Major General John B. Gordon
2nd Corps Commander
Confederate Army
John B. Gordon raised the Raccoon Roughs, Company I of the 6th Alabama Regiment. He began his military service as their captain. He advance through the officer ranks to Major General in command of the 2nd Corps. John B. Gordon led troops in many important battles including First Bull Run, Williamsburg, Seven Pines, Seven Days, Antietam, Chancellorsville, Gettysburg, Wilderness, Spotsylvania, Cold Harbor, and Petersburg. General Gordon was wounded in the face, arm, shoulder, and twice in the leg defending "Bloody Lane" at Antietam. He had been previously wounded at Malvern Hill. He was later wounded in the Valley Campaign. General Gordon led the last charge of the Army of Northern Virginia at Appomattox. Confederate President Jefferson Davis considered John B. Gordon to be one of his best generals. President Davis said that General Gordon was "characterized by splendid audacity."
John Brown Gordon was born on his father's plantation in Upson County, Georgia on February 6, 1832. Many members of the Gordon Family had fought in the American Revolution. He attended Franklin College at Milledgeville which later became the University of Georgia. Although he was an excellent student, he withdrew at the beginning of his senior year. John Gordon tried many careers. He read law, passed the bar, and briefly practiced law. He was a newspaper reporter for a short time. He and his father founded the Castle Rock Coal Company. After the Civil War, John Gordon was elected to the United States Senate in 1873. In 1880 he resigned from the U. S. Senate to promote a railroad venture. He served as the Governor of Georgia from 1886 to 1890. He was again a U. S. Senator from 1891 to 1897. He died in Miami, Florida on January 9, 1904.