However uncertain Jackson’s initial operations along the coast may have seemed to the uneasy citizens of New Orleans, it was soon evident that he did not intend to allow the city to go completely undefended. To further bolster his army and make his coastal defenses adequate, Jackson now called upon the trusted William Carroll. Carroll was only 26 years of age at this time but his courage and intelligence had already elevated him to the rank of Major General of the Second Tennessee Division.[10] A veteran of the Creek campaign, Carroll made no effort to conceal his destination in his strongly worded appeal for volunteers:
Should any foreign power obtain a permanent possession of the City of New Orleans and the mouth of the Mississippi we may bid farwell (sic) to all our prosperity and anticipated greatness. Let our enemy ... place one foot in Louisiana and we are at once bestrode by a colossus who has too long rested the other in Canada; in fine let him command the Mississippi River, and we become the most dependent, degraded, and miserable people on earth.... You may add the immortal glory of conquering the boasted troops of a Lord Wellington.[11]
The 3,000 militiamen who met with Carroll in Nashville on November 13 were similar in appearance to those of Coffee. One eyewitness remarked that they were “as fine looking men as any we ever saw, and a considerable part of them (were) well armed, with muskets and rifles.”[12] Another observer noted that they “have come forward with that promptitude which has heretofore characterized the state.... They are generally provided with arms, etc. at their own expense.”[13]
Six days after they gathered in Nashville, the troops embarked on boats for New Orleans. The main diversion offered the Tennesseans during the slow, tedious trip down the Cumberland, Ohio and Mississippi rivers was the daily drilling which Carroll and his two subordinates, Brigadier Generals Thomas Coulter and Bird Smith, gave the recruits. There had been no time for training prior to their hasty departure.
Enroute the militiamen were cheered when they overtook a New Orleans-bound keelboat laden with muskets. Thomas L. Servoss, a prominent Natchez businessman, was responsible for this fortunate occurrence. While visiting New York during the summer of 1814, he was informed by a government official that New Orleans was considered the likely site for a British invasion. Concerned for his family’s welfare, Servoss had left for home immediately. At Pittsburg he boarded one of two keelboats headed for New Orleans with large quantities of arms and ammunition. Experienced in navigation himself and familiar with the route, Servoss prevailed upon the captain to depart earlier than was scheduled. By doing so, Servoss unintentionally insured that Carroll’s troops were fully armed before their trip was completed.[14]