Randall L. Gibson

Infobox_Senator
name= Randall L. Gibson

---

jr/sr= United States Senator
state= Louisiana
term= 1883 - 1892
preceded= William P. Kellogg
succeeded= Donelson Caffery
date of birth= birth date|1832|9|10|mf=y
place of birth= Spring Hill, Kentucky
date of death= death date and age|1892|12|15|1832|9|10|mf=y
place of death= Hot Springs, Arkansas
spouse=
profession=
religion=
party= Democrat
state2= Louisiana
district2= 1st
term2= 1875 - 1883
preceded2= Effingham Lawrence
succeeded2= Carleton Hunt|

Randall Lee Gibson (September 10, 1832 – December 15, 1892) was a U.S. Senator and a member of the House of Representatives from Louisiana. He was also an brigadier general in the Confederate States Army, a regent of the Smithsonian Institution, and a president of the board of administrators of Tulane University.

Gibson was the son of a plantation owner and was educated in leading Louisiana schools.

Soon after the state's secession from the Union, Gibson became an aide to Gov. Thomas O. Moore. In March 1861, he left the capital to join the 1st Louisiana Artillery. Later in the year, he was commissioned as colonel of the 13th Louisiana Infantry. Gibson fought at the Battle of Shiloh and subsequent actions. With the Army of Tennessee, he took part in the 1862 Kentucky Campaign and the Battle of Chickamauga. After being promoted to brigadier general on January 11, 1864, he fought in the Atlanta Campaign and the Franklin-Nashville Campaign; then was assigned to the defense of Mobile, Alabama. He inspired his troops to hold Spanish Fort, which was under siege, until the last moment, after which they escaped at night on March 8, 1865.

Gibson, a Democrat, was a representative from 1875 to 1883 and a senator from 1883 to 1892. He died while still a senator in Hot Springs, Arkansas, and is buried at Lexington Cemetery in Lexington, Kentucky. [Owen and Owen, "Generals at Rest," p. 80.]

Gibson Hall on the campus of Tulane University is named for Senator Gibson, who was instrumental after the American Civil War in helping fund and continue the public University of Louisiana as the private Tulane University of Louisiana.

In 1853 he graduated from Yale University, where he was a member of the society Scroll and Key.

Notes

References

*cite book
author = Richard Owen
coauthors = James Owen
title = Generals at Rest: The Grave Sites of the 425 Official Confederate Generals
location = Shippensburg, PA
publisher = White Mane Publishing Co.
date = 1997
isbn = 1-57249-045-4

External links

* [http://bioguide.congress.gov/scripts/biodisplay.pl?index=G000165 Congressional biography]
*Find A Grave|id=8921