order by down columns

The above answer is wrong. A better approach is to create a 2D array with 3 columns. Do some math to determine how many records go into each column and populate the array. Then output the array in your html table.

Something like this:
records = query.recordcount;
rows = ceiling(records / 3);
col1 = 1;
col2 = 2;
col3 = 3;
</cfscript>
<table>
<cfoutput>
<cfloop from = "1" to ="#rows#" index = "ii">
<td>#query.fieldname[col1]#</td>
<cfif col2 lte records>
<td>#query.fieldname[col2]#</td>
</cfif>
<cfif col3 lte records>
<td>#query.fieldname[col3]#</td>
</cfif>
</tr>
add 3 to each col1,2, and 3
</cfloop>