George Baird Hodge
Cincinnati Enquirer, 2 January 1903, page 6
REMAINS-Judge John Tibbatts Hodge has just returned from Florida
with the remains of his father, General George Baird Hodge, in compliance with a
promise made his father that he should finally be laid to rest in Kentucky
ground.
General George Baird Hodge was born April 8, 1828 in Fleming County, Kentucky. His father, William Hodge lived the life of a country gentleman and died in 1862. His mother was Sarah Baird, daughter of Absalom Baird, an officer in the Revolutionary Army, for some time inspector of the Forts of Western Pennsylvania, and grandfather of General Absalom Baird, of the United States Army.
General Hodge received a fine education at the Maysville Seminary and the Naval Academy at Annapolis. He was midshipman and acting Lieutenant in the navy for nearly six years; was aid to Commodore David Connor at the siege of Vera Cruz; made several voyages around the world; resident in 1851; studied law; was admitted to the bar soon afterward located at Newport, where he was married to Miss Keturah Moss Tibbatts, daughter of Colonel John W Tibbatts and granddaughter of General James Taylor; was elected to the Legislature in 1859 and was Chairman of the Committee on Federal Relation.
He left Kentucky in 1861 with John C Breckinridge and William Preston and entered the Southern army as a private under General Buckner; was elected member of the "Executive Council" of the Confederate Provisional Government of Kentucky, assembled for the first time at Bowling Green within the lines of the Confederate army; resigned and was chosen to represent Kentucky in the Confederate Provisional Congress; was afterward elected and served in the first permanent Confederate Congress at Richmond; while not at the Confederate seat of government, was actively engaged in the field; was made Captain and Assistant Adjutant General in Breckinridge's division; was engaged in the battle of Shiloh and was promoted Major for gallant and meritorius conduct in the field.
He was promoted Colonel in 1864; served for a time as Inspector General ; was made Brigadier General in the same year; participated in the battle of Chickamauga, and subsequently commanded the District of East Louisiana and Mississippi until the close of the war, soon after which he resumed his law practice in Newport.
In 1872 he was elected Presidential Elector for the state at large on the Greeley ticket, and was President of the Electoral College. in 1873 he was elected State Senator. General Hodge was a fine writer, a forcible and polished speaker, an able lawyer, a man of magnificent and attractive personal appearance.
General Hodge died several years ago at Longwood Fla. where he had gone to look after his landed interests in that state. He was 64 years of age at the time of his death. Of seven children only three survive him. Judge John Tibbatts Hodge, Miss Ann Taylor Hodge and Mrs. Samuel C Bailey.