William Washington Gordon

William Washington Gordon (January 17, 1796 – March 22, 1842) was an American politician and businessman. Gordon was born in Screven County, Georgia. He was named after American Revolutionary War General William Washington under whom Gordon's father, Ambrose Gordon, served as a cavalry lieutenant. Background Upon the death of Ambrose Gordon in 1804, William Washington Gordon was sent to school in Rhode Island and then attended the United States Military Academy. He graduated from that institution in 1815 and was the first person from Georgia to do so. He remained in the army for half a year, serving as an aide-de-camp to Edmund P. Gaines. He then returned to Savannah, Georgia to study law under James Moore Wayne. Gordon would also marry Wayne's niece, Sarah Anderson "Addy" Stites, in 1826 and purchase Wayne's unfinished Savannah home in 1830. Washington's granddaughter, Juliette Gordon Low – founder of the Girl Scouts of the United States of America, was born and raised in the Wayne-Gordon House. The national Girl Scouts organization bought the house in 1953, renovated it and dedicated it on October 19, 1956, as the Juliette Gordon Low Birthplace, a museum in honor of Low. The house was Savannah's first registered National Historic Landmark.