January 8, 1815

Brig. Gen. John Coffee led a 2,000-man brigade of mounted riflemen at the Battle of New Orleans. A native of Virginia and one of the principle founders of Florence, Coffee befriended Gen. Andrew Jackson after moving to Tennessee and served under him throughout the War of 1812 and the Creek War of 1813-14. After the wars, Coffee was appointed to the position of public surveyor by President James Madison, who entrusted him with surveying the new boundaries created by the Treaty of Fort Jackson. The boundaries included the northern portion of the Mississippi Territory and the entirety of the Alabama Territory.

Read more at Encyclopedia of Alabama.

General John Coffee (1772-1833) was a soldier, planter, and surveyor who fought for Andrew Jackson during the War of 1812 and the first Creek War, and served as Alabama’s first surveyor general. (From Encyclopedia of Alabama, Alabama Department of Archives and History)

The Battle of New Orleans. (Engraved by Henry Bryan Hall, Library of Congress Prints and Photographs Division)

The Battle of New Orleans, Jan. 8, 1815. (Drawing by O. Pelton, Engraved by H. Billings, Library of Congress Prints and Photographs Division)

Andrew Jackson at the Battle of New Orleans. (Artwork by Charles Severin, Library of Congress Prints and Photographs Division)

For more on Alabama’s Bicentennial, visit Alabama 200.