Randal McGavock (1766–1843) was an American politician and Southern planter in

Nashville, Tennessee Nashville, often known as Music City, is the capital and List of municipalities in Tennessee, most populous city in the U.S. state of Tennessee. It is the county seat, seat of Davidson County, Tennessee, Davidson County in Middle Tennessee, locat ...

.Friends of Metropolitan Archives of Nashville and Davidson County, TN
/ref>Nashville Library
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/ref> Identifying as a

Jeffersonian Republican The Democratic-Republican Party (also referred to by historians as the Republican Party or the Jeffersonian Republican Party), was an American political party founded by Thomas Jefferson and James Madison in the early 1790s. It championed li ...

, he served as the

Mayor In many countries, a mayor is the highest-ranking official in a Municipal corporation, municipal government such as that of a city or a town. Worldwide, there is a wide variance in local laws and customs regarding the powers and responsibilitie ...

from 1824 to 1825. His daughter Elizabeth married

William Giles Harding William Giles Harding (1808 – December 15, 1886) was a Southern planter, attorney, and horse breeder who was made a Brigadier General in the Tennessee militia before the American Civil War. He took over operations of Belle Meade Plantation near ...

of Nashville in 1840; he was a young widower and son of planter

John Harding John Harding is the name of: *John Harding (Leicester MP), British politician who represented Leicester (UK Parliament constituency) in 1338? * John Harding (President of Magdalen) (died 1610), English churchman and academic * Sir John Harding (180 ...

. He was running the 5300-acre

Belle Meade Plantation Belle Meade Plantation, now officially titled Belle Meade Historic Site and Winery, is a historic farm established in 1807 in Nashville, Tennessee, built, owned, and controlled by five generations of the John Harding (Southern planter), Harding- ...

and managing his father's slaves; in 1850 his father was ranked as the third-largest slaveholder in

Davidson County, Tennessee Davidson County is a county in the U.S. state of Tennessee. It is located in the heart of Middle Tennessee. As of the 2020 census, the population was 715,884, making it the 2nd most populous county in Tennessee. Its county seat is Nashville, ...

.W. Ridley Wills II, "Black-White Relationships on the Belle Meade Plantation", ''Tennessee Historical Quarterly'' Vol. 50, No. 1 (Spring 1991), pp. 17–32; accessed 10 August 2018,

Early life

Randal McGavock was born on June 20, 1766, in

Rockbridge County, Virginia Rockbridge County is a County (United States), county in the Shenandoah Valley on the western edge of the Commonwealth (U.S. state), Commonwealth of Virginia. As of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, the population was 22,650. Its count ...

. His father was James McGavock Sr., and his mother, Mary (Cloyd) McGavock.

Career

McGavock served as Mayor of Nashville from 1824 to 1825. In 1815, McGavock built

Carnton Carnton is a historic Plantation complexes in the Southern United States, plantation home built in 1826 in Franklin, Tennessee, Franklin, Williamson County, Tennessee, United States. The property, comprising , played an important role during an ...

. During the

American Civil War The American Civil War (April 12, 1861May 26, 1865; also known by Names of the American Civil War, other names) was a civil war in the United States between the Union (American Civil War), Union ("the North") and the Confederate States of A ...

, Carnton served as a field hospital after the

Battle of Franklin The Battle of Franklin was fought on November 30, 1864, in Franklin, Tennessee, as part of the Franklin–Nashville Campaign of the American Civil War. It was one of the worst disasters of the war for the Confederate States Army. Confederate L ...

. On December 1, 1864, four dead Confederate generals were laid on Carnton's gallery:

Patrick R. Cleburne Major general, Major-General Patrick Ronayne Cleburne ( ; March 16, 1828November 30, 1864) was a senior Officer (armed forces), officer in the Confederate States Army who commanded infantry in the Western Theater of the American Civil War, West ...

Hiram B. Granbury Hiram Bronson Granbury (March 1, 1831 – November 30, 1864) was a lawyer and county judge in Texas before the American Civil War. He organized a volunteer company for the Confederate States Army after the outbreak of the Civil War and became ...

John Adams John Adams (October 30, 1735 – July 4, 1826) was a Founding Fathers of the United States, Founding Father and the second president of the United States from 1797 to 1801. Before Presidency of John Adams, his presidency, he was a leader of ...

, and Otho F. Strahl.

Personal life

In February 1811, McGavock married Sarah Dougherty Rodgers, whose brother-in-law was

Felix Grundy Felix Grundy (September 11, 1777 – December 19, 1840) was an American attorney and politician who served as the 13th United States Attorney General. He also had served several terms as a congressman and as a U.S. senator from Tennessee. He ...

(1775–1840),

U.S. Congressman The United States House of Representatives is a chamber of the bicameral United States Congress; it is the lower house, with the U.S. Senate being the upper house. Together, the House and Senate have the authority under Article One of th ...

from Tennessee, from 1829 to 1838, and 13th

United States Attorney General The United States attorney general is the head of the United States Department of Justice and serves as the chief law enforcement officer of the Federal government of the United States, federal government. The attorney general acts as the princi ...

, from 1838 to 1839.Col. Randal William McGavock, 1826–1863

Sons of Confederate Veterans The Sons of Confederate Veterans (SCV) is an American neo-Confederate nonprofit organization of male descendants of Confederate soldiers that commemorates these ancestors, funds and dedicates monuments to them, and promotes the pseudohisto ...

They had four sons, James R., William, John, an unnamed infant son, and three daughters, Elizabeth, Mary Cloyd and an unnamed infant daughter. In 1840, their daughter Elizabeth married Gen.

, heir and later owner of the

, which was 5400 acres. Their son

John McGavock Col. John McGavock (1815–1893) was an American heir and Southern planter.William S. Speer, ''Sketches of Prominent Tennesseans: Containing Biographies and Records of Many of the Families Who Have Attained Prominence in Tennessee'', Genealogical P ...

(1815–1893), who married Carrie Elizabeth Winder (1829–1905) in December 1848, inherited the Carnton plantation. His great-nephew, Randal William McGavock (1826–1863), the grandson of his brother Hugh, also became a politician. He served as Mayor of Nashville from 1858 to 1859, and died as a Confederate Lt. Col. in the

Battle of Raymond The Battle of Raymond was fought on May 12, 1863, near Raymond, Mississippi, during the Vicksburg campaign of the American Civil War. Initial Union (American Civil War), Union attempts to capture the strategically important Mississippi River ...

. His nephew, James McGavock, built Blue Fountain, now known as the McGavock-Gatewood-Webb House in

East Nashville East Nashville is an area east of downtown Nashville in Tennessee across the Cumberland River. The area is mostly residential and mixed-use areas with businesses lining the main boulevards. The main thoroughfares are Gallatin Ave (also known a ...

Death

McGavock died in September 1843. He is interred at Mount Olivet Cemetery in Nashville.

References

Sources

*''Carnton Plantation and Battlefield''. Franklin, TN: The Battle of Franklin Trust. 2010. {{DEFAULTSORT:McGavock, Randal 1766 births 1843 deaths People from Rockbridge County, Virginia Mayors of Nashville, Tennessee Tennessee Democratic-Republicans 18th-century American planters 19th-century mayors of places in Tennessee McGavock family American slave owners