Background
George Washington Gordon was the son of Andrew and Eliza K. Gordon. He was born on October 5, 1836, in Giles County, middle Tennessee.
George Washington Gordon was the son of Andrew and Eliza K. Gordon. He was born on October 5, 1836, in Giles County, middle Tennessee.
Having grown to maturity, partly in Texas and Mississippi, Gordon completed his education under Bushrod R. Johnson at the Western Institute of Nashville in 1859 and took up the work of surveying.
When the conflict was over, Gordon was still a young man of twenty-nine.
Though a battlescarred veteran of many campaigns, he started life over by taking up the study of law at Cumberland University at Lebanon, Tennessee.
Within two years the Civil War was precipitated, and Gordon entered the service of his state. His first assignment was as drill-master of the 11th Tennessee Infantry.
He joined this outfit at its rendezvous shortly after it was organized, and marched with it into East Tennessee, where he saw service under Gen. Zollicoffer and Gen. Kirby-Smith.
In a short time, he was elected captain of Company I, then he was promoted to the lieutenant-colonelcy and later to the command of the regiment. Joining Bragg’s army, he participated in the battles of Murfreesboro, Chickamauga, and Missionary Ridge.
He followed Johnston to Atlanta and was promoted to the rank of brigadier-general after the battle of Kenesaw Mountain. After the fall of Atlanta, he followed Hood to middle Tennessee and in the bloody battle of Franklin, where every brigade commander except himself was killed, he was wounded and captured within the Federal lines.
Having completed his preparation at Cumberland University at Lebanon, Tennessee, he entered upon the practise of his profession at Pulaski, but soon removed to Memphis, where he labored unobtrusively for a number of years. Meanwhile, he acquired a large plantation in Mississippi.
The quality of the man was manifested when an epidemic of yellow fever struck the town in 1873 and Gordon remained to work with the stricken sufferers. It was not until 1883 that he began to take part in public life.
In that year, he became a state railway commissioner, and two years later was appointed to a post in the Department of the Interior, serving for four years as Indian agent in Arizona and Nevada.
He returned to Memphis in 1889, and was made superintendent of the city schools in 1892. In 1906, he was elected to the United States House of Representatives, the last Confederate brigadier to sit in Congress.
He was twice re-elected and during his three terms, he served on the committee on military affairs. He attended to all of his official duties with scrupulous conscientiousness, and is said to have written all his letters, never having accustomed himself to dictating them.
In 1910 and again in 1911, he was elected commander-in-chief of the United Confederate Veterans.
Gordon is known as a general in the Confederate States Army during the American Civil War. In 1906, he was elected to the United States House of Representatives, the last Confederate brigadier to sit in Congress. He was twice reelected and during his three terms, he served on the committee on military affairs. In 1910 and again in 1911, he was elected commander-in-chief of the United Confederate Veterans.
Gordon was elected as a Democrat to the Sixtieth, Sixty-first, and Sixty-second Congresses.
At a reunion of this body, Gordon suffered an exposure from which he failed to recover.
It seems that he never went out of his way to promote his own fortunes. Such men rarely have their names written among the great. In time of conflict he rose rapidly by reason of his efficient courage; in time of peace he rose slowly by reason of his unassuming ability.
He is said to have been the youngest and one of the most dashing of the Confederate brigadiers.
On September 5, 1876, Gordon married Ora S. Paine. She died in New York on their wedding journey.
His second wife was Minnie Hatch, to whom he was married in 1899.
