Representative George Washington Bridges

George Washington Bridges (October 9, 1825 – March 16, 1873) was an American lawyer, jurist, Union Army officer, and politician who represented Tennessee’s 3rd congressional district in the United States House of Representatives from 1861 to 1863. A Southern Unionist from East Tennessee, he was arrested and jailed by Confederate authorities during the first months of the Civil War and, though eventually able to escape, did not take his congressional seat until February 25, 1863, just days before his term expired.

Most contemporary biographies state that Bridges was born in Charleston, Tennessee, though in a later letter to congressional biographer Charles Lanman he stated that he had been born in McMinn County, Tennessee. He was raised in Athens, the county seat of McMinn County, where he would reside and work for most of his life. Growing up in this small but commercially active East Tennessee town, he became closely identified with the region’s legal and political circles and with its emerging transportation and financial institutions.

Bridges attended East Tennessee University in Knoxville, the forerunner of the modern University of Tennessee. After his studies there, he read law and was admitted to the bar in 1848. By March 1849, he had commenced the practice of law in Athens, specializing in claims collection. His legal work quickly brought him to public attention, and he developed a reputation as a capable attorney in the courts of East Tennessee.

In late 1849, the Tennessee General Assembly appointed Bridges district attorney general for the state’s third judicial circuit. When the state constitution was amended in the early 1850s to require that district attorneys be chosen by popular vote, he stood for election to retain the office. In the 1854 election he defeated rising Chattanooga attorney Daniel C. Trewhitt by a vote of 3,204 to 2,541. Bridges continued to serve as district attorney for the 3rd circuit until 1860, when he declined to run for reelection. Throughout the 1850s he was an active member of the state Democratic Party. He represented McMinn County at the state Democratic convention in 1851 and, in 1854, was appointed by newly elected Democratic governor Andrew Johnson to the board of directors of the East Tennessee and Georgia Railroad, reflecting his prominence in regional affairs. He also served on the board of directors of the Athens branch of the Bank of Tennessee and, like many white Southern Democrats of his era, was a slave owner. In 1859, he served as a vice president of the state Democratic Party convention.

Like many pro-Union Democrats in East Tennessee, Bridges supported the Northern Democratic presidential candidate, Stephen A. Douglas, in the election of 1860. He served as the Douglas elector for Tennessee’s 3rd congressional district and spent several weeks campaigning on Douglas’s behalf, helping him carry the popular vote in that district. As the secession crisis deepened, Bridges aligned himself with the region’s Unionist movement. In mid-1861 he attended both the Knoxville and Greeneville sessions of the pro-Union East Tennessee Convention, representing McMinn County on the convention’s business committee at both meetings. In that role he helped draft the convention’s declaration of grievances and its resolutions, which articulated East Tennessee’s opposition to secession and its desire to remain in the Union.

In August 1861, Bridges became a candidate for the 3rd district seat in the United States House of Representatives. He openly ran for the U.S. Congress, while his opponent, Judge Albert Welcker, considered himself a candidate for the Provisional Confederate Congress, though both names appeared on the same ballot. Federal authorities recognized Bridges as the winner of the United States seat, while Confederate authorities declared Welcker elected to the Confederate Congress, though Welcker apparently never took his seat. Bridges was thus elected to serve in the Thirty-seventh Congress (1861–1863). After fleeing to Kentucky in late 1861, he was arrested by Confederate troops while attempting to return to Tennessee to visit his family. He was held prisoner for more than a year before escaping on February 5, 1863, and making his way to Washington, D.C. On February 25, 1863, his credentials were presented to the House by fellow Tennessee Unionist Horace Maynard, and the House voted to admit him. During the brief remainder of his term, which ended on March 3, 1863, he participated in several votes on wartime legislation.

Following his truncated congressional service, Bridges entered the Union Army. He enlisted with the rank of lieutenant colonel on August 25, 1863, and was placed in command of the 10th Tennessee Cavalry, a Union regiment recruited largely from loyalist Tennesseans. The regiment was posted primarily in and around Nashville for most of 1864, where it was tasked with scouting duties and the protection of vital railroad lines. Under his command, the unit took part in operations against Confederate General Joseph Wheeler in the Murfreesboro area in August 1864 and participated in counter-operations against a raid into the region led by Confederate cavalry commander Nathan B. Forrest in September 1864. In November 1864, General Edward Hatch’s 5th Division, which included Bridges’s regiment, marched from Nashville to Pulaski. Bridges and several soldiers from his regiment failed to complete the march due to drunkenness. The division adjutant, Major E. B. Beaumont, reported that Bridges “has been very neglectful of his duty and it would be well to get rid of him.” General James H. Wilson, the cavalry commander of the Army of the Ohio, suggested that Beaumont arrest Bridges for neglect of duty and make the incident public as an example. Bridges was relieved of his command and discharged shortly thereafter.

In the immediate postwar period, Bridges resumed his civilian career in Tennessee. In 1865 he was elected judge of the state’s fourth circuit court, reflecting both his prewar legal experience and his Unionist credentials in the Reconstruction era. He served as circuit judge until 1866, when he left the bench. Returning to Athens, he resumed the practice of law and also established a real estate brokerage, engaging in the legal and commercial rebuilding of his community after the war. In 1869 he sought election as McMinn County’s delegate to the 1870 Tennessee constitutional convention, which ultimately drafted the state’s present constitution, but the county chose Colonel Archibald Blizard instead.

Bridges spent his final years in Athens, where he continued his legal and business activities despite declining health. He died there on March 16, 1873, following an illness that had lasted for several months. George Washington Bridges was interred at Cedar Grove Cemetery in Athens, Tennessee, closing a life that had spanned antebellum politics, the upheaval of civil war, and the contentious early years of Reconstruction in East Tennessee.