In 1796, when Tennessee became the 16th state, Tennessee County of which Clarksville was a part, was divided into Montgomery and Robertson counties with Clarksville the county seat of Montgomery County. The name Montgomery honored John Montgomery, who was a founder of Clarksville as well as a renowned Indian fighter and Revolutionary War leader.
During the Civil War, Fort Donelson, Fort Henry and Fort Defiance were established in preparation of the Union advance, only to fall to Federal troops in 1862.
After the Civil War, traffic on the Cumberland River continued to be of great importance to the community and Clarksville became well known for its production of dark fired tobacco, the primary money crop. From 1900 to 1940, Clarksville’s trade and business progressed with the growth of the town being closely connected to the county farming area.
Education became an important theme in the county in the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries with the establishment of the Rural Academy in 1806 on the present site of Austin Peay State University.
Military activity again would impact the county during World War II when the army established Camp Campbell in Montgomery County. Over 42,000 acres were purchased and in June 1942, relocation of families was completed. The post was named in honor of General William Bowen Campbell. On 15 April 1950, the post became Fort Campbell after it changed from a temporary installation to a permanent one.
Montgomery County has furnished two governors to the state, Willie Blount and Austin Peay; a United States Supreme Court Justice and a Postmaster General, Horace H. Lurton and Cave Johnson, respectively.
The city of Clarksville is the county seat of Montgomery County Tennessee, United States. It is the fifth-largest city in the state behind Nashville, Memphis, Knoxville and Chattanooga The city had a population of 132,929 at the 2010 census, and an estimated population of 150,287 in 2016.
The city was incorporated in 1785 as Tennessee's first incorporated city, and named for General George Rogers Clark, frontier fighter and Revolutionary War hero, and brother of William Clark of the Lewis and Clark Expedition.
Clarksville is the home of Austin Peay State University; The Leaf Chronicle, the oldest newspaper in Tennessee; and neighbor to the Fort Campbell, United States Army base. Site of the 101st Airborne Division (Air Assault), Fort Campbell is located about 10 miles (16 km) from downtown Clarksville, straddling the Tennessee-Kentucky state line. It is officially Fort Campbell, Kentucky, as the base U.S. Post Office is on the Kentucky side of the post. The majority of the acreage of Fort Campbell is within the state of Tennessee.
The cache is a magnetic hide-a-key container on a guardrail. Parking is available just a few feet from the cache. Beware of traffic, you may want to keep the children in the car. The grab will only take a moment.