Abraham Gibson, Jr. Family 1928
This book is copyrighted. For permission to use, contact: jmccloud1@Carolina.rr.com
(Eighteen of twenty-four children living at that time. Grandfather Abe died before Jerri was born.)
Abraham Gibson, Jr. Family—1928
Top Row-left to right:
Edward Gladden, Henry Clyde, Evan Watson,
Abraham, Jr. (father), Elizabeth Roe (mother), Fred Harley, Allan Coleman (Tom),
Charles Lewis, John Neal, Paul Roe, Robert Marvin, Bottom Row-left to right:
Mrs. C. H. Nunnery (Mary Gibson), Mrs. J.R.P. Gibson (Ella Gibson), Mrs. E.P.
Chaney (Eva Gibson), Mr. W.H. Robinson (Alice Gibson), Mrs. J.A. Wallace (Jeanie
Gibson), Fannie Elizabeth Gibson, Sallie Elizabeth Gibson, Willie Mae Gibson,
and Grace A. Gibson
Page 128 (Gibsons of South Carolina)
* * *
Abraham
Gibson, Jr.—4th Generation
BRAHAM GIBSON, JR. was born on October 4, 1843. His tombstone is marked 1844 instead of 1843. Other information says he was born 1842. The dates published in newspapers, obituaries, and legal documents predominately state 1843 which is why that date is used in this book.
Abraham was born in Chester District, South Carolina, the son of Abraham Gibson, Sr., and Jane Watson Gibson, in an area that eventually became known as Rossville District. Like his father, Abraham’s name frequently appeared as Abram in public records. Abram may have been a nickname for them both. When he was eight years old, young Abraham became a devoted member of the Ebenezer Methodist Church where his parents worshiped.
The younger Abraham Gibson was located on the 1850 and 1860 Chester County, South Carolina census living in the home of his parents.
With the succession of South Carolina from the Union on December 20, 1860, the state began mobilizing military forces to defend its territory. The attack on Fort Sumpter on April 12, 1861, was the prelude to the start of the Civil War. Young Abraham grew up listening to the Revolutionary War exploits of his Grandfather William Watson. Most likely wishing to emulate the deeds of his grandfather and anxious to defend his country which was his state, he enlisted in Company B, South Carolina 5th Infantry Regiment under Col. Micah Jenkins on June 25, 1861, as a Private. Abraham Gibson was then only seventeen years old. It is believed that his brother John R. Gibson enlisted at this time in the same unit. Shortly after his enlistment, the 5th was sent to Northern Virginia, where within a month of his enlistment, his unit would see combat.
This unit engaged in battles at Blackburn’s Ford on July 18, 1861, First Battle of Bull Run on July 21, 1861, Battle of Great Falls on September 4, 1861, and it was at the Yorktown Siege from May to June 1862. During the Battle at Williamsburg, which started on May 4, 1862, Abraham was captured by the Union forces. After two days of hard fighting and nearing exhaustion, he stopped at a farm house near Williamsburg where he fell asleep almost instantly. He assumed his comrades would awaken him when it was time to move on, but they did not. So, on May 5, 1862, he awakened finding the farm house surrounded by Yankees. Abraham was captured by troops of the 106th Pennsylvania Infantry. He was held prisoner for eight days and exchanged with other Confederate prisoners for Federal prisoners. Abraham Gibson’s Muster Roll record simply stated relative to the capture, “absent. Taken prisoner at Williamsburg on May 5, 1862. Communatation due.” Communatation was the term then used to note prisoner exchange.
When Abraham was released from capture he was put on a 90 day parole and it appears he used this time to return to South Carolina where he acquired a horse to join the cavalry. In the Confederate Army one had to own his own horse and it is assumed Abraham went home to get one. At the start of the Civil War, a good horse could cost from $200 to $300, U. S. currency. As the war proceeded, good horses became difficult to come by and for replacements, one could require the use of gold currency for the purchase, as Confederate paper currency depreciated rather quickly. A private in the Confederate Army was paid about $11.00 per month for his service. A man in the cavalry was given about $24.00 a month to take care of his horse.
Photographed
from a picture on the wall of Citadel, Charleston, SC—2002
Chapter VIII, Pages 109-110 (Gibsons of South Carolina)
Jerri Gibson McCloud ©2005