UPSON COUNTY, GA - BIOS - Zachariah H. Gordon

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Biography printed in Upson Historical Society Newsletters:
December 2001 - July 2002


ZACHARIAH H. GORDON: MAKER AND MOLDER OF UPSON COUNTY

This article is the first of a three part series on the
life of the Reverend Zachariah Herndon Gordon, the father
of General John B. Gordon.

In February 1900, a gentleman named C. H. Raley, wrote a
letter to the Thomaston Times about his memories of early
Upson County. He and his family had lived here when Upson
County was formed out of parts of Pike and Crawford
counties on December 15, 1824. (previously parts of
Monroe and Houston counties.) This is one of the things
Mr. Raley shared:

"At first there was little or no civili-zation among the
people. They would collect together, drink whiskey and
fight like dogs. But some preachers moved in and began to
preach the gos-pel and soon churches and school houses
went up and in a short time a great change for the better
was every-where apparent."

One of the preachers he named was a North Carolinian
named Zachariah Hemdon Gordon; one of whose sons, John
Brown Gordon, grew up to be a famous Confederate general,
a United States Senator, and the Governor of Georgia.
Much is known of John B. Gordon, but more should be known
of this illustrious father who helped to mold that life
which, in turn, helped to shape to our state and our
nation.

Zachariah Gordon was bom in Wilkes County, North
Carolina, on March 10, 1794. (Some sources say he was bom
in 1796, but his family in-scribed 1794 on his
tombstone.) Zachariah came from noble stock. His great,
grandfather, John George Gordon came to America's shores
from Aber-deen, Scotland in 1724, landing in Charleston,
South Carolina. Like so many of his contemporaries, he
began to move about. His first move took him to Maryland,
where he met and married Mary Sarah Chapman, the daughter
of a wealthy English physician. Since Dr. Chapman
objected to the marriage, the couple migrated to
Spotsylvania Court House in Virginia where they settled.
Some years later, one of John George Gordon's sons,
Charles Gordon, Sr., when he was about 40, took his
family




and moved south to what was then Sur-rey County, North
Carolina, out of which Wilkes County was later formed.
Here, Charles Gordon, Sr., played a significant role in
the political life of North Carolina. He served as a mem-
ber of the Provisional Continental Con-gress of 1775 and
as an officer during the American Revolution.

During the Revolution, Charles Gordon Sr.'s sons also
served in the army.  One of these sons, Chapman Gordon
fought in the Battle of King's Mountain on October 7,
1780. At the time, Chapman Gordon was about 23 years old.
After independence was achieved, Chapman married Charity
King and became well-to-do. King's Mountain, North
Carolina, was named for Charity's father, Charles King.
It should be noted here that Charity King's brother,
Pennington King, was the father of another well-known
Upson preacher, Jacob King, making Zachariah Gordon and
Jacob King first cousins.

Unfortunately, Charles, Sr. died when his son Zachariah
was only about 14 years of age.   Though young, Zachariah
took charge of his father's estate.  His two older
brothers were away studying at Dickinson College in
Carlisle, Pennsylvania.  A few years afterwards, one of
the brothers suffered the lost of all of his holdings,
incurring heavy debts through an investment in a
merchandising company that had also used his name for
credit.   Young Zachariah was so moved by his brother's
plight that he rode by horse-back all of the way to
Philadelphia and

paid his entire savings on the debt. Not only that, he
worked for another five years helping his brother to
discharge the remaining debt.  Zechariah's two brothers
were Wiley, who died in the service of Texas, and Charles
P., who afterwards became a distinguish lawyer at
Eatonton, Georgia.

When Zachariah chose to leave North Carolina, he migrated
to Jones County, Georgia. The various sources of
information conflict as to when this happened. One writer
indicates that the move was made when Zachariah was 19
years of age, 1815 by that source's reckoning.  This
source also reports that he lived here for two years.
How-ever, that same source also tells us that he was
baptized By John M. Gray at age 23, which would be four
years later.   A different source says that Zachariah and
Jacob King were both baptized on the first Sunday of July
in 1820. At this tirtie Zechariah would have been 24
years of age. Still another source has Zachariah living
in Jones County on September 29, 1823, when he received a
land grant for property in the 16th district of Crawford
County, land later incorporated into the new Upson County
in December 1824. An-other property transaction indicates
that he might have still been in Jones County as late as
August 23, 1824.

Whenever it was that Zachariah lived in Jones County, the
Baptist Com-pendium tells us, "It was during this period
that he became interested on the subject of religion. The
'Great Concern' continued to fill his heart until he
made an open profession of faith...." .

Sometime after his conversion, Zachariah moved to
Eatonton, Georgia, where his brother was living. Here, he
came into contact with Jesse Mercer, a Baptist leader. He
and Mercer talked much about the work of the ministry.
But at that time he did not yield to a call to preach.

The next move in Zachariah's pilgrimage brought him to Upson
County. As already noted, he had been a "fortunate drawer" in a
land lottery which allocated land in Houston County, but property
which would become a part of Upson County in December 1825. His
draw fell on a land lot in the 16th district, southwestern Upson
County. At an earlier date he had acquired deed to lot 138 in
Monroe County, but he sold this on August 23, 1824; and then he
acquired land lot 157 in the 16th district with his lottery draw.
The grant for land lot 157 came on October 26, 1824. It was here
that he built his home, which was near Good Hope Baptist Church
and an academy by the same name. It is safe to assume that he
moved shortly after the acquisition of this land. His cousin Jacob
King, and Jacob's wife Matilda, who had married eight years
earlier on January 8, 1817, had also moved into the Southeastern
portion of Upson County in 1825 living near Hootenville. Here they
joined the Ebenezer Baptist Church that was located about two
miles east of Hootenville in land lot 313.

It was here in Upson County that Zachariah Gordon began his
ministry. The History of the Baptist Denomination in Georgia with
Biographical Compendium says that he was 29 years old at the time
he came to Upson and was ordained a year later. This work also
adds that he was living on the Flint River in Upson County when
this happened. If he was bom in 1894 as his tombstone says, he was
probably 31 when he came into Upson County and ordained at age 32.
This much is cer tain, by the summer of 1826, the records of the
Bethesda Baptist Church of Christ, now Thomaston's First Baptist
Church, tell of his preaching for that congregation, but that does
not neces sarily imply ordination. In those days no Baptist
preacher was ordained until a church called him as pastor, but
once licensed by a church, he was free to preach in a place or
territory as defined by the license. Inasmuch as Zachariah
probably did not come into Upson County until late 1824 or early
1825, his ordination most likely did not occur until 1826
irrespective of his birth date. Whenever the date, his ordination
took place under the examination and hands of the Reverends Henry
Hooten and John Hamrick. Hooten was then the pastor of Ebenezer
Baptist Church and Hamrick led the Bethlehem congregation just a
few miles to the north. At this point we have to deal with a
statement made by Alien P. Tankersley in his splendid book, John
B. Gordon, A Study in Gallantry. Tankersley states that
"...Hooten, the pastor of the Good Hope Baptist Church, to which
Zachariah Gordon belonged, resigned his charge that the newly
ordained preacher might be called to it. For the next fourteen
years, without intermis sion, Gordon served the Good Hope Baptist
Church." In part Mr. Tanker sley bases his statement on the bio
graphical sketch in Boykin's 1881 Bap tist history which, indeed,
makes a similar claim but does not name the church.  The
difficulty with Tankersley's statement about Gordon being at Good
Hope for 14 years lies in three simple facts.

First, the only existing minutes of that congregation which are
preserved in Nottingham and Hannah's Early His tory of Upson
County make it clear that this group called Creed Caldwell as
their pastor for the year 1830. This be ing the case, Zachariah
Gordon could not have had an unbroken pastorate of 14 years.

Second, Good Hope went primitive in 1837 while Zachariah stood for
missions.

Third, the best evidence points to Ebenezer as Gordon's long and
unbro ken pastorate. Here Jacob King and, perhaps, Zachariah were
members in the 18251826 time frame.   We do know that both men
were ordained by the same presbytery, John Hamrick and Henry
Hooten, in the same span of time; and pastors were always ordained
by the church of which they were mem bers with the presbytery
usually being led by the pastor. The records tell us that Hooten
was the delegate from Ebenezer to the Flint River Association in
1826. Since no other ordained dele gates attended, this means he
was most likely the pastor at Ebenezer at this time. This was, of
course, before Zachariah's ordination. Then in 1827, after his
ordination, Gordon was the delegate, a member, and most likely the
pastor, from Ebenezer. Unfortunately, no records from 1826 exist.
Remem ber, no person, including pastors, could serve as a delegate
from a church other than the one in which he held member ship.
From 1827 until 1836, whether Ebenezer was in the Flint River or
the Ichaconna Associations, Zachariah Gordon was listed as a
delegate of Ebenezer and most likely its pastor.

As for Good Hope, it is also likely that Zachariah Gordon did at
some time serve as the pastor of this church. After all, Good Hope
was very close to his home. In addition, in his reflections on his
boyhood conversion, John B. Gordon spoke of his first membership
being at the Good Hope Church.

We also know that on the invitation of the Good Hope congregation
that Zachariah participated in an ordination service at that
church in March 1835.

It still must be remembered that in those days pastors usually
served four churches at a time and the long pastor ate could well
have been elsewhere.

Next month we shall take a closer look at Zachariah Gordon, his
mar riage and family.

FEBRUARY 2002 UHS NEWSLETTER

Doubling back, another signal event in Zachariah's life also came
in 1826. One Sunday morning he was invited to fill the pulpit of a
church across the Flint River in Talbot County. Early in the
service a beautiful voice caught his ear. As his eyes tracked the
sound, he discovered an attractive and slender, auburnhaired young
lady named Malinda Cox. After preaching, he eagerly sought her
out.  Her re sponse was to invite him home to din ner.  Her
parents were Ichabod and Mary Rowan Cox. Her paternal ances tors
were settlers at Jamestown in Virginia. Her father's family had
come to Talbot County by way of North Caro lina. No doubt the
couple had much to talk about.  After a brief courtship, Zachariah
and Malinda were married on April 26, 1826. Immediately, they went
to live in Upson County.

At the time of his marriage, Zachariah Gordon was engaged in the
development of a large plantation, one of many in the area at that
time. The plantation was six miles south of Tho maston and about a
mile from Parker's Ferry (near the site of the present Po Biddy
Road Bridge over the Flint River). The population in this area was
small and scattered, about half of the people were slaves. (One
item on page 315 in the Early History of Upson County tells of
Zachariah buying a slave girl for $200 and giving her to his
mother.). Upson was frontier country with no railroads, telegraphs
and very little mail.   Thomaston's population was only a few
hundred people. It had one school house, a few stores, and the
Methodist Church. Remember also that from the time Upson County
was estab lished into the mid1830's, wars were sometimes fought
with Creek Indians who lived only about 50 miles away. Years
later, Zachariah's son, John B. Gordon would recall farmers
"marching under my father's command and form ing along the eastern
bank of the Flint River." Indeed, some of Upson's men and boys did
march away in 1836 to fight the Indians.

Some time after Zachariah and Malinda were married, a visiting
minister spent the night in the Gordon home. The next morning the
visitor told Malinda, "Sister Gordon, last night I dreamed that
you were the mother of twelve children." "Heaven forbid," she
exclaimed; but she lived to see this dream come true. [At this
writing most of the children's names are not known. Perhaps, most
of them did not live into adulthood. There was one sister, Mary,
John B. (the fourth child). Chapman, Gus, Eugene, and Walter. The
Gordon children, of course, had fellowship with each other, but
they also played with the slave children who lived on the farm.
John Brown Gordon, obviously the more famous of Zachariah and
Malinda's children was bom on Febru ary 6, 1832. This son, year's
later, de scribed his father as "indulgent" where his children
were concerned.

Zachariah Gordon, was, of course, more than a preacher and a
farmer, the description community leader also fits him.   The
Early History of Upson County tells that he served as foreman of
the County's grand jury in 1837, he was a road commissioner in his
district in both 1826 and 1833. In 1835 served as a commissioner
to see that a bridge was built over Swift Creek.

But, returning to his ministry, from the first Zachariah Gordon
took an ac tive role in Baptist life. He nearly al ways had four
churches, most of them in Upson, Talbot, Pike and Houston
Counties. And for the most part, he probably did this without any
pay. He also invested himself in the local asso ciation of
churches. Minutes of the

Flint River, Ichaconna, and Rehoboth Associations from 18271838
speak of his serving on the committees of his association and
sometimes representing his association by visiting another.

But beyond this, he took an active roll in evangelizing the area
of his and neighboring counties.   He and his cousin Jacob King
developed a plan for which they gained fame, the ride and tie
plan. It is described on this line: "In this scheme the two men
would use one pony between them. One would ride ahead and tie the
mount. The other would walk until he came to the horse, then he
would ride ahead of his com panion and tie the horse for his
friend. Apparently the times of walking were used for visiting in
homes and talking to people along the way.

But, of course, the major thrust of his work focused on preaching.
Just a few years before he died, a sketch of his life appeared in
the History of the Baptist Denomination in Georgia with
Biographical Compendium. This essay claimed: "His native eloquence
is won derful, for, even in his old age, his smooth silvery voice
and pathetic ap peals never fail to melt his congrega tion, and
draw 'floods of penitential grief or of triumphant joy from eyes
unused to weeping." This same account tells how, "After his
ordination, he was for two years, in the midst of a continu ous
revival at all of his churches, bap tizing from one to twentyfive
persons every Sabbath, until the number amounted to over 1,000.

In all of this work, his good wife stood bsside him and helped
him. Be ing a deeply religious woman, "she brought up her children
"in the nurture and admonition of the Lord." In her girlhood she
taught Sunday School, and after her marriage to Zechariah Gordon
she assisted him greatly. Some even said that "by gentleness and
goodness she illustrated the strength and beauty of the Christ her
husband preached." MARCH 2002 UHS NEWSLETTER

As the population and the number of churches in the Flint River
Associa tion increased, the brethren decided in their 1827 session
that those in the lower portion of the territory should form a new
association.   Zachariah Gordon was placed on the presbytery to
accomplish this task. It was a friendly division, the monies being
equally di vided. They chose the name Ichaconna for this new
Baptist body.

Sadly these springtime years of Baptist life were shattered by a
storm that reached its full fury in 1837 and brought a flood tide
of schism by 1838. A disagreement arose over the use and function
of societies to accomplish the work of the church, namely: mission
ary, benevolent, Sunday School, Bible, tract, and temperance
societies. For the most part, the focus fell on mission work of
all kinds, and the difficulty be came generally known as the mis
sions—antimissions controversy. Some (later calling themselves
Primi tive Baptists) felt that since an individ ual's salvation
was foreordained, mis sionary endeavors were both unneces sary and
unscriptural. Those opposing, men like Zachariah Gordon and Jacob
King, claimed that unlimited invitations to mercy were not
inconsistent with a limited atonement.

This controversy came to a climax in the Ichaconna Association's
1837 session. In these days of division, the Ebenezer Church chose
the anti missions side while their pastor, Zachariah Gordon, took
the opposite view. They parted company. A num ber of delegates
walked out. Zachariah must have been one of these, for like the
others, his name is not listed in the record as a delegate that
year. Thus, on July 27, 1838, when those churches which had been
expelled from the Icha conna met to form a missionary Baptist
association, Zachariah was in their midst as a delegate from
Harmony Church. This means that he had moved his membership from
Ebenezer to Har mony. The delegates showed their re spect for him
by electing him temporary




moderator. The new association chose the name Rehoboth meaning,
"the Lord has made room for us."

Where did Zachariah serve as pas tor after his departure from
Ebenezer? Fortunately, while the minutes of the Rehoboth
Association from 1839 to 1845 were not preserved and Notting ham
and Hannah's history of Upson County is silent, we can still
answer that question. In 1855, E. G. Cabaniss on instructions from
the Association, compiled short histories of the churches then in
that body. In the history of Har mony Baptist Church, Cabaniss
states:

"Harmony Church in Upson County was constituted on the 10th day of
Feb ruary, 1837, with eleven members and was one of the churches
which aided in the forming of this (Rehoboth) Associa tion. ...
The Rev. Z. H. Gordon was the first pastor and served during the
years 1837, 1838, 1839." (During this same time, he did some
preaching for the church at Knoxville in Crawford County.) This
accounts for the fact that the table on which youthful John B.
Gordon stood to make his public pro fession of faith is, in 2001,
still in the possession of that congregation, now the New Harmony
Baptist Church. It is altogether possible that in the mis
sions—antimissions dispute that the majority of those at Ebenezer
favored the antimissions side; and that Zachariah Gordon, who
stood for mis sions, led the minority out to form Har mony Church,
becoming its first pastor. In this way, Zachariah Gordon could
well have been pastor to some of his congregation for 14 years, 11
years at Ebenezer and 3 at Harmony.

Returning to the subject of John B. Gordon's conversion and the
story the table. Alien P. Tankersley, re., searched a number of
sources and put the story together something like this:

When he (John B. Gordon) was about eight years old, his father
preached a soulstirring sermon and then went out into the
congregation to exhort sinners individually. Zachariah left a Mr.
Ferryman at the pulpit to re ceive converts. Young John was so
moved in his heart that he went forward and gave Mr. Ferryman his
hand. Since Baptist did not normally receive chil dren John's age
into church member ship, Mr. Ferryman called out to Zachariah and
said, "Your son wishes to make a profession of faith." To this
Zachariah replied, "Just put him on the table and let him speak
for himself." Standing on that table, the little boy spoke with
great "clarity and earnest ness" of purpose. He spoke of a recent
experience in which he had become frightened as he rode down a
muddy hill in his father's carriage. He then exclaimed, "I decided
to put my trust in the Lord." Mr. Ralph Lowell Eckert, another
biographer, adds that young Gordon had been driving a team of
mules and they got away from him.

The congregation was satisfied and the boy was received. John B.
Gordon later related that his first church mem bership was at Good
Hope; but this statement is difficult to reconcile with the known
records of his father's church membership. On one hand, in those
days the distances which pastors had to travel over very poor
roads might have dictated that Mrs. Gordon and the children attend
at Good Hope because it was so close to their home. On the other
hand, if John B. Gordon was about 8 years of age when he was
converted, the event must have occurred after the
missionsantimission division. By that time, Good Hope is known to
have followed the anti missions route; and his father has al ready
become a member and the pastor at Harmony.

APRIL 2002  UHS NEWSLETTER

After all of the stirring events of the 18371838 period, Zachariah
Gordon was soon to depart from Upson County. He began selling his
land on December 30, 1839 Land sales continued into 1843   The
Early History of Upson County recounts how William McKenny moved
to Upson in Decem ber 1839 and purchased Zachariah Gordon's
plantation on the Flint River. Zachariah does not appear in
Upson's 1840 census and he is not in the tax di gest of 1841. One
land transaction, for which he employed an attorney to han dle,
was dated November 23, 1840, and definitely places him in Walker
County. This is a county in extreme northwest comer of Georgia.
The Cherokee Indi ans had been moved out of that area in 1838 and
the available land attracted people from all over the nation.
Whether Zachariah actually won any land in the Cherokee Land
Lottery has. not been checked at this time.

Here in Walker County he acquired property about ten miles from
LaFayette. The Indians had so recently departed that the area
abounded in "fresh relics of the redskin warriors, who had fished
in Chickamauga's wa ters and shot deer as they browsed in herds
along its banks."  His land was rich in mineral springs. A great
abun dance of mineral water flowed from 12 springs in an area of
onefourth of an acre. Zachariah and Malinda named it Gordon
Springs.

One contemporary writer described Gordon's new home in this way:
"The medicinal springs owned by Rev. Z. Gordon, are among the most
celebrated in the country. They are situated at the base of
Taylor's Ridge.   There are twenty springs within the space of
half a mile, possessing different proper ties.... Two of them are
chalybeate, two sulfur, and two magnesia.  The most astonishing
cures have been ef fected by the use of the waters. Among the
Indians, the reputation of these springs was very great; and from
three to four hundred of them were annually in the habit of
visiting the springs to partake of their healing virtues

Zachariah Gordon quickly realized the commercial values of such a
place and built a summer resort which he called "a watering
place." When all of the buildings were finished, his establishment
included "a fine hotel contain ing thirty rooms, together with all
nec essary outhouses, four cottages with four rooms each, and one
large one story building with thirty rooms... A fine Stock Farm is
attached to the Springs, of between three and four hun dred acres,
cultivated in grain of which two hundred acres are creek bottom
land. A portion lies on the mountain side (Taylor's Ridge),
suitable for a vineyard, and near the Hotel is an Or chard, with
fruit of almost every de scription.  These Springs are on the
Western & Atlantic railroad and easy to access...convenient to
those desiring a pleasant or summer residence." Gordon's Springs
was 12 miles from Dalton, the county seat of Whitfield, and
thirtyfive miles from Chattanooga.

About a mile from the springs, Zachariah cut down the trees on Tay
lor's Ridge to create a panoramic view from which one could see
the Smoky Mountains of North Carolina; the Blue Ridges in northern
Georgia, the Sand Mountains of Alabama, and the Cum berland
Mountains in Tennessee. He named this spot Buena Vista, "beautiful
view." The combined draw ing power of health and beauty at tracted
many people.

It was here that Zachariah and Malinda had their only daughter.
Bom on Christmas day, 1842, the joyous par ents named her Mary.
Looking ahead,

she grew up and married Joel C. Roper. Mary lived until October
13, 1923, al most 81 years. She died in Atlanta but is buried in
with her parents.

Though Zachariah enjoyed bountiful success in his new business
venture, he did not neglect his calling from God. Available
records of the Coosa Baptist Association indicate early and eager
activity. Two years after arriving in Walker County, he was
elected treas urer of the Baptist association.   In 1843, the
brethren invited him to preach the introductory sermon for their
annual meeting. The 1846 record tells us that he was a member and
pastor of the Medicinal Springs Baptist Church near where he
lived.  So far as we know, he remained in that pulpit through
1854, and perhaps beyond. In 1851, Medicinal Springs reported 56
members. Since no records are avail able for the years 1855 to
1870, we cannot know exactly when he departed from that church.
During the year 1849 he also preached at Woods Station Baptist
Church and from 1850 to 1852, he was also pastor for the Chatooga
Baptist Church. Of course, he could well have been pastor of other
congre gations in nearby associations. During these years he
served on committees and twice he represented his association at
the state convention. We also know that he sometimes preached,
through an interpreter, to Indians who had man aged to remain in
that section.

In the midst of his material and min isterial prosperity,
Zachariah Gordon did not neglect the education of his children.
John B. started out at a rural school two miles distance from his
home. The father became dissatisfied and initiated a school at
Gordon Springs and employed good teachers. The next school the
Gordon children attended was Pleasant Green Academy at LaFayette. 
This institution had a wide reputation as one of the "best schools
in all North Georgia." It is also known that John B. Gordon
attended Franklin Academy (University of Geor gia) for one year.

MAY 2002 UHS NEWSLETTER


A little before 1856 the Gordon family once again moved. This time
they crossed over the border into Jack son County in northeast
Alabama. How close they lived to the intersection of Georgia,
Alabama, and Tennessee can be seen in a statement which John Brown
Gordon wrote into his Reminis cences: "The outbreak of the war
found me in the mountains of Georgia, Ten nessee, and Alabama
engaged in the development of coal mines. This does not mean that
I was a citizen of three states; but it does mean that I lived so
near the lines that my mines were in Georgia, my house in Alabama
and my post office in Tennessee."

This interest in mining grew out of a conversation that Zachariah
had with one of his guests at Gordon Springs, Mark A. Cooper.
Cooper, Georgia's leading industrialist, engaged in a coal mining
enterprise and the idea caught fire with Zachariah. Once in
Alabama, Zachariah purchased land and began this profitable
business, encouraging his married son John to join him in the
venture.

As the South girded for armed con flict in 1861, Zachariah and
Malinda watched four of their sons march off to war. On the day
Ft. Sumpter surren dered, John B. helped to organize the 6th
Alabama —his unit was called the Raccoon Roughs—and Eugene and
Augustus enlisted with him. The fourth son, Walter, also served in
the military. Reflecting well on the Gordon house hold, all four
of these sons served as officers in Confederate Army. Not only did
Zachariah and Malinda lose the work that their sons contributed to
the family business, but they took in John B. and Fanny's two boys
for care and keeping. Fanny was determined to ac company her
husband to war, and she did, all of the way to Appomatox.

The war years brought a mix of joy and sorrow.  Zachariah and
Malinda could not help but rejoice when their son John B.
continued receiving promotions and citations for gallantry, but
their hearts were broken when they learned, probably from John
himself, that Gus had been killed at Seven Pines.   More anxiety
came when Eugene was severely wounded in a bat tle in the
Shenandoah Valley.

When the War Between the States marched into Tennessee and set its
sights on Atlanta, Zachariah and Malinda found it necessary to
take their family and refugee to Columbus, Geor gia.   Though far
from his home, Zachariah was not in strange territory. He had
often visited the Columbus As sociational territory as a
representative of the Eacheconna or Rehoboth Asso ciations. While
the minutes of the Co lumbus Association were not well pre served
during the war, we can leam a few facts. In 1865 these minutes
tell us that Zachariah served as pastor of the Good Hope Baptist
Church in Chatta hoochee County.  The 1866 minutes show him as a
delegate to the associa tion's annual session meeting at Mount
Zion Church in Talbot County. Here he was elected to represent the
association at the next session of the Georgia Bap tist
Convention. These records report that he was a pastor, but no
church is named. At this point it is worth while to remember that
Zachariah's wife Malinda had a number of Cox relatives living in
this area.

Obviously he and Malinda were still living in the Columbus area
when the war ended.  When John B. Gordon came home from the war he
visited his parents in Columbus. He reported that he found his
father with an unbroken spirit, in good health, and walking as
erectly as a young man. Less than two

years after the war's end, Zachariah's beloved wife of almost
fortyone years became gravely ill. The old patriarch summonsed all
of his five surviving children and they gathered at Malinda's
bedside. In those tender moments, as death approached, the old
saint Zachariah hummed a few lines of a hymn that had been a
favorite of Malinda's.

Jesus can make a dying bed Feel as soft as downy pillows are,

While on his breast [ lean my head And breathe my life out sweetly
there.

"Yes," she whispered back, "I am breathing my life out sweetly
there.

Malinda Cox Gordon died peace fully on February 5, 1867.

She was buried in the Linwood Cemetery of Columbus beside her son
Augustus who had been killed while leading his regiment in a
charge at Chancellorsville, Virginia, on May 13,1863.

Some time after his wife's death, Zachariah returned to his labors
in Jackson County, Alabama, for his name disappears from the
Columbus Associational records. On the other hand, he may have
then moved to Clay County, Alabama, because refer ences found
about him in the 1880's have him living in that county and it is
known that he died in Clay County.

During these postwar years, he and his sons remained in close
contact. A very special joy that came to him in these last years
of his life arrived when his son, Eugene, surrendered to the
ministry of God, and at one time served as pastor of the First
Baptist Church of Athens, Alabama. In 1873, John B. Gordon had
been elected to the United States' Senate and reelected in 1878.

While serving in the Senate, John B. Gordon did a signal work in
ending the reconstruction with all of its inepti tude which had
resulted in prolonged suffering in the South.

Our next and final episode will see how Zachariah defended his
son's res ignation, and his views on foot washing in the churches.

JUNE 2002  UHS NEWSLETTER


In 1880, John B. Gordon resigned his U.S. Senate seat feeling that
little was done in Congress to help Georgia and feeling a need to
earn a better living for his family. When he resigned, the news
created a sensation and an outcry arose accusing Gordon of politi
cal bargaining since Gordon was made president of a railroad owned
by the man who took his senate seat. Zachariah immediately arose
to defend his son. He wrote to the Atlanta Con stitution, on May
26, 1880, "I would feel that my teachings and counsels would have
been to little purpose if the slanders and falsehoods uttered
against my son had any foundation of fact.... He made me a visit
in March last, and while here, he said to me, 'Pa, I am tired of
public life....I can't save up any money out of my salary and the
idea of my dying and leaving my family trou bles me no little' As
to the insinuations that he was 'bought out' I pronounce it
'infamously and shamefully false.'"

The Alabama Baptist, a denomina tion newspaper, published an item
Sep tember 23, 1880, which places him in the community of Boyd's
Switch. He wrote to the paper:

1 enclose you $2, Sl for your good pa per and $1 for the
missionary cause, to be disposed of as you think best. Of all the
papers, I think the Ala. Baptist is one of the best. I am now in
my 85th year, and know not how soon my good Master may call me
away; but I am still, in my feeble way, trying to proclaim to the
world the glorious plan of salvation through the unspeakable love
of our pre cious Redeemer.

No one can question that while Zachariah held strongly to
missionary views, he still clung closely to some of the old
Baptist ideals espoused be fore the missions—antimissions con
troversy. For example he disagreed with many of his missionary
brethren who had by the 1880's completely abandoned the practice
of foot washing. On March 10, 1882, the




.IS

Alabama Baptist published a letter he had sent to them after
having read an article in another issue of the paper. He stated
emphatically:

I look upon the Alabama Baptist as one of the best papers,
although I occasion ally see some things in it that do not agree
with my taste and my views of the precious Gospel of Jesus. One of
these is in regard to footwashing.  By many footwashing seems to
be discarded en tirely; others pronounce it a heresy, as did our
dear brother T. I. McCandless, in the Alabama Baptist of January
13, 1881. My dear brother if the practice of footwashing, in
obedience to Christ is heresy, then many of the best, and most
pious Baptists, as old Brother Jesse Mer cer and hundreds, yea,
thousands of oth ers that could be named, are guilty of the sin of
heresy,—if the views of some of our good and wise brethren be
correct. Permit me to give an idea or two on this subject.
Footwashing, Scripturally, is either right or wrong. Could Christ
Je sus do anything wrong? I presume all Christians will answer,
nay. Well, did he do what John says he did, in the 13th chapter of
his Gospel in the paragraph beginning with the 4th and ending with
the 17th verse, concluding that final verse by saying, "If you
know these things, happy are ye if ye do them." Now what things
did the Saviour here allude to? I would suppose he alluded to all
things he had taught. Of course, the washing of one another's feet
must have been one of the things included. If not, will Bro.
Winkler, or Bro. Renfroe, or some other good brother tell us what
it does mean? For although I am now 85 years old and have been
trying to preach for sixty years, and am trying yet, I be lieve I
am not too old to leam, and I never felt more desirous of learning
the truth. I have long believed that error no matter how strongly
a person may be


lieve it, especially error in religious mat ters, will result in
deplorable evil. Not a great while ago, I learned from the
Christian Index, that Dr. J. R. Graves had stated that there is no
more to be found in the Old or New Testament in favor of
footwashing than there is in favor of infant baptism. This
astonished me no little, but I thought it might be possible, for I
have heard of an old lady who was very much opposed to the doc
trine of predestination, and asked if it was in the Bible, for she
had cut it out. So it seems very hard for most people to find in
the good Book some things that do not accord with their notions.
(Signed) Z. H. Gordon, Boyd's Switch, Ala.

On April 6, 1882, the Alabama Bap tist published the fact that Z.
H. Gordon... "had sent us $8.00 for mis sions." This item places
him in Atlanta. Since he is back in Alabama a few months later, it
not likely that he had moved, rather that he had visited with his
son, John B. Gordon.

Another item published eight months later on January 25, 1883, in
the Ala bama Baptist, reports that he has just returned from
Gainesville, Georgia, so apparently at approximately 86 years of
age he is still able to travel a good bit. Three months later, on
March 22, 1883, he wrote to the Alabama Baptist again from
Hatchett Creek, sending $3.00 for missions and stating. "It is not
prob able that I can do anything in that way much longer, being
now in my 88th year.   But I still love the blessed cause." (If
anyone does the arithmetic on all of the ages referenced in all of
our sources, that person will, like this writer, come to the
conclusion that Z. H. Gordon was never precise when speaking of
his age.)

In October 1886, as Zachariah ea gerly followed the progress of
his son John in a race for the governorship of Georgia, his heart
was shocked and saddened by the death of his 36year old son,
Walter Gordon. Walter had been engaged in the railroad business.

Then, in December 1886, just one month after John B. Gordon had
been elected as the governor of Georgia, the aged saint, Zachariah
Hemdon Gordon, breathed his last at his home, then in Clay County,
Alabama.

For 91 years he had made a differ-ence in every season of his life
for the benefit of those around him. He had been a minister of the
gospel for more than 60 of his years. His compassion for the lost
never left him. In one of his last surviving letters, written on
May 5, 1880, he wrote to a noted historian, Ly-man C. Draper,
inquiring if he were a Christian.

Zachariah's four surviving children brought his body back to
Columbus, Georgia, and buried him beside Malinda and their hero
son, Augustus.

Thus closed the life of one of Upson County's illustrious pioneer
preachers. While he lived in Upson County for only 15 of his 91
years, he left his im-print of the life of the community. He had
helped to effect that "great change for the better" to which C. H.
Raley testified 16 years after Gordon's death and burial.

BIBLIOGRAPHY
The Thomaston Times, February 2,
1900

Boykin, Samuel A. History of the Bap-
tist Denomination in Georgia with
Biographical Compendium, At-
lanta: Jas. P. Harrison & Co., 1881

Tankersley, Alien P. John B. Gordon:

A Study in Gallantry, Atlanta: The
Whitehall Press, 1955

Nottingham, Carolyn Walker & Evelyn
Hannah, Early History of Upson
County, Georgia, (reprinted) Vi-
dalia, Georgia: Georgia Genealogi-
cal Reprints, 1969.

Tharp, B. F., Biographical Sketch and
Sermon of Elder Jacob King,
Macon, Georgia: Burke, Boykin &
Company, 1864.

Deed Book A, Superior Court, Upson
County, Georgia.

Map, Upson County, surveyed by W. J.
Matthews, 1897

Campbell, J. H. Georgia Baptists, His-
torical and Biographical, Macon,
Georgia: J. W. Burke and Com-
pany, 1874

Deed book E, Superior Court, Upson
County, Georgia.

Deed Book F, Superior Court, Upson
County, Georgia.

Deed Book E, Superior Court, Upson
County, Georgia.

Minutes, Coosa Baptist Association,

1842.
Minutes, Coosa Baptist Association,

1843.

Minutes, Coosa Baptist Association,
1846.

Minutes, Coosa Baptist Association,
1854.

Minutes, Columbus Baptist Associa-
tion, 1865.

Minutes, Columbus Baptist Associa-
tion, 1866.

Minutes, Eachoconna Baptist Associa-
tion

Minutes, Rehoboth Baptist Association

The Alabama Baptist, 1880-1883