Col. James Albert George Biography


	This biography appears on pages 250-253 in "History of Dakota Territory" 
	by George W. Kingsbury, Vol. IV (1915) and was scanned, 
	OCRed and edited by Maurice Krueger, mkrueger@iw.net.

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			COLONEL JAMES ALBERT GEORGE.  

	Colonel James Albert George is a distinguished lawyer and public-
spirited citizen of Deadwood and is, moreover, one of the veterans of 
the Civil war. He was born in Lagrange, Georgia, July 28, 1844, his 
parents being William J. and Nancy Stokes (Garrard) George, who were 
also natives of that state. The father, who was born in Butts county in 
1812, died in 1899, while the mother, who was born in Troub county in 
1820, passed away June 5, 1898. The town of Lagrange was built upon 
land given to her father for service in the War of 1812. William J. 
George was a practicing physician who retained his residence in Georgia 
until about 1853 and then removed with his family to Texas, settling in 
what is now Upshur county. Later he became an early settler of Denison, 
where he established his home in 1873, there remaining until his death. 
He served in the Confederate army during the Civil war. He lied passed 
the military age at the time of his enlistment but his devotion to his 
loved southland prompted his active service at the front and he was 
elected captain of the Greybeards, commanding his company for two 
years. To him and his wife were born six children. William Garrard, who 
became a member of the Fourteenth Texas Cavalry, in the Confederate 
service, was wounded at Farmington and died in Mississippi from the 
effects of his injuries in 1862. He was but nineteen years of age at 
the time of his enlistment. Colonel George was the second in order of 
birth. Frances is the widow of James L. Smith, who was a comrade of 
Colonel George in the army. He has now passed away, while Mrs. Smith 
resides in Valentine, Texas. Martha makes her home with her brother at 
Foreman, Arkansas. Carrie is also a resident of Denison, Texas. 
Nicholas is a merchant-planter and also county judge of Red River 
county, Arkansas, his home being at Foreman.  

	Colonel George attended school at Cottage Mills, Georgia, and 
also a private school in Upshur county, Texas. He was in his 
seventeenth year when in 1861 he enlisted for service in Company B, 
Seventh Texas Infantry. His command left the state in September of that 
year and went to Hopkinsville, Kentucky, and afterward to Fort 
Donelson, participating in the engagement there and in other battles 
and skirmishes in that vicinity. His command was surrounded by troops 
under General Grant and, being captured, Colonel George was sent to 
Camp Douglas at Chicago. He was exchanged September 17, 1863, at 
Vicksburg, and returned to the service, being in the army for four 
years and twenty-one days. In 1863 he was promoted from the ranks to 
the position of chief of scouts of the Army of the Tennessee, under 
General J. E. Johnston, and continued to serve in that capacity 
throughout the remainder of the war. He was three times wounded, being 
struck in the side by a shell at Fort Donelson, February 16, 1862; 
sustained a scalp wound at Raymond, Mississippi, May 12, 1863, while at 
Chickamauga on the 19th of September of the same year he was shot 
through the artery of the right arm. He then went to the home of his 
uncle at Columbus, Georgia, where he remained for thirty-seven days, 
refusing to be taken to a hospital. When he left the army he returned 
to his home in Texas and tried to work the plantation with the aid of 
free negroes. In 1866, while engaged in farming, he read law and was 
admitted to the bar in that year. In 1868 he turned his attention to 
the cotton brokerage business at Jefferson, Texas, and was active along 
that line until 1872. He then went to Denison, where he continued in a 
similar business until 1873, in which year he removed to Washington, D. 
C., where he acted as a newspaper correspondent. In 1875 he went to 
Egypt, where he was in military service, and afterward proceeded to 
Herzegovinia, Austria-Hungary, where he entered the army for service 
against the Turks. There he continued until 1876, when he went to 
Servia and later proceeded to Bender, where the Russian army formed. He 
remained in the European service for some time.  

	Returning to the United States in 1877, Colonel George began the 
practice of law in Washington, D. C., and followed his profession in 
the capital city until 1891, practicing largely within the court of 
claims department. In 1899 he had a contract with the Sioux Indians to 
make collections for horses and stolen property taken from them by the 
whites, and in 1893 he secured payment for them of ninety thousand 
dollars. He also secured Indian lands for the whites before the court 
of claims and won for them fifty thousand dollars in claims, etc. In 
1896 he opened an office in Deadwood and entered at once actively into 
politics. He took a prominent part in every campaign until 1900 and 
stumped western South Dakota in support of William McKinley, since 
which time there has practically been no democratic party in the state. 
Since then he has not been active in campaigning or in political work, 
but now devotes his entire time to the practice of law, confining his 
attention to practice in the federal courts. He still represents the 
Sioux Indians in many of their claims against the government.  

	In April, 1877, Colonel George was married to Miss Maria Veeder, 
who was born in the Mohawk valley of New York, near Fonda, in 1842, a 
daughter of Vollat and Maria (Gardener) Veeder, who were also natives 
of the Mohawk valley, their ancestors having come from Holland in 1644. 
Her grandfathers were soldiers of the Revolutionary war under General 
Herkimer. Her parents spent their entire lives in the Mohawk valley, 
where her father followed the occupation of farming. The death of Mrs. 
George occurred in Washington, D. C., January 18, 1902.  

	In early life Colonel George gave his political allegiance to the 
democratic party and served as alderman of Denison, Texas. He was also 
inspector of land in Wyoming from 1885 until 1887. Later he campaigned 
for the republican party in 1900 as an ax-Confederate soldier and 
southern democrat, solely on the expansion policy. He holds membership 
in the Methodist Episcopal church South, and is a charter member of 
Lodge No. 508, B. P. O. E., at Deadwood. His has been an eventful life, 
filled with many interesting chapters and thrilling experiences brought 
about through military service not only in America but in many foreign 
lands. His legal representation of the interests of the Sioux has 
brought him an intimate knowledge concerning the Indians of the 
northwest and he can speak with authority upon many of their customs 
and mode of living. He has a wide acquaintance in Deadwood, and his 
circle of friends is almost coextensive with the circle of his 
acquaintance.