GILBERT, JOHN FLOYD (1815 ~ 1863). John Floyd Gilbert, San Jacinto Veteran and Confederate Veteran, was born March 21, 1815, at Macon, Georgia. He came to East Texas between 1831 and 1834 with his parents, John and Mary Gilbert and seven brothers and sisters. John was the eldest son. His later war records described John as being six feet tall, with black hair, dark eyes, and dark complexion.
John Gilbert received a Mexican Land Grant in Lorenzo de Zavala's colony on June 5, 1835.(1) His grant consisted of one League, 4,428 acres and one Labor, 177.1 acres. His grant was in the Sabine Municipality, in the area around present-day Hemphill.
The growing unrest of the colonists who were suffering under the oppressive rule of Mexico intensified, finally resulting in the signing of the Declaration of Independence on March 2, 1836. On March 4, 1836, answering the call for volunteers, John Gilbert enlisted with the Second Regiment, Texas Volunteers, Seventh Company Infantry. He served under Captain Benjamin F. Bryant and Colonel Sidney Sherman.
Under Colonel Sherman, on April 20, 1836, John Gilbert participated with about eighty-five mounted troops in the late afternoon in a charge on some of the Mexican forces for the purpose of reconnoitering the enemy. After a sharp encounter with the Mexican cavalry, they retired in good order. On April 21, 1836, at the age of 21, John participated in the short, victorious Battle of San Jacinto.
On January 2, 1853, he was issued 640 acres of land for having participated in the Battle of San Jacinto.(2) At the same time, he received 640 acres for having served in the army from March 4, 1836 to September 4, 1836. (3) In the years following the Revolution, Sam Houston and John Gilbert became friends and Houston visited him on his occasional visits to Nacogdoches.
In 1839, John married Martha Jane Hamby, who was born February 14, 1819, daughter of John and Rhoda Goff Hamby. John and Martha Jane were the parents of nine children.
A carpenter by trade, John built their log cabin home at the famous East Texas cross roads El Camino Real and La Calle Del Norte. It was said to be one of the first five cabins in Nacogdoches.
John Gilbert's youngest child was not quite two years of age when he once more heard the call to duty. On February 1, 1862, nearly 47 years of age, he enlisted in the Confederate Army as a private in Company A, 17th Regiment, Texas Cavalry. During the struggle at Arkansas Post, on January 11, 1863, John was wounded and captured. He was among the Union prisoners taken by boat to Camp Douglas, Illinois. He died there on February 24, 1863, and is buried in the Confederate Mound, Oak Woods Cemetery, Chicago, Illinois. John's family did not know of his death for over six months, when a fellow soldier who had been with him when he died brought the news of his death and his few possessions to his family.
Martha Jane Gilbert remained in Nacogdoches, where she raised their children. She died December 2, 1900, and is buried in Oak Grove Cemetery, Nacogdoches, Texas.(4)
Sources:
Kemp, Louis Wiltz. Veterans Biographies. Herzstein Library, San Jacinto Museum.
Kelly, Fay Henson. Gilbert Family History Files.
(1)listed as No. 162 in the State Abstract Books of the Old Records in the State Land Office.
(2)Donation Certificate No. 661
(3)Certificate No. 1885
(4)Other family members are buried there, as well.
Biography Courtesy of: Joanne Westmoreland
