George Gibbs Dibrell (1822 - 1888)

Born 12 Apr 1822 in Sparta, White County, Tennessee

Ancestors

Husband of Mary Elizabeth (Leftwich) Dibrell — married 13 Jan 1842 in White County, Tennessee

Descendants

Died 9 May 1888 at age 66 in Sparta, White County, Tennessee

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Biography

George Gibbs Dibrell was born in Sparta in White County, Tennessee. He attended the public schools and graduated from East Tennessee University in Knoxville in 1843. He studied law, was admitted to the bar in 1843, and established a legal practice. He also engaged in agricultural and mercantile pursuits, and was elected clerk of the branch of the Bank of Tennessee at Sparta. He was a justice of the peace and a county clerk for White County for many years. Dibrell was a member of the Tennessee House of Representatives in 1861.

He volunteered in the Confederate States Army and served from 1861 to 1865. He rose from private in the 25th Tennessee Infantry to lieutenant colonel of that regiment in August 1861. He fought in the Mill Springs campaign and at the Siege of Corinth. Dibrell later organized the White County "Partisan Rangers," raised the 8th Tennessee Cavalry, and served as its first colonel. Commanding a brigade, he played a prominent role in the defense of the important saltworks during the Battle of Saltville. He served under noted cavalry generals Nathan Bedford Forrest and Joseph Wheeler.

Dibrell was promoted to brigadier general in early 1865 and commanded a division under Wheeler during the Carolinas Campaign and its climatic Battle of Bentonville. Dibrell accompanied the flight of the Confederate government following the evacuation and fall of Richmond in April 1865, having charge of protecting the national archives of the Confederacy and escorting President Jefferson Davis from Greensboro, North Carolina into Georgia. Dibrell was finally captured and paroled near Washington, Georgia, on May 9, 1865.

Dibrell was President of the Southwestern Railroad in 1869. He was a delegate to the Tennessee state constitutional convention in 1870. He was elected as a Democrat to the Forty-fourth and the four succeeding Congresses. He served from March 4, 1875 to March 3, 1885. He was not a candidate for renomination in 1884 and resumed agriculture and business pursuits, including the development of several coal mines. He died in Sparta, Tennessee, and was interred in Old Sparta Cemetery.^[1]

Sources

1. ↑ George Gibbs Dibrell, Find A Grave: Memorial #10856, accessed April 18, 2020.

• George Gibbs Dibrell, FamilySearch.org.
• George Gibbs Dibrell, Wikipedia.org.

Note

Dibrell-48 was created by Cameron Brown through the import of Mearns_Brown Family Tree (2).ged on Jan 8, 2017. Can you add information or sources?