Elkanah Anderson: Died at the Battle of New Orleans (#11 of 52 Ancestors)

Elkanah Anderson and his brother-in-law, Thomas B Whitwel, were two of my 5 times great grandfathers. In December 1814, Elkanah and Thomas joined the West Tennessee Milita and were "part of a flotila that went down to New Orleans via the Cumberland, Ohio, and Mississippi Rivers." Once there, they fought in the famous Battle of New Orleans under Andrew Jackson. During the bloody, one-sided battle which lasted only about 30 minutes on January 8th, the British suffered 2,000 casualties while the Americans only had about one hundred.

Painting of Battle of New Orleans by Edward Percy Moran (from Wikipedia)

According to the Tennessee Archives site, there weren't any battle casualties in Elkanah's and Thomas' regiement, but there were "many deaths due to sickness" in February and March. Elkanah Anderson died on January 14th, just 6 days after the big battle. Was he one of the first to die of disease? Or did he die of battle wounds? And was he buried in an unmarked grave in New Orleans as family stories tell us?

Thomas returned home to tell his wife that her brother, Elkanah, had died in New Orleans. Elkanah's wife was presumably pregnant with their seventh child at the time of his death. Although I'm not sure exactly how he died, he died defending our young nation.

My Line of Descent

• Elkanah Anderson (1774-1815) m Sarah "Sally" Murray (1777-1845) 
• Margaret Anderson (abt 1801-1877) m Pleasant Whitwell (1803-1875) 
• Martha Ann Whitwell (1830-1904) m Carroll Houston Ward (1826-1863) 
• Reuben Houston Ward (1859-1906) m Sallie Harriet Dickson (1860-1960) 
• Martha Lenora "Nora" Ward (1885-1916) m James Bedford Dickson (1880-1968) 
• Ethel Evelyn Dickson (1915-2004) m Sherman Joseph Kaechle (1907-1987) (my maternal grandparents) 

Do we share common ancestors? I'd love to talk! Please leave a comment or write me at drleeds@sbcglobal.net