The battle has waned and the troops are headed home.
Chief George Colbert
TUSCUMBIA-On Friday, April 19 and Saturday, April 20, 2013, Shoals area residents can meet re-enactors from the War of 1812 as they make their way to Nashville along the Natchez Trace Parkway.
A commemoration of the return of soldiers who traveled from Tennessee to near 
Natchez. Miss., with Gen. Andrew Jackson in 1812 to battle the British begins Friday, April 12, with a parade in Natchez. As the re-enactors make their way to Nashville, they will stop in communities along the Natchez Trace Parkway for living history programs and other events aimed at increasing awareness of the role the Natchez Trace played to the war to preserve America’s freedom.
The commemoration concludes Sunday, April 21 at The Hermitage, Jackson’s home in Nashville.
While the Natchez Trace Parkway is a scenic road linking Nashville and Natchez, the old Natchez Trace was an important military route during the 19th Century. American troops began improving the road in 1801 and then used the route in anticipation of helping thwart a possible invasion of the British along the Gulf Coast during the War of 1812.
After soldiers who traveled down the Natchez Trace were released in 1813
Andrew Jackson “Old Hickory”
without participating in the early battles of the War of 1812, the entire 2nd Division Tennessee Regiment began its way from Washington, Miss., (just north of Natchez) back to Nashville. The troops endured many hardships during the journey home, including knee-deep mud, brutal heat and rattlesnakes. It was during that trip that Jackson earned the nickname, “Old Hickory”.
During the upcoming Shoals events, area residents can learn the roles northwest Alabama played in the soldiers’ journey home.
On April 19, a reception for re-enactors and dignitaries with the Natchez Trace Parkway and Natchez Trace Parkway Association will be held at the Tennessee Valley Museum of Art in Tuscumbia at 6 p.m. At 7 p.m., a War of 
1812 Dinner will be held at Tuscumbia Depot Roundhouse. Period music, drills by drum and fife corps and a program from Trace historians will be featured. Representatives of the Chickasaw Nation, Chief George Colbert and Gen. John Coffee’s family will attend. Admission is $20. Tickets are available through April 15 at Cold Water Books and Colbert County Tourism and Convention Bureau, both in Tuscumbia and Florence-Lauderdale Tourism in Florence. To order tickets by mail, send checks payable to NTPA to Natchez Trace Parkway Association, P.O. Box 740425, Tuscumbia, AL, 35674.
The Shoals activities continue at 8:00 a.m. April 20 with a visit to the Tuscumbia Landing site in Sheffield for a program by Robert Thrower of the Creek Nation and Annie Cooper Perry of Tuscumbia. Admission is free. At 10:30 a.m. at Colbert Ferry Park on the Parkway north of Cherokee, there will be a commemoration of Gen. Jackson’s and Gen. Coffee’s troops crossing the Tennessee River there during the journey home in 1813. The roles that Chickasaw Chief George Colbert and General Coffee played in the journey will be recognized during the Colbert Ferry event that begins at the park’s picnic area. Admission is free.
Goodloe “Bud” Pride, Alabama Chapter chairman of the Natchez Trace Parkway Association, said the events are excellent way to lean about the role the Shoals and the Natchez Trace played in the War of 1812 and to honor the soldiers and native Americans who helped protect America.
Susann Hamlin
Susann Hamlin, executive director of Colbert County Tourism and Convention Bureau said the re-enactors and dignitaries participating in the Shoals events will make the long ago journey of the American soldiers come to life as they share their knowledge of the trip up the Natchez Trace.
For more details, call Colbert County Convention and Tourism Bureau at 256-383-0783 or visit www.NATCHEZTRACE.info.
