George T. Anderson
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George Thomas Anderson (February 3, 1824 – April 4, 1901) was a general in the Confederate States Army during the American Civil War. Nicknamed "Tige," Anderson was noted as one of Robert E. Lee's hardest-fighting subordinates.
Anderson was born in Covington, Georgia, and attended Emory University before departing to serve as a lieutenant of Georgia cavalry during the Mexican-American War. He received a commission in the U.S. regular cavalry in 1855, only to resign in 1858.
When the Civil War broke out, he joined the Confederate Army in defense of his home state. He became Colonel of the 11th Georgia but arrived too late to participate in the First Battle of Manassas. He saw battle during the Peninsula Campaign at Yorktown and commanded a brigade during the Seven Days Battles, Second Manassas, Turner's Gap, Sharpsburg, and Fredericksburg. Anderson missed out on Chancellorsville being with the majority of Longstreet's I Corps operating in southern Virginia.
Longstreet's men rejoined the Army of Northern Virginia in time for the Gettysburg Campaign. Anderson fought around Devil's Den and the Wheatfield at Gettysburg, where he was wounded. He recuperated in the Charleston area while Longstreet's Corps went to Georgia. Anderson did not rejoin his men until the Siege of Knoxville. He saw heavy action in 1864 at the Wilderness, Spotsylvania, Cold Harbor, and the operations around Richmond and Petersburg. He surrendered with Lee at Appomattox Court House in April 1865.
After the war, Anderson became a railroad freight agent and police chief in Atlanta, Georgia. He later moved to Anniston, Alabama, becoming police chief there and county tax collector. He is buried in Anniston's Edgemont Cemetery.
[edit] References
- Warner, Ezra J., Generals in Gray: Lives of the Confederate Commanders, Baton Rouge: Louisiana State University Press, 1959, ISBN 0-8071-0823-5.
