A Georgia Heroine

[Barrycdog]

Savannah Morning News, Jun. 27, 1871 -- page 1

 

[Patrick H]

That's a very nice story, too, and I have no trouble believing it. Imagine the consternation of those southern boys with their southern manners being ordered back into battle by a woman! What would they say? "Yes, Ma'am"? ....or...."Please excuse me, Ma'am, I'm too busy to talk right now"?

 

[18thVirginia]

It seems like an interesting story, but I can't quite call it "nice" since Mrs. General Gordon doesn't seem to have a name. I know that women lacked certain rights in 1871, but they did have first names.

 

[donna]

Her name is Rebecca ( Fanny) Haralson Gordon. Fanny was born on Sept. 18, 1837. She was the daughter of General Hugh Anderson Haralson of LaGrange, Georgia. Fanny met John Brown Gordon in 1854. It was love at first sight for both of them. They were married on Sept. 18, 1854.

During the Civil War, Fanny accompanied her general throughout the war and is credited with saving his life when he was wounded five times at Antietam. Fanny nursed her husband for seven months. "She dressed his wounds, fed him brandy and beef tea because his jaw was wired shut, and provided long hours of bedside care and devotion." John Gordon wrote: "Thenceforward, for the period in which my life hung in the balance, she sat at my bedside, trying to supply concentrated nourishment to sustain me against the constant drainage."

The Gordons were married for almost 50 years. They were always devoted to each other. When John was near death, it is written: "With Fanny at his side, John Brown Gordon died in Miami at age 71 on Jan. 9, 1904, three months after his memoir, "Reminiscences of the Civil War", was published. Despite his extremely debilitated state, he managed a last look, a smile and a touch for the one who had loved him and been loved by him almost from the day their eyes met, who had been with him in body and in spirit for half a century and who had been all things to him".

Fanny Haralson Gordon was a very brave and dedicated wife. This is a beautiful love story.

From: Civil War Women at http://civilwarwomenblog.com/rebecca-fanny-haralson-gordon/

 

[donna]

Rebecca (Fanny) Haralson Gordon died on April 28, 1931. She was 93 years old. She is buried in Oakland Cemetery in Atlanta, Georgia with her beloved husband, John Brown Gordon.

Memorial on Find A Grave:

http://www.findagrave.com/cgi-bin/fg.cgi?page=gr&GRid=9530042

 

[18thVirginia]

Thank you, donna. I had already read that Jubal Early stated he wished Fanny Gordon would be captured by the Yankees because she always seemed to be around.

But we do need a photograph of her.Expired Image Removed

 

[DRW]

Her name is Rebecca ( Fanny) Haralson Gordon. Fanny was born on Sept. 18, 1837. She was the daughter of General Hugh Anderson Haralson of LaGrange, Georgia. Fanny met John Brown Gordon in 1854. It was love at first sight for both of them. They were married on Sept. 18, 1854.

During the Civil War, Fanny accompanied her general throughout the war and is credited with saving his life when he was wounded five times at Antietam. Fanny nursed her husband for seven months. "She dressed his wounds, fed him brandy and beef tea because his jaw was wired shut, and provided long hours of bedside care and devotion." John Gordon wrote: "Thenceforward, for the period in which my life hung in the balance, she sat at my bedside, trying to supply concentrated nourishment to sustain me against the constant drainage."

The Gordons were married for almost 50 years. They were always devoted to each other. When John was near death, it is written: "With Fanny at his side, John Brown Gordon died in Miami at age 71 on Jan. 9, 1904, three months after his memoir, "Reminiscences of the Civil War", was published. Despite his extremely debilitated state, he managed a last look, a smile and a touch for the one who had loved him and been loved by him almost from the day their eyes met, who had been with him in body and in spirit for half a century and who had been all things to him".

Fanny Haralson Gordon was a very brave and dedicated wife. This is a beautiful love story.

From: Civil War Women at http://civilwarwomenblog.com/rebecca-fanny-haralson-gordon/

So they married on her 17th birthday? Times have changed...

 

[donna]

We did need photo of her. Thanks for posting.

 

[Northern Light]

So they married on her 17th birthday? Times have changed...

Back then, women were almost on the shelf by twenty, in some segments of society.

 

[DRW]

Back then, women were almost on the shelf by twenty, in some segments of society.

It does raise an interesting question. A google search turns up this article "The Effect of the Civil War on Southern Marriage Patterns" : http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3002115/ I haven't read it closely, but it appears that Mrs. Gordon married at quite a young age even for her time.

 

[donna]

Well I don't know about that. My Granny had just turned sixteen when she married my Granddad. Her mother signed for her to marry. They married about 1912. My Granddad's two sisters married when they were 16 too. They were older than he was so marriage even a few years earlier. Many women in Ky. married at an early age.

They were from farm families with lots of children. Each of these ladies married their first love. The marriages lasted for many years. My Grandparents were married for over 50 years.

I am not advocating girls to marry at such a young age, but sometimes it does work. It depends on the place and the time.

 

[donna]

I had to re look up date of my Grandparent's Wedding and changed the last post. They were married in 1912. It was for 55 years.

 

[Northern Light]

It does raise an interesting question. A google search turns up this article "The Effect of the Civil War on Southern Marriage Patterns" : http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3002115/ I haven't read it closely, but it appears that Mrs. Gordon married at quite a young age even for her time.

There are various mean ages for marriage throughout the 19th century and these vary widely depending on what part of the societal strata one comes from. For the landed gentry and the upper echelons of society, marriages were often early for the women, for a variety of reasons, one being the desire to emulate European Social norms. Girls put their hair up and entered society when they were 16 or 17 years of age. They then became available on the marriage market. If you went through a couple of seasons with no offers, mamas began to worry.
This was not so much the norm on the frontiers, where girls often stayed home longer as their skills were needed at home, on the farms or caring for young siblings. It was often expected that one of the daughters would not marry, but stay at home as unpaid help, eventually caring for aging parents.
There were lots of other patterns in between as well, where daughters would work for a while in factories or as teachers to add to the family income, as well as saving a small nest egg before marrying.
The CW had an impact on these patterns, either accelerating or delaying marriage, depending on the choices of the partners or the parents.
This is a very cursory description, but there is a lot of good stuff available on marriage patterns, which tend to dispel a
lot of preconceptions.

 

[DRW]

Well I don't know about that. My Granny had just turned sixteen when she married my Granddad. Her mother signed for her to marry. They married about 1912. My Granddad's two sisters married when they were 16 too. They were older than he was so marriage even a few years earlier. Many women in Ky. married at an early age.

They were from farm families with lots of children. Each of these ladies married their first love. The marriages lasted for many years. My Grandparents were married for over 50 years.

I am not advocating girls to marry at such a young age, but sometimes it does work. It depends on the place and the time.

Of course you are right that so much of this depends on time and place, but charts attached to the article (assuming they are correct) show that in 1860 the mean age at marriage for white women was 22.8. It was slightly lower in the South at 22.3. In 1860, 12.4% of white women below the age of 20 were married (rising to 15.8% in the South).

 

[donna]

I am just posting on my own ancestors. I am going to check ages of my ancestors from the Civil War period and see what age they were when they married.

 

[DRW]

There are various mean ages for marriage throughout the 19th century and these vary widely depending on what part of the societal strata one comes from. For the landed gentry and the upper echelons of society, marriages were often early for the women, for a variety of reasons, one being the desire to emulate European Social norms. Girls put their hair up and entered society when they were 16 or 17 years of age. They then became available on the marriage market. If you went through a couple of seasons with no offers, mamas began to worry.
This was not so much the norm on the frontiers, where girls often stayed home longer as their skills were needed at home, on the farms or caring for young siblings. It was often expected that one of the daughters would not marry, but stay at home as unpaid help, eventually caring for aging parents.
There were lots of other patterns in between as well, where daughters would work for a while in factories or as teachers to add to the family income, as well as saving a small nest egg before marrying.
The CW had an impact on these patterns, either accelerating or delaying marriage, depending on the choices of the partners or the parents.
This is a very cursory description, but there is a lot of good stuff available on marriage patterns, which tend to dispel a
lot of preconceptions.

Makes sense, but actually the stats reveal something different . Look at Table 1 linked to the article I mentioned above. The only section during 1850-1880 where women married in large numbers (i.e. more than 20%) before the age of 20 was in the West. As might be guessed, the lowest teen marriage rates were in New England.

 

[Northern Light]

Of course you are right that so much of this depends on time and place, but charts attached to the article (assuming they are correct) show that in 1860 the mean age at marriage for white women was 22.8. It was slightly lower in the South at 22.3. In 1860, 12.4% of white women below the age of 20 were married (rising to 15.8% in the South).

Interesting. I will have to dig out my notes. Remember also that a percentage of women who did not marry in their first youth often married later as a second wife to a widowed husband, or after her parents had died. These examples and others like them can skew the stat significantly. I would check the samples that they used for the stats, looking at both ends of the ranges.

 

[donna]

Thread on Fanny Gordon. She was so devoted to General Gordon and he to her.