Page:Appletons' Cyclopædia of American Biography (1900, volume 2).djvu/719

Rh GORDON, Adoniram Judson, clergyman, b. in New Hampton, N. 11., ID April, 188<) ; d. in Boston, Mass., 2 Feb., 1895. He was graduated at Brown in 18G0. and at Newton theological seminary in 1863. He was ordained 29 June, 1803, and in the same year became pastor of the Baptist church at Jamaica Plains, Mass. In 1869 he accepted a call to the Clarendon street Baptist church, Boston. He was a trustee of Brown university, from which he received in 1877 the degree of D. D. His pub- lications include " Grace and Glory " (Boston, 1880) ; " In Christ " (1872) ; " Ministry of Healing " (1882); and "Twofold Life "(1884). He was also one of the compilers of the hymn-book known as the " Service of Song."

GORDON, Andrew Robertson, Canadian ex- plorer, b. in Aberdeen, Scotland, 13 Feb., 1851. He was educated in his native city, entered the British navy in 1864, was specially promoted for a meri- torious examination in 1871, and retired from the service with the rank of lieutenant in October, 1873. He then removed to Canada and became at- tached to the meteorological observatory in Toron- to, and was appointed deputy superintendent of the meteorological service of Canada in 1880. In pursuance of a project to connect Manitoba and the northwest to Hudson bay by means of a rail- way, an expedition, commanded by Lieut. Gordon, was fitted out in 1884 to determine the length of that part of the year during which the bay was navigable, and to make surveys. Explorations dur- ing three seasons, from 1884 till 1886, proved that the bay would admit of safe navigation during four months of the year. By this route the dis- tance to Europe would be lessened by many hun- dred miles. He published official charts and sail- ing directions of his explorations.

GORDON, Clarence, author, b. in New York city, 28 April, 1835. His ancestor, John, came from Scotland to New Haven, Conn., about 1760, and his father was a cotton-merchant. Clarence was graduated at the Lawrence scientific school of Harvard in 1855. He resided chiefly in Savannah, Ga., till 1860, lived in or near Boston in 1862-8, and then removed to Newburg, N. Y., where he still (1887) resides. He was special agent of the U. S. census bureau in 1879-'83, in charge of the investigation of meat-production in the grazing states, and has since engaged in the real-estate business. He has contributed largely to journals and magazines, and besides his census report (Wash- ington, 1884) has written stories for boys, under the pen-name of "Vieux Moustache." These in- clude " Christmas at Under-Tor " (New York, 1864) ; " Our Fresh and Salt Tutors " (1866) ; " Two Lives in One " (1870) ; and " Boarding-School Days" (1873).

GORDON, George Henry, soldier, b. in Charles- town, Mass., 19 July, 1825 ; d. in Pramingham, Mass., 30 Aug., 1886. He was graduated at the U. S. military academy in 1846, and assigned to the mounted rifles. He engaged in the siege of Vera Cruz in 1847, in the battle of Cerro Gordo, where he was wounded and bre vetted 1st lieutenant, took part in the battles of Contreras and Chapultepec, and in the assault and capture of the city of Mexi- co. In a hand-to-hand encounter with two gue- rillas near the San Juan Bridge on 21 Dec, 1847, he was severely wounded. On"8 Jan., 1848, he was promoted 2d lieutenant and assigned to recruiting service. Ill health necessitated leave of absence in 1848-'9, when he was assigned to duty in the cav- alry school for practice at Carlisle, Pa. From 1850 till 1854 he was on frontier duty, and was promoted to a 1st lieutenancy, 30 Aug., 1853. He resigned, 31 Oct.. 1854, studied law. and entered upon prac- tice in Boston in 1857. At the beginning of the civil war he raised the 2d Massachusetts regiment, became its colonel on 24 May, 1861, and was made military governor of Harper's Ferry. In 1862 he commanded a brigade under Gen. Banks, and for his conduct in the retreat from Strasburg to Wil- liamsport was made brigadier-general of volunteers on 9 June, 1862. He was engaged in a large num- ber of battles and skirmishes, took part in the North Virginia and Maryland campaigns, was in the sec- ond battle of Bull Run, and at Antietam fought with his brigade in Gen. A. S. Williams's division of Mansfield's corps, and guarded the upper Poto- mac at Harper's Ferry fronr September to Decem- ber, 1862. He engaged in operations about Charles- ton harbor, S. C, in 1863-'4, was in command of Florida in May, 1864, kept open the communica- tions by White river with Little Rock, Ark., in July, and took part in the operations against Mo- bile in August. In 1864r-'5 he was on duty in the Department of Virginia in command of the eastern district, and he was brevetted major-general of vol- unteers on 9 April, 1865. He then returned to th& practice of law in Boston, and was for some time collector of internal revenue. He published " The Army of Virginia from Cedar Mountain to Alexan- dria" (Boston, 1880) ; " A War Diary " (1881) ; and " From Brook Farm to Cedar Mountain " (1883).

GORDON, George Phineas, inventor, b. in Salem, N. H., 21 April. 1810 ; d. 27 Jan., 1878. His education was received in the schools of Salem, N. H., and Boston, Mass. Turning his attention to printing at an early age he devoted himself to the improvement of job and treadle presses. He was granted more than fifty patents, and gave his name to the press known in the United States and Eu- rope as the " Gordon."

GORDON, George William, West Indian insurgent, d. in Jamaica, W. I., 23 Oct., 1865. He was a member of the colonial legislature in the island of Jamaica in 1865, and had been an active leader in mass-meetings held by the colored people to give expression to various grievances. In the beginning of October, 1865, in the district of Morant bay, in the eastern portion of the island, an attempt was made to expel the negroes from certain uncultivated lands of which they had taken possession. This called forth great indignation, and when on 7 Oct. a negro was tried on account of this affair before the court at Morant bay, a mob collected, threatening to liberate him. The court ordered the arrest of the leaders of the mob. but the latter overpowered the police. On 9 Oct. the court issued writs for the arrest of twenty-eight of those charged with having participated in the riot, and on 11 Oct., when the prisoners were to be brought before the court, a new riot broke out. The volunteers who had been called out were over-powered, and many of them, together with several magistrates, massacred, and the court-house burned. According to an official statement of the governor, sixteen whites were killed and eighteen wounded. In several adjoining districts the negroes rose and plundered the plantations, but, as far as known, only two persons were killed. The troops who had been sent into the interior returned, and reported that they had met no armed resistance, that they had not lost a single man, but had shot and hanged, without the least form of trial, hundreds of persons suspected of being implicated in the rebellion. The governor claimed to have received proofs of the guilt of Mr. Gordon as one of the chief instigators of the revolt, although the latter was a resident of Kingston, where there was