George Washington Bridges

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George Washington Bridges (October 9, 1825 – March 16, 1873) was an American politician and a member of the United States House of Representatives for the 1st congressional district of Tennessee.

He was born in Charleston, Tennessee in Bradley County. He attended East Tennessee University, studied law, and was admitted to the bar in 1848. He commenced practice in Athens, Tennessee in McMinn County. He was the attorney general of Tennessee from 1849 to 1860.

He was elected as a Unionist to the Thirty-seventh Congress, but he was arrested by Confederate troops while en route to Washington, D.C. and taken back to Tennessee. He was held prisoner for more than a year before he made his escape and went to Washington, D.C., and assumed his duties. He was qualified and took his seat in the House of Representatives on February 23, 1863, serving until March 3, 1863.

He enlisted in the Union Army as a captain on August 25, 1863. He was mustered in as a lieutenant colonel in the Tenth Tennessee Volunteer Cavalry on February 23, 1864, and he was discharged on December 29 of that year. He was elected circuit judge of the fourth judicial circuit of Tennessee in 1866 and served for about one year. He died in Athens, Tennessee on March 16, 1873 and was interred in Cedar Grove Cemetery.

This article incorporates facts obtained from the public domain Biographical Directory of the United States Congress.