Newton Cannon

Newton Cannon was Tennessee's first Whig governor, and a better speaker took the job from him. A wealthy planter, he served as a state senator, a Creek War volunteer, an Indian commissioner and a congressman, and lost to Sam Houston in 1827. He won the governorship in 1835 and again in 1837, backing state aid for railroads and turnpikes and a new state bank. Criticism of his appointments and handling of internal improvements weakened him, and in 1839 James K. Polk beat him by about 2,500 votes. Cannon died on his plantation near Franklin.

What the plaque says

Newton Cannon 0.7 mile. The grave of this combat veteran and statesman is on the land to which his father, a Revolutionary veteran, brought his family from North Carolina in 1791. In addition to his distinguished military record, he was twice a member of Congress and twice governor of Tennessee.

Where it stands

Worth the stop nearby

• Carnton — 13 mi
  The McGavock farm in Franklin, worked by 44 enslaved people in 1860, that became the largest field hospital of the Battle of Franklin.
• Stones River National Battlefield — 14 mi
  The Murfreesboro battlefield of December 1862, with a national cemetery built by Black soldiers, a Trail of Tears route and the story of the freedmen's settlement called Cemetery.
• Henry Horton State Park — 16 mi
  A Duck River park on Governor Henry Horton's former farm in Marshall County, with a mill ruin from 1845, kayak floats and the grave of a governor the House declined to impeach.
• Fort Negley — 24 mi
  The largest inland stone fort of the Civil War, built in 1862 on St. Cloud Hill by more than 2,700 conscripted Black laborers, hundreds of whom died.

More markers nearby

• Eagleville Baptist Church — 5.2 mi
• The Harrison House — 13 mi
• Hood & Schofield, November 30, 1864 — 13 mi
• Battle Ground Academy — 14 mi