John Pollard Gaines (September 22, 1795 – December 9, 1857) was a U.S. military and political figure. He was a Whig member of the United States House of Representatives, representing Kentucky from 1847 to 1849, and he served as Governor of the Oregon Territory from 1850 to 1853, stepping down after a turbulent term in office. He was the owner of Margaret Garner, whose enslavement and sexual assault is the basis for Toni Morrison's novel, Beloved. Biography Early life Gaines was born September 22, 1795, in Augusta County, Virginia, to Abner Gaines and Elizabeth Matthews. His grandfathers and great-grandfather served during the American Revolutionary War. He received an education and studied law, and volunteered in the War of 1812. In 1819, Gaines married Elizabeth Kincaid from Kentucky He was a lawyer practicing in Boone County, Kentucky, and served as a state legislator in Kentucky during the 1820s and 1830s. Military Gaines volunteered and was appointed the rank of Major during the Mexican–American War in 1846. During the war in 1847 he was General Winfield Scott's aide-de-camp. He and some 80 soldiers were captured at Encarnacion in January 1847. They were held captive in Mexico City until August. While a prisoner, he was elected to the 30th United States Congress from Kentucky's 10th Congressional District. He served one term (March 4, 1847 to March 3, 1849) and lost reelection. Governor of Oregon Territory He was a supporter of President Zachary Taylor, who was elected in 1848. At the end of his term as congressman he returned to Boone County, and in October 1849 he accepted the position of Governor of the Territory of Oregon. He received the appointment after the positions of territorial secretary and governor were declined by another Taylor supporter, Abraham Lincoln, whose term in Congress had also ended earlier that year. He traveled to Oregon with Territorial Secretary Edward D. Hamilton aboard the sloop Falmouth. From the start, Gaines's tenure in office proved to be difficult. He arrived in the territory by ship, losing two of his daughters to yellow fever at Santa Catarina Island, Brazil. Shortly after arriving in the territory, his wife died in 1851 after falling off a horse. His political life would prove to be just as turbulent. During his tenure in June 1850 he became a member of an Indian Commission set up by the United States government to negotiate treaties with the