War of 1812 of Cherokee County, Alabama

“Uncle Billy” McDonald, A Veteran of 1812

W. W. Wester, in Centre News

Another one of our old friends and close neighbors in Cherokee was “Uncle Billy” McDonald. He used to visit my father’s family and was a very interesting character. I heard him tell my father that he was born in 1784. He was with Andrew Jackson in the war of 1812. I have often heard him tell of some of the hardships endured by the American Soldiers during the New Orleans Campaign. He uses to tell about the “Jackson Trail.” He said that the road but by Jackson‘s Army through Cherokee County, Alabama, passed along a few hundred yards of where we were then living. He said that it passed near the Patterson’s farm, along by Phil Hudgins home, close to the Mackey Graveyard which is near the Mackey Tanyard Place, now owned by B. F. Mackey, Mackey, Alabama. He used to tell about the march through this part of the country. If I now recall correctly, he said they marched down the valley beyond Greensport and crossed the Coosa River below that place. (Two years ago I was shown a row of cedar trees that the trail near the river below Greensport is marked by.) They went on to Talladega. (There is some conflict between his account of this route and the general public now. And also some between the Jackson Army and General Coffey’s forces.) Whatever the facts are, this will not change them now. He was 19 years old at the time of the Talladega battle in 1813. The last time I ever saw him was in 1875—he spent the night with us in Coats’ Bend, Etowah County. He died a few years later.
Source: Montgomery Advertiser – February 13, 1920; Transcribed and Contributed by: Frances Cooley