Editor’s Note: This is the first part of a three part story. The second part will appear on Feb. 9.
As I walk through the sacred grounds of Greenland Cemetery where six generations of Gordons lay at rest, I am reminded of what a great heritage I am blessed to have with brave Americans like my daddy and so many others like him. If these great men could rise only for only a moment and speak to me, I would like to ask each of them one question. For my first question I would ask Eli about Vicksburg. I would ask my daddy about Iwo Jima or maybe the time he and Clay Gordon whipped ten men, I never doubted for a heartbeat that there were ten of them. I would ask Uncle Gene about the Gunfight at Willoughby Crossing and Gordon Watkins about Korea. I would give anything to hear Rex tell the story of Miss Chicken’s bootlegging trial at Little Rock and I would surely ask Jim where he buried the gold. My trip through the City of Sleeping Gordons would not be complete without one more joke from Dana. Every one of these fellows had a light-hearted side and a great sense of humor as well as a being a fierce fighter. Any one of them would have offered their lives for their family and country. Many of them did, whether it was on a foreign battlefield or a threat here at home, they were fearless fighters both physically and in principle.
Considering the harsh frontier culture of the times Jim Gordon and his younger brother Eli didn’t have it too bad in 1832 when they moved from Greene County, Alabama to then Neshoba County. (The Greenland Community is now in the newly formed Newton County) It was here their father Govin Gordon. Jr. acquired some two thousand acres of land near Union. The Gordon family carved out a home and farmland from the virgin forest and the contrary red clay of Mississippi. Game and fish were plentiful in the forest and streams of northeastern Newton County where young Eli saw to it that the family had meat on the table during the early and lean years before the farm was productive.
Young Eli was the rebel of the two brothers, often getting into mischief and sometimes fights with the neighbor boys, he also learned to like the taste of corn-whiskey at a young age. Despite his shortcomings Eli’s good nature and his generous heart won him many friends. His loyalty to family and faith in God were uncompromising even when he and Jim disagreed on matters of business or family issues.
Jim considered himself the brains of the family, he often became irritated when others didn’t acknowledge his opinions, or he failed to get his way. Most folks knew him to be stubborn and arrogant to the point of being eccentric. Often the contrasting personalities of Jim and Eli was the root of conflict for them, but loyalty between the two brothers was cemented with the bond Scottish heritage, a code breached by few descendants of Eli Gordon. Jim and Eli’s partnership was the ideal combination of interests and abilities. Being good with numbers and negotiating business deals, Jim evolved into business manager for the farm. Eli preferred the outdoors and rugged lifestyle, as he ran the day to day farming and timber operations.
The brothers’ hard work paid off in the 1840s and 1850s as cotton was in great demand both in the U.S. and Europe. Corn crops were bountiful making it possible for Jim and Eli to raise large herds of hogs, cattle and horses. The brothers were thankful for their good fortune and generous with their wealth, their farm became home to many who were less fortunate.
Gabe Parker was one of those less fortunate than the Gordon brothers. His efforts at farming in the early days of Mississippi failed, leaving him homeless with a wife and five children. The Gordons needed labor as their operations outgrew the ability of the two brothers to keep up with the work. Rejecting the accepted practice of slavery, they traded with Gabe to live and work on the place as a sharecropper. Gabe Parker and his family are buried on the farm where he spent most of his life, which still owned by descendants of Eli Gordon today.
Less than a hundred years after his grandfather had fought the United States, 42-year-old Eli Gordon turned the farming over to his older brother Jim and Gabe. Gentleman farmer Jim Gordon knew little about growing cotton or corn but would depend on Gabe Parker’s knowledge and skills as Eli would be involved in the bloodiest war in America’s history. Eli Gordon’s fighting nature overwhelmed all other instincts within him at the thought of the Yankees destroying the home he had built with his bare hands where his first wife lay beneath the red clay soil that sustained him.
When Corinth fell to the Yankees in 1862, Vicksburg would no doubt be Grant’s next target, which was too close to home for Eli to sit idly by do nothing. Should the strategic river port city fall into the hands of the Yankees the demise of the Confederacy would surely follow and bring ruin to the economy of Mississippi and entire of the South. Against the advice and wishes of his older brother, Eli enlisted with the Confederate Forces in Company A of the 5th Mississippi State Troops under the command of Captain Montgomery Carlton. Eli stunned his brother and best friend Gabe Parker with a tearful farewell as he boarded the troop train on a stormy morning in Newton.
Jim was not pleased to learn that his widower brother had made provisions for Gabe to inherit his part of the farm in the event he should not return from the war. Eli intended for his land and belongings to go to the family who needed it more than Jim. His decision drove a wedge of distrust between Jim and Gabe. Eli’s will however was of little consolation for the illiterate Parker with no money and six mouths to feed. The war was getting closer to what had once seemed like a safe haven in a bastion of peace.
Ralph Gordon is a Past President Mississippi Writers Guild and a recipient of the William Faulkner Literary Award.You may contact Ralph Gordon at rgordon512@hotmail.com.
