George Washington BRIDGES, Congress, TN (1825-1873)

BRIDGES, George Washington, a Representative from Tennessee; born in Charleston, Bradley County, Tenn., October 9, 1825; attended East Tennessee University at Knoxville; studied law; was admitted to the bar in 1848 and commenced practice in Athens, McMinn County, Tenn.; also engaged in agricultural pursuits; attorney general of Tennessee 1849-1860; elected as a Unionist to the Thirty-seventh Congress, but was arrested by Confederate troops while en route to Washington, D.C., taken back to Tennessee, and held as a prisoner for more than a year; finally made his escape and went to Washington, D.C., and assumed his duties; qualified and took his seat in the House of Representatives on February 25, 1863, and served until March 3, 1863; enlisted in the Union Army as a captain on August 25, 1863; mustered in as a lieutenant colonel in the Tenth Tennessee Volunteer Cavalry February 23, 1864, and was discharged December 29, 1864; elected circuit judge of the fourth judicial district of Tennessee in 1866 and served about one year; died in Athens, Tenn., March 16, 1873; interment in Cedar Grove Cemetery.

Source: Biographical Directory of the United States Congress, 1771-Present