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Horatio Gates Gibson
Gibson CPT Horatio Gates 3rd US Arty 1862 detail from LC-B811-434B.jpg
Gibson in 1862.
Born (1827-05-22)May 22, 1827
Baltimore, Maryland
Died April 27, 1924(1924-04-27) (aged 96)
Washington, D.C.
Allegiance  United States of America
Union
Service/branch United States Army
Union Army
Years of service 1847–1891
Rank Union Army colonel rank insignia.png Colonel
Union army brig gen rank insignia.jpg brevet brigadier general
Commands held 2nd Ohio Heavy Artillery
3rd U.S. Artillery Regiment
Battles/wars American Civil War
Haratio-g-gibson-1920
Gibson on his 93rd birthday, in May 1920.

Horatio Gates Gibson (May 22, 1827 – April 27, 1924) was a career artillery officer in the United States Army, and colonel in the American Civil War. In 1866, he was nominated and confirmed for appointment as a brevet brigadier general of volunteers to rank from March 13, 1865.

Biography

Born in Baltimore, Maryland, Gibson attended the United States Military Academy at West Point, New York, and graduated seventeenth in the Class of 1847. Commissioned into the 3rd Regiment of Artillery, he rose slowly through the peacetime army, eventually earning his captaincy at the outbreak of the Civil War.

During the war, he commanded Battery C, 3rd U.S. Artillery, and was part of the famed U.S. Horse Artillery Brigade in the Army of the Potomac. Cited for gallantry, he was awarded brevet (honorary) promotions to major (May 5, 1862, for actions at Williamsburg) and lieutenant colonel (September 17, 1862, for actions at Antietam). By 1863, he accepted a commission in the U.S. Volunteers and commanded the 2nd Ohio Artillery as a lieutenant colonel and colonel. At the end of the war, Gibson was awarded a brevet appointment as colonel in the Regular Army. On January 13, 1866, President Andrew Johnson nominated Gibson for appointment to the grade of brevet brigadier general of volunteers, to rank from March 13, 1865, and the United States Senate confirmed the appointment on March 12, 1866.

Mustering out of the volunteers in August 1865, Gibson returned to his permanent rank of captain in the 3rd Artillery in the regular army. He remained in the army, and was promoted to major in 1867, lieutenant colonel in 1882, and colonel in 1883. He retired from the service on May 22, 1891.

Time Magazine's obituary of him (Monday, April 28, 1924) cited the following:

Died. Brigadier General Horatio Gates Gibson, 97, "oldest living West Pointer"; in Washington. He entered just as Ulysses S. Grant graduated. Due to his slight stature, he was nicknamed "Agnes"—an appellation which clung to him through life. When he was a lieutenant at the battle of Fredericksburg, his sword was cut from his side by a shell; at the end of the Civil War he was a captain in the regulars. A nonagenarian at his daughter's house in Washington, he smoked from six to ten cigars daily.

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