Background
John Gibson was born on May 23, 1740, at Lancaster, Pennsylvania. He was the son of George and Elizabeth (de Vinez) Gibson and the brother of George Gibson.
( This work has been selected by scholars as being cultur...)
This work has been selected by scholars as being culturally important and is part of the knowledge base of civilization as we know it. This work is in the public domain in the United States of America, and possibly other nations. Within the United States, you may freely copy and distribute this work, as no entity (individual or corporate) has a copyright on the body of the work. Scholars believe, and we concur, that this work is important enough to be preserved, reproduced, and made generally available to the public. To ensure a quality reading experience, this work has been proofread and republished using a format that seamlessly blends the original graphical elements with text in an easy-to-read typeface. We appreciate your support of the preservation process, and thank you for being an important part of keeping this knowledge alive and relevant.
https://www.amazon.com/Messages-Letters-William-Henry-Harrison/dp/0343447835?SubscriptionId=AKIAJRRWTH346WSPOAFQ&tag=prabook-20&linkCode=sp1&camp=2025&creative=165953&creativeASIN=0343447835
John Gibson was born on May 23, 1740, at Lancaster, Pennsylvania. He was the son of George and Elizabeth (de Vinez) Gibson and the brother of George Gibson.
Of Gibson's childhood and early training there is no record, though in later life he exhibited a superior knowledge of Indian dialects and a studied English diction.
At the age of eighteen, Gibson began his military career as a participant in the Forbes expedition (1758) which resulted in the capture of Fort Duquesne from the French.
On the close of the campaign Gibson settled at Fort Duquesne as an Indian trader. This commercial enterprise met with obstacles in 1763 when, at the outbreak of Pontiac’s War, Gibson, with two or three companions, was captured by the Indians near the mouth of Big Beaver Creek on the Ohio River.
Some of the captives were put to death, but Gibson is said to have been saved, Pocahontas fashion, by an Indian squaw, and carried as a prisoner to the Great Kanawha River in southwest Virginia.
When Col. Bouquet secured his release in 1764, Gibson once more returned to Fort Pitt to engage in the Indian trade. In 1774, he took part in the campaign against the Shawnees, Mingoes, and Delawares known as Dunmore’s War.
Logan’s classic but much questioned speech, an incident of Dunmore’s War, was made to and reported by Gibson, who probably supplied the flowery eloquence. The following year Gibson aided in the negotiations with the Indians which resulted in the Treaty of Pittsburgh, signed after the outbreak of the Revolution.
He was named western agent for Virginia in 1775 and became a warm protagonist for the claims of that state to the territory lying between the Monongahela and Ohio Rivers known as West Augusta.
As a member of the Western Pennsylvania Committee of Correspondence he was active during the early stages of the war in securing peace with the Indians, making a tour of the Ohio tribes for that purpose. He then entered the Continental service, serving under Washington in New York and during his retreat southward, until transferred to the western department.
In 1776, he was made lieutenant-colonel, and the next year he was promoted colonel, which rank he held until the end of the war. During 1779, he was commandant at Fort Laurens (Bolivar, Ohio), and the next year, while aiding Baron Steuben who was in Virginia raising troops for Gen. Greene, he was named second in command of George Rogers Clark’s proposed expedition into the Northwest territory, but Gen. Brodhead, the commandant at Fort Pitt, negatived the plan by refusing to release Gibson’s regiment.
Gibson secured his revenge when he took a prominent part in the ousting of Gen. Brodhead at Fort Pitt in 1781, and procured the command for himself until relieved by Gen. William Irvine the following year.
At the close of the war, he took up his residence in Allegheny County, Pennsylvania, where he served as a judge of the court of common pleas and major-general of militia. He was a member of the convention which drafted the constitution of 1790, and with Gen. Richard Butler negotiated the purchase for Pennsylvania of the “Erie Triangle” (1789) from the Iroquois Confederacy.
After receiving President Jefferson’s appointment as secretary of the Indiana Territory, Gibson reached Vincennes in July 1800, and in the absence of the governor, W. H. Harrison, he began the organization of the territorial government, and prepared the first census report.
He retained the office of secretary until 1816, but again served as acting governor during the critical period of the War of 1812. On the formation of the new state government, Gibson returned to Pennsylvania.
He died at Braddock’s Field in 1822, survived by his wife.
( This work has been selected by scholars as being cultur...)
During the Whiskey Rebellion (1794), Gibson was an active adherent of the government, and thereby made so many enemies that lie was given the “passport and guard” by his less loyal neighbors.
During the year spent as a captive, Gibson was given the sobriquet “Horse-head. ”
Gibson was married to Ann Gibson.