Colonel James Raulston

     Colonel James Raulston was born on 16 June 1778 in Augusta County, Virginia.^1,2,3 He was the son of Matthew Raulston and Martha "Polly" Moore.² He married Jane Simmons, daughter of Robert Simmons and Ann Miller, on 8 January 1802 in Jefferson County, Tennessee.^1,2 He died on 7 August 1844 in Jackson County, Alabama, at age 66.^1,2,3
     
     James Raulston operated an inn in the Chestnut Mound section of Jackson County, now Putnam County, Tennessee, that became known as Raulston's Stand. He was a delegate to Knoxville in 1801, and was instrumental in the enactment of the necessary legislation to create the county of Jackson.

     James met Jane Simmons about 1801 when he was working on his Uncle George's newspaper, the Knoxville Gazette. Jane's parents were waiting for the river to rise so their flat boats could move down the Tennessee River on the first leg of their river journey to Louisiana. Traditionally, Jane never saw her family again, except for John who returned with Colonel Raulston to Tennessee after the Battle of New Orleans.

     James moved to Sequatchie Valley in 1808, and he and Captain Robert Bean entered over 57,000 acres of land there.

     in 1809 he was commissioned into the 18th Regiment of Jackson's army to fight against the Creek Indians in the Great Bend of Tennessee. In 1812, Jackson again called him to serve in command of the 3^rd Regiment of Tennessee. He became Colonel Raulston and served with General William Carroll in the Battle of New Orleans.

     Colonel Raulston found that his log cabin was located on the line between Tennessee and Alabama when the area was surveyed in 1817. He first moved his bedroom to the Tennessee side of the cabin so that he could stay involved in Tennessee politics; then in 1828 he moved his bedroom to the other side of the cabin, declared his home to be in Alabama, and was elected a representative of Jackson County in the Alabama Legislature.