J. Gordon

Confederate (CSA)

Colonel

John Brown Gordon

(1832 - 1904)

Home State: Alabama

Education: University of Georgia

Command Billet: Commanding Regiment

Branch of Service: Infantry

Unit: 6th Alabama Infantry

Before Sharpsburg

Before the War he was a lawyer, journalist in Milledgeville, and coal mine operator. In 1861 he was Captain of the 'Raccoon Roughs' which he had raised. In April 1862 he was appointed Colonel of the 6th Alabama Regiment.

On the Campaign

He was Colonel in command of the 6th Alabama Regiment and saw furious combat in the Sunken road as part of Rodes' Brigade of D. H. Hill's Division in Jackson's Command. He was wounded 4 times, but remained in the fighting til he was shot in the face. He feels he would have drowned in his own blood, face-down in his cap, if not for a bullet hole in it. He was relieved by LCol. J. N. Lightfoot. For more detail, see also an (exciting !) excerpt from his "Reminiscences.." on the battle.

The rest of the War

In November 1862 he was appointed Brigadier General and later commanded his brigade in Early's Division at Chancellorsville, Gettysburg, and the Wilderness. In May 1864 he was promoted to Major General, commanded his division in the 1864 Shenandoah Valley campaign, and led the ANV's Second Corps in the retreat to Appomattox.

After the War

He was a lawyer, politician, Governor of Georgia (1886-90) and US Senator (1872-80, 90-96). He wrote memoirs and was the first commander in chief of the United Confederate Veterans.

Notes

1 US Congress, Congressional Biographical Directory, Published c. 2000, first accessed 01 January 2002, <https://bioguide.congress.gov/>, Source page: /scripts/biodisplay.pl?index=G000313 [AotW citation 496]

2 Gordon, John Brown, Reminiscences of the Civil War, New York: Charles Scribner's Sons, 1904, pp. 80-90 [AotW citation 497]

3 Warner, Ezra J., Generals in Gray, Lives of the Confederate Commanders, Baton Rouge, LA: Louisiana State University Press, 1959 [AotW citation 498]

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