{{short description|American lawyer}} {{Infobox military person |name= George Henry Gordon |birth_date= {{birth date|1823|7|19}} |death_date= {{death date and age|1886|8|30|1823|7|19}} |birth_place= [[Charlestown, Massachusetts]] |death_place= [[Framingham, Massachusetts]] |burial_place= Framingham Centre, Framingham, Massachusetts |burial_label= Place of burial |image= GHGordon.jpg |caption= Brig. Gen. George H. Gordon |allegiance= [[United States of America]]<br/>[[Union (American Civil War)|Union]] |branch= [[United States Army]]<br/>[[Union Army]] |service_years= 1846–1854, 1861–1865 |rank= [[File:Union Army brigadier general rank insignia.svg|35px]] [[Brigadier general (United States)|Brigadier General]]<br/>[[File:Union Army major general rank insignia.svg|35px]] [[Brevet (military)|Brevet]] [[Major general (United States)|Major General]] |commands= |unit= |battles= {{tree list}} *[[Mexican–American War]] **[[Battle of Cerro Gordo]] *[[American Civil War]] **[[Jackson's Valley campaign]] **[[Battle of Antietam]] {{tree list/end}} |awards= |other_work= }}
'''George Henry Gordon''' (July 19, 1823 – August 30, 1886) was an American lawyer and a [[Union Army|Union]] general in the [[American Civil War]].
==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 [[Lieutenant general (United States)|Lt. Gen.]] [[Winfield Scott]] in the [[Mexican–American War]], earning the [[Brevet (military)|brevet]] of [[first lieutenant#United States|first lieutenant]] for gallantry at [[Battle of Cerro Gordo|Cerro Gordo]]. He resigned from the army in 1854. After taking a course in the [[Harvard Law School]], he practiced law in [[Boston]].
==Civil War== [[File:George H Gordon c1846.png|thumb|left|200px|Lieutenant Gordon, ca. 1846]] 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 [[Major general (United States)|Maj. Gen.]] [[Nathaniel P. Banks]], unsuccessfully opposing Maj. Gen. [[Stonewall Jackson]] in the [[Jackson's Valley Campaign|Shenandoah Valley]]. Gordon was appointed a [[Brigadier general (United States)|brigadier general]] of volunteers on June 12, 1862, to rank from June 9, 1862.<ref name="Eicher712">Eicher, John H., and [[David J. Eicher|Eicher, David J.]], ''Civil War High Commands'', Stanford University Press, 2001, p. 721. {{ISBN|0-8047-3641-3}}.</ref>
Gordon commanded a brigade in [[XII Corps (ACW)|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 (ACW)|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.<ref name="Warner177">Warner, Ezra J., ''Generals in Blue: Lives of the Union Commanders'', Louisiana State University Press, 1964, pp. 177–178. {{ISBN|0-8071-0822-7}}</ref> He commanded the Eastern District of that department from February 1865 until he left the army.<ref name="Warner177"/>
Gordon served in the army until August 24, 1865. On January 13, 1866, [[President of the United States|President]] [[Andrew Johnson]] nominated Gordon for the award of the honorary grade of [[brevet (military)|brevet]] [[Major general (United States)|major general]], [[United States Volunteers]], to rank from April 9, 1865,<ref name="Eicher712"/><ref name ="Warner177"/> and the [[U.S. Senate]] confirmed the award on March 12, 1866.<ref name="Eicher712"/>
==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.
==See also== {{Portal|Biography|American Civil War}} *[[List of American Civil War generals (Union)]] *[[List of Massachusetts generals in the American Civil War]] *[[Massachusetts in the American Civil War]]
==Footnotes== {{reflist}}
==References== *Eicher, John H., and [[David J. Eicher|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== *{{commons category-inline}}
{{Authority control}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Gordon, George Henry}} [[Category:1823 births]] [[Category:1886 deaths]] [[Category:American military personnel of the Mexican–American War]] [[Category:Harvard Law School alumni]] [[Category:People of Massachusetts in the American Civil War]] [[Category:Union army officers]] [[Category:Veterans of the 2nd Massachusetts Volunteer Infantry]] [[Category:Lawyers from Boston]] [[Category:People from Framingham, Massachusetts]] [[Category:Union army generals]] [[Category:United States Military Academy alumni]] [[Category:19th-century American lawyers]] [[Category:19th-century American male writers]]