Ten Generals Exhibit

An exhibit featuring ten military generals that visited Marion County before the year 1865 is on display at the Marion County and City of Columbia Museum. Included in the exhibit are Generals Andrew “Old Hickory” Jackson and Zachary “Old Rough and Ready” Taylor, who later became Presidents, that came through Marion County on their way to the famous Battle of New Orleans in the War of 1812.

Other notable figures in the exhibit included Generals Sam Dale and Cowles Mead, who were part of the Pearl River Convention for Statehood in 1816, and General Benjamin Lee, who resided in Marion County and designed the Columbia City Cemetery, where he was interred after his death in 1828. Some of the Generals in the exhibit were part of the Union forces that came through Marion County during the Civil War in what is known as “Davidson’s Raid” in 1864.  These Union officers include General John Wynn “Blackjack” Davidson, General Albert Lindley Lee, General Joseph “Hero of the Red River” Bailey, General Edmund Jackson Davis “The Reconstruction Governor of Texas,” and “Sedalia’s Fighting Editor” General Bacon Montgomery.

Most, if not all, of these Generals spent time at the historic John Ford Home in Sandy Hook for one reason or another.  They all played  important roles in the history of Marion County and the John Ford Home. If you would like more information about the exhibit or the Marion County and City of Columbia Museum, please contact the Marion County Historical Society at 601.731.3999 or visit the museum at 200 Second Street in Columbia.