1832
- Confederate Lieutenant General John Brown Gordon¹ is born, in Upson County Georgia. Many of his ancestors fought against the British Crown in the Revolutionary War. Gordon would go to school at the
University of Georgia, but would not graduate. He studied law, and would pass the bar examination, in Atlanta. In 1854, he would marry Fanny Haralson. With the outbreak of the Civil War, his lack of military training would not prevent Gordon from being elected captain of his company. He would be promoted to brigadier general in November 1862 and major general in May 1864. He would lead his brigade in the Peninsula Campaign and the Seven Days. As a fearless leader, he preferred to command from the front. During the fighting at Malvern Hill, he would be wounded in the eyes. After recuperating, he would be assigned by Robert E. Lee, to defend the sunken road, also called the “Bloody Lane,” during the Battle of Antietam. He would receive five separate wounds at Antietam, the last of which a minie ball passed through his left cheek, and jaw. It would take Gordon several months to recover from his Antietam wounds. In June 1863, he would be assigned a brigade in Jubal Early’s division, of Richard Ewell’s 2nd Corps, for the Gettysburg Campaign. On July 1, at Gettysburg, his brigade would slam into US Major General Oliver O. Howard’s XI Corps on a small knoll north of town. The knoll would be later known as Barlow’s Knoll, named after US Brigadier General Francis Barlow. He was said to have provided aide to the wounded Barlow. In 1864 Gordon would be given division command in the 2nd Corps and lead his troops in the Overland Campaign. Gordon was noted as successfully repulsing the Federal assault at the Mule Shoe salient, at Spotsylvania Court House – possibly saving Robert E. Lee from defeat. His division would take part in Jubal Early’s Shenandoah Valley Campaign – where he would once again be wounded, in the head. After being defeated at Cedar Creek, Early’s army would return to Petersburg and be reunited with R.E. Lee’s Army of Northern Virginia. With Lee’s concerns over the command abilities, of Richard Ewell, Lee would assign Gordon to command the 2nd Corps – which he commanded through the end of the war. He would again be wounded in the failed attack on Fort Stedman. He would lead his men in the final charge of the Army of Northern Virginia, at Appomattox Court House. He would officially surrender his 2nd Corps on April 12, 1865. Passing US Major General Joshua Chamberlain, he would kneel his horse in a ceremonial salute to Chamberlain. After the war, he would be suspected of being the leader of the Georgia Ku Klux Klan. He would be elected twice to the U.S. Senate and would be the first ex-Confederate to preside over the Senate. Gordon would die on January 9, 1904 in Miami, Florida.
1865
- Confederate Brigadier General John Pegram would be killed at the battle at Dabney’s Mill, Virginia (Hatcher’s Run). He was in command of a veteran brigade in CS Lieutenant General Jubal Early’s Army of the Valley. He would die three weeks after being married to Richmond’s Hetty Cary.
¹ John Brown Gordon on Wikipedia, and BattlefieldPortraits.com were used to research this article.