Jake Donelson
Recruited in May 1861, the 3d Tennessee Regiment received instruction at Camp Cheatham. Soon after arriving in camp, Lieutenant Jerome McCanless, Company H, purchased a young red rooster from a farmer.
Lieutenant McCanless soon became attached to the rooster, named him Jake, and saved him from the cook pot by making him his personal mascot. A born fighter, the rooster joined the regiment, receiving immunity from every danger except enemy bullets. On many days in camp he made sport with a rival from another unit.
Reenactor portraying the 3d Tn. Infantry during Living History Program at Fort Donelson 1999.
On marches Jake perched on the knapsack of an accommodating soldier. If the march was long, he often took a seat of honor with the driver of the supply wagon.
During the Battle of Fort Donelson, Jake stood on the breastworks, giving lusty crows of defiance to the enemy at frequent intervals and encouraging the Donelson defenders.
After the surrender, Jake joined his company on the long trip to Camp Douglas, a Union prisoner of war camp near Chicago. While marching through the city streets, where the populace lined the sidewalks and jeered at the ragged "Rebs," Jake mounted his master's knapsack and gave his "cock-a-doodle-doo" as a cheer to the downhearted boys and as a signal for the regiment to give the Rebel yell.
Jake survived Camp Douglas and traveled with the regiment to Vicksburg, where they were exchanged. Mustered out of the regiment, Jake went to Cornersville, Tennessee, where he died in 1864. Friends laid Jake to rest in a handsome casket.
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