George Henry Gordon

George Henry Gordon
George Henry Gordon
	Brig. Gen. George H. Gordon
Born	July 19, 1823; Charlestown, Massachusetts
Died	August 30, 1886 (aged 63); Framingham, Massachusetts
Place of burial	Framingham Centre, Framingham, Massachusetts
Allegiance	United States of America ; Union
Service/branch	United States Army ; Union Army
Years of service	1846–1854, 1861–1865
Rank	Brigadier General ; Brevet Major General
Battles/wars	American Civil War

Last updated April 03, 2019

George Henry Gordon (July 19, 1823 – August 30, 1886) was an American lawyer and a Union general in the American Civil War.

The United States of America (USA), commonly known as the United States or America, is a country composed of 50 states, a federal district, five major self-governing territories, and various possessions. At 3.8 million square miles, the United States is the world's third or fourth largest country by total area and is slightly smaller than the entire continent of Europe's 3.9 million square miles. With a population of over 327 million people, the U.S. is the third most populous country. The capital is Washington, D.C., and the largest city by population is New York City. Forty-eight states and the capital's federal district are contiguous in North America between Canada and Mexico. The State of Alaska is in the northwest corner of North America, bordered by Canada to the east and across the Bering Strait from Russia to the west. The State of Hawaii is an archipelago in the mid-Pacific Ocean. The U.S. territories are scattered about the Pacific Ocean and the Caribbean Sea, stretching across nine official time zones. The extremely diverse geography, climate, and wildlife of the United States make it one of the world's 17 megadiverse countries.

During the American Civil War, the Union Army referred to the United States Army, the land force that fought to preserve the Union of the collective states. Also known as the Federal Army, it proved essential to the preservation of the United States of America as a working, viable republic.

American Civil War Civil war in the United States from 1861 to 1865

The American Civil War was a war fought in the United States from 1861 to 1865, between the North and the South. The Civil War is the most studied and written about episode in U.S. history. Primarily as a result of the long-standing controversy over the enslavement of black people, war broke out in April 1861 when secessionist forces attacked Fort Sumter in South Carolina shortly after Abraham Lincoln had been inaugurated as the President of the United States. The loyalists of the Union in the North proclaimed support for the Constitution. They faced secessionists of the Confederate States in the South, who advocated for states' rights to uphold slavery.

Early life

Gordon was born in Charlestown, Massachusetts. He moved to Framingham, Massachusetts, at the age of five with his widowed mother. He graduated from the United States Military Academy in 1846, 43rd in a class of 59 cadets. He served under Lt. Gen. Winfield Scott in the Mexican-American War, earning the brevet of first lieutenant for gallantry at Cerro Gordo. He resigned from the army in 1854. After taking a course in the Harvard Law School, he practiced law in Boston.

Framingham is a city in the Commonwealth of Massachusetts in the United States. Incorporated in 1700, it is within Middlesex County and the MetroWest subregion of the Greater Boston metropolitan area. The city proper covers 25 square miles (65 km²) with a population of 68,318 in 2010, making it the 14th most populous municipality in Massachusetts. As of 2017 the estimated population was 72,032. Residents voted in favor of adopting a charter to transition from a representative town meeting system to a mayor–council government in April 2017, and the municipality transitioned to city status on January 1, 2018.

The United States Military Academy (USMA), also known as West Point, Army, Army West Point, The Academy, or simply The Point, is a four-year federal service academy in West Point, New York. It was originally established as a fort that sits on strategic high ground overlooking the Hudson River with a scenic view, 50 miles (80 km) north of New York City. It is one of the five U.S. service academies.

In the United States Army, United States Marine Corps, and the United States Air Force, lieutenant general is a three-star general officer rank, with the pay grade of O-9. Lieutenant general ranks above major general and below general. Lieutenant general is equivalent to the rank of vice admiral in the other uniformed services.

Civil War

When the Civil War erupted in 1861, Gordon organized and became colonel of the 2nd Regiment Massachusetts Volunteer Infantry. The regiment served guarding the upper Potomac River and Frederick, Maryland, and in the spring of 1862, Gordon served under Maj. Gen. Nathaniel P. Banks, unsuccessfully opposing Maj. Gen. Stonewall Jackson in the Shenandoah Valley. Gordon was appointed a brigadier general of volunteers on June 12, 1862, to rank from June 9, 1862.^[1]

The 2nd Regiment Massachusetts Volunteer Infantry was an infantry regiment that saw extensive federal service in the Union Army during the American Civil War. The regiment saw action at the Battle of Antietam and the Battle of Gettysburg.

The Potomac River is located within the Mid-Atlantic region of the United States and flows from the Potomac Highlands into the Chesapeake Bay. The river is approximately 405 miles (652 km) long, with a drainage area of about 14,700 square miles (38,000 km²). In terms of area, this makes the Potomac River the fourth largest river along the Atlantic coast of the United States and the 21st largest in the United States. Over 5 million people live within the Potomac watershed.

Frederick is a city in, and the county seat of, Frederick County in the U.S. state of Maryland. It is part of the Baltimore–Washington Metropolitan Area. Frederick has long been an important crossroads, located at the intersection of a major north–south Indian trail and east–west routes to the Chesapeake Bay, both at Baltimore and what became Washington, D.C. and across the Appalachian mountains to the Ohio River watershed. It is a part of the Washington-Arlington-Alexandria, DC-VA-MD-WV Metropolitan Statistical Area, which is part of a greater Washington-Baltimore-Arlington, DC-MD-VA-WV-PA Combined Statistical Area. The city's population was 65,239 people at the 2010 United States Census, making it the second-largest incorporated city in Maryland, behind Baltimore. Frederick is home to Frederick Municipal Airport, which accommodates general aviation, and to the county's largest employer U.S. Army's Fort Detrick bioscience/communications research installation.

Gordon commanded a brigade in XII Corps, Army of the Potomac, at the Battle of Antietam, becoming acting division commander when Brig. Gen. Alpheus S. Williams became acting corps commander. He also took command of 1st Division, XI Corps, following the Battle of Gettysburg and was transferred with it to the Department of the South. There he commanded troops on Folly Island, South Carolina. Starting in November 1864, Gordon served in the Department of Virginia.^[2] He commanded the Eastern District of that department from February 1865 until he left the army.^[2]

The Army of the Potomac was the principal Union Army in the Eastern Theater of the American Civil War. It was created in July 1861 shortly after the First Battle of Bull Run and was disbanded in May 1865 following the surrender of the Confederate Army of Northern Virginia in April.

The Battle of Antietam, also known as the Battle of Sharpsburg, particularly in the Southern United States, was a battle of the American Civil War, fought on September 17, 1862, between Confederate General Robert E. Lee's Army of Northern Virginia and Union General George B. McClellan's Army of the Potomac, near Sharpsburg, Maryland and Antietam Creek. Part of the Maryland Campaign, it was the first field army–level engagement in the Eastern Theater of the American Civil War to take place on Union soil. It was the bloodiest day in United States history, with a combined tally of 22,717 dead, wounded, or missing.

Alpheus Starkey Williams was a lawyer, judge, journalist, U.S. Congressman, and a Union general in the American Civil War.

Gordon served in the army until August 24, 1865. On January 13, 1866, President Andrew Johnson nominated Gordon for the award of the honorary grade of brevet major general, United States Volunteers, to rank from April 9, 1865,^[1]^[2] and the U.S. Senate confirmed the award on March 12, 1866.^[1]

The President of the United States (POTUS) is the head of state and head of government of the United States of America. The president directs the executive branch of the federal government and is the commander-in-chief of the United States Armed Forces.

Andrew Johnson was the 17th president of the United States, serving from 1865 to 1869. Johnson assumed the presidency as he was vice president of the United States at the time of the assassination of Abraham Lincoln. A Democrat who ran with Lincoln on the National Union ticket, Johnson came to office as the Civil War concluded. He favored quick restoration of the seceded states to the Union. His plans did not give protection to the former slaves; he came into conflict with the Republican-dominated Congress, culminating in his impeachment by the House of Representatives. He was acquitted in the Senate by one vote. Johnson's main accomplishment as president is the Alaska purchase.

In many of the world's military establishments, a brevet was a warrant giving a commissioned officer a higher rank title as a reward for gallantry or meritorious conduct but without conferring the authority, precedence, or pay of real rank. An officer so promoted was referred to as being brevetted. The promotion would be noted in the officer's title.

Postbellum career

After the war, Gordon practiced law in Boston. He was one of the founders of the Military Historical Society of Massachusetts. He published the following books:

History of the Second Massachusetts Regiment (1876)
History of the Campaign of the Army of Virginia under Gen. John Pope from Cedar Mountain to Alexandria (1880)
A War Diary of the Events of the War of the Great Rebellion, 1863-65 (1882)
Brook Farm to Cedar Mountain (1883)

Gordon died in Framingham, Massachusetts, and is buried in Framingham Centre.

Footnotes

1 2 3 Eicher, John H., and Eicher, David J., Civil War High Commands, Stanford University Press, 2001, p. 721. ISBN 0-8047-3641-3.
1 2 3 Warner, Ezra J., Generals in Blue: Lives of the Union Commanders, Louisiana State University Press, 1964, pp. 177–178. ISBN 0-8071-0822-7

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References

Eicher, John H., and Eicher, David J., Civil War High Commands, Stanford University Press, 2001, ISBN 0-8047-3641-3.
Warner, Ezra J., Generals in Blue: Lives of the Union Commanders, Louisiana State University Press, 1964, ISBN 0-8071-0822-7.

External links

George Henry Gordon at Find a Grave

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[Eicher712-1] 1 2 3 Eicher, John H., and Eicher, David J., Civil War High Commands, Stanford University Press, 2001, p. 721. ISBN 0-8047-3641-3.

[Warner177-2] 1 2 3 Warner, Ezra J., Generals in Blue: Lives of the Union Commanders, Louisiana State University Press, 1964, pp. 177–178. ISBN 0-8071-0822-7