Eli Hammond

Eli Hammond (March 16, 1764–January 26, 1842) was an early settler of Tennessee and Alabama in the United States known today for his association with 7th U.S. President Andrew Jackson. He fought the Chickamauga Cherokee in the 1790s and served as an officer with Jackson's Tennessee militia in the Creek War. John Spencer Bassett described him as "a very efficient soldier under Jackson in 1813." He also fought on Jackson's side in a famous Nashville tavern brawl. Around 1817, he moved to Madison County, Alabama Territory, where he raised a large family, and became a plantation owner outside of Huntsville.

Life and career Hammond was a North Carolinian who had moved west to Davidson County, Tennessee. He was involved in an attack on a Cherokee (, ) village in 1793 when "he was one of a small group of volunteers to form a retaliating group against the Indians in Tennessee. Led by a man the natives called the Fool Warrior, Abraham Castleman, the six men dressed like Indians and crossed into prohibited territory near Will's Town. They attacked the surprised Indians, killing several, and making good their own escape, untouched." Another account describes him as "the Indian fighter" and associates him with the 1794 Nickajack Expedition.

He was said to have "lived in the family of Gen. Jackson some years." In July 1813 Hammond wrote to Tennessee governor Willie Blount urging military action against the Red Sticks, stating that "whites were being murdered, corn and cattle were being destroyed, and hundreds of 'friendly' Creeks [ Muscogee, ] were fleeing to the Cherokees for protection." At age 49 he was party to the Jackson–Benton brawl of 1813 in September: "Captain Eli Hammond and Stokley Hays went after Jesse, who tried to stave off his attackers with his bare hands while Hays tried to stab him and Hammond beat him on the head. Jesse managed to get his pistol out to shoot Hays but the gun misfired."

He served in the Creek War subconflict of the War of 1812, having "formed his own company of Mounted Rangers from Huntsville. They joined Andrew Jackson as the General's army passed through town on the way to the battle of Horseshoe Bend. He became Lt. Colonel Hammond by the time of the assault on Pensacola in 1814." He was key to the American action at the Battle of Tallusahatchee on November 3, 1813, under command of John Coffee, as "Captain Eli Hammond's company of rangers, in front of [Col. John Alcorn's cavalry regiment], made a charge at the village to draw the Creeks out from cover and then quickly retreated while Alcorn's men continued to march around the village until they linked with the left wing. The village now being completely surrounded, the men dismounted and charged the trapped Creeks, who 'fought as desperately as ever men did upon earth,' according to one witness."

There is a conflict dating to at least 1827 over whether Hammond or a man named William Martin, a Tennessee militia officer and later a Tennessee state legislator, played a key role in the Battle of Talladega on November 9, 1813. According to regional historian Brian Laster:

Jackson was irritated with Hammond in February 1814, as Hammond and his horse-mounted fighters had gone home. Jackson wrote a letter accusing Hammond of abandoning his duty, reminding him of the chain of command, and ordering him to muster his troops back to Madison County, Mississippi Territory, leave them in command of Lt. Abram Maury, and report to Jackson at Fort Strother. On February 17, Jackson wrote to John Coffee, "Capt Hammonds has been with me and I presume regrets his attachment to those vipers, who has been attempting to destroy his benefactorsI expect he will attend to his duty better, or I will arrest him[.]" There was also an ongoing conflict regarding custody of pack horses. In Coffee's letter of April 1, 1814, reporting to Jackson on the Battle of Horseshoe Bend (Tohopeka), he wrote that, "Captain Hammonds company of Raingers took post on the river bank on my right and during the whole engagement kept up a continued and destruc tive fire on those of the enemy that attempted to escape into the River and killed a very large proportion of those that were found dead under the bank above as well as many others sunk under water[.]" In August 1814, Hammond reported to Jackson about "removal of intruders from Cherokee lands."

According to his obituary Hammond officially relocated to Alabama Territory in 1817.

Death and legacy He died at age 77 in 1842, and is buried in the Hammond-Bouldin Cemetery in Madison County in northern Alabama. His wife was Mary Owen, and they had nine children together, including "Benjamin [who] became a physician and married in succession three daughters of Capt. William and Susan Routt...When Eli (Senior) died, Ferdinand became Executor of his estate—800 acres in the northwestern part of [Madison] county. In 1844 Ferdinand as executor sold the land to his brother Arthur for $1. The next year, Arthur sold 361 acres of the land back to Ferdinand for $100. Ferdinand also obtained a government land patent signed by his father's friend, President Andrew Jackson in 1835."

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