This post is part of the APUSH Gameday series.
University of Tennessee “You will know the truth and the truth shall set you free.”
On September 10, 1794, two years before Tennessee became a state and at a meeting of the legislature of the Southwest Territory at Knoxville, the University of Tennessee was chartered as Blount College. Tennessee has had several nicknames, but the most popular and well-known is “The Volunteer State,” a nickname earned during the War of 1812 (thousands of volunteer soldiers from Tennessee played a prominent role in this war, especially during the Battle of New Orleans).
This reputation for volunteering was reinforced during the Mexican War when the secretary of state asked for 2,800 Tennessee volunteers and got 30,000 respondents
Henry Clay Jr. (April 10, 1811 – February 23, 1847) was an American politician and soldier from Kentucky, the third son of US Senator and Congressman Henry Clay and Lucretia Hart Clay. He was elected to the Kentucky House of Representatives in 1835 and served one term. A graduate of West Point, he served in the Mexican-American War and was killed in 1847 at the Battle of Buena Vista.
Curriculum Connections: (Mascot) “The Volunteers”, War of 1812, Mexican War| Henry Clay Jr., The Civil War
History Incubator 