William Carroll

Carroll commanded the center of Andrew Jackson's line at New Orleans in 1815. Two years earlier, on June 14, 1813, he fought a duel with Jesse Benton; Jackson tried to calm the quarrel, then agreed to act as Carroll's second. Carroll lost part of a thumb and Benton was shot through the hip. Benton's brother Thomas Hart Benton later wounded Jackson in a Nashville brawl over the affair. As governor, Carroll served twelve years in two stretches, 1821 to 1827 and 1829 to 1835, and signed a penal code that replaced corporal punishment with a state prison.

What the plaque says

William Carroll A native of Pennsylvania, William Carroll moved to Nashville in 1810. He became a successful merchant and hero of the War of 1812. William Carroll served longer as Governor, 12 years, than anyone else in the history of the state. Under his leadership the Legislature passed laws in areas of criminal justice, fiscal policy, and education. Tennessee's "Business Governor" died in Nashville.

Where it stands

Worth the stop nearby

• Fort Negley — 0.3 mi
  The largest inland stone fort of the Civil War, built in 1862 on St. Cloud Hill by more than 2,700 conscripted Black laborers, hundreds of whom died.
• National Museum of African American Music — 1.0 mi
  A downtown Nashville museum, opened in 2021, tracing gospel, blues, jazz, rhythm and blues and hip-hop through Black history from 1619 to 2016.
• Ryman Auditorium — 1.1 mi
  The 1892 brick tabernacle in downtown Nashville that was the Grand Ole Opry's home from 1943 to 1974, now a National Historic Landmark and working concert hall.
• Civil Rights Room at the Nashville Public Library — 1.2 mi
  A room in the downtown library with a circular lunch counter, a timeline and oral histories of the 1960 Nashville sit-ins, a few blocks from the stores where they began.

More markers nearby

• City Cemetery — steps away
• Hubbard House — 0.3 mi
• Tom Wilson Park — 0.3 mi
• Nashville Blacks in the Civil War — 0.4 mi