Gaines, Edmund Pendleton

Gaines, Edmund Pendleton, 1777–1849, U.S. army officer, b. Culpeper co., Va.; brother of George Strother Gaines. He spent his boyhood in Tennessee and at the age of 22 joined the U.S. army. He surveyed (1801–4) Gaines Trace between Nashville and Natchez. In 1807 he arrested Aaron Burr and then testified at the Burr trial in Richmond. For his service in the War of 1812 he received many citations. Sent as a commissioner to negotiate with the Creek, he served under Andrew Jackson in the Creek and Seminole campaigns. He later took part in the Black Hawk War and led an expedition against the Seminole in Florida. There he fell into dispute with Gen. Winfield Scott, and a court of inquiry censured them both. In command of the Western Dept. of the army at the opening of the Mexican War, Gaines faced a court of inquiry for calling for volunteers on his own authority. He defended himself so ably that the charges were dismissed.

Bibliography

See biography by J. W. Silver (1949).