John Gordon, (July 15, 1759 – June 6, 1819) was an American pioneer, Indian trader, planter, and militia captain in several Indian wars. Part of the post-Revolutionary War settlement of the trans-
Appalachian frontier, Gordon was an early settler in the
Nashville
Nashville is the capital city of the U.S. state of Tennessee and the seat of Davidson County. With a population of 689,447 at the 2020 U.S. census, Nashville is the most populous city in the state, 21st most-populous city in the U.S., and the ...
, Tennessee area. He gained notability and rank in the Tennessee Militia, fighting against the
Creeks and
Seminole
The Seminole are a Native American people who developed in Florida in the 18th century. Today, they live in Oklahoma and Florida, and comprise three federally recognized tribes: the Seminole Nation of Oklahoma, the Seminole Tribe of Florida, an ...
s for
Andrew Jackson
Andrew Jackson (March 15, 1767 – June 8, 1845) was an American lawyer, planter, general, and statesman who served as the seventh president of the United States from 1829 to 1837. Before being elected to the presidency, he gained fame as ...
, during the
War of 1812
The War of 1812 (18 June 1812 – 17 February 1815) was fought by the United States of America and its indigenous allies against the United Kingdom and its allies in British North America, with limited participation by Spain in Florida. It bega ...
. Jackson referred to him as his "Captain of the Spies."
Partnering with a
Chickasaw
The Chickasaw ( ) are an indigenous people of the Southeastern Woodlands. Their traditional territory was in the Southeastern United States of Mississippi, Alabama, and Tennessee as well in southwestern Kentucky. Their language is classified as ...
chieftain, Gordon helped improve the
Natchez Trace
The Natchez Trace, also known as the Old Natchez Trace, is a historic forest trail within the United States which extends roughly from Nashville, Tennessee, to Natchez, Mississippi, linking the Cumberland, Tennessee, and Mississippi rivers. ...
, which gave access to the settlers pushing into western Tennessee and south into the
Louisiana
Louisiana , group=pronunciation (French: ''La Louisiane'') is a state in the Deep South and South Central regions of the United States. It is the 20th-smallest by area and the 25th most populous of the 50 U.S. states. Louisiana is borde ...
and
Mississippi
Mississippi () is a state in the Southeastern region of the United States, bordered to the north by Tennessee; to the east by Alabama; to the south by the Gulf of Mexico; to the southwest by Louisiana; and to the northwest by Arkansas. Miss ...
territories. He was a key figure major battles of the
Creek War
The Creek War (1813–1814), also known as the Red Stick War and the Creek Civil War, was a regional war between opposing Indigenous American Creek factions, European empires and the United States, taking place largely in modern-day Alabama ...
, including the
Battle of Horseshoe Bend, and the
capture of Pensacola from the British.
Early life and Tennessee settler
Gordon was born in
Spotsylvania County, Virginia
Spotsylvania County is a county in the U.S. state of Virginia. As of the July 2021 estimate, the population was 143,676. Its county seat is Spotsylvania Courthouse.
History
At the time of European encounter, the inhabitants of the area that bec ...
to an aristocratic landholding family. His father had fought in the
War of Independence
This is a list of wars of independence (also called liberation wars). These wars may or may not have been successful in achieving a goal of independence.
List
See also
* Lists of active separatist movements
* List of civil wars
* List of o ...
as a lieutenant,
and settled the family in Nashville after the war.
As a young man, John Gordon made a name for himself as an Indian fighter, riding with the militia to investigate reports of attacks on cabins and farmsteads around Nashville. In 1793 he was commissioned by
Territorial
A territory is an area of land, sea, or space, particularly belonging or connected to a country, person, or animal.
In international politics, a territory is usually either the total area from which a state may extract power resources or a ...
Governor
William Blount
William Blount (March 26, 1749March 21, 1800) was an American Founding Father, statesman, farmer and land speculator who signed the United States Constitution. He was a member of the North Carolina delegation at the Constitutional Convention of ...
as a captain in the militia. In 1794, he rode in the
Nickajack campaign against the
Chickamauga Cherokee
The Chickamauga Cherokee refers to a group that separated from the greater body of the Cherokee during the American Revolutionary War. The majority of the Cherokee people wished to make peace with the Americans near the end of 1776, following se ...
, who violently defended their
Tennessee River Gorge
The Tennessee River Gorge is a canyon formed by the Tennessee River known locally as Cash Canyon. It is the fourth largest river gorge in the Eastern United States. The gorge is cut into the Cumberland Plateau as the river winds its way into Alab ...
homeland.
After Tennessee statehood in 1796, Gordon was appointed its first postmaster, a position also later held by his son-in-law,
Confederate States
The Confederate States of America (CSA), commonly referred to as the Confederate States or the Confederacy was an unrecognized breakaway republic in the Southern United States that existed from February 8, 1861, to May 9, 1865. The Confeder ...
General
Felix Kirk Zollicoffer.
Gordon had a plantation in Nashville where he made money from horse racing,
but was eventually forced to sell the land to pay off debts. During this time, Gordon married Dorothea "Dolly" Cross, the daughter of another Virginian who had settled in Nashville. Cross and Gordon, coming from the
first families of Virginia
First Families of Virginia (FFV) were those families in Colonial Virginia who were socially prominent and wealthy, but not necessarily the earliest settlers. They descended from English colonists who primarily settled at Jamestown, Williamsburg ...
, were both descended from
Pocahontas
Pocahontas (, ; born Amonute, known as Matoaka, 1596 – March 1617) was a Native American woman, belonging to the Powhatan people, notable for her association with the colonial settlement at Jamestown, Virginia. She was the daughter of ...
.
Later career
It was in the militia that Gordon first came in contact with the
Chickasaw Indians, with whom he would maintain friendly contact throughout his life. He later acquired some land within the
Chickasaw Nation
The Chickasaw Nation (Chickasaw language, Chickasaw: Chikashsha I̠yaakni) is a federally recognized tribes, federally recognized Native Americans in the United States, Native American tribe, with its headquarters located in Ada, Oklahoma in th ...
in present day
Hickman County on the
Duck River. Here he established a plantation of over fifteen-hundred acres. The land was located at a spot where the Natchez Trace, the old Indian trail then used by settlers going into the Mississippi Territory, crossed the Duck River. In a partnership with Chickasaw Chief William "Chooshemataha" Colbert, Gordon provided ferry service and ran a trading post along the trace.
The Chickasaw ceded the land to Tennessee in 1805 and Gordon moved his family to a large house there in 1812.
The
Gordon House is still there, now maintained by the
National Park Service
The National Park Service (NPS) is an agency of the United States federal government within the U.S. Department of the Interior that manages all national parks, most national monuments, and other natural, historical, and recreational propertie ...
as part of the
Natchez Trace National Parkway.
The Creek Wars
Now referred to as "Captain of the Spies" in the Tennessee state militia, Gordon led militiamen and friendly Indians against "hostiles" armed by the British in the War of 1812. It was during this time that the
Muscogee Creek
The Muscogee, also known as the Mvskoke, Muscogee Creek, and the Muscogee Creek Confederacy ( in the Muscogee language), are a group of related indigenous (Native American) peoples of the Southeastern Woodlands[Red Sticks
Red Sticks (also Redsticks, Batons Rouges, or Red Clubs), the name deriving from the red-painted war clubs of some Native American Creeks—refers to an early 19th-century traditionalist faction of these people in the American Southeast. Made u ...]
" calling for the Creek people to stop ceding land to the United States and adopting western styles of society and agriculture. The Creek Nation called on Tennessee to help put down the so-called "Red Stick rebellion", named for the painted red war clubs brandished by the Creek priests. It was in the militia that Gordon made the acquaintance of Andrew Jackson, who led the campaign. When starving Tennesseans threatened to mutiny against "Old Hickory", Gordon was the first to answer Jackson's plea "If only two men remain with me, I will never abandon this fort," to which Captain Gordon replied, "You have one, general; let's look to see if we can't find another."
Gordon fought against the Red Sticks in 1813 at the
Battle of Talladega
The Battle of Talladega was fought between the Tennessee Militia and the Red Stick Creek Indians during the Creek War, in the vicinity of the present-day county and city of Talladega, Alabama, in the United States.
Background
When General Joh ...
; and later at the
Battle of Horseshoe Bend in 1814 (where Jackson noted him for his courage, saying: "... Captain Gordon who was in front at
he headof the spies rushed to the fight, and entered into the persuit ...")
Horseshoe Bend was the scene of the defeat of the Red Sticks. Gordon and Cherokee Chief
Major Ridge
Major Ridge, The Ridge (and sometimes Pathkiller II) (c. 1771 – 22 June 1839) (also known as ''Nunnehidihi'', and later ''Ganundalegi'') was a Cherokee leader, a member of the tribal council, and a lawmaker. As a warrior, he fought in the ...
were noted leaders of the conflict. Jackson then forced the Creeks into a crippling land cession of over 23 million acres in present day Alabama and Georgia as part of the
Treaty of Fort Jackson
The Treaty of Fort Jackson (also known as the Treaty with the Creeks, 1814) was signed on August 9, 1814 at Fort Jackson near Wetumpka, Alabama following the defeat of the Red Stick (Upper Creek) resistance by United States allied forces at t ...
.
Pensacola
Gordon provided the reconnaissance for Jackson's controversial capture of Pensacola which led to the
Battle of New Orleans
The Battle of New Orleans was fought on January 8, 1815 between the British Army under Major General Sir Edward Pakenham and the United States Army under Brevet Major General Andrew Jackson, roughly 5 miles (8 km) southeast of the French ...
. After Horseshoe Bend, Jackson instructed Gordon to secretly go to Pensacola to see if the British were using the Spanish fort as a base to provide Creek and Seminole Indians with arms. Gordon went on the dangerous mission, passing through Creek territory, and barely escaped after having found the British flag flying at Pensacola and British troops arming Creek warriors.
Gordon's son-in-law, Felix Zollicoffer, wrote in an article about the affair:
It was Capt. Gordon who performed that memorable and perilous service of penetrating alone a forest 300 miles from Hickory Grounds to Pensacola, encountering and evading various Indian parties, and procuring for Gen. Jackson that valuable knowledge of Spanish fortifications and of the Spanish complicity with British and Indian enemies which at once determined him upon and gave him the key to the famous capture of Pensacola.
With Gordon's affirmative report, Jackson captured the town with use of the Tennessee Militia, angering many in the Federal Government.
Return home
During their marriage, Gordon's wife, Dolly, raised eleven children and oversaw the planting of cotton and orchards, and the construction of the house that still stands today on the banks of the Duck River. By some accounts, Dolly served as friend and nurse to the many Indians (probably Chickasaw), who remained in the area or who made regular use of Gordon's ferry and trading post.
Death
In 1818, Jackson asked Gordon to accompany him on a campaign into Florida that became known as the
First Seminole War
The Seminole Wars (also known as the Florida Wars) were three related military conflicts in Florida between the United States and the Seminole, citizens of a Native American nation which formed in the region during the early 1700s. Hostilities ...
. The harsh climate of Florida proved to be too much for Gordon, however, and he died later in 1819 at his home. Dolly remained in the home until her death in 1859.
Gordon and Dolly are buried at Rose Hill Cemetery in
Columbia, Tennessee
Columbia is a city in and the county seat of Maury County, Tennessee. The population was 41,690 as of the 2020 United States census. Columbia is included in the Nashville metropolitan area.
The self-proclaimed "mule capital of the world," Colum ...
.
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Gordon, John
1759 births
1819 deaths
American pioneers
Chickasaw
American militia officers
Tennessee culture
Appalachia
Creek War
History of Tennessee
History of Alabama
Native American history of Alabama
People of the Creek War