George Gordon (Civil War General)
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George Washington Gordon (born 1836 - 1911) was an officer in the Confederate Army, rising to be the youngest brigadier general in the confederacy by the last year of the war. After the war, he practiced law in Pulaski, Tenn., where the Ku Klux Klan was formed. He became one of the Klan's first members. In 1867, Gordon became the Klan's first Grand Dragon for the Realm of Tennessee, and wrote its "Precept," a book describing its organization, purpose and principles. He was also a member of the United States House of Representatives for the 10th congressional district of Tennessee.
According to one oral report, he went to General Nathan Bedford Forrest in Memphis, and told him about the new organization, to which Forrest replied, "That's a good thing; that's a damn good thing. We can use that to keep the niggers in their place." Forrest went on to become the nationwide leader of the first Klan.
The historical record includes an 1868 proclamation by Gordon. In it, he warns that the Klan had been "fired into three times," and that if the blacks "make war upon us they must abide by the awful retribution that will follow." He also states that the Klan is a peaceful organization, but that some people have been carrying out violent acts in the name of the Klan.
Gordon was born on October 5, 1836 in Pulaski, Tennessee. He received a collegiate training and graduated from the Western Military Institute in Nashville, Tennessee in Nashville, Tennessee in 1859. Until the beginning of the Civil War, he had practiced civil engineering. He enlisted in the military service of the Confederacy and became drillmaster of the Eleventh Regiment, Tennessee Infantry before rising to brigadier general.
He studied law, was admitted to the bar, and practiced in Memphis, Tennessee until 1883. He was appointed one of the railroad commissioners of Tennessee. He received an appointment in the Department of the Interior in 1885, as special Indian agent in Arizona and Nevada, and he served until 1889. He returned to Memphis, Tennessee and resumed the practice of law. He was the superintendent of Memphis city schools between 1889 and 1907.
George Gordon was elected as a Democrat to the Sixtieth, Sixty-first, and Sixty-second Congresses. He served from March 4, 1907 until his death in Memphis, Tennessee on August 9, 1911. He was interred in Elmwood Cemetery.
This article incorporates facts obtained from the public domain Biographical Directory of the United States Congress.
[edit] References
- [http://www.tngenweb.org/civilwar/csainf/csa11.html History of 11th Tennessee Infantry Regiment(Confederate), American Civil War
- Horn, Stanley F. Invisible Empire: The Story of the Ku Klux Klan, 1866-1871, Patterson Smith Publishing Corporation: Montclair, NJ, 1939.
- Notes of a Private. By John Milton Hubbard, Company E, 7th Tennessee Regiment. Forrest's Cavalry Corps, C.S.A.
- Biographical Directory of Congress
- Political Graveyard
