George Augustus Sheridan (February 22 1840 - October 7 1896) was an American politician, most notably serving in the House of Representatives for one term (the 43d Congress, 1873-1875) Sheridan was born in Milford, Massachusetts, and moved with his parents to Chicago in 1858. During the Civil War, he served as a Captain in the Union Army, resigning 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 (often derisively referred to by Southerners as "carpetbaggers"). In 1866, he moved to New Orleans, Louisiana; there he served as brigadier general of militia on the staff of the appointed Republican governor of Louisiana, Henry Clay Warmoth. In 1867, Sheridan was made sheriff of Carroll Parish, Louisiana. 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 of 1875, when the House Committee on Elections decided that Sheridan had won. After his service in the House, he was appointed Recorder of Deeds in the District of Columbia, serving from May 17 1878 until May 17 1881, when he retired. Sheridan died in the National Soldiers' Home in Virginia, aged 56; he was buried in Arlington National Cemetery.
