Born in
Cortland, New York to Stephen and Charlotte Moody, who had migrated from
Orange, Vermont, Moody attended the local common schools as a youth. He pursued an academic course. He studied law in
Syracuse, New York. In 1852, he joined a westward migration and moved to
Indiana, gaining admission to the
bar there in 1853. He was appointed as prosecuting attorney for
Floyd County, Indiana in 1854. Now established, in 1855, he married Helen C. Eliot (1836–1927) in Indiana. They had five children together: Helen Eliot (1856–1940), married Mr. Dickinson; Charles C. (1858–1906), James Chaudoin (1862–1919), Burdette (1866–1946), and Warner Moody (1876–1906). Entering politics, Moody was elected as a member of the
Indiana House of Representatives in 1861. After the
Civil War started, Moody enlisted as a volunteer with the Union Army. He was commissioned as a captain in April 1861 and was promoted during his service to lieutenant colonel and colonel before he resigned in March 1864. Moody moved to
Dakota Territory around 1865. There he was elected in 1867 as a Republican member of the
Territorial House of Representatives. He served from 1867 -1869. Later, he was elected for another two-year term, serving 1874–1875. In the House, he was elected as speaker both in 1868–1869 and 1874–1875. In 1878, Moody was appointed as an associate justice of the Dakota Territory Supreme Court, serving until 1883. He also served as a member of the
constitutional conventions of South Dakota in 1883 and 1885. In 1883, he resigned his judicial position to enter private practice, hired as general attorney for the
Homestake Mine. Upon admission of South Dakota as a State into the Union on November 2, 1889, Gideon Moody was elected by the state legislature (the process at the time) as a
Republican to the U.S. Senate. The other senator elected was
Richard F. Pettigrew. They each served the remainder of that session of Congress, from November 2, 1889, until March 3, 1891. Moody was an unsuccessful candidate for reelection as senator. Gideon C. Moody later moved to California. He died there at age 71 in
Los Angeles. He is interred in
Angelus-Rosedale Cemetery. ==Legacy and honors==