General John Gibbon

On the Frontier General John Gibbon

General John Gibbon was a central figure in two of America's most famous battles. At Gettysburg in 1863, Pickett's Charge was aimed right at Gibbon's troops. In 1876, Gibbon commanded the Montana Column that was to unite with George Armstrong Custer and the 7th Cavalry at the Little Bighorn. Gibbon's arrival with General Terry is what saved the survivors of that disaster. Here in his own words are Gibbon's masterful narratives of his time in the west. Included are his diary from his 1860 journey to Utah, his analysis of the disaster at the Little Bighorn, his campaign against Chief Joseph and the Nez Perce in 1877, and his later friendship with that Chief. He also wrote a wonderful account of a visit to Yellowstone National Park in 1872. Gibbon never completed his memoirs of his career in the west and these articles are what we have to tell the story of one of the most important and remarkable careers in U. S. Army history. Every memoir of the American West provides us with another view of the movement that changed the country forever.