page_title: John Gordon (militia captain)
section_title: Early life and Tennessee settler
hierarchical_section_title: John Gordon (militia captain) / Early life and Tennessee settler
caption_attribution_description: English: House of John Gordon, built 1818, located along the Old Natchez Trace in Tennessee. Now part of the Natchez Trace Parkway area. This is an image of a place or building that is listed on the National Register of Historic Places in the United States of America. Its reference number is 74000333
context_page_description: John Gordon, 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, Tennessee area. He gained notability and rank in the Tennessee Militia, fighting against the Creeks and Seminoles for Andrew Jackson, during the War of 1812. Jackson referred to him as his "Captain of the Spies."
  Partnering with a Chickasaw chieftain, Gordon helped improve the Natchez Trace, which gave access to the settlers pushing into western Tennessee and south into the Louisiana and Mississippi territories. He was a key figure major battles of the Creek War, including the Battle of Horseshoe Bend, and the capture of Pensacola from the British.
context_section_description: Gordon was born in Spotsylvania County, Virginia to an aristocratic landholding family. His father had fought in the War of Independence 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 Governor William Blount as a captain in the militia.  In 1794, he rode in the Nickajack campaign against the Chickamauga Cherokee, who violently defended their Tennessee River Gorge homeland.
  After Tennessee statehood in 1796, Gordon was appointed its first postmaster, a position also later held by his son-in-law, Confederate States 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, were both descended from Pocahontas.
caption: John Gordon's house on the Duck River. Site of Gordon and Chief William Colbert's ferry, and the Gordon plantation.  Now maintained as part of the Natchez Trace National Parkway.
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