General John Gibbon a hero at the Battle of Gettysburg?

major bill

Brev. Brig. Gen'l
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John Gibbons was an artillerist of some skill. He even wore the Artillerist's Manual in 1859 which both sides used during the Civil War. Despite his artillery skills he was moved to higher command where Gibbon seemed to perform well. His men bore the blunt of Pickett's Charge at Gettysburg. During this battle he was wounded. So my question is did Gibbon's command ability help stop Pickett's Charge?

Gibbon was in the thick of things during the Third Battle of Petersburg and helped block the Confederate escape route at the Battle of Appomattox. Gibbon served during the Indian Wars where again he seemed to have performed fairly well. Despite all that Gibbon accomplished he is not often discussed by Civil War buffs. Does gibbon deserve more fame that his is usually give?
 
His competence is hard to argue. Commanded the Iron Brigade and helped mold it into the well-reputed force it came to be. At Antietam, he took the time in the heat of battle to adjust an artillery piece that was firing high. (Was it a sight or a screw? Can't remember off the top of my head.)

He was in command of the II Corps for parts of July 1 and 2. He was elevated after Hancock was sent to Gettysburg to serve as Meade's proxy on July 1 and again (nominally) on July 2 after Hancock was technically in command of both the II and III Corps. These elevations occurred despite the fact that John Caldwell outranked him. The fact that he elevated to permanent Corps command late in the war is telling (in a good way).

I'm not expert on Pickett's Charge, and I don't know when he was wounded that day. But there were many factors that helped stopped Pickett's Charge - flank attacks, artillery fire, etc. Not sure anything Gibbon did or did not do resulted in the attack's ultimate repulse.
 
My impression of him is that he was an old time professional soldier who believed in drill and discipline, and left his mark on the Iron Brigade, largely making it the excellent formation it became. There were others like him in the AoP who are less known than he is, so I would say he is not alone in deserving more fame then he is generally given.

John
 
After a while Gibbon and Hancock had issues with each other and this probably effected Gibbon's career later in the war
 
Issues with Hancock wouldn't help I guess. I find the careers of these old regular army guys fascinating.

John
 
He was born in Philadelphia, PA. His family moved to North Carolina when he was 11 years old. His father owned slaves and several of his family members (three brothers, two brothers-in-law and his cousin J. Johnston Pettigrew) served in the Confederate Army, while he remained loyal to the Union. Once while I was at the All Saints Cemetery in Philadelphia, I came across one of his brothers grave. His name was Lardner Gibbon and he apparently was a Lieutenant in the US Navy before the war and explored the Amazon. He joined the Confederate Army as an Ordinance Officer.

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He did a very good job occasionally commanding the corps at Gettysburg and was an excellent division commander in general. At Gettysburg, he moved troops around to where they were needed in conjunction with Hancock (who seemed to be everywhere on the field) so I would say that he did well in Pennsylvania.

Ryan
 
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