Daniel Smith Donelson | |
---|---|
Born |
Sumner County, Tennessee |
June 23, 1801
Died | April 17, 1863 Knoxville, Tennessee |
(aged 61)
Place of burial | Presbyterian Cemetery Hendersonville, Tennessee |
Allegiance |
United States of America Tennessee State Militia Confederate States of America |
Service/branch |
United States Army Confederate States Army |
Years of service | 1825–1826 (USA) 1827–1834 (Tennessee) 1861–1863 (CSA) |
Rank |
Second Lieutenant (USA) Brigadier General (Tennessee) Major General (CSA) |
Battles/wars |
Daniel Smith Donelson (June 23, 1801 – April 17, 1863) was a Tennessee politician and soldier. The historic river-port of Fort Donelson was named for him as a Brigadier in the Tennessee militia, early in the American Civil War, in which he went on to serve as a Confederate general, notably at Perryville and Stones River. He was the nephew of America's seventh president, Andrew Jackson.
Donelson was born in Sumner County, Tennessee, one of the three sons of Samuel and Mary "Polly" Smith Donelson. Donelson's father died when Donelson was about five. When his mother remarried, Donelson moved to The Hermitage, the home of his aunt, Rachel Donelson Jackson, and her husband, future President of the United States Andrew Jackson. Rachel and Andrew Jackson adopted Donelson and his two brothers. His older brother, Andrew Jackson Donelson, was the private secretary to Jackson during his presidency and a vice presidential candidate in his own right. Donelson's paternal grandfather was Colonel John Donelson, a frontiersman and founder of Nashville, Tennessee, and his maternal grandfather, Colonel Daniel Smith, was a Revolutionary War officer, an early leader in middle Tennessee and one of Tennessee's first U.S. Senators.