Chapter XXIII
Col. W.H. Gibbon was one of Chariton’s
early doctors. He was the grandfather of
Mrs. Katherine Copeland Norton, long time teacher in Chariton schools. Lawrence Copeland of Newton and the late Mrs.
Will (Anna Laura) Piper. Dr. Gibbon was
born in Maryland. Upon the death of his
father, the family moved to Salem, New Jersey, where he attended Salem Academy
and Philadelphia schools until he was 18.
He clerked in a dry goods store for a time,
then began “reading medicine” under the preceptorship of his uncle Dr. Quinton
Gibbon, at the same time attending lectures at Jefferson Medical College, in
Philadelphia where he graduated with honors.
He then spent a year in travel as he believed that “travel is the source
of all wisdom”
He came to Chariton at age 26. Mrs. Suzanna Custer, grandmother of the late
Howard Copeland states: “There new doctor is very genial, knows his profession well
and is very popular, especially with the young ladies.” Three years later “he made a trip east and
brought back the cutest little Quaker wife you ever saw – to the dismay of all
the young ladies and about half of the old maids!” Just two months later he accepted a
commission as Assistant Surgeon of the 15th Iowa Infantry. Later he was promoted to Surgeon.
April 6, 1961 was an idyllic Sunday
morning at Pittsburg Landing on the Tennessee River. The mocking birds were singing, the air was
invigorating, the redbud, the white thorn and a peach orchard were all in bloom
near a little log church called Shiloh.
The steamer, MINNEHAHA, carrying the 15th Iowa Inf. had dropped
anchor at 4 a.m. Some of the officers
had walked up the bluff to “savor the dawn” and listen to the sweet sounds of
nature’s early morning. General Grant
had already assembled an army of some 40,000 troops farther over and had poised
them for an invasion of northern Mississippi.
Suddenly at 4:55 the stillness was
shattered. The rebels had beaten Gen.
Grant to the draw. With 44,000 troops
they charged the Union Army. The troops
on the MINNEHAHA had not even had breakfast.
They had been given guns but no ammunition nor accoutrements and had
never practiced loading or firing.
It was a wild and vicious nightmare. Some green troops on both sides broke and ran
in terror – others kept their cool and fought valiantly. For nearly two days the battle raged over
4,000 acres. The 15th Iowa
was severely engaged. The 16th
Iowa was also there and nine other regiments were encamped beyond the
landing. Men often react strangely under
great stress. One, Pvt. Henry Morgan
jumped up and ran down the line to a commanding officer, yelling, “Lieutenant,
if I am killed, don’t bury me with a Republican!”
Dr. Gibbon marched with his regiment into
an 80-acre field surrounded by high timber and underbrush, to be the target of
tremendous artillery fire. Their guide
had blundered, “leading them between two divisions of their own army and
straight against a solid enemy line. The
doctor’s work now began in earnest. The
ground seemed covered with dead and wounded.
He had noticed a deep ravine at their rear and directed the wounded to
be carried there. He organized his
nurses and all others not hurt, into a hospital squad and set them to giving
stimulants and dressings while he attended the seriously wounded – both officers
and men.
Shot and shell were hissing and screaming
over the ravine and the roar of battle was coming closer and louder. He heard a
soldier yell, “That’s the Rebel line”.
Some of the wounded managed to crawl to the other end of the ravine,
which was soon covered by enemy fire.
Quote: “It looked serious for the few of us who remained, but we all
climbed into a tree covered with a dense growth of grapevine where we were
concealed but could see the enemy.” At a
given signal from the doctor, they all jumped and ran across a ten-acre field
of oats evading a volley from the Rebels.
They reached a high point of timber and
brush where they found four pieces of artillery that had just been abandoned
and near them a few soldiers and an officer whose green sash denoted the wearer
to be of the same branch of the service as Dr. Gibbon. He was Dr. Conyne of St. Louis.
He proposed collecting a few men and
working the battery. Although Dr. Gibbon
knew nothing about working the big guns, and frankly said so, Dr. Conyne had
been a member of an amateur artillery squad at home and thought with the help
of a few soldiers they could pick up, they might do some good work. They worked the battery for half an hour –
until two of the guns became disabled and a caisson exploded by the “splendid
gunnery of the enemy”.
For their gallantry in this action Dr.
Conyne was made Colonel of the Tenth Missouri Regiment and Dr. Gibbon was made
brevet Lt. Colonel. The Rebels charged
and the little squad fell back to the landing where, writes Dr. Gibbon, “I took
up the amputating knife and in a few days did more surgery than the average practitioner
does in a lifetime. The boats soon
filled with wounded and dying. When
night came, our army had gathered into a short but compact line near the
landing. The men lay down on their arms
in a drenching rain and tried to sleep…”
From the hospital ship stationed 12 miles below Pittsburg Landing, the
doctor wrote the following letter, a copy of which was loaned by Mrs. Katherine
Norton:
Savannah, April
9, 1862
I am aboard the steamer on which we left
St. Louis, she being our hospital ship. We have just fought the hardest battle
ever fought on this continent – about 130,000 on each side. There are about 30,000 killed and wounded on
the field of both sides. I am in a great
hurry as I have only a few minutes to write.
The battle was fought at Pittsburg Landing. The wounded are being conveyed to this place
for safety and comfort. The boat is on
its way back for another load. The boat
brought down about 300 wounded.
Our regiment suffered severely. Col. Reid was wounded in the neck, Major
Belknap in the shoulder, Capt. Hedrick of Ottumwa was killed early in the
battle. Penniman was killed by a bullet
through the head. Fifteen of our commissioned
officers are badly wounded – have not time to specify names. Tell Stanley that his brother John is badly
wounded through the shoulder – arm will probably have to be amputated. Have not heard from any men from their
regiment – will try to learn more from them today.
I went on the field with our regiment on
Sunday morning and saw them do good fighting against fearful odds. Pomutz is wounded in the left leg – not badly. The bullets rained like hail all around
us. A cannon ball struck a tree within
six feet of me and shattered it awfully.
I had carried our wounded to a little ravine just back of the regiment
out of the fire, but the Rebels flanked us and then over a concealed Federal
regiment they fired a volley up the ravine at us, which cut the limbs above our
heads but fortunately did not hit any of our wounded all of whom, with one
exception, succeeded in getting off again out of the fire. Our men hotly pressed on all sides and as the
enemy occupied the ground where many of our men fell, one of course could not
get them in. Lt Hamilton of Osceola was
killed early in the morning.
His relatives and friends have the
satisfaction of knowing that he died fighting like a hero, leading his men into
the thickest of the fire. I have often
thought I would like to see a great battle.
I, yesterday, had that pleasure and was gratified to the top of my
head. As there are probably a few items
of interest in this to people, you may select such and let Mr. Stewart publish
them if he wishes to do so. Al Cole commanded
Capt. Buttrick’s Company. I hear a good
report of his conduct in the battle.
Cannot learn whether he has been hurt.
I must close.
Yours always. I will write you at length as soon as
possible.
Will
Pages 98-101
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