Daniel Smith was born in Stafford County, Virginia, to Henry and Sarah Crosby Smith. He grew up on a plantation in Virginia.

Daniel Smith studied “physic” or medicine with Dr. Thomas Walker while living at the Walker home, Castle Hill, in Albemarle County, Virginia. He most likely acquired his learning in other fields such as surveying, law, and mathematics from Walker as well. After being licensed as a surveyor by the College of William and Mary, Smith took up that profession and began his work in 1770.

In 1773 Daniel Smith married Sarah Michie. They had two children. Their son, George Smith, married Tabitha Donelson, oldest daughter of Captain John Donelson, III. Their daughter, Mary Ann (Polly) Smith married Samuel Donelson, Rachel (wife of Andrew Jackson) Jackson’s brother. Although forbidden by her father, Polly’s marriage was the result of a very elaborate elopment plot carried out by her intended Samuel Donelson and brother in law Andrew Jackson in the late spring of 1796. It resulted in strained relations between all parties concerned, but the differences were later resolved.

There were three children from that marriage, all sons.  Andrew Jackson Donelson served as private secretary for Andrew Jackson at the White House and Daniel Smith Donelson was a General in the Civil War.  Samuel Donelson tragically died of pneumonia at a young age.

Mary Ann (Polly) Smith then married James Sanders. This union produced nine more children.

Daniel Smith received a land grant from the State of North Carolina in payment for surveying land boundaries in Middle Tennessee, which he completed in 1784. To claim his land, he brought his family to this site and began construction of Rock Castle. Much of the construction supervision as well as plantation management was shouldered by Sarah since for most of their married life Daniel was gone for long periods on surveying trips.

Daniel Smith died in 1818 at his home. Sarah died in 1831, and both are buried in the family cemetery on the grounds of Rock Castle.

In addition to being a well-known surveyor of the North Carolina (now Tennessee) boundaries and of Davidson County, Daniel Smith served as a Captain in the Revolutionary War, Brigadier General of the Mero District, Secretary of the Territory of the United States Southwest of the River Ohio, chairman of the committee to draft the constitution of Tennessee, United States Senator, and Indian treaty negotiator

In 1793 Daniel Smith authored a pamphlet on the new Tennessee territory, which was followed by his map of the land west of the Cumberland Mountains and its many water courses. This map of the “Tennassee Government” was widely published well into the nineteenth century.

Daniel Smith was called upon in 1784 to help survey the city of Nashville. In 1785 he was one of nine trustees appointed for Davidson Academy, the first institution of higher learning in Nashville In 1798 he was appointed to serve Andrew Jackson’s remaining term in the United States Senate. He then ran for the Senate in 1805 and defeated the incumbant, William Cock

In 1818, Daniel Smith died.  by his Last Will and Testament, Smith bequeathed to his daughter Mary Ann "Polly" Smith  a tract of land in Wilson county and one-third of his "Negroes". 

To James Sanders (named a co-executor) and wife Mary Ann "Polly" Smith , he bequeathed a 1280-acre tract on Drakes Creek, with power in either of them to convey same to any son. Since no son survived, so Smith decreed in his Will, the land could be given to any of their daughters.

The eleven people in the Sanders household, 7 were daughters under 12, the eldest being the 11 year old twins, Elizabeth and Sallie. 

At last, then 56, Mary Ann "Polly" Smith bore a son, James but he died when still an infant.  Four years later their last child was born - Margaret.  Gen. Daniel Smith's hopes for a grandson who would survive into manhood and take Daniel Smith's lands from his parents were never to be.

 Of note, though was the fact that three sons had been born to Mary Ann "Polly" Smith and Samuel Donelson.  apparently, Daniel Smith did not want those boys to inherit his lands or perhaps they had already been given land by the Donelsons.  One of the sons, Andrew Jackson Donelson, went to live with his namesake, Andrew Jackson and Rachel Donelson Jackson, his aunt.  

Daniel Smith Donelson was born in Sumner County, Tennessee, one of the three sons of Samuel Donelson and Mary "Polly" Smith . His older brother was Andrew Jackson Donelson, named after their uncle, President Andrew Jackson. Andrew Jackson,   Donelson was the private secretary to Andrew Jackson during his presidency and a vice presidential candidate in his own right. Daniel Smith Donelson's grandfather was Colonel Daniel Smith, a Revolutionary War officer, an early leader in middle Tennessee and one of Tennessee's first U. S. Senators.

In 1821, Daniel Smith Donelson entered West Point, and graduated in 1825, becoming an United States Army officer. He resigned his commission only half a year later, on January 22, 1826, to become a planter in Sumner County. He was also a member of the militia in Tennessee, starting as a brigade major in 1827 and being promoted to brigadier general in 1829.

In 1834, Daniel Smith Donelson resigned his commission in the Tennessee militia and moved to Florida, again working as a planter. His stay there was brief, however, and he moved back to Tennessee two years later, still a planter. In 1841, Daniel Smith Donelson became a member of the Tennessee House of Representatives. He left after one two-year term, but returned twelve years later, in 1855, this time rising to the office of Speaker.

Daniel Smith Donelson and his wife Margaret Branch had 11 children:   Elizabeth Branch Donelson, Mary Ann Donelson, Sarah Smith Donelson, Emily Donelson, Rebecca Williams Donelson, James Branch Donelson, Samuel Davis Donelson, Martha Bradford Donelson, Susan Branch Donelson, John Branch Donelson, and Daniel Smith Donelson.

With the outbreak of the Civil War in 1861, Daniel Smith Donelson volunteered for the Tennessee militia, leaving behind both of his careers as a planter and as Speaker of the Tennessee House of Representatives. He was returned to his previous rank of brigadier general in the militia and that May approved the locations of Fort Henry and Fort Donelson, the latter named in his honor. (Fort Henry would turn out to be a disastrous choice, being almost flooded and easily captured by Grant). After Tennessee joined the Confederacy, he became a brigadier general in the Confederate Army on July 9, 1861. In the following two years, Daniel Smith Donelson was active in several campaigns, leading the initial assault at the Battle of Perryville, fighting at the Battle of Stones River, and eventually rising to command of the Department of East Tennessee.

Daniel Smith Donelson was promoted to major general on March 5, 1863 (to rank from January 17); his confirmation by the confederate senate on April 22 happened prior to knowledge of his death, which had occurred a week earlier. He died of chronic diarrhea in Montvale Springs, near Knoxville, Tennessee. He was buried in the Presbyterian Cemetery in Hendersonville, Tennessee.

William Henderson

Marker # 3B 53

Text: “1752 - circa 1807: Captain William Henderson was a Revolutionary soldier born in Virginia. He and his wife, Lockey Trigg, moved to Sumner County in the late 1790s and later bought property between Sanders Ferry and Walton Ferry Roads upon which they built a log home. The town of Hendersonville was named for him and he became the first postmaster in 1801. He was succeeded in office by two of his sons, Bennett, who served until 1811, and Littleton, who served until 1815. William Henderson was buried on this site around 1807.”

Notes: Marker is fairly easy to get to. Located on Johnny Cash Parkway between the intersections with Walton Ferry Road and Sanders Ferry Road in Hendersonville, there are plenty of businesses with public parking nearby to make getting to the marker safe. Marker is in the midst of a shrub, and could be difficult to see.