Brainerd Mission (historical)

1827 map of Tennessee by Arthur Finley, showing the "Brainerd Missionary Station" in Hamilton County. The Brainerd Mission was a Christian mission to the Cherokee in Chattanooga, Tennessee. It was established by the American Board of Commissioners for Foreign Missions in 1817 and named after David Brainerd. On May 27, and 28th, 1819, former president James Madison visited Brainerd Mission with General Edmund Pendleton Gaines. He donated $1000 to the work of the Mission. It ended with the Cherokee removal in 1838. People such as Ainsworth Blunt and Cephas Washburn worked at this mission. The Brainerd Mission Cemetery is one of the oldest in Hamilton County and consists of 60 graves, most of which are of missionary workers among the Cherokee.