John Brown Gordon

John B. Gordon

John Brown Gordon (born February 6, 1832 in Upson County , Georgia , † January 9, 1904 in Miami , Florida ) was a lawyer, general in the Confederate Army and a politician after the Civil War .

Before the civil war

Gordon came from a family who immigrated to the American provinces from Scotland . Many of his family members fought on the side of the American colonists during the Revolutionary War. He graduated from the University of Georgia but left before graduation and studied law in Atlanta, Georgia. He practiced as a lawyer and was an entrepreneur in the coal mines in Tennessee and Georgia. Gordon married Fanny Haralson in 1854.

During the civil war

Gordon was soon elected company commander in his first association, which he had voluntarily joined . In November 1862 he was promoted to brigadier general. As a brigade commander , he took part in the peninsula campaign under the command of DH Hills . He was wounded during the Battle of Malvern Hill . At Antietam he defended the "Sunken Road". He was wounded four times by gunfire. At Gettysburg , he was instrumental in the Confederate victory of the day on the first day. There he met the Brigadier General of the Northern States Francis Channing Barlow , with whom he was friends after the Civil War.

During Grant's overland campaign, Gordon led a division in Lieutenant General Ewell's corps . In late spring he was subordinated to Jubal Early and took part in the Shenandoah campaign in 1864 . After Early's defeat, Gordon returned to the Northern Virginia Army . On behalf of General Lee, he planned the attack on Fort Stedman and was wounded again. His last assignment was at Appomattox . On April 12, he announced the surrender of his troops to Joshua Lawrence Chamberlain . In recognition of the achievements of his adversary, Chamberlain had his soldiers present the rifle. Gordon was wounded a total of five times during the war.

After the war

Gordon initially unsuccessfully applied for governor of Georgia. In 1873 he was elected to the US Senate and in 1879 became the first chairman of the Senate, who came from the former breakaway states. In 1886 he was elected Governor of Georgia and after his tenure remained again as Senator of Georgia from 1891 to 1897 in the Senate. Gordon was Chairman of the United Confederate Veterans until his death. In his book John Brown Gordon: Soldier, Southerner, American , historian Ralph Lowell Eckert claims that Gordon was head of the Georgia section of the Ku Klux Klan. John Brown Gordon is buried in Oakland Cemetery, Atlanta.

aftermath

The US fort Fort Gordon in Augusta, Georgia is named after him.
A statue of Gordon stands at the Georgia State Capitol in Atlanta.
A statue of Gordon stands by the courthouse in Thomaston, Georgia.
US Highway 19 in Upson County, Georgia is named after him.
Gordon College (Georgia) in Barnesville, Georgia is named after him.

Web links

Individual evidence

↑ Eckert, Ralph Lowell. John Brown Gordon: Soldier, Southerner, American. Baton Rouge: Louisiana State University Press, 1993. ISBN 978-0-8071-1888-7 , p. 149
^ Tomb of John Brown Gordon in the Find a Grave database .

personal data
SURNAME	Gordon, John Brown
BRIEF DESCRIPTION	American general, senator, and governor of Georgia
DATE OF BIRTH	February 6, 1832
PLACE OF BIRTH	Upson County , Georgia
DATE OF DEATH	January 9, 1904
Place of death	Miami , Florida

[1] Eckert, Ralph Lowell. John Brown Gordon: Soldier, Southerner, American. Baton Rouge: Louisiana State University Press, 1993. ISBN 978-0-8071-1888-7 , p. 149

[2] Tomb of John Brown Gordon in the Find a Grave database .