[citation needed] Hickman and the Duck River valley was originally claimed by the Chickasaw people of western Tennessee and northern Mississippi.

Among its first white settlers was John Gordon, the famous "Captain of the Spies" who later fought at Horseshoe Bend and at Pensacola under Andrew Jackson.

Gordon acquired land in Chickasaw territory in what is now Hickman County on the banks of the Duck River, where, in a partnership with Chief William "Chooshemataha" Colbert, he operated a ferry and Indian trading post for settlers traveling on the Natchez Trace.

[8] The trace was a war-path later made into a federal road for settlers moving from Tennessee to the lower Mississippi territory.

The Chickasaw ceded the land to Tennessee in 1805 and Gordon kept the estate, moving his family there in 1812 and eventually amassing a plantation of over 1500 acres.

The Gordon House still stands by the Duck River today, now maintained by the Natchez Trace National Parkway.

[1] Hickman natives include songwriter Beth Slater Whitson and Grand Ole Opry personality Minnie Pearl.