There have officially been 83 governors of the State of Georgia, including 11 who served more than one distinct term (John Houstoun, George Walton, Edward Telfair, George Mathews, Jared Irwin, David Brydie Mitchell, George Rockingham Gilmer, M. Hoke Smith, Joseph Mackey Brown, John M. Slaton and Eugene Talmadge, with Herman Talmadge serving two de facto distinct terms).
The longest-serving governors are George Busbee, Joe Frank Harris, Zell Miller, Sonny Perdue and Nathan Deal, each of whom served two full four-year terms; Joseph E. Brown, governor during the Civil War, was elected four times, serving seven and a half years.
The shortest term of the post-revolutionary period is that of Matthew Talbot, who served 13 days after succeeding his predecessor, who died in office.
It seceded from the Union on January 19, 1861,[2] and was a founding member of the Confederate States of America on February 4, 1861.
[3] Following the end of the American Civil War, Georgia during Reconstruction was part of the Third Military District, which exerted some control over governor appointments and elections.