Jackson's Military Road - Lawrenceburg, TN - Wagon Roads and Trails on Waymarking.com

County of marker: Lawrence County
Location of marker: S. Military Ave & Taylor St., Lawrenceburg
Marker erected by: Lawrence County Government
Date Marker erected: June 2014

Marker Text:

JACKSON'S MILITARY ROAD After returning from the :Battle of New Orleans", in the War of 1812, General Andrew Jackson saw a need for a shorter, better military road, more suitable to defend the Gulf of Mexico. The September 1816 Treaty with the Chickasaw and Cherokee Nations gave the U.S. Government control over the land necessary to build the road.

The terminal points on the military road would be Columbia, Tennessee on the north and Madisonville, Louisiana on the south. In 1820 the road was completed. From Columbia to Madisonville, the distance was 516 miles, 220 miles less than the Natchez Trace route.

In 1818, five county commissioners, David Crockett, Maximillian Buchanan, Josephus Irvine, Enoch Tucker, and Henry Phenix were given the responsibility of "fixing upon a place" for the county seat of Lawrence County. One of the deciding factors for the city of Lawrenceburg being at its locating is because Jackson's Military Road ran near the site. On April 2, 1821, it was changed to run through Lawrenceburg.

In 1864, General John Bell Hood marched one third of his Confederate Army up the Military Road to the Battle of Nashville.

In the early 1900s the road from Chicago to New Orleans by way of Jackson's Military Road was designated as the major north/south highway.

Road of Trail Name: Military Road State: Tennessee County: Lawrence County Historical Significance: During the War of 1812 and the Creek War of 1813-1814, Jackson and his federal troops traveled across much of what was then known as the Old Southwest, including present-day Alabama, as they fought both the British Army and Native Americans. The region was still largely wilderness, and at the conclusion of the war, Jackson advocated for the construction of a military road connecting Nashville to New Orleans. In 1816, Pres. James Monroe, recognizing the benefits that such a road could have for military purposes, settlement, and economic development, pushed Congress to fund it. On September 16, 1816, Congress appropriated $5,000 to begin construction of the route, dubbed Jackson's Military Road. The route Jackson advocated ran south from Columbia, Tennessee, to the Tennessee River, and then in a virtually straight line between a point on the Tennessee River west of the Muscle Shoals, Colbert County, and Madisonville, Louisiana (across Lake Pontchartrain from New Orleans). The mileage of Jackson's proposed route, at 516 miles, was 208 miles shorter than the existing route from Nashville to New Orleans, which mainly traveled along the Natchez Trace, a long-traveled Native American trail that the U.S. government began using as a post road in 1803. Years in use: 1820 to present How you discovered it: I was traveling to Hiram, GA. Looking for a new and more interseting route than Interstate travel. I decided on US-64 across Tennessee, and it brought me to Lawrenceburg and looking around spotted the marker. Book on Wagon Road or Trial: The Old Southwest, 1795-1830: Frontiers in Conflict By Thomas Dionysius Clark Website Explination: https://www.facebook.com/LawrenceburgTN/posts/286973664818431 Why?: Jackson's Military Road, named for Gen. Andrew Jackson and completed in 1820, was a 516-mile route that connected Nashville, Tennessee, with New Orleans, Louisiana. The U.S. government hoped that the road, which ran through the northwest corner of Alabama, would increase immigration to and economic development in the region, while allowing for the movement of troops during times of conflict in the south. Despite its promise, the Military Road was not significant in Alabama owing to its remoteness along much of its length and lack of funds for upkeep. Directions: In Lawrenceburg, go the the center of town, where David Crockett statue stands in the square, take Military Ave one block south along the city complex building and there it is.

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