George B. Bergen was born in New Jersey in 1843. A Lieutenant for the U.S. Army Civil War, he became a Lt. Colonel and served as second in command to Col. George W. Kirk during his operations In North Carolina in 1870. Bergen was removed from duty after being accused of using cruel interrogation tactics on suspected members of the Ku Klux Klan. He died in Washington, D.C. on January 30, 1916.