Camp Blount was one of the earliest and by far the largest muster sites for Tennessee volunteers during the War of 1812 and the Creek War, helping Tennessee earn its official nickname, "The Volunteer State." Between 1813 and 1815, thousands of Tennessee volunteers marched south from Camp Blount to serve the nation. When the federal government called for 1,500 Tennessee volunteers in late 1812, approximately 2,000 men offered their services, and at about the same time close to two hundred East Tennessee volunteers gathered for an expedition to Spanish East Florida in a regiment formed, supplied, and equipped on its own. When the Creek War began in fall 1813, Tennessee's General Assembly called for 3,500 volunteers, and more than 4,000 answered, including approximately 2,500 from West, now Middle, Tennessee and 1,500 from East Tennessee. By the Battle of Horseshoe Bend in March 1814, Gen. Andrew Jackson's army had grown to about 4,000 men, most of whom were volunteers. For the New Orleans campaign, the state again relied on its volunteer spirit to amass an army of at least 4,200 men, and these men, the bulk of Jackson's army, defeated the British at New Orleans on January 8, 1815. After that victory, Tennessee gained a national reputation for military prowess and volunteer spirit. Although some have believed the nickname originated during the Mexican War, historians Tom Kanon and Robert White concluded that it dates to the War of 1812, with research uncovering references to Tennessee as the "Volunteer State" and to the Tennessee Volunteers in documents from that era.