Horatio Gates Gibson

After graduating from West Point he was brevetted 2nd Lieutenant in the 2nd United States Artillery on 1 July 1847, and he was commissioned 2nd Lieutenant, 3rd US Artillery on 8 Sept 1847, with service in the Mexican War. He was promoted to First Lieutenant on 26 May 1851, had duty at various Western posts, and served as Regimental Quartermaster from 1 November 1858 to 14 May 1861, when he was promoted to Captain.

He commanded the combined Batteries C and G in Maryland.

He was appointed Lieutenant Colonel of 2nd Ohio Heavy Artillery regiment on 1 August 1863 and Colonel two weeks later. He mustered out of the Volunteer service on 23 August 1865. He was cited by brevets for gallantry at Williamsburg, VA (to Major, USA) and Antietam, MD (to Lieutenant Colonel, USA), and to Brigadier General of Volunteers and Colonel, USA for his war service.

He continued in the Regular Army and was promoted to Major, 3rd US Artillery on 5 February 1867. He was Lieutenant Colonel of the 2nd US Artillery on 19 April 1882 and made Colonel of the 3rd US Artillery on 1 December 1883. He retired on 22 May 1891.

His service from Heitman1 and Cullum;2 his Cullum #1347. His gravesite is on Findagrave. His picture from a group photograph of Horse Artillery officers at Fair Oaks, VA in the Summer of 1862, now at the Library of Congress.

He married the widow Harriette Leavenworth Walker Atkinson (1835-1907) in March 1863 in St. Louis, and they had 5 children. Harriette and her first husband Edward Graham Atkinson (1830-1860) were both children of career Army officers: Major Benjamin Walker (USMA '17, 1795-1858) and Brigadier General Henry Atkinson (1782-1842).

For much more about Gibson up to 1861, see a post at behindAotW.

The Library of Congress collection of Civil War photographs contains at least three of Gibson and his unit.

05/22/1827; Baltimore, MD

04/18/1924; Washington, DC; burial in USMA Post Cemetery, West Point, NY