Kingsport Spirit

The University of Tennessee Volunteers & University of Florida Gators are bitter enemies in the Southeastern Conference. Many know that legendary Gator coach Steve Spurrier hails from Johnson City, Tennessee, but did you know that Gainesville, Florida–home of the Gators–is named after General Edmund Pendleton Gaines of Kingsport, Tennessee?

The name “Volunteers” stems from the War of 1812 when so many Tennesseans volunteered under the command of General Andrew Jackson to fight the British. One of those soldiers was none other than Edmund Pendleton Gaines.

Edmund Pendleton Gaines was born in Virginia but raised in Kingsport. The family acquired land from his great uncle (and namesake) Edmund Pendleton, who was one of Virginia’s most prominent citizens and held the first land grant in what is now Kingsport, Tennessee. The grant was awarded by the Governor of Virginia, but it was later discovered the land was in North Carolina. After some legal wrangling, he was able to maintain possession but quickly sold most of the property to others. Of course, this part of North Carolina later became Tennessee, so when it says, “the James Gaines family later moved to Kingsport, Tennessee”, it’s more like Tennessee moved to them. James Gaines, Edmund’s father, served as a delegate to the NC convention that ratified the U.S. Constitution and later served in the North Carolina House of Representatives.

Kingsport’s historic Exchange Place is the Gaines-Preston farm.

Edmund Pendleton Gaines became a career officer during the formative years of the U.S. Army, serving for nearly 50 years. He was charged with building the federal post road called “The Natchez Trace” from Nashville to Natchez, Mississippi.

He was influential in the Seminole Wars, which began while Florida was still in possession of Spain and ultimately lead to it’s cession to the United States in 1821 and statehood in 1845.

He was embroiled in a bitter feud with Winfield Scott, namesake of neighboring Scott Counties in Virginia and Tennessee (and 3 other states), over which had seniority and the best claim to succeed command as the Army’s senior officer. The quarrel became public, and President John Quincy Adams decided to bypass both Gaines and Scott to offer the post to Alexander Macomb. When Macomb died in 1841, President John Tyler quickly headed off a rekindling of the Gaines–Scott dispute by appointing Scott as the Army’s commanding general. Gaines continued to serve as a district, department and division commander, but became increasingly marginalized as Scott gained influence.

While there might not be any counties named after him, several places are named in his honor, including Gainesvilles in Florida, Texas, Georgia, and New York; Gaines Township in Michigan; and Gainesboro in Tennessee. He was also the namesake of Gaines Streets in Tallahassee, Florida, and Davenport, Iowa. In addition, Fort Gaines, a historic fort on Dauphin Island, Alabama, was named for him.

His 3rd wife, Myra Clark Gaines, has a fascinating narrative of her own. She was involved in the lengthiest-running legal dispute in the annals of the United States judicial system. Spanning from 1834 to 1891, Gaines found herself in the midst of a protracted legal struggle to establish her rightful position as the sole legal inheritor of her late father’s estate, as well as to reclaim valuable land in the city of New Orleans. Throughout its 57-year duration in the legal arena, the Gaines cases were presented before the Supreme Court on seventeen occasions and were also brought before both state and federal courts in Louisiana on no fewer than seventy occasions. The Gaines cases stand out not solely due to their extensive and intricate nature, but also due to the contentious persona and unwavering determination exhibited by Myra Clark Gaines herself, particularly within an era when societal expectations constrained women to a domestic and submissive concept of femininity. She ultimately prevailed and was named “the wealthiest person — not just the wealthiest woman — in the United States during her lifetime.”

And now you know how a Tennessee Volunteer paved the way for a college town that would be named in his honor and become home to the Florida Gators.