Page:Appletons' Cyclopædia of American Biography (1900, volume 2).djvu/669

From Wikisource
Jump to navigation Jump to search
This page needs to be proofread.
GIBBON
GIBBONS
635

ginia hospitals, for which he was praised by the Confederate congress. In 1865, when Cohunbia was burned, he lost his house, with valuable collec- tions of paintings, fossils, and minerals. His chief scientific researches were devoted to the descrip- tion of organic remains from his native state, and include a " Monograph on Fossil Squalidai," in the journal of the Philadelijhia academy of sciences, and a " Memoir on Monosaures and the Three Al- lied New Genera," in the "Smithsonian Contribu- tions to Knowledge " (1849). He was also the au- thor of an article on " Typhoid Pneumonia," in the " American Journal of the Medical Sciences " for 1842, which revolutionized the treatment of the dis- ease by opposing the use of the lancet, and wrote memoirs of the artists James De Veaux (Columbia, 1840) and Charles Frazer, and " Cuba for Invalids" (1860). Many of his scientific articles were repub- lished in France and Germany. His chief literary work, the material for which he was twenty-five years in collecting, is a " Documentary History of the American Revolution ; consisting of Letters and Papers relating to the Contest for Liberty, chiefly in South Carolina," covering the years from 17()4 to 1782 (3 vols., Columbia, S. C, and New York, 1853).— Robert Wilson's son, R(a)ert Wil- son, b. in Columbia, S. C, 10 June, 1831 ; d. there, 23 Oct., 1875, was graduated at South Carolina col- lege in 1849, and at the Medical college of South Carolina in 1852, afterward spending two years abroad. He was professor of surgery in the Uni- versity of South Carolina in 1872-3. and was a fre- quent contributor to the literature of his profession.


GIBBON, John, soldier, b. near Holmesburg, Pa., 20 April, 1827 ; d. in Baltimore, Md , 6 Feb., 1896. He was graduated at the U. S. military academy and served at the city of Mexico and Toluca till the close of the Mexican war. From this time till the civil war he was largely on frontier and garri- son duty, but was assistant instructor of artillery at West Point in 1854-'7, and quartermaster there in 1856-'9. On 2 Nov., 1859, he became captain in the 4th artillery. He was chief of artillery of Gen. McDowell's division from 29 Oct., 1801, till 2 May, 1802, and at the latter date was made brigadier- general of volunteers. He commanded a brigade through the Northern Virginia, Maryland, Rappa- hannock, and Pennsylvania campaigns in 1802-'3, receiving the brevets of major in the regular army, 17 Sept., 1862, for Antietam ; lieutenant-colonel, 13 Dec, 1862, for Fredericksburg, where he com- manded a division, was wounded, and disabled for three months ; and colonel, 4 July, 1863, for Gettys- burg, where he was severely wounded while in command of the 2d army corps. He was disabled by this wound till 15 Nov., when he commanded the draft depot at Philadelphia till 21 March, 1864. He was then assigned to a division of the 2d corps, becoming a major-general of volunteers on 7 June, 1864, and being engaged at the Wilderness, Spott- sylvania, and Cold Harbor. After 15 Jan., 1865, he commanded the 24th army corps, and was before Petersburg from 15 June, 1864, till 2 April, 1865. taking part in the assaults of the last two days, and carrying two redoubts. He was brevetted briga- dier-general and major-general, U. S. army, to date from 13 March, 1865, was one of the commission- ers to carry into effect the stipulations for Lee's surrender, and was mustered out of volunteer ser- vice on 15 Jan., 1866. After the war he command- ed various posts as colonel of the 36th infantry in 1866-'9, and of the 7th infantry in 1809-80. He was superintendent of the general recruiting ser- vice in New York city in 1873, had charge of the Yellowstone expedition against Sitting Bull in 1876, and on 9 Aug., 1877, commanded in the ac- tion with the Nez Perces Indians at Big Hole Pass, Montana, where he was wounded. He temporarily commanded the department of Dakota in 1878, and since 29 July, 1885, that of the Columbia, having charge in 1885-'6, by direction of the president, of the suppression of the riots against the Chinese in Washington territory. On 10 July, 1886, he was promoted to brigadier-general. Gen. Gibbon has published " The Artillerist's Manual " (New York, 1859), and has contributed articles to current litera- ture, including one on " Our Indian Question " in the Journal of the military service institution, for which a prize medal was awarded him.


GIBBONS, Edward, b. in England ; d. in Bos- ton, Mass., 9 Dec, 1654. He reached this country as early as 1629, and became a merchant in Bos- ton. He was representative to the general court in 1638-47, and in 1644, when the militia was organized, was chosen to command the Suffolk regiment with the title of sergeant-major. He was major-general of militia in 1649-'51, assist- ant in 1650-'l, and captain of the ancient and honorable artillery company. Johnson, in his " Wonder- Working Providences," speaks of him as "a man of resolute spirit, bold as a lion, very gen- erous and forward to promote all military matters ; his forts are well contrived and batteries strong and in good repair." He advanced over £2,500 to Charles La Tour {q. v.), secured by mortgage of the latter's fort and lands in Acadia, and lost his money on the capture of the fort by Aulnay de Charnise in 1647. In 1643 Gen. Gibbons was one of the commissioners that formed the confederation of that year between the colonies of Massachusetts, Plymouth, Connecticut, and New Haven.


GIBBONS, James, educator, b. in Westtown, Pa., 18 May, 1736; d. in Birmingham, CJhester co.. Pa., 17 Oct., 1823. His great-grandfather, John Gibbons, was among the earliest Quaker settlers of Pennsylvania. James was educated by liis parents and became an accomplished scholar, linguist, and mathematician. He was treasurer of Chester coun- ty and a member of the general assembly of Penn- sylvania for the three years immediately preceding the Declaration of Independence. As a member of the Society of Friends and a non-combatant, he retired from all public service at the outbreak of the Revolution. He conducted a successful private school at his country home, and afterward in Phila- delphia. In 1795 he sold his farm of 600 acres to the Friends, and there they established their well- known " Westtown School." The remainder of his life was spent in retirement upon his fai'm in Ches- ter county. — His son, William, physician, b. in Philadelphia, Pa., 10 Aug., 1781 ; d." in Wilming- ton, Del., 25 July, 1845, was educated by his father, was graduated in medicine at the University of Pennsylvania in 1805, and practised in Wilming- ton, Del. He was first president of the Delaware academy of natural sciences, of the Peace society, and of the Delaware tempei'ance society, and was an active member of the Society for preventing the kidnapping of negroes. Dr. Gibbons established and conducted in 1824-'8. at his own expense, a religious periodical entitled the " Berean," devoted to the principles of the Society of Friends, and took a prominent part in the religious controversy that resulted in the separation of the society in 1827 into the divisions since known as " Friends " and " Orthodox Friends." He also wrote about 1821, under the signature of " Vindex," a series of letters replying to an attack on the Friends made by a Presbyterian clergyman, which is one of the clear- est expositions of Quaker doctrines published in