know how to speak

southern, Fay’-et-vul is the correct pronunciation. Fayetteville is about one hundred miles from

Stephens Valley, south down interstate 65 and then east on highway 64. My sweet wife and I

went to the dedication. You can see a picture of the statue below. It is in honor of and represents

the volunteers from Tennessee that fought in the War of 1812. The dedication was held at the

time of the COVID scare and was not well attended even though it was outdoors. You can watch

the event on YOUTUBE. I found the event to be incredibly refreshing to have a statue of

Tennesseans that fought in the War of 1812 being unveiled and dedicated at a time when other

statues of heroes were being defaced and torn down by mobs of lawless people who have no

sense of history. As a native Tennessean, I am proud of all my relatives who fought for

Tennessee including my Tennessee relative that fought in the War of 1812.

I expect that most folks today know more about King Charles III of England (the current king)

and his children, William and Harry, and their spouses than they know about the War of 1812.

In some regard it is easy to understand, since the United States has saved the English, and their

Royals, at least twice since 1914. However, in 1812 there was no love between us. So, after some

time of abuse, the new country declared war on the mother country. The United States then

called for volunteers to fight the British. The new state of Tennessee (admitted to the country as

a state in 1796) answered the call. Governor Willie Blount called for 3500 volunteers to fight the

British and their Indian Allies. The response by the Tennesseans to the Governor’s request was

immediate and enthusiastic. The response by the men in Tennessee was the beginning of the

nickname, the Volunteer state (and it was renewed in the war with Mexico).

The Volunteer Statue, photo courtesy of Bobby Lanier and Paul Henry per campblount.com

1814 WE TOOK A LITTLE TRIP ALONG WITH GENERAL JACKSON DOWN THE

MIGHTY MISSISSIP

The war was not going well for the new country (constitution ratified 1789 and consisted of 18

states by 1812). The army and militia in the northwest had suffered more defeats than victories,

there were a few naval victories by single ships but nothing to threaten the British fleet. The

British were fighting Napoleon at the same time and finally forced his abdication and first exile

in 1814. Francis Scott Key wrote the song, in 1814, that became our national anthem, The Star

Spangled Banner, but at the same time the British burned The Capital and several other

government buildings in Washington. On their way out, the British sacked and burned Hampton

Roads, Virginia killing and raping civilians in the area. Those British forces and some others

were then headed to New Orleans. New Orleans became part of the United States as part of

Louisiana Purchase in 1803. It was still very much French, and Louisiana had only become a

state in 1814. The British, led by General Pakenham (General Wellington’s brother-in-law),

planned on taking New Orleans, shutting the Mississippi River to the U.S., and keeping it, since

the British did not recognize Napoleon’s right to sell it. The British were bringing 6,800

professional soldiers led by professional officers who were veterans of the Napoleonic

wars to the fight. The United States had General Andrew Jackson leading 4700 men to stop him.

Of that total 1352 were Tennesseans leaving from Camp Blount. The others were around 200

U.S. regulars, Kentucky and Louisiana militia, some pirates, and a few Choctaws. While the

entire campaign lasted a few months, the big day of the battle of New Orleans was January 8,

1815.

WE CAUGHT THE BLOODY BRITISH IN THE TOWN OF NEW ORLEANS

General Jackson had no military training. He was a lawyer and a farmer. What he had was an

indomitable will, unbelievable energy, and a hatred for the British from the time of the

Revolution where he was hacked and scarred by a British officer, lost a brother in fighting, and

lost his mother to disease while she was nursing wounded and captured patriots. He also had the

courage to stand ten paces from someone holding a pistol and wanting to kill him. Jackson did

not know the enemy’s plan, so he worked tirelessly to prepare for the invasion and battle. He

took a defensive position to defend the city, and after some preliminary skirmishes, the day of

battle arrived on January eighth.

WE FIRED OUR GUNS AND THE BRITISH KEPT ACOMING

The British held Jackson and the Americans in utter contempt. They called the Tennesseans

“dirty shirts “. No one can question the courage of the British. They came marching to the

American defensive earthworks thinking they would run over the dirty shirts and drive into the

city.

WE FIRED ONCE MORE AND THEY BEGAN TO RUNNING DOWN THE MISSISSIPPI

TO THE GULF OF MEXICO

The battle was over relatively quickly. The heaviest attack was against the area defended by the

Tennesseans. The British were devastated. The British lost 700 killed, 1400 wounded and 500

captured. The Americans lost 13 killed and 39 wounded. (Some accounts give U.S. casualties as

70 total.) This huge difference in casualties caused many Americans to see the hand of God in

this affair. In fact, January 8 was celebrated like the Fourth of July for many years following the

battle.

Shortly after the battle some northern minstrel wrote a song to commemorate the battle

wrongfully giving some Kentuckians more credit than they were due. In fact, a goodly number of

the Kentuckians arrived without arms. Jackson, at first, found this incredible and remarked that

he had never before met a man from Kentucky that did not have a rifle, a deck of cards, and a

bottle of whiskey on his person at all times.

In 1958 Johnny Horton recorded “THE BATTLE OF NEW ORLEANS “. It became the number

one country hit for the year. You can ask your Alexa to play it, if you have forgotten the words

or never knew them. The song was written by Jimmy Driftwood who also gave us, “THE

TENNESSEE STUD”. [Not related to the War of 1812]. The best version is by Doc Watson on

the Nitty Gritty Band album “WILL THE CIRCLE BE UNBROKEN “.

For those that have heard that Jackson’s great victory was after a treaty was signed,

you need to know, that by its terms the treaty signed by the British government had not been

ratified by the United States, which was required. Moreover, by its terms, the treaty stated that

each party kept whatever was in that party’s possession at the time of ratification. So, the British

would have kept New Orleans if they had won the battle. The combatants on the day of battle

believed the war was still on, because it was.

As for me and my house, we will celebrate January eighth as I find it to be the most important

day to celebrate in January. I intend to listen to Johnny Horton sing, toast Jackson and the

Tennessee volunteers and try to get my wife to make shrimp gumbo. I will sit by sipping some

good Tennessee whiskey.

Footnotes:

1. Two good books have been published recently that give good accounts of the entire

campaign. Glorious Victory by Donald R. Hickey and Patriotic Fire by Winston Groom.

2. If you want to watch a movie on the battle, there are two by the same name, The

Buccaneer. The second is a remake of the first that Cecil B. Demille directed. Lots of

historical inaccuracies though. The President’s Lady is good from Rachel Jackson’s

point of view, starring Susan Hayward as Rachael and Charlton Heston as Andrew

Jackson.

John Whitfield, Esquire (ret.)