#ConfederateHeritageMonth: John Gibbon
Today in #ConfederateHeritageMonth, yes unfortunately that is a real thing, we honor the loyalty and patriotism of career military man John Gibbon, a North Carolinian who literally wrote the book on field artillery for the Union used during the Civil war. Despite his family enslaving others and his family joining the Confederacy, he remained loyal to the Union when traitors turned their guns on US military property and started the War of Southern Secession.
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So technically Gibbon might not normally qualify--he was born in Pennsylvania, but raised near Charlotte North Carolina. There's no evidence to suggest that Gibbon himself participated in slavery, but he certainly benefitted from it as a youth. He graduated from the United States Military Academy at West Point in 1847, and served in both the Mexican-American War and the Seminole War before being posted back to West Point to teach artillery tactics. He wrote The Artillerist's Manual in 1859, which not only served as the proverbial bible for artillery and no doubt was employed by traitor Confederates, but this same manual has seen revival by Civil War reenactors, famously the Authentic Campaigners.
During the war, Gibbon became a brigade commander and spent a lot of time leading his men into battle. His infamous King's Wisconsin Brigade became known as the Black Hat Brigade for their distinctive black Hardee hats. The brigade was also forced, by Gibbon, to wear white leggings, which the men reportedly hated so much that one day Gibbon woke up to find his horse wearing leggings--remember this for later.
The brigade then became known as the Iron Brigade at the Battle of South Mountain, where they led a strong uphill charge and were described as "men who fought like iron." At the Battle of Antietam, Gibbon sprang into action personally, jumping onto the crew of an artillery piece during the intensely bloody and horrific fighting at the Cornfield. The Cornfield was so volatile that it became the focus for artillery fire from both sides, to a point where Federal troops brought artillery pieces into the field and began using them in effect as enormous shotguns, decimating units such as the Louisiana Tiger Brigade.
Gibbon's Iron Brigade marched into the field, took fire, said "nah fuck that", and returned fire, in the process killing Confederate "GENERAL" William Starke, one of six generals to be killed in the fighting. Gibbon's Iron Brigade reaped a heavy toll, shredding Starke's Second Louisiana Brigade, informally known as the Louisiana Zouaves.
Gibbon was wounded in action several times, always returning to action in time to lead troops at critical battles where he undoubtedly played a part in securing victory. He was present at the Battle of Appomattox Courthouse, helping to block the Confederate escape route. This battle resulted in Colonel Robert E Lee's surrender, and Gibbon was one of three commissioners for the Confederate surrender. Gibbon was present when Lee showed up in his immaculate uniform and a dirty white dish-towel to surrender to dirty, unwashed General Grant.
After the war, Gibbon continued to serve in the Army, participating in "The Indian Wars" and was in command of the 7th Infantry of the Montana Column under James S. Brisbin from Fort Ellis and his regiment of 7th Infantry. Gibbon was en route to assist Custer at the Battle of Little Bighorn, which is infamous in American history for being known as "Custer's Last Stand". Gibbon arrived the next day, prompting the withdrawal of Native warriors, thereby probably saving the lives of the several hundred men who were still under siege. Gibbon helped bury the dead and coordinated the evacuation of the wounded.
In his twilight years, Gibbon served as president of the Iron Brigade Association, among other notable organizations. It is said the Gibbon was traveling through Wisconsin, heard of an Iron Brigade reunion, and decided to stop by. Upon knocking on the door of the reunion venue, Gibbon was asked by a veteran who he was. Gibbon is said to have replied, "General Gibbon, and I'm still looking for the bastards who dressed my horse in white leggings!"
Crowdfunding campaign: https://igg.me/at/SonsOfLibertyCivilWarProject
For the entire month of April, all whopping handful of days left of it anyway, the Sons of Liberty is running a crowdfunding campaign on IndieGoGo to create a year-long web-series on Civil War History. We have over eighty-thousand subscribers on YouTube alone, so if just ten percent of them gave five dollars each, we'd be well past our funding goal. Funding this campaign means that the Sons of Liberty admins get to take you on an exciting historical journey and, at the same time, help educate or debunk, depending, various bits of Civil War history, myths, legends, and lies. For those of you who have contributed, thank you. For those of you who have not, what's stopping you?
