Iowa: Its History and Its Foremost Citizens - 1918 - G

1918 Index

Iowa: Its History and Its Foremost Citizens
Revised, Home and School Edition by Brigham Johnson.  2 Vols.  Des Moines, IA: The S. J. Clarke Publishing Company, 1918.

G


Unless otherwise noted, biographies submitted by Tamara Jorstad.

James Loraine Geddes -- Soldier Under Two Flags

James L. Geddes

Courage in time of danger and genial comradeship in the familiarity of camp life made James Loraine Geddes an ideal volunteer soldier. Born in Edinburgh, Scotland, in 1827, graduated at the military academy of Calcutta, India, and in the British service seven years, the Ware for the Union found him a veteran, at the age of thirty-four, on a farm in Benton County, Iowa. A captain in the Eighth Iowa Infantry, in August, 1861, he was later appointed lieutenant-colonel, and, in February, 1862, was appointed colonel, succeeding General Steele. His bravery at Shiloh where he and his men were taken prisoners and he himself was wounded, won grateful recognition from Grant. In the capture of Spanish Fort at Mobile he won his brevet as brigadier-general.

In 1870 General Geddes was chosen cashier and steward of Iowa's State Agricultural College. In 1871 he was appointed professor of military tactics and engineering at Ames, and a few years later he was made vice-president and treasurer of the college. His last years were embittered by his removal from office. The student-body, the faculty and the press of the state raised such a storm of protest that the board's action was finally reversed. He died in February, 1887, beloved and mourned by all.

James I. Gilbert, From Civilian to Brevet Major-General

James I. Gilbert

From colonel to brevet major-general summaries the war record of James I. Gilbert. A Kentuckian, born in 1824, in 1852 he made his home in Lansing , Iowa . On August 10, 1862 , at the age of thirty-eight, he was appointed colonel of the Twenty-seventh Iowa. A commission merchant, liveryman and real estate dealer before the war, he evinced such aptitude for military service and such courage at Pleasant Hill, where he was wounded, at the capture of Fort de Russey in the red River campaign, and later in the battle of Nashville, that on February 9, 1865, he was accorded promotion to brigade command and in the following month we find him a brevet major-general. Among the officers especially commended by Colonel Shaw, brigade commander at Fort de Russey, was Colonel Gilbert. The colonel's reports are remarkably vivid descriptions.

General Gilbert was a brave soldier, over six feet in height, broad chested and erect, swarthy complexioned, deep-voiced, active in body and mind, an expert horseman, �the finest equestrian the sate can boast,� says Stuart, �not even excepting General Steele.�

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Roster VIII. Twenty-seventh Regiment, Iowa Volunteer Infantry

Harvey Graham, Taken Prisoner at Vicksburg

Born in Pennsylvania in 1827, Harvey Graham came to Iowa City, Iowa, early in life and there worked at his trade, that of mill-wright. Early in 1861 he was chosen first lieutenant of Company B, First Iowa Infantry. AT Wilson's Creek he commanded his company, being there wounded. August 2, 1862, he was appointed major of the Twenty-second Iowa, and was soon promoted to lieutenant-colonel. At Vicksburg, May 22, 1863, he was taken prisoner. Returning to his regiment in May, 1864, he became colonel, serving with gallantry in Sheridan's campaign in the Shenandoah Valley. He was mustered out at Savannah, July 25, 1865.