George Washington Gordon (Congressional Biographical Directory)

GORDON, George Washington, a Representative from Tennessee; born in Pulaski, Giles County, Tenn., October 5, 1836; received a collegiate training and was graduated from the Western Military Institute, Nashville, Tenn., in 1859; practiced civil engineering until the beginning of the Civil War; enlisted in the military service of the Confederacy; was drillmaster of the Eleventh Regiment, Tennessee Infantry; was successively a captain, lieutenant colonel, colonel, and brigadier general, and served until the close of the war; studied law; was admitted to the bar and practiced in Memphis, Tenn., until 1883; appointed one of the railroad commissioners of Tennessee; received an appointment in the Department of the Interior, 1885, as special Indian agent in Arizona and Nevada and served until 1889; returned to Memphis, Tenn.; resumed the practice of law; superintendent of the Memphis city schools 1889-1907; elected as a Democrat to the Sixtieth, Sixty-first, and Sixty-second Congresses and served from March 4, 1907, until his death in Memphis, Tenn., on August 9, 1911; interment in Elmwood Cemetery.