Alfred Gibbs (April 22, 1823 – December 26, 1868) was a career officer in the United States Army (Regular Army) who served as an officer during the Mexican-American War and Apache Wars. He served as a brigadier general in the Union Army during the American Civil War.
Career summary Gibbs graduated from the United States Military Academy in the class of 1846, served and was twice wounded in the Mexican–American War and was wounded again by Apaches during frontier service in 1857. His pre-Civil War career was in cavalry service. During the Civil War, Gibbs commanded the only Union army volunteer regiment which was converted from an infantry regiment entirely to a cavalry regiment: The 130th New York Infantry converted to the 1st Regiment New York Dragoons.
After the conversion of Gibbs's regiment to cavalry service in August 1863, he was frequently assigned to command a cavalry brigade and briefly to command a cavalry division. He only was appointed to brigadier general of volunteers to rank from the date of the Battle of Cedar Creek on October 19, 1864, and given permanent brigade command in December 1864. He received three brevet general awards for meritorious service in three key battles, Trevilian Station, Opequon or Third Winchester and Five Forks.
As commander of an infantry regiment, Gibbs participated in the successful defense of Suffolk, Virginia and Norfolk, Virginia, in April and early May, 1863 when Confederate forces under Lt. Gen. James Longstreet tried to retake those key locations. He led his brigade or his regiment in major battles of the Overland Campaign and Maj. Gen. Sheridan's raid which led to the Battle of Yellow Tavern. His brigade and division were detached from the Army of the Potomac soon after the beginning of the Siege of Petersburg to serve with Sheridan in all the battles of the Shenandoah Valley Campaigns of 1864. He and his brigade returned to Petersburg with Sheridan on March 26, 1865, and played a large part in the key battles of Dinwiddie Court House and Five Forks, which led to the breaking of the Confederate lines and the flight of the Confederate Army of Northern Virginia under the command of General Robert E. Lee from Petersburg and Richmond, Virginia.
His brigade and division, under the command of Brig. Gen. Thomas C. Devin and the overall command of Maj. Gen. Sheridan joined in the pursuit of the Army of Northern Virginia in the ensuing Appomattox Campaign, and were engaged especially at the key Battle of Sayler's Creek (sometimes shown as "Sailor's Creek"). Gibbs was present at the surrender of the Army of Northern Virginia at Appomattox Court House on April 9, 1865.
Gibbs remained in the Regular Army as a major in the 7th U.S. Cavalry after the war. He served as Post Commander of Fort Harker, Kansas, on four different occasions from January 1867 to December 1868. He died of congestion of the brain (typically what is now called a stroke) on December 26, 1868, aged 45.
Early life Gibbs was born on his father's estate, now within Astoria, Long Island, New York. He was the son of mineralogist Colonel George Gibbs and grandson of Oliver Wolcott Jr., Secretary of the Treasury in the administrations of Presidents George Washington and John Adams His older brothers were George Gibbs and Oliver Wolcott Gibbs.
Gibbs attended school in White Plains, New York and Dartmouth College before he was appointed to the United States Military Academy at West Point, New York. He graduated from West Point forty-second of fifty-nine in the class of 1846. Only one reference cited below was found to mention Gibbs marrying or having children.His obituary in the New York Times for December 28, 1868, does not mention any family. Retrieved December 22, 2010 A Gibbs genealogy privately published in 1933 shows Gibbs was married and had two sons. He married Peggy Forshee Blair of Richmond, Virginia December 27, 1855.NY Herald Tribune, January 2, 1856 They had two sons: Alfred Wolcott Gibbs (1856–1922), a railway mechanical engineer and Dr. John Blair Gibbs (1858–1898), an assistant surgeon, U.S. Navy.Gibbs, V, George. The Gibbs Family of Rhode Island and Other Related Families, New York, Priv. print., 1933.
Mexican–American War, Apache Wars, & frontier service After Gibbs graduated from the U. S. Military Academy in 1846, he was assigned to the Regiment of Mounted Rifles and served in the Mexican–American War in which he was wounded. He was awarded the ranks of brevet first lieutenant and brevet captain for gallantry. In 1847 he served with the Army of Occupation in Mexico City and became an original member of the Aztec Club of 1847.
After the war ended, he served as aide-de-camp to Brigadier General Persifor F. Smith until 1856. In 1850, Gibbs partnered with Joseph Hooker in a profiteering scheme to purchase hay at market prices then sell the hay to the army for double the price. Hooker, who was the assistant adjutant general of the Pacific Division in Sonoma, California, was arrested in November 1851 and faced a court martial for conduct unbecoming an officer and a gentleman for his profiteering. Gibbs was not arrested. Instead, he received a personal reprimand at the Department of War in Washington, DC. He was a witness for both the prosecution and defense.
From 1856 through the beginning of the American Civil War, Gibbs was on frontier duty with his troop of Mounted Rifles. He was wounded in a skirmish with Apaches at Cooke's Spring, New Mexico, in March 1857.
American Civil War
Mesilla, San Agustin Springs At the start of the Civil War, Gibbs was first lieutenant of the Regiment of Mounted Rifles of the U.S. Army (Regular Army).Sifakis, Stewart. Who Was Who in the Civil War. New York: Facts On File, 1988. . p. 246 Gibbs was taken prisoner after leading ten men (all that remained of his I Company R.M.R.)driving a herd of one hundred cattle from Fort Craig. Stopped to water the herd at San Agustin Springs, New MexicoSometimes this location is spelled San Augustin. He and his soldiers were included with the Union forces surrendered by Major Isaac Lynde (7th U.S. Infantry) to Confederate forces from Texas under the command of Lieutenant Colonel John R. Baylor during the retreat of United States Army forces loyal to the Union from Fort Fillmore, New Mexico. Gibbs was paroled but not exchanged until August 7, 1862. In the meantime, on August 3, 1861, he was promoted to captain of the 3rd United States Cavalry Regiment. Gibbs was in command at Fort Wayne in Detroit, Michigan, between December 1861 and August 1862 while serving his parole. Soon after his exchange, on September 6, 1862, Gibbs was commissioned as colonel of the 130th New York Volunteer Infantry Regiment. The regiment had been organized at Portage, New York, in August 1862.Bowen, 1900. p. 8
Suffolk, Peninsula, Bristoe, Mine Run Gibbs's regiment was sent from Portage to Suffolk, Virginia and arrived on September 13, 1862.Bowen, 1900, p. 14 Their position at Suffolk was located 18 miles southwest of Norfolk, Virginia, recently recaptured by Union forces, at the junction of two railroads.Bowen, 1900, p. 15 The location covered the land access to Norfolk and access to the seaboard by water. Gibbs joined the regiment soon after their arrival at Suffolk.Bowen, 1900, p. 21 The department was commanded by Maj. Gen. John A. Dix from Fort Monroe and the forces in the Suffolk area were commanded by Maj. Gen. John J. Peck.Bowen, 1900, p. 27
After building fortifications, training and marching out from Suffolk on several expeditions, the regiment engaged in the Battle of Deserted House or Battle of Kelly's Store on January 30, 1863.Bowen, 1900, pp. 58–68 General Michael Corcoran was in command of the force of about 8,000 men and three artillery batteries totaling 14 guns, with Colonel Gibbs in command of nine infantry regiments and Colonel Samuel P. Spear in command of the 11th Pennsylvania Cavalry.Bowen, 1900, p. 59 During a three-hour artillery duel, the 130th New York Infantry lost 7 men killed, 20 wounded and 2 missing.Bowen, 1900, p. 62 General Corcoran quarreled with Colonel Gibbs over the disposition of troops and placed him under arrest. Gibbs was soon proved correct, however, when Corcoran's own brigade broke and ran under heavy artillery fire. While Corcoran left the field to try to reorganize his brigade, three regiments decided to charge the Confederates on their own initiative. Though under arrest and without a horse or gun, Gibbs grabbed a flag and led the charge. The 130th New York Infantry was pushing the Confederates back through the adjacent woods when Corcoran reappeared and halted the advance.Bowen, 1900, p. 63 The battle ended with the Confederates under Brig. Gen. Roger Pryor driven from the field.Bowen, 1900, p. 64
The Confederates under Lt. Gen. James Longstreet attempted to recapture Suffolk and Norfolk but after besieging the fortified Union forces from April 11, 1863, to May 3, 1863, the Confederates retired.Bowen, 1900, p. 69–78 Brig. Gen. Henry Dwight Terry now commanded the brigade and on April 17, 1863, he sent 6 companies of the 130th New York Infantry out to determine why the Confederates had ceased firing.Bowen, 1900, pp. 72-75 When the Confederates resumed fire, the regiment lost one killed and five wounded.Bowen, 1900, p. 75 The Confederates broke off the siege on May 3, 1863.Bowen, 1900, p. 78 The brigade took part in Maj. Gen. Erasmus Keyes's abortive Peninsular Campaign toward Richmond between June 13, 1863, and July 12, 1863, while the Army of Northern Virginia was engaged in the Gettysburg campaign.
On August 11, 1863,Bowen, 1900, p. 89 says the order to convert the regiment to cavalry was dated July 28, 1863, and Maj. Gen. George Meade ordered the regiment to report to Manassas on August 2, 1863. Bowen also states that the 130th New York Infantry was the only Union regiment completely converted to cavalry. this regiment was reorganized as a mounted troop named the 1st New York Dragoons, also known as and quite often referred to in reports and sources as the 19th New York Volunteer Cavalry Regiment. The regiment trained at Manassas and guarded the line of the Orange and Alexandria Railroad until November 1863. The regiment also participated in the Bristoe Campaign in September 1863 through November 1863. The Official Records of the Union ArmyU.S. War Dept. The war of the rebellion: a compilation of the official records of the Union and Confederate Armies, Series I, Volume XXIX, Part 2, 1890, p. 128 show an order of battle for August 31, 1863, in which the 19th New York Volunteer Cavalry Regiment was assigned to the Headquarters of the Cavalry Corps of the Army of the Potomac, Maj. Gen. Alfred Pleasonton, commanding. Later the regiment was part of the Cavalry Reserve Brigade, Army of the Potomac ("Reserve Brigade") commanded by Brig. Gen. Wesley Merritt when it was not under Gibbs's command.Bowen, 1900, p. 104 The 19th New York Volunteer Cavalry Regiment, the 6th Pennsylvania Cavalry Regiment and the 1st, 2nd, 5th and 6th U.S. Cavalry Regiments comprised the brigade, which was occasionally called the "Regular Brigade."