General Gordon

John B. Gordon, thirty-fifth Governor of Georgia and three times a United States Senator, was born in Upson County, Georgia on February 6, 1832. He was the fourth child of Reverend Zechariah Herndon Gordon and Melinda Cox Gordon. His earliest American Ancestor, Adam Gordon, came from Scotland to Virginia in the seventeenth century. Many of his ancestors were soldiers of the American Revolution.

At the center of his life was Jesus Christ. He loved to listen to his father’s sermons and at the age of eight, he went forward and made his profession of faith. His testimony was well received and the congregation immediately voted him into membership.

His education began at age six in a log cabin school not far from the banks of the Flint River. In 1840, his father purchased a large tract of land in Walker County, Georgia. He and his siblings attended a rural school for a short time, but his father was not satisfied with the school and built one of his own. It was called Gordon Springs School and Rev. Gordon hired a very good teacher. After finishing his course of study at Gordon Springs School he and his brother, Chapman, were boarded at Pleasant Green Academy in LaFayette, Georgia.

Note: After the WBTS Pleasant Green Academy was renamed John B. Gordon Hall.

In 1850, he completed his studies at this very good school and was preparing to go to Franklin College in Athens, Georgia. Franklin College later became the University of Georgia.

He received such a high mark on his college entrance exams that he began his college days as a sophomore in the second quarter. Each college day began at sunrise with prayer in the college chapel. At the end of his sophomore year, the faculty chose him to be one of sixteen speakers at commencement. This was a great honor. He also won the gold medal as the best speaker at commencement. He was declared the top student of his Junior Class but after the fall term, his senior year, Gordon was summoned home and never returned to complete his senior year. No one today knows the reason.

In 1854, he began a law practice in Atlanta. His partner, Logan E. Bleckley, later became Gordon’s brother-in-law and Chief Justice of Georgia. He married Fannie Haralson in 1854. She was the daughter of the famous General Hugh Anderson Haralson of LaGrange, Georgia and a member of Congress for many years. They were married for fifty years.

In 1861, John B. Gordon joined a company of volunteers, the Racoon Roughs and was elected Captain. He served to the close of the war, becoming in succession, Major, Lt. Colonel, Colonel, Brigadier General, Major General and Lt. General. His military record was superb. General D. H. Hill said, “No soldier in American Arms ever made a record that surpassed in audacity and success the one made by John B. Gordon.”

After the war his political career was long and successful. He was tireless in his efforts on behalf of his beloved Southland.

General Gordon’s personality was one of rare charm and sweetness and his private and public life of model of manly virtue and Christian citizenship. He died on January 9, 1904 at this winter home in Biscayne, Florida after a brief illness. The entire county mourned his passing. Flags were at half mast and businesses suspended throughout the South. Thousands of Southerners poured into Atlanta to pay tribute to this great Christian man.

After lying in state in the State Capitol, he was on January 14, 1904 laid to rest in Oakland Cemetery. On May 25, 1907, a superb bronze equestrian statue of General Gordon was unveiled on the grounds of the state capitol. A small monument is also dedicated to General Gordon and stands next to the Confederate Monument on the courthouse square in Thomaston, Georgia.