George W. Gordon

In 1860 he was a 16 year old clerk living with his mother, 6 younger siblings, and tailor D. Longwell in Milton, Caswell County, NC. He enlisted there on 24 April 1861 and mustered as a Private in Company C of the 3rd North Carolina Infantry on 15 May in Raleigh. The regiment was re-designated the 13th North Carolina Infantry on 14 November 1861. He was promoted to 3rd Corporal on 26 April 1862.

He was wounded by a gunshot to his right arm near the shoulder in action at Fox's Gap on South Mountain on 14 September 1862.

His arm was paralyzed and he was absent in hospitals and on wounded furlough to at least September 1863. He was reduced to Private on 29 October 1863 and listed as a deserter on 3 November from a hospital in Richmond, VA. He was discharged for disability on 6 February 1864.

In 1869 he (and/or his father Henry) bought the Milton Hotel and in 1870 he was listed as the bar keeper there, living with his parents and 9 younger siblings. In 1880 he was a farm worker at Farmington in Tioga County, PA but by 1889 he was back in Milton, NC, where he was postmaster from 1889 to 1893. He had probably retired there by 1900.

His service from Moore's Roster, 1 as G.W. Gorgon, and his Compiled Service Records,2 online from fold3; there are two Federal records in his file listing a G.W. Gordon captured at Gettysburg in July 1863, which is at very least unlikely. Personal details from family genealogists and the US Census of 1860-1900.

He married Frances Adele Utter (1852-1919) of New York in January 1873 and they had 4 children.

More about the Milton Hotel from the Caswell County Historical Society:

11 Children, Blind Man Survive Fire Linked with Strike

Flames destroyed a 125-year-old landmark at Milton 10 miles from Danville, Va. early yesterday morning. It was the third time in 10 days that the 20-room brick and frame building was damaged -- first by dynamite and again by fire. The apartment building, formerly the Hotel Milton, was occupied by two families working at the strikebound Dan River Mills. Mr. and Mrs. Roger Johnson and three children; Mr. and Mrs. Pete Nichols and four children, mill families, and Mr. and Mrs. Tom Buck and four children had apartments in the building. In addition to the children, firemen rescued 70-year-old C. G. Chandler, who is blind. Tom Buck, Milton Township constable and owner of the building, placed the loss at $30,000. He blamed Dan River strikers.

-- The Raleigh News and Observer, 6 May 1951

c. 1844; Milton, NC