William Giles Harding
| William Giles Harding | |
|---|---|
| Born | 1808 Nashville, Tennessee |
| Residence | Belle Meade Plantation |
| Nationality | American |
| Education | University of Nashville |
| Occupation | Planter |
| Spouse(s) | Mary Selena McNairy Elizabeth Irwin McGavock |
| Children |
John Harding II Selene Harding Mary Elizabeth Harding |
| Parent(s) | John Harding |
| Relatives | William Hicks Jackson (son-in-law) |
William Giles Harding (1808–1886) was an American heir, Southern planter, horse breeder and Confederate Brigadier General.
William Giles Harding was born in 1808 near Nashville, Tennessee to John Harding (1777–1865), a Virginian, who one year earlier (1807) purchased 250 acres (1.0 km2) near Richland Creek. He was educated at the old University of Nashville, the Partridge's American Literary, Scientific and Military Academy in Middletown, Connecticut, and he studied Law in Litchfield, Connecticut.
Harding first moved to his father's McSpadden's Bend (now known as Pennington Bend) property, River Farm, between the Stones and Cumberland rivers in Nashville. He inherited the Belle Meade Plantation at the age of thirty-one, in 1839. At the age of forty-five, from 1853 to 1854, he began construction of a larger Greek Revival mansion on the Belle Meade Plantation which would become known as the Belle Meade Mansion (listed on the National Register of Historical Places since December 30, 1969). Beyond breeding thoroughbreds and cashmere goats, he also engaged in horseracing. In 1856, he served as the President of the Nashville Jockey Club. He owned over a hundred slaves.
Harding was a staunch proponent of the Confederate States of America and donated US$500,000 to the Confederate States Army to support the cause. Prior to the American Civil War of 1861–1865, he attained the rank of Brigadier General in the Tennessee State Militia. He headed the Military and Financial Board of Tennessee at the beginning of the Civil War, until his arrest by Union authorities in 1862. He was imprisoned by Federal authorities in Fort Mackinac on Mackinac Island in Michigan for six months.
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