General John Brown Gordon (1832-1904), CSA, lawyer and statesman, owned this farm, “Beechwood,” from 1888 until his death. Here he raised Texas ponies, goats, horses and cattle. For a time he lived in “the old John D. Mitchell home”; later, he moved to a nearby small house that is no longer standing. Considered the most important military figure in the history of Georgia, Gordon had no training in martial affairs. Elected captain of a group of mountaineers, he was a lieutenant general by 1865. After the war, a strong advocate of home rule, he served in the United States Senate.