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Abstract

Gideon Blackburn (1772-1838) was a Presbyterian minister, missionary to the Cherokees, church planter, college president, and anti-slavery leader. His career in the ministry was not static, owing to his drive to evangelize as well as his pioneer restlessness to move further west into the frontier. Born in Virginia, Blackburn and his family moved into the area of east Tennessee while he was still a youth and where he converted at age 15. Following his theological education, in 1792 Blackburn moved to the Maryville, TN, area and served as an itinerant chaplain to Tennessee militia while pastoring two churches and planting other ones for frontier settlers. Motivated by the zeal of the Second Great Awakening, Blackburn established two mission schools for Cherokee children, sponsored by the Presbyterian Church and which operated until 1810. Over the next three decades, he continued to preach and plant churches in Tennessee, Kentucky, and Illinois and served as an educator, college president, temperance agent, and abolitionist. Blackburn was a complex figure and driven man of action whose multi-faceted career was integral to the growth of America’s Christian heritage.

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