Coffee County was established in 1836 and named in honor of Major General John Coffee, a soldier, surveyor, and close friend of Andrew Jackson. Tennessee troops under his command took a decisive part in the New Orleans Campaign from December 23, 1814 to January 8, 1815. Grundy County was established in 1844 and named in honor of Felix Grundy of Virginia, who served as Chief Justice of the Kentucky Supreme Court, as a representative in Congress from Tennessee from 1811 to 1814, as a U.S. Senator from 1829 to 1838, and as Attorney General in President Van Buren's cabinet. At the time of his death in 1840, he was again a U.S. Senator.