George Washington Gordon (October 5, 1836 – August 9, 1911) was a general in the Confederate States Army during the American Civil War. After the war, he practiced law in Pulaski, Tennessee, 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.

Early life

Gordon was born on October 5, 1836, in Pulaski, Tennessee. His father was Andrew Gordon and his mother, Eliza K. Gordon. He grew up in Mississippi and Texas. Gordon graduated from the Western Military Institute in Nashville, Tennessee, in 1859. He worked on the Nashville & Northwestern Railway.

Civil War

At the start of the Civil War, Gordon enlisted in the military service of the Confederacy and became drillmaster of the 11th Regiment, Tennessee Infantry, which saw action defending the Cumberland Gap during the winter and spring months of 1862. Gordon became regimental commander when James E. Rains assumed command of Carter L. Stevenson's brigade, and fought at the Battle of Tazewell on August 6, 1862. In November 1862 he became the regiment's colonel. Gordon was promoted to brigadier general in August 1864, and was one of the youngest Confederate generals. Gordon led Vaughn's Brigade, in Maj. Gen. John C. Brown's division, at the Battle of Franklin (November 30, 1864), where he was wounded and captured. Many of the men he led are buried at McGavock Confederate Cemetery in Franklin, Tennessee. Gordon was sent to the prisoner-of-war camp at Fort Warren until he was paroled in the summer of 1865. in 1867 and its revised edition the following year. Following Gordon's death, his widow, Minnie, claimed that he had been the original Grand Wizard of the Klan and that it was he, not Nathan Bedford Forrest, who disbanded it.

Political career

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. He was interred in Elmwood Cemetery.

See also

  • List of American Civil War generals (Confederate)
  • List of members of the United States Congress who died in office (1900–1949)

Notes

References

  • Allison, John. Notable Men of Tennessee. Personal and Genealogical With Portraits. Volume 2. Atlanta: Southern Historical Association, 1905. Retrieved January 14, 2016.
  • Cheathem, Mark R., and Emily J. Taylor. “Confederate General George Washington Gordon and the Ku Klux Klan.” West Tennessee Historical Society Papers 67 (2013): 36-57.
  • Eicher, John H., and David J. Eicher, Civil War High Commands. Stanford: Stanford University Press, 2001. .
  • History of 11th Tennessee Infantry Regiment (Confederate), American Civil War
  • Horn, Stanley F. Invisible Empire: The Story of the Ku Klux Klan from 1866 to 1871, Patterson Smith Publishing Corporation: Montclair, NJ, 1939.
  • Hubbard, John Milton, Notes of a Private. By John Milton Hubbard, Company E, 7th Tennessee Regiment. Forrest's Cavalry Corps, C.S.A..
  • Martinez, James Michael, Carpetbaggers, Cavalry, and the Ku Klux Klan, Rowman & Littlefield Publishers, Inc., 2007, , p. 15. Retrieved June 20, 2009
  • Sifakis, Stewart. Who Was Who in the Civil War. New York: Facts On File, 1988. .
  • Warner, Ezra J. Generals in Gray: Lives of the Confederate Commanders. Baton Rouge: Louisiana State University Press, 1959. . Retrieved on 2008-10-13
  • George W. Gordon, late a representative from Tennessee, Memorial addresses delivered in the House of Representatives and Senate frontispiece 1913
  • Political Graveyard