John Brown Gordon John Brown Gordon ( February 6 , 1832January 9 , 1904 ) was one of Robert E . Lee ' s most trusted Confederate generals during the American Civil War . After the war , he was a strong opponent of Reconstruction and is thought by some to have been the titular leader of the Ku Klux Klan in Georgia during the late 1860s . A member of the Democratic Party , he served as a U . S . Senator from 1873 to 1880 , and again from 1891 – 1897 . He also served as the 53rd Governor of Georgia from 1886 to 1890 . Early life . Gordon was descended from an ancient Scottish lineage , and was born on his father ' s plantation in Upson County , Georgia , the fourth of twelve children . Many Gordon family members fought in the Revolutionary War . He was an outstanding student at the University of Georgia , where he was a member of the Mystical 7 Society , but left before graduating . He studied law in Atlanta and passed the bar examination . Gordon and his father , Zachariah , invested in a series of coal mines in Tennessee and Georgia . He also practiced law . Gordon married Rebecca " Fanny " Haralson , daughter of Hugh Anderson Haralson , in 1854 , and they had a long and happy marriage . Civil War . Although lacking military education or experience , Gordon was elected captain of a company of mountaineers and quickly climbed from captain to brigadier general ( November 1 , 1862 ) , to major general ( May 14 , 1864 ) . Though Gordon himself often claimed he was promoted to lieutenant general , there is no official record of this occurring . Gordon was an aggressive general . In 1864 , Gordon was described by General Robert E . Lee in a letter to Confederate President Jefferson Davis as being one of his best brigadiers , " characterized by splendid audacity " . Gordon was a brigadier general and brigade commander in D . H . Hill ' s division in the Peninsula Campaign in 1862 . During the subsequent Seven Days Battles , as Gordon strode fearlessly among his men , enemy bullets shattered the handle of his pistol , pierced his canteen , and tore away part of the front of his coat . He was wounded in the eyes during the assault on Malvern Hill . Assigned by General Lee to hold the vital sunken road , or " Bloody Lane " , during the Battle of Antietam , Gordon ' s propensity for being wounded reached new heights . First , a Minié ball passed through his calf . Then , a second ball hit him higher in the same leg . A third ball went through his left arm . He continued to lead his men despite the fact that the muscles and tendons in his arm were mangled , and a small artery was severed by this ball . A fourth ball hit him in his shoulder . Despite pleas that he go to the rear , he continued to lead his men . He was finally stopped by a ball that hit him in the face , passing through his left cheek and out his jaw . He fell with his face in his cap and might have drowned in his own blood if it had not drained out through a bullet hole in the cap . After months of recuperation , in June 1863 Gordon led a brigade of Georgians in Jubal A . Early ' s division during the Confederate invasion of Pennsylvania . His brigade occupied Wrightsville on the Susquehanna River , the farthest east in Pennsylvania any organized Confederate troops would reach . Union militia under Col . Jacob G . Frick burned the mile - and - a - quarter - long covered wooden bridge to prevent Gordon from crossing the river , and the fire soon spread to parts of Wrightsville . Gordon ' s troops formed a bucket brigade and managed to prevent the further destruction of the town . At the Battle of Gettysburg on July 1 , Gordon ' s brigade smashed into the XI Corps on Barlow ' s Knoll . There , he aided the wounded opposing division commander Francis Barlow . This incident led to a story ( which many people consider apocryphal ) about the two officers meeting later in Washington , D . C . , unaware that Barlow had survived the battle . The story was told by Barlow and by Gordon and was published in newspapers and in Gordon ' s book . Some historians choose to discount this story , despite contemporary accounts and the testimony of both men , because of Gordon ' s purported tendency to exaggerate in post - war writings and because it is inconceivable to them that Gordon did not know that Barlow subsequently fought against him in the Battle of the Wilderness . At the start of the 1864 Overland Campaign , in the Battle of the Wilderness , Gordon proposed a flanking attack against the Union right that might have had a decisive effect on the battle , had General Early allowed him freedom to launch it before late in the day . On May 8 , 1864 , Gordon was given command of Early ' s division in Lt . Gen . Richard S . Ewell ' s ( later Early ' s ) corps . Gordon ' s success in turning back the massive Union assault in the Battle of Spotsylvania Court House ( the Bloody Angle ) prevented a Confederate rout . He left with Early for the Valley Campaigns of 1864 and was wounded August 25 , 1864 , at Shepherdstown , West Virginia . Confederate cartographer Jedediah Hotchkiss ' s official report of the incident stated , " Quite a lively skirmish ensued , in which Gordon was wounded in the head , but he gallantly dashed on , the blood streaming over him . " His wife Fanny , accompanying her husband on the campaign as general ' s wives sometimes did , rushed out into the street at the Third Battle of Winchester to urge Gordon ' s retreating troops to go back and face the enemy . Gordon was horrified to find her in the street with shells and balls flying about her . Returning to Lee ' s army after Early ' s defeat at the Battle of Cedar Creek , Gordon led the Second Corps of the Army of Northern Virginia until the end of the war . In this role , he defended the line in the Siege of Petersburg and commanded the attack on Fort Stedman on March 25 , 1865 ( where he was wounded again , in the leg ) . At Appomattox Court House , he led his men in the last charge of the Army of Northern Virginia , capturing the entrenchments and several pieces of artillery in his front just before the surrender . On April 12 , 1865 , Gordon ' s Confederate troops officially surrendered to Bvt . Maj . Gen . Joshua L . Chamberlain , acting for Lt . Gen . Ulysses S . Grant , recorded in moving detail by Chamberlain : Postbellum career . As the government of the State of Georgia was being reconstituted for readmission to the Union , Gordon ran for governor in 1868 , but was defeated . He was a firm opponent of Reconstruction and endorsed measures to preserve white - dominated society , including restrictions on freedmen and the use of violence . Gordon was thought to be the titular head of the Ku Klux Klan in Georgia , but the organization was so secretive that his role was never proved conclusively . During congressional testimony in 1871 , Gordon denied any involvement with the Klan , but did acknowledge he was associated with a secret " peace police " organization whose sole purpose was the " preservation of peace . " Gordon was elected to the U . S . Senate in 1873 , and in 1879 became the first ex - Confederate to preside over the Senate . He was a strong supporter of the " New South " and industrialization . The next day he obtained a promise from President Ulysses S . Grant to remove Federal officials in Georgia who had gained their positions through fraud or corruption . Gordon resigned in May 1880 to promote a venture for the Georgia Pacific Railway . He was elected Governor of Georgia in 1886 and returned to the U . S . Senate from 1891 to 1897 . In 1903 Gordon published an account of his Civil War service entitled " Reminiscences of the Civil War " . He engaged in a series of popular speaking engagements throughout the country . General Gordon was the first Commander - in - Chief of the United Confederate Veterans when the group was organized in 1890 and held this position until his death . He died while visiting his son in Miami , Florida , at the age of 71 and was buried in Oakland Cemetery in Atlanta , Georgia ; upwards of 75 , 000 people viewed and took part in the memorial ceremonies .