George G. Dibrell | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Member of theU.S. House of Representatives from Tennessee's 3rd district | |
| In office March 4, 1875 – March 3, 1885 | |
| Preceded by | William Crutchfield |
| Succeeded by | John R. Neal |
| Member of theTennessee House of Representatives | |
| In office 1861 | |
| Personal details | |
| Born | George Gibbs Dibrell (1822-04-12)April 12, 1822 |
| Died | May 9, 1888(1888-05-09) (aged 66) Sparta, Tennessee, US |
| Political party | Democratic |
| Spouse | Mary E.Leftwich Dibrell |
| Children | Wamon L. Dibrell Frank Simpson Dibrell |
| Alma mater | East Tennessee University |
| Profession | lawyer, farmer, merchant, judge, banker, railroad executive |
| Military service | |
| Allegiance | Confederate States of America |
| Branch/service | Confederate States Army |
| Years of service | 1861–1865 |
| Rank | Brigadier General |
| Unit | 25th Tennessee Infantry |
| Commands | 8th Tennessee Cavaly Dibrell's Cavalry Brigade Dibrell's Cavalry Division |
| Battles/wars | American Civil War |
George Gibbs Dibrell (April 12, 1822 – May 9, 1888) was an American lawyer and a five-term member of theUnited States House of Representatives from the 3rd Congressional District ofTennessee. He also served as a general in theConfederate States Army during theAmerican Civil War and as a railroad executive.
Dibrell was born inSparta, Tennessee, on 12 April 1822. His ancestors wereHuguenot refugees fromFrance who settled inVirginia in 1700. His grandfather fought as a Patriot in theAmerican Revolution and married into a branch of theLee family in Virginia. His father, Anthony Dibrell, arrived inWhite County, Tennessee, in 1811, where he served as a circuit court clerk, state legislator, was once aWhig candidate forCongress, and eventually theState Treasurer of Tennessee.[1]
Dibrell worked on his father's farm during the summer, and at the age of 15 he travelled alone toVirginia andMississippi with droves of livestock. What little formal education Dibrell received came at the local schools during the winter months, followed by one session at theUniversity of Tennessee at Knoxville at age 16.[1]
In 1842 George Dibrell married Mary Elizabeth Leftwich, also aSparta native. The daughter of aVirginiamerchant, Miss Leftwich obtained a lady's education at theNashville Female Academy. She and her husband both became members of theSouthern Methodist Church in the same year they were married. They attended the Methodist congregation at Sparta, where Mary taught Sunday school. Later that year they welcomed the first of their eight children.[1]
Dibrell studied law, was admitted to the bar in 1843, and established a legal practice. While engaged in agricultural and mercantile pursuits, Dibrell 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. By 1850 he had managed to accumulate an estate worth $500.[2] Ten years later in 1860, the total value of Dibrell's personal estate had increased to $27,000, making him one of the top five wealthiest landowners in the county.[3]
The 1850 United States Census, Slave Schedule, for White County, indicates that Dibrell owned four mulatto slaves: a woman of 45 years, a girl of 12, and two boys of four and two years.[4] The 1860 census record lists Dibrell as owning 16 slaves, ranging in age from 1–50 years in age.[5] From the end of his time as clerk at the Bank of Tennessee until the beginning of the War, Dibrell carried on in commerce, his occupation in the 1850 census indicating "merchant."[4]
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Dibrell volunteered in theConfederate States Army and served from 1861 to 1865. He rose from private in the 25th Tennessee Infantry tolieutenant colonel of that regiment in August 1861. He fought in theMill Springs campaign and at theSiege of Corinth. Dibrell later organized the White County"Partisan Rangers," raised the 8th Tennessee Cavalry, and served as its firstcolonel. Commanding a brigade, he played a prominent role in the defense of the important saltworks during theBattle of Saltville. He served under noted cavalry generalsNathan Bedford Forrest andJoseph Wheeler.[6]
Promoted tobrigadier general in early 1865, Dibrell commanded adivision under Wheeler during theCarolinas Campaign and its climacticBattle of Bentonville. He accompanied the flight of the Confederate government following the evacuation and fall ofRichmond in April 1865, having charge of protecting the national archives of the Confederacy and escorting PresidentJefferson Davis fromGreensboro, North Carolina, into Georgia. He was finally captured and paroled nearWashington, Georgia, on May 9, 1865.
As thesecession movement swept the South, Dibrell was elected as aUnion delegate to the Tennessee State Constitutional Convention in July 1861,[7] which would debate the prospect of secession, but it was voted against and never met. Dibrell was also elected to representWhite County in the 1861Tennessee State Legislature, where he served but several weeks before joining theConfederate States Army.[1]
George Dibrell left for theConfederate military service in the summer of 1861, leaving behind his wife Mary and seven children, ranging in age from sixteen years to one year old.[3] He travelled to Camp Zollicoffer nearLivingston,Tennessee, to enlist with the25th Tennessee Infantry on 10 August 1861. He brought with him two horses worth $200 each.[8] AtLivingston he was electedLieutenant Colonel of theregiment. After three months’ drilling, the 25th marched as part of a larger force underBrigadier General Zollicoffer to Camp Beech Grove, just across theCumberland River fromMill Springs,Kentucky, in advance of a threatened Federal invasion from nearbySomerset or Colombia to the west, and to break up Kentuckian Federal home guard units.[9]
This immediately preceded the Battle of Fishings Creek (more generally known as theBattle of Mill Springs or Logan's Crossroads) on 19 January 1862, one of the first significantUnion victories of theCivil War, which helped break theConfederate defensive line.[10] Zollicoffer fell during the battle, at which point theConfederate forces were outflanked and retreated in disorder. Dibrell and the25th Tennessee formed theConfederate left flank which was turned by the Union commander. The Confederates fell back that night across theCumberland River, leaving behind their artillery, wagons, horses, and all of their supplies and ammunition. Confederate loss totaled about 400 killed, wounded, and captured.[9]
In May 1862, the25th Tennessee was reorganized at Corinth, and Dibrell was defeated in his bid for the Lieutenant Colonelcy.[9] Dibrell was discharged from the regiment on 10 May 1862, with three months remaining on his period of enlistment.[8] He then travelled toRichmond where he obtained permission to raise aregiment forConfederate service,[11] after which he returned home toSparta. There he organized an independent force ofcavalry aspartisan rangers. This regiment, which entered service as the8th Tennessee Cavalry (sometimes called the13th), was organized atYankeetown, a short distance from downtownSparta, on 4 September 1862, and totaled 920 men in twelve companies. George Dibrell was electedColonel.[9] His eldest son Wayman Leftwich Dibrell joined theregiment (before its official organization) as a2nd Lieutenant on 2 August 1862, at the age of 19 years, 8 months.[12]
Dibrell was a delegate to theTennessee state constitutional convention in 1870.[13] Elected as aDemocrat to theForty-fourth and the four succeeding Congresses, Dibrell served from March 4, 1875, to March 3, 1885.[14] He was not a candidate for renomination in 1884 and resumed agriculture and business pursuits, including the development of several coal mines.
Owner of over fifteen thousand acres inWhite County, Dibrell established theBon Air Coal & Coke Company, which became one of the county's leading industries and largest employers. Also a key figure in the development of theSouthwestern Railroad, which connected Sparta with the Nashville and Chattanooga line, he was President of that railroad in 1869. Dibrell also served as a delegate to the Methodist conference at Memphis in 1870, and at Nashville in 1882.[1]
Shortly after returning to his home and family in mid-1865, Dibrell commenced the process of renewing the vitality of his hometown. This began by bringing in branches of theMcMinnville and Manchester Railroad,Nashville and Chattanooga Company (N. C. & St. L.), and theSouthwestern Railroad Company, with the object of opening up the somewhat geographically- and thus commercially isolated county. The former two of these companies completed the first rail lines in the state before the war, connectingNashville,McMinnville, andTullahoma. Hitherto, livestock and other marketable goods had to be driven or carried over land, much as Dibrell did in his youth. Plans existed to extend a branch fromMcMinnville toSparta as early as 1858, but these were cancelled by the impending conflict.[15] Dibrell became a director of theSouthwestern Railroad Company three years before he was elected as its president in 1869. He remained in this position for 15 years until the company was acquired by theNashville and Chattanooga Company and the railroad came to Sparta in 1884.[1] The advent of the railroad inWhite County fulfilled "a great need for a speedier method of moving the products of an expanding and developing land."[15]
As the railroads slowly began to take shape, Dibrell focused his efforts towards the formation and organization of the Bon Air Coal, Land, and Lumber Company, concentrated onBon Air Mountain just outside ofSparta. According toWhite County historian E.G. Rogers, the organization of this company had been a dream of Dibrell's and one which he had sought to further as early as his brief tenure in theTennessee Legislature. Additionally, Dibrell possessed the foresight and entrepreneurial business sense to invest money from his antebellum mercantile success in the gradual accumulation of more than 15,000 acres of good coal and timber land, which formed the company's property upon its organization. The official charter was finally secured in September 1882, and by 1900 the company's holdings had grown to include some 38,000 acres of land. Dibrell was elected the vice-president of the company upon his declination of the presidency itself, which was filled by former governor and president of the 1870 convention,John C. Brown.[15]
George Gibbs Dibrell died on 9 May 1888, at his home inSparta, aged 66 years and 27 days. The cause was an "aggravated inflammation of the kidneys," a recurring problem irritated by a strenuous 40-mile horseback ride taken two weeks prior. He was survived by his eight children, plus a number of grandchildren, in addition to his wife Mary. His funeral services were performed by the same minister who married them 46 years earlier. The announcement of his death in the "Daily American," a Nashville newspaper, read "[Dibrell] has done more forWhite County than any man who ever lived here [...] This is the unanimous verdict of all."[16] He isinterred at the Old Sparta Cemetery.[17]
| U.S. House of Representatives | ||
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| Preceded by | Member of the U.S. House of Representatives fromTennessee's 3rd congressional district 1875–1885 | Succeeded by |
| International | |
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| National | |
| People | |
| Other | |
