James Gordon

James Gordon (December 6, 1833 – November 28, 1912) was an American planter, writer, former Confederate officer and politician from Okolona, Mississippi. He was a United States senator for eight weeks, from December 27, 1909, to February 22, 1910.

Prior to the Civil War, Gordon was a slaveholder and the richest man in Mississippi, owning 500 slaves. During the war, he served in the Confederate Army, first as a captain in the Chickasaw Guards, attached to the Jeff. Davis Legion, and then as Lieutenant Colonel of the 2nd Mississippi Cavalry Regiment, Gordon resigned his army commission and travelled to Europe in 1864 in an attempt to purchase a ship for the Confederate Navy. While returning to America in 1865 he was captured by Union forces, but later escaped and fled to Canada. Gordon had admitted that he had met with John Wilkes Booth in Montreal in March 1865, and had discussed plans to kidnap Lincoln, but denied any discussion of an assassination.

Gordon served as an appointed U.S. Senator, until February 22, 1910, when he was succeeded by LeRoy Percy, who had been elected by the legislature. He died in 1912 at 78.