GORDON, JOHN [SSNE 2515]
- Surname
- GORDON
- First name
- JOHN, JOHAN CHRYSOSTOME
- Title/rank
- COLONEL
- Nationality
- SCOT
- Region
- CLUNIE, ABERDEENSHIRE
- Social status
- OFFICER
Text source
John Gordon was born at Clunie in Aberdeenshire [one sourse reads Elerdijn = Aberdeen] in February 1617 in Scotland. He entered Swedish military service became commander of Landsberg/Warthe [Gorzów Wielkopolski, Brandenburg, now Poland]. On 27 November 1639, with the help of a traitor, he succeeded in a bloody conquest of the fortress of Driesen [district of Friedeberg, Brandenburg]. Gordon was lieutenant colonel with the Närke and Värmland regiment from 1640 until 1643 when he was promoted colonel and chief of the regiment in August. He participated in actions in and around Gothenburg, having command over some 300 troops in Varmland, 624 in Gothenburg and 300 on "Tissens Flottan". The Kammarkollegium noted that on 11 of November 1645 it was the third year that Colonel Johan Gordon's regiment had been quartered at Gothenburg, having received neither "kommiss" nor an annual salary. On 4 March 1647 the Kammarkollegium stated that Colonel Johan Gordon should receive his remaining dues for 1644 and 1646. It is probably this man who was to receive 300 daler silver coin for his 1648 salary in February 1649. He remained with the regiment until his death on 27 January 1653. This is probably the same Johan Gordon for which an extensive collection of correspondence with the military college in Stockholm exists from 1640-1652. And it is probably this man, Colonel Johan Chrysostome Gordon, who was sent a letter of gift from Queen Kristina in December 1645 which gave him 'hemman' in Varmland. He was probably the father of Johan [SSNE 2514] or at least a relative of his. He was married to Anna Thomson [SSNE 5442] who later married John Maclean [SSNE 1631].
Swedish Riksarkiv, P. Sondén, Militärachefer i svenska arméen och deras skrivelser; Swedish Riksarkiv, Adolf Johans Arkiv i Stegeborgssamlingen, Johan Gordon to Duke Adolf Johan, 1652; Swedish Krigsarkiv, Muster Roll, 1641/5,17-24; 1642/4; 1643/5; 1644/5,20; 1645/7,20-24; 1646/5,16,17,19; 1647/6,21; 1648/5,16,17,25; 1649/3,16-18; 1650/4,5,7; 1651/3; 1652/3,5; 1653/2 DEAD JAN; Swedish Krigsarkiv, Krigskollegium kancelliet, Adressatregistratur till Krigskollegiets registratur 1631-1654; See also Kammarkollegium, cards no.110 and no.150; Register till Sveriges Ridderskaps och Adels Riksdags-Protokoll (17 vols, Stockholm, 1910), vol. for 1650; H.O. Prytz, Historiska Upplysningar om svenska och norska armeernas regementer och kårer jemte flottorna, II, (Stockholm, 1868), pp.610-11..Forteckning over De La Gardieska Arkivet Historiska Handlingar, reviderad 2009 av Per Stobaeus; C.O. Nordensvan, (ed.), Värmlands Regementes [Närkes och Värmlands Regementes] Historia: Andra Delen, Personal Historia (Stockholm, 1911), 48. RAOSB, second series, IX, 621-653. Lars Kagg to Axel Oxenstierna, March-August 1645
Thanks to Dr Bernd Warlich for the references from: Theatrum Europaeum Bd. 4. Vierdter Theil. Das ist: Glaubwürdige Beschreibung Denckwürdiger Geschichten, die sich in Europa … seydhero Anno 1638. biß Anno 1643. exclusive begeben haben. Bearb. von HEINRICH ORAEUS. (Frankfurt / Main. 1643, Reprint 1692), p. 71. (http://www.bibliothek.uni-augsburg.de/4).
Service record
- SWEDEN, LANDSBERG WARTHE, BRANDENBURG
- Arrived 1639-01-01
- Capacity COMMANDANT, OFFICER, purpose MILITARY
- SWEDEN, NARKE OCH VARMLAND
- Arrived 1640-01-01, as LT. COLONEL
- Departed 1653-01-31, as COLONEL + CHIEF
- Capacity OFFICER, purpose MILITARY