George B. Anderson
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- For the other Civil War general with a similar name, see George T. Anderson.
George Burgwyn Anderson (April 12, 1831 – October 16, 1862) was a career military officer, serving first in the antebellum U.S. Army and then dying from wounds inflicted during the American Civil War while a brigadier general in the Confederate Army. He was among six generals killed or mortally wounded at the Battle of Antietam.
George B. Anderson, the oldest son of plantation owner William E. Anderson and his wife Eliza Burgwyn, was born near Hillsboro, North Carolina. He entered the Caldwell Institute, where he graduated at the top of his class. At the age of seventeen, he received an appointment to the United States Military Academy and graduated tenth of forty-three cadets in the Class of 1852. He was commissioned as a second lieutenant in the 2nd U.S. Dragoons and trained at the cavalry school at Carlisle Barracks.
Following his training, Anderson was sent to California to assist in the survey of a proposed railroad route before joining his regiment at Fort Chadbourne in Texas. In 1855, he was promoted to first lieutenant. He commanded his cavalry troop in the march from Texas across the plains to Fort Riley, Kansas. In 1858, he was the adjutant of the regiment while serving in the Utah Territory during the Mormon War. In 1859, he was ordered to Louisville, Kentucky, for duty as a recruiting officer. There, he met and married Mildred Ewing.
With the outbreak of the Civil War, Anderson resigned his U.S. Army commission in 1861 and returned home. The Governor of North Carolina, John Willis Ellis, appointed him as colonel of the 4th North Carolina Infantry. Anderson capably led his regiment at the Battle of Williamsburg in May 1862 and was rewarded a month later with a promotion to brigadier general. He was assigned command of a brigade in D. H. Hill's division, fighting at the Seven Days Battles and Malvern Hill, where he was wounded in the hand during the Confederate assault.
Recovering, Anderson resumed his brigade command in time for the Maryland Campaign. He fought at the Battle of South Mountain before marching into the Cumberland Valley to Sharpsburg, Maryland, as the Army of Northern Virginia concentrated. During the subsequent Battle of Antietam, Anderson's veteran North Carolinians defended a portion of the Sunken Road against repeated Union attacks. A Minié ball struck Anderson near his ankle, injuring it badly. Anderson was transported to Shepherdstown and then by wagon up the Shenandoah Valley to Staunton, Virginia, to recuperate. He was eventually shipped by train to Raleigh, North Carolina, where he died following surgery to amputate the infected foot.
Anderson is buried in Oakwood Cemetery in Raleigh.
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[edit] References
- Evans, Clement A., Confederate Military History, Vol. III, Atlanta: Confederate Publishing Company, 1899.
