George Washington Kirk

George Washington Kirk was a soldier who served in American Civil War. Born and raised in Tennessee, he married Marie L. Jones in 1860. At the start of the war he served in the Confederate States Army, but his views were Unionist and he left the state to join the Union Army. Advancing to the rank of colonel, in 1864 he raised the 3rd North Carolina Mounted Infantry (Union) and led many raids into North Carolina.

In 1870, Kirk was tasked by North Carolina Governor William Woods Holden to raise and lead a militia into Alamance and Caswell counties to quell the Ku Klux Klan. Though has was successful in breaking up Klan activity, none of the 100 men he arrested were charged by local authorities. In addition, the action led to his own brief arrest and the impeachment of Governor Holden.