Capt. John Gordon

Capt. John Gordon. B. July 15, 1763 – D. 1819. Born near Fredericksburg, Virginia in 1763, John Gordon settled in Nashville about 1782. On the frontier, Gordon made a name for himself as an Indian fighter. He was commissioned by Territorial Governor William Blount as a militia captain in 1793. Gordon served with distinction during the famous Nickajack Expedition, and won the praise of his commanding officers. As Tennessee neared statehood, he became a Justice of the Peace for Davidson County in 1795 and the first postmaster of Nashville in 1796., By 1802, Gordon had made an agreement with the Chickasaw Indians allowing him to operate a trading post and ferry on the Duck River. He would eventually receive six hundred forty acres near the ferry from the State of Tennessee. Between the years of 1808 and 1812, he transitioned his family from Nashville to life on the Natchez Trace., John Gordon was not home for long, though. In 1812, he left his family at their Duck River homestead and marched with Andrew Jackson against the Red Stick Indians. Gordon commanded a company of “spies,” or scouts. Information obtained directly by Gordon was used by Andrew Jackson to capture Pensacola, Florida in 1814. He returned home in 1815, only to go back into military service during the Seminole War of 1817-1818., While he was gone, his wife saw to it that construction began on a brick two-story home near their ferry. He wrote at least one letter home to Dolley instructing her where to place windows in 1818. The home was completed the same year. The home (pictured to the right) was one of the most elegant structures on the frontier., Gordon would only live in the home for a few months. He died in June 1819 of pneumonia. Originally buried near their home on the Natchez Trace, John and Dolley Gordon now rest under the two box tombs located straight ahead.