★  Gamble, William

William Gamble

Gamble 1.jpg

:us34stars:

Born:
January 1, 1818

Birthplace: Lisnarick County, Fermanagh, Ireland

Father: Joseph Gamble 1788 – 1846

Mother: Martha Osborne 1788 – 1844

Wife: Sophia Fredreka Steingrandt 1821 – 1895
(Buried: Graceland Cemetery, Chicago, Illinois)​

Children:

Louise Doretta Gamble Huntoon 1842 – 1926​
(Buried: Rosehill Cemetery and Mausoleum, Chicago, Illinois)​
Mary A. Gamble 1850 – 1912​
(Buried: Graceland Cemetery, Chicago, Illinois)​
Hugo L. “Hugh” Gamble 1860 – 1915​
(Buried: Graceland Cemetery, Chicago, Illinois)​

Education:

Studied Civil Engineering in England​

Occupation before War:

Employee of Queen of England’s Surveying Office​
Participated in the Northern Ireland Survey​
1838: Immigrated to the United States from Ireland​
1838 – 1843: Served in the United States Army, rising to Sgt. Major
Gamble.jpg
Civil Engineer for the Chicago, Illinois Board of Public Works​

Civil War Career:

1861 – 1862: Lt. Colonel of 8th Illinois Cavalry Regiment​
1862: Wounded in the chest during the Virginia Peninsula Campaign​
1862 – 1865: Colonel of 8th Illinois Cavalry Regiment​
1863: On medical leave during the Battle of Chancellorsville, Virginia​
1863: Cavalry Brigade Commander at the Battle of Gettysburg, Pennsylvania​
1863 – 1865: Cavalry Commander Union Army Dept. of Washington​
1863 – 1865: Served in the Defenses of Washington, D.C.​
Commander of Camp Stoneman Cavalry Remount Station​
His soldiers often served against John Mosby’s partisan rangers​
1864: Brevetted to the rank of Brigadier General in Union Army​
1865 – 1866: Brigadier General of Union Army Volunteers Cavalry​
1866: Mustered out of Volunteer service on March 13th

Occupation after War:

1866: Major in United States Army 8th Cavalry Regiment​

Died:
December 30, 1866

Place of Death: Virgin Bay, Nicaragua

Cause of Death: Cholera

Age at time of Death: 48 years old

Burial Place: Virgin Grove Cemetery, Virgin Bay, Nicaragua
 
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A number of sources (including Ezra Warner's Generals in Blue) lists Gamble's birthplace as Duross, County Tyrone, Ireland. In any case, Lisnarick is a town in County Fermanagh.

On July 1 at Gettysburg, besides opposing Heth's division in the morning and at mid-afternoon, Gamble's cavalrymen also opposed Perrin's South Carolinians in Pender's division on Seminary Ridge just prior to the Union collapse there around 4 p.m.
 
Wasn't it one of Gambles regiments that prompted the controversial move into square by the Confederate infantry?

John
That would have been the 8th Illinois Cavalry confronting Pettigrew's 52nd North Carolina. I have my doubts as to whether a square formation was actually ordered by the Confederates, but the movements of the 52nd to counter the threat posed by the approach of the 8th Illinois might have looked something like a square to the Federal cavalrymen.
 
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