George A. Sheridan

Who was George A. Sheridan?

George Augustus Sheridan was an American politician, most notably serving in the House of Representatives from Louisiana for one term

Sheridan was born in Millbury, Massachusetts, and moved with his parents to Chicago in 1858. During the Civil War, he served as a Captain in the Union Army until his resignation on October 28, 1864.

After the war, Sheridan was one of a group of Northern officials who moved in to administer the defeated Southern states. In 1866, he moved to New Orleans, Louisiana; there he served as brigadier general of militia on the staff of the appointed Republican Governor, Henry Clay Warmoth. In 1867, Sheridan was made sheriff of Carroll Parish in northeastern Louisiana, since divided into East Carroll and West Carroll parishes.

Sheridan was elected to the House in 1872, after running against P. B. S. Pinchback, who was to become noted as the first black governor of a U.S. state. Pinchback contested Sheridan's seat, and the matter wasn't fully settled until February 1875, when the House Committee on Elections decided that Sheridan had won.