William Giles Harding William Giles Harding (1808–1886) was an American naturalist and livestock breeder who attained the rank of Brigadier General in the Tennessee State Militia prior to the American Civil War (1861–1865), and headed the Military and Financial Board of Tennessee at the beginning of the Civil War, until his arrest by Union authorities in 1862. General Harding inherited his father's farm, the famous Belle Meade Plantation, known worldwide for breeding thoroughbred horses. The once sprawling horse farm and surrounding properties became the Town of Belle Meade and home of George Peabody College for Teachers and Vanderbilt University founded in 1873. Today, the upscale neighborhood is a part of greater Nashville. Early life Harding was born in 1808 near Nashville, Tennessee to John Harding[disambiguation needed], a Virginian, who one year earlier (1807) purchased 250 acres (1.0 km2) near Richland Creek known as "McSpadden's Bend". John Harding's "McSpadden's Bend Farm" became well known in the area for boarding, training and breeding thoroughbred horses. Nashville newspapers carried advertisements for the farm's services as early as 1816. In 1820, John Harding built a 'federal style' house on the property. He expanded the farm, installed a training track for race horses and continued to board horses, including those of nearby neighbor, former President Andrew Jackson. John Harding renamed the farm Belle Meade, which became known as the Belle Meade Plantation. Records from the Tennessee Historical Society (Nashville) indicate that John's son, William Giles Harding, became interested in the horse breeding business early. Education As a young boy, Harding was sent to Connecticut and educated at Partridge's American Literary, Scientific and Military Academy in Middletown, Connecticut. (The Academy relocated from Connecticut to Norwich, Vermont and later became Norwich University. In 1831, the old location of the original Academy in Connecticut was occupied by another college, Wesleyan University.) John Harding had registered the Belle Meade 'silks' and his first race horse with the Tennessee Jockey Club in 1823, when young William Giles Harding was only 15. "By the time William Giles assumed management of the Belle Meade plantation, he was keenly interested in all aspects of breeding and racing". Family history and the Belle Meade estate Harding had a son he named after his father, 'John', by his first wife, Mary Selena McNairy (who died in 1837). Harding assumed full control of the Belle Meade plantation at age 31 (1839) from his father - which had grown by then, to some 1,200 acres (4.9 km2). In 1840, Harding remarried to second wife Elizabeth McGavock and they had two daughters named 'Selene' and 'Mary Elizabeth'. After the Civil War, daughter Selene Harding married Confederate States Army General William Hicks Jackson, commonly known as General "Red" Jackson, the son of Dr. Alexander Jackson and wife Mary W. Hurt Jackson. At age 45, then Brigadier General Harding (of the Tennessee Militia) began construction of a larger 'Greek revival style' mansion in 1853-54 on the Belle Meade Plantation which would become the now famous Belle Meade Mansion, listed in the National Registry of Historical Places (NRHP #69000177, inducted 30 December 1969). The Mansion was purchased by the State of Tennessee in 1953 and is managed by the Association for the Preservation of Tennessee Antiquities (APTA). While other farms were having horses and livestock confiscated for the Civil War effort, General Harding somehow managed to keep his stallions and breeding stock. Civil War imprisonment (1862) The Tennessee Encyclopedia of History & Culture summarizes General Harding's imprisonment: "Early in the Civil War, Harding headed the Military and Financial Board of Tennessee, which spent five mllion dollars arming and equipping soldiers for the defense of the South. In 1862, as the result of his activities, Harding was imprisoned by Federal authorities for six months. During his absence, his wife (the former Elizabeth McGavock) managed the plantation under dire circumstances and looked after 'a family of 150 people', mostly slaves." Horse farm After the Civil War ended in 1865, daughter Selene Harding married William Hicks Jackson, a West Point graduate (Class of 1856) and Confederate States Army General, on December 15, 1868. The couple moved to Belle Meade Plantation to co-manage the farm with General Harding. General Harding and his son-in-law, General "Red" Jackson, reportedly expanded the horse farm to an estimated 5,400 acres (22 km2). The Harding-Jackson families became world renowned thoroughbred horse breeders, later purchasing a top stallion named Iroquois (horse) (1878–1899), the first American horse to win the prestigious English Epsom Derby in 1881 and other European races - becoming the 'Leading Sire' in America in 1892. General "Red" Jackson had a rather famous brother, Howell Edmunds Jackson a former U.S. Senator (1881–1886) who was eventually appointed a United States Supreme Court Justice (1893–1895). After the death of Howell's first wife Sophia Malloy of Jackson, Tennessee in 1873, Howell Edmunds Jackson married General Harding's youngest daughter, Mary Elizabeth Harding. Heirs to the estate General Harding died in 1886 leaving the Belle Meade Estate in equal shares to : General "Red" Jackson and his wife (Harding's eldest daughter, Selene Harding); Selene's half-brother, John Harding; and Howell Edmunds Jackson (8 April 1832 - 8 August 1895) and wife, Mary Elizabeth Harding, General Harding's youngest daughter. General "Red" Jackson and Selene Harding had a son named William Harding Jackson (Sr) (1874–1903) who later married Anne (Davis) Richardson (1897–1950). Jackson (Sr) died at the young age of 29 on 19 July 1903 due to complications of typhoid fever, but not before fathering his own son, William Harding Jackson (Jr.) (1901–1971). "Red" Jackson and Selene Harding also had a daughter named Selene Harding Jackson (1876–1913) who later married William Robert Elliston, and took the name 'Selene Elliston'. After the near simultaneous deaths of General William H. "Red" Jackson at age 67 (March, 1903) and his son, William H. Jackson (Sr.), William H. Jackson Jr. became an heir to the Estate. General "Red" Jackson's portion of the Belle Meade Estate passed to his son, William H. Jackson, Sr. Then, Jackson, Sr. died just four-months later (July, 1903), leaving his inheritance in Belle Meade to his son, young William H. Jackson, Jr (then two-years old) known to most as "Bill". Bill Jackson inherited Belle Meade along with his aunt, Selene Elliston, and the Catholic Church. The Belle Meade Plantation became unmanageable for young Bill Jackson's mother, Anne (Davis) Richardson Jackson. Her father, James B. Richardson, had been named Executor of the Belle Meade Estate. They decided to liquidate the Estate, taking nearly four years to complete the sale. Young William Harding "Bill" Jackson, Jr, former two-year old heir to Belle Meade, was sent off to school in New England, receiving his B.A. degree from Princeton (1924) and his LL.B. from Harvard Law School (1928). Bill Jackson became the Deputy Director of the Central Intelligence Agency (7 October 1950 - 3 August 1950) during its formative years under President Harry S. Truman. He followed Dillon Anderson briefly as U.S. National Security Advisor to President Dwight D. Eisenhower in 1956. Death When General William Giles Harding "...died in 1886, the Chattanooga Times called Harding 'a monarch in his own domain'". His body was laid to rest in the family tomb at "Belle Meade Plantation". .