Background
Hodge was born on April 8, 1828, in Fleming County, Kentucky, United States. He was the son of William and Sarah Baird Hodge.
121 Blake Rd, Annapolis, MD 21402, United States
George received an appointment at the United States Naval Academy at Annapolis, Maryland and was graduated as a midshipman on December 16, 1845.
Hodge was born on April 8, 1828, in Fleming County, Kentucky, United States. He was the son of William and Sarah Baird Hodge.
George received an appointment at the United States Naval Academy at Annapolis, Maryland and was graduated as a midshipman on December 16, 1845. He studied law and became a prominent lawyer in Newport, Kentucky.
George Baird Hodge was admitted to the bar in 1852, and became a lawyer in Newport, Kentucky. He was an unsuccessful candidate for Congress in 1852 and resumed his law practice until he was elected to the Kentucky Legislature in 1859. After the Civil War began, he entered the Confederate States Army as a Private and soon received a commission as Captain and Assistant Adjutant-General in Breckinridge's Division. He was chosen by the Kentucky Confederate Legislature to represent the state in the First Confederate Congress on February 18, 1862, while he participated in the field as an army officer. He was promoted to Major for gallantry at the Battle of Shiloh and also commanded cavalry brigades under Joseph Wheeler and Nathan B. Forrest. He was relieved of his command by Forrest, charged with incompetence and cowardice, and was later acquitted of the charges and reinstated in the field.
After his term in Congress expired on February 17, 1864, he was promoted to Colonel and Inspector-General and assigned to command the districts of East Louisiana and Mississippi for the remainder of the war.
Hodge became an Acting Brigadier General in 1863, although his promotion to that rank was not endorsed by the Senate, and after being resubmitted in 1864, was again not confirmed. By 1865, he was recognized by the Confederacy as Brigadier General. After the war, he resumed his law practice in Kentucky until he was elected to the State Senate in 1872 and served from 1873 to 1877.
Hodge ran unsuccessfully for Congress as a Whig. He later joined the Democratic party. Although he regretted secession, he willingly defended the Confederacy.
Hodge was also a lawmaker, so when the Confederate Congress was in session, he introduced a resolution that was an obvious Confederate answer to President Abraham Lincoln’s Emancipation Proclamation that provided for the use of African-American troops to fight for the Union cause. Hodge asked the Congress to pass a bill, "providing for the disposition of all Negroes or mulattoes, who may be captured from the enemy, in such manner that those who are fugitives from their masters maybe."
Hodge was fondly remembered by Kentuckians of his generation as "an able lawyer, a shrewd politician, a handsome writer and a ready and enthusiastic popular speaker."
Hodge married Keturah Moss Tibbatts, daughter of Colonel John Wooleston Tibbatts. They had seven children.