Daniel Smith Donelson

Daniel Smith Donelson was born on June 23, 1801, in Sumner County, Tennessee. He was the youngest son of Samuel Donelson and Mary "Polly" (Smith) Donelson. His father died approximately when Donelson was five years old. Following his mother's remarriage, Donelson and his two brothers were taken in and adopted by their paternal aunt, Rachel Donelson Jackson, and her husband, Andrew Jackson, who would later become the President of the United States. The Donelson family resided at The Hermitage, the Jackson estate.

His paternal grandfather was Colonel John Donelson, noted as a frontiersman and one of the founders of Nashville, Tennessee. His maternal grandfather was Colonel Daniel Smith, a Revolutionary War officer and an early leader in Middle Tennessee, who also served as one of Tennessee's first U.S. Senators.

In 1821, Donelson enrolled at the United States Military Academy at West Point and graduated in 1825. He then served as a United States Army officer until his resignation on January 22, 1826, approximately half a year after graduation. After leaving the Army, he became a planter in Sumner County, Tennessee.

Donelson became involved with the Tennessee militia, starting as a brigade major in 1827 and was promoted to brigadier general in 1829. In 1834, he resigned his militia commission and moved to Florida to work as a planter, a residence that lasted until 1836. Returning to Tennessee in 1838, he resumed his activity as a planter.

He served in the Tennessee House of Representatives initially from 1841 to 1843, and later from 1855 to 1861. During his second term, from 1859 to 1861, he was elected Speaker of the House.

Donelson married Margaret, and they had ten children: Mary, Sarah, Emily, Rebecca, Samuel, Martha, James, Susan, John B., and Daniel. The family resided at the Daniel Smith Donelson House and later at Hazel Path, both located in Hendersonville, Tennessee.

At the outbreak of the American Civil War in 1861, Donelson volunteered for service in the Tennessee militia, leaving his plantation and legislative role behind. He was reinstated as a brigadier general in the militia. In May 1861, he approved the sites for the construction of Fort Henry and Fort Donelson, the latter named after him; Fort Henry was subsequently deemed a poor site and was easily captured by Union General Ulysses S. Grant.

Following Tennessee's secession, Donelson was commissioned as a brigadier general in the Confederate States Army on July 9, 1861. During the Civil War, he participated in several campaigns including Robert E. Lee's Western Virginia Campaign of 1861. He led the initial assault at the Battle of Perryville and fought at the Battle of Stones River. His service also included brief assignments to defend Charleston, South Carolina, and overseeing the Department of East Tennessee.

Donelson was promoted to the rank of major general on March 5, 1863, with his appointment backdated to January 17 of that year. The Confederate Senate approved this promotion on April 22, 1863, shortly after his death. He died of chronic diarrhea on April 17, 1863, at Montvale Springs, a mineral water resort near Knoxville, Tennessee. The burial took place at the Presbyterian Cemetery in Hendersonville, Tennessee.