The Clarksville Arts and Heritage Council has recently added two historic highway markers to Clarksville’s inventory of signs detailing important people and events in the city’s history.
The first is a replacement of the marker on University Avenue honoring renowned painter and stained-glass designer, Robert Loftin Newman (1827-1912). This marker was destroyed in a car accident several years ago, and AHC commissioned the replacement.
The second marker, honoring the Tennessee volunteers who fought in the Battle of New Orleans at the end of the War of 1812, will be revealed in an unveiling ceremony at 10:30 a.m., Tuesday. Dec. 3, in McGregor Park. The public is invited to share in this event.
On Nov. 13, 1814, 315 Tennessee Militia rendezvoused at Nashville to join Maj. Gen. Andrew Jackson in what has come to be called the Battle of New Orleans. They left Nashville on Nov. 18, 21, and 23 and marched to Clarksville, where they boarded flatboats and keel boats for the long journey to New Orleans. The marker is situated near their launching place.
Before the Civil War this battle was, next to Independence Day, the most celebrated patriotic event in America. Today, the War of 1812 has become the Forgotten War by many in America.
However, Tennessee’s nickname of the Volunteer State has its beginnings with the volunteers who answered the call to serve with native son, Andrew Jackson, commander of the Tennessee Militia. With little notice, these citizen-soldiers left their jobs and families, laying the cornerstone for Tennessee’s “volunteer” tradition. A number of present-day Clarksvillians are descendants of these brave men.