Culture.Mil - John Brown Gordon

Written by Jenifer Chrisman on November 16, 2016.

“A people without the memories of heroic suffering and sacrifices are a people without a history.”

– Major General John Brown Gordon

John Brown Gordon (February 6, 1832-January 9, 1904) was born along the banks of the Flint River on a plantation in Upson County, Georgia. A student of the University of Georgia, he dropped out of school before graduation.

Before the outbreak of the American Civil War, Gordon invested in coal mines. Elected captain of the “Raccoon Roughs,” a mountaineer company, he and his men were incorporated into the 6th Alabama Infantry Regiment in 1861. Despite having no prior military training Gordon was made a captain.

He rose quickly and by April of 1862 he was promoted to Colonel. Gordon led the regiment during the Peninsula Campaign and the Seven Days Battles, a series of six major battles from June 25 to July 1, 1862.

On September 17, 1862, Gordon and his men were asked to hold what is now known as the “Bloody Lane” during the Battle of Antietam, a portion of a sunken road whose position was of vital importance. It was the first major battle on Union Soil. When asked by General Robert Edward Lee if they could hold, Gordon replied, “until the sun goes down or victory is won.”

Gordon personally paid a high price against the repeated attacks, being wounded five time, the last rendering him unconscious. Were it not for a bullet hole in his cap he would have drowned in his own blood.

In 1863, after recuperating from his wound, Gordon was given command of a brigade of Georgia regiments and promoted to Brigadier General. On the first day of the Battle of Gettysburg he and his men attacked Barlow’s Knoll.

Gordon and his troops had great success. In 1864 he was promoted to a major general and led his new division through the Shenandoah Valley Campaign.

Gordon led the assault on Fort Stedman in 1865 at Lee’s orders in an attempt to break the stalemate south of Confederate capital. After initial success, he was forced to withdraw to the Confederate trenches due to Yankee counter-strikes.

Now in command of a corps, Gordon and his troops took part in the retreat toward Appomattox where the Army of North Virginia surrendered at the Appomattox Court House. He was touched when Union General Joshua Lawrence Chamberlain ordered his men to salute Gordon’s column, ordering his men to return the gesture in kind.

By the end of the American Civil War Gordon had fought in numerous battles and was one of Lee’s most trusted generals:

First Battle of Bull Run
Seven Days Battles
- Battle of Malvern Hill
Maryland Campaign
- Battle of Antietam
- Battle of Shepherdstown
Gettysburg Campaign
- Battle of Gettysburg
Overland Campaign
- Battle of the Wilderness
- Battle of Spotsylvania Court House
Valley Campaigns of 1864
- Battle of Opequon
- Battle of Cedar Creek
Siege of Petersburg
- Battle of Fort Stedman
Appomattox Campaign
- Battle of Appomattox Courthouse

Although it has been claimed Gordon was promoted to Lieutenant General, there is no evidence to validate the promotion. Gordon, who recounts each of his promotions in his book, Reminiscences of the Civil War (originally published in 1903), remained silent on the matter.

He returned to Georgia after the war where he was elected a U.S. Senator (Democratic Party) from 1873 to 1880 and from 1891 to 1897. In between he served as the 53rd Governor of Georgia from 1886 to 1890.

Major General John Brown Gordon died at age 71 and is buried in Atlanta, Georgia. He was the first commander-in-chief of the United Confederate Veterans and Camp Gordon (now Fort Gordon in Augusta, Georgia) was named after him.

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