John
B. Gordon Historical Plaque Located on the base
of the John B. Gordon Monument on the northwest corner of the Georgia State Capitol
Square, Atlanta, Ga.
(Text) John
Brown Gordon, son of the Rev. Zachariah Herndon Gordon and Mrs. Malinda Cox Gordon,
was born in Upson County Feb. 6, 1832. He attended a rural school in Walker County,
Pleasant Green Academy in LaFayette, and the University of Georgia. He left the
University in his senior year to study law under the noted Logan E. Bleckly, but
soon gave up the practice of law to join his father in coal mine operations in
Northwest Georgia. At the beginning
of the War Between the States, John B. Gordon organized a company of mountaineers
who wore coonskin caps and called themselves "The Raccoon Roughs." When
his company was merged with the 6th Alabama Infantry Regiment of the Confederate
Army, Captain Gordon was promoted to Lieutenant Colonel of the regiment. Early
in 1862 he became a Colonel and later that year had fought up to the rank of Brigadier
General. On May 14, 1864, he was promoted to Major General and had been recommended
for the rank of Lieutenant General when the war ended, at which time he was in
command of half of The Army of Northern Virginia. Douglas
Southall Freeman, in "Lee's Lieutenants," wrote: "If the final
order of march had been arranged to honor those who had fought hardest and with
highest distinction during the last days of the war. Gordon rightly would have
been put first." In 1873, General Gordon was elected to the United States
Senate. He was re-elected in 1878, but resigned in 1880 to develop mining and
railroad interests. In 1886 he was elected Governor of Georgia and re-elected
in 1888. At the end of his second term he was sent to the United States Senate
for the third time, serving from 1891 to 1897. He died on January 9, 1904, while
visiting his son, Hugh Haralson Gordon, in Miami. Click here
to view bas-relief plaques on base of monument. Click here
to view monument. |
