 Cooley arrived in East Florida in 1813 , during a joint campaign of Tennessee and Georgia forces . Some sources give credit to the hypothesis that Cooley fought with the Tennessee Volunteers under Colonel John Williams ; other sources say he was a lieutenant in the Georgia Militia , fighting under Colonel Samuel Alexander from Georgia . Cooley acquired property in <unk> 's Landing on the St. Marys River , close to where the military units crossed East Florida that same year . Later , he went to the west bank of the St. Johns River , settling in an area 30 miles ( 48 km ) south of modern Jacksonville . 
