In May 1904, E. H. Bashinsky, a prominent cotton buyer in Troy, wrote a letter to the editor about Andrew Jackson and the Three Notch Road.
The Brundidge News, in its recent issue, speaks of a grave near Monticello said to contain the remains of an Indian who accompanied Andrew Jackson to Florida. Tradition has it that the Indian died near Monticello when on his return march with the army. The article goes on to say: “We have always doubted the current story that Gen. Jackson cut the Three Notch Road, and certainly history does not bear it out that he cut it when he made the famous march to the Florida seaport. He came to the rescue of Alabama from the Indians with the Tennessee troops directly down the Coosa Valley, and it is not likely that he went as far southwest as Columbus, Georgia.”
The News, referring to the Creek War of 1814, overlooks the Seminole War of 1818. In 1818, Andrew Jackson did not march his army through northern Alabama; instead, he moved through Georgia. When reaching the Apalachicola River, he sent his men and supplies downstream by boat and boldly invaded Spanish territory. The supply boats returning went up the Escambia River. After capturing Pensacola in 1814, the United States restored that area to Spain. But in 1818, after Jackson had decisively defeated the Seminoles and their allies, he changed his course. He quickly marched west to Pensacola, took the city, and then seized the Florida territory from Spain.
In this war, Jackson was aided by friendly Indians, who did most of the fighting. These Indian bands were gathered as the army moved south along both sides of the Chattahoochee River. Led by white officers and soldiers, roads were cleared mainly along Indian trails to support the expedition…