★ Gamble, William

William Gamble​

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)​

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Mary A. Gamble 1850 – 1912​

(Buried: Graceland Cemetery, Chicago, Illinois)​

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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​

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Participated in the Northern Ireland Survey​

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1838: Immigrated to the United States from Ireland​

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1838 – 1843: Served in the United States Army, rising to Sgt. Major

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Civil Engineer for the Chicago, Illinois Board of Public Works​

Civil War Career:

1861 – 1862: Lt. Colonel of 8th​ Illinois Cavalry Regiment​

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1862: Wounded in the chest during the Virginia Peninsula Campaign​

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1862 – 1865: Colonel of 8th​ Illinois Cavalry Regiment​

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1863: On medical leave during the Battle of Chancellorsville, Virginia​

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1863: Cavalry Brigade Commander at the Battle of Gettysburg, Pennsylvania​

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1863 – 1865: Cavalry Commander Union Army Dept. of Washington​

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1863 – 1865: Served in the Defenses of Washington, D.C.​

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Commander of Camp Stoneman Cavalry Remount Station​

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His soldiers often served against John Mosby's partisan rangers​

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1864: Brevetted to the rank of Brigadier General in Union Army​

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1865 – 1866: Brigadier General of Union Army Volunteers Cavalry​

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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

 

[Cavalier]

Another cool guy. Thank you @gentlemanrob

 

[John Hartwell]

[Chicago Tribune, 13 January 1867]​

 

[gentlemanrob]

Happy early (January 1st) Birthday Brig. General William Gamble! Salutes remembering General Gamble on the week of his birthday.

 

[Luke Freet]

Gamble's command was the central unit of Buford's which opposed the advance of Heth's Division on July 1st. His 1862 wound flared up after the campaign, and he was relegated to commanding cavalry around D.C. Seemed to have been a fine officer.

 

[Tom Elmore]

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.

 

[Cavalier]

Wasn't it one of Gambles regiments that prompted the controversial move into square by the Confederate infantry?

John

 

[Pollaco]

According to one source Gamble had another son named George. This son was a 1st Lt. in the 8th Illinois Cavalry. George survived the was but was killed in a collapsed hotel in the 1906 San Francisco earthquake.

 

[Tom Elmore]

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.

 

[Cavalier]

@Tom Elmore Thank you.

John