William Gilham
Encyclopedia
William Henry Gilham was an American soldier
, teacher
, chemist
, and author
. A member of the faculty at Virginia Military Institute
, in 1860, he wrote a military manual which was still in modern use 145 years later. He served in the Confederate Army during the American Civil War
, and became president of Southern Fertilizing Company in Richmond after the War.
on January 13, 1818. his father's family came from Virginia
. He was appointed to the United States Military Academy
at West Point, New York
, where he graduated 5th in the Class of 1840.
He became a lieutenant in the 3rd Artillery in the United States Army
and fought in the Seminole War in Florida
. From September 1841 to August 1844, he was Assistant Professor of Natural and Experimental Philosophy at the U.S. Military Academy (West Point). He served in the Mexican-American War in 1846. The degree of A. M. was conferred upon him by College of William and Mary
in Williamsburg, Virginia
in 1852.
(VMI), then a recently-founded state military college in Lexington, Virginia
. During the next five years, he developed VMI's departments of Chemistry and Agriculture, taught infantry
tactics and served as the Commandant of Cadets. To lighten the load on Major Gilham, in 1851, VMI hired another professor, Major Thomas Jonathon Jackson, later better known as "Stonewall" Jackson
, who was also a graduate of West Point, and a veteran of the conflicts in Florida and Mexico.
As a professor, Gilham was interested in geological matters. In 1857, his Report on the Soil of Powhatan County, Virginia
was published in Richmond by Ritchie & Dunnavant. A copy of a request he made to the same year for the legislature to fund acquisition of "a complete collection of minerals and fossils for the use of my classes" is in the collection of the Virginia Historical Society in Richmond.
Majors Gilham and Jackson taught together at VMI for the rest of the decade. In November 1859, at the request of the Virginia Governor Henry A. Wise
, Major Gilham led a contingent of the VMI Cadets Corps to Charles Town
to provide an additional military presence for at the execution by hanging on December 2, 1859 of militant abolitionist John Brown
following his raid on the federal arsenal at Harper's Ferry. Major Jackson was placed in command of the artillery, consisting of two howitzers manned by 21 cadets.
In response to the raid on Harper's Ferry, Governor Wise ordered Gilham to write a manual to train volunteers and militia. Finished in the fall of 1860, it was entitled Manual of Instruction for the Volunteers and Militia of the United States and was initially published in Philadelphia.
, a civil engineer
who became co-founder of the Virginian Railway
.
broke out, the Confederate Army had a lot of new recruits. Promoted to the rank of colonel
, Gilham became the Commandant of Camp Lee, at Richmond, Virginia
, the camp of instruction for thousands of Virginians. Gilham's manual proved to be the ideal book for the training of these young men.
Col. Gilham briefly commanded a brigade in the field in 1861 and 1862, but returned to teaching at VMI. On May 15, 1864, the VMI cadets participated in the Battle of New Market
. Gilham was present, but did not command the young troops during the battle. After Union troops led by Union
General David Hunter
raided Lexington, and burned buildings at VMI, the VMI cadets were stationed at Richmond
for the remainder of the War. Major Gilham's house, a campus landmark, was later rebuilt to original specifications after the War.
facility near Richmond's Tobacco Row
. One of the company's products, Gilham's Tobacco Fertilizer, was manufactured there.
William Gilham died in Vermont
on November 16, 1872, aged 54, of undisclosed causes. He was interred at Lexington, Virginia
's Stonewall Jackson Memorial Cemetery.
Soldier
A soldier is a member of the land component of national armed forces; whereas a soldier hired for service in a foreign army would be termed a mercenary...
, teacher
Teacher
A teacher or schoolteacher is a person who provides education for pupils and students . The role of teacher is often formal and ongoing, carried out at a school or other place of formal education. In many countries, a person who wishes to become a teacher must first obtain specified professional...
, chemist
Chemist
A chemist is a scientist trained in the study of chemistry. Chemists study the composition of matter and its properties such as density and acidity. Chemists carefully describe the properties they study in terms of quantities, with detail on the level of molecules and their component atoms...
, and author
Author
An author is broadly defined as "the person who originates or gives existence to anything" and that authorship determines responsibility for what is created. Narrowly defined, an author is the originator of any written work.-Legal significance:...
. A member of the faculty at Virginia Military Institute
Virginia Military Institute
The Virginia Military Institute , located in Lexington, Virginia, is the oldest state-supported military college and one of six senior military colleges in the United States. Unlike any other military college in the United States—and in keeping with its founding principles—all VMI students are...
, in 1860, he wrote a military manual which was still in modern use 145 years later. He served in the Confederate Army during the American Civil War
American Civil War
The American Civil War was a civil war fought in the United States of America. In response to the election of Abraham Lincoln as President of the United States, 11 southern slave states declared their secession from the United States and formed the Confederate States of America ; the other 25...
, and became president of Southern Fertilizing Company in Richmond after the War.
Childhood, education, military service
William Henry Gilham was born in Vincennes, IndianaVincennes, Indiana
Vincennes is a city in and the county seat of Knox County, Indiana, United States. It is located on the Wabash River in the southwestern part of the state. The population was 18,701 at the 2000 census...
on January 13, 1818. his father's family came from Virginia
Virginia
The Commonwealth of Virginia , is a U.S. state on the Atlantic Coast of the Southern United States. Virginia is nicknamed the "Old Dominion" and sometimes the "Mother of Presidents" after the eight U.S. presidents born there...
. He was appointed to the United States Military Academy
United States Military Academy
The United States Military Academy at West Point is a four-year coeducational federal service academy located at West Point, New York. The academy sits on scenic high ground overlooking the Hudson River, north of New York City...
at West Point, New York
West Point, New York
West Point is a federal military reservation established by President of the United States Thomas Jefferson in 1802. It is a census-designated place located in Town of Highlands in Orange County, New York, United States. The population was 7,138 at the 2000 census...
, where he graduated 5th in the Class of 1840.
He became a lieutenant in the 3rd Artillery in the United States Army
United States Army
The United States Army is the main branch of the United States Armed Forces responsible for land-based military operations. It is the largest and oldest established branch of the U.S. military, and is one of seven U.S. uniformed services...
and fought in the Seminole War in Florida
Florida
Florida is a state in the southeastern United States, located on the nation's Atlantic and Gulf coasts. It is bordered to the west by the Gulf of Mexico, to the north by Alabama and Georgia and to the east by the Atlantic Ocean. With a population of 18,801,310 as measured by the 2010 census, it...
. From September 1841 to August 1844, he was Assistant Professor of Natural and Experimental Philosophy at the U.S. Military Academy (West Point). He served in the Mexican-American War in 1846. The degree of A. M. was conferred upon him by College of William and Mary
College of William and Mary
The College of William & Mary in Virginia is a public research university located in Williamsburg, Virginia, United States...
in Williamsburg, Virginia
Williamsburg, Virginia
Williamsburg is an independent city located on the Virginia Peninsula in the Hampton Roads metropolitan area of Virginia, USA. As of the 2010 Census, the city had an estimated population of 14,068. It is bordered by James City County and York County, and is an independent city...
in 1852.
Virginia Military Institute
In 1846, he became a professor at Virginia Military InstituteVirginia Military Institute
The Virginia Military Institute , located in Lexington, Virginia, is the oldest state-supported military college and one of six senior military colleges in the United States. Unlike any other military college in the United States—and in keeping with its founding principles—all VMI students are...
(VMI), then a recently-founded state military college in Lexington, Virginia
Lexington, Virginia
Lexington is an independent city within the confines of Rockbridge County in the Commonwealth of Virginia. The population was 7,042 in 2010. Lexington is about 55 minutes east of the West Virginia border and is about 50 miles north of Roanoke, Virginia. It was first settled in 1777.It is home to...
. During the next five years, he developed VMI's departments of Chemistry and Agriculture, taught infantry
Infantry
Infantrymen are soldiers who are specifically trained for the role of fighting on foot to engage the enemy face to face and have historically borne the brunt of the casualties of combat in wars. As the oldest branch of combat arms, they are the backbone of armies...
tactics and served as the Commandant of Cadets. To lighten the load on Major Gilham, in 1851, VMI hired another professor, Major Thomas Jonathon Jackson, later better known as "Stonewall" Jackson
Stonewall Jackson
ຄຽשת״ׇׂׂׂׂ֣|birth_place= Clarksburg, Virginia |death_place=Guinea Station, Virginia|placeofburial=Stonewall Jackson Memorial CemeteryLexington, Virginia|placeofburial_label= Place of burial|image=...
, who was also a graduate of West Point, and a veteran of the conflicts in Florida and Mexico.
As a professor, Gilham was interested in geological matters. In 1857, his Report on the Soil of Powhatan County, Virginia
Powhatan County, Virginia
As of the census of 2000, there were 22,377 people, 7,258 households, and 5,900 families residing in the county. The population density was 86 people per square mile . There were 7,509 housing units at an average density of 29 per square mile...
was published in Richmond by Ritchie & Dunnavant. A copy of a request he made to the same year for the legislature to fund acquisition of "a complete collection of minerals and fossils for the use of my classes" is in the collection of the Virginia Historical Society in Richmond.
Majors Gilham and Jackson taught together at VMI for the rest of the decade. In November 1859, at the request of the Virginia Governor Henry A. Wise
Henry A. Wise
Henry Alexander Wise was an American politician and governor of Virginia, as well as a general in the Confederate States Army during the American Civil War.-Early life:...
, Major Gilham led a contingent of the VMI Cadets Corps to Charles Town
Charles Town, West Virginia
Charles Town is a city in and the county seat of Jefferson County, West Virginia, United States. The population was 2,907 at the 2000 census. Due to its similar name, travelers have sometimes confused this city with the state's capital, Charleston.-History:...
to provide an additional military presence for at the execution by hanging on December 2, 1859 of militant abolitionist John Brown
John Brown (abolitionist)
John Brown was an American revolutionary abolitionist, who in the 1850s advocated and practiced armed insurrection as a means to abolish slavery in the United States. He led the Pottawatomie Massacre during which five men were killed, in 1856 in Bleeding Kansas, and made his name in the...
following his raid on the federal arsenal at Harper's Ferry. Major Jackson was placed in command of the artillery, consisting of two howitzers manned by 21 cadets.
In response to the raid on Harper's Ferry, Governor Wise ordered Gilham to write a manual to train volunteers and militia. Finished in the fall of 1860, it was entitled Manual of Instruction for the Volunteers and Militia of the United States and was initially published in Philadelphia.
Family life
According to VMI records, while residing in Lexington, Major Gilham and his wife Cordelia Adelaide Hayden Gilham (1826–1913) had 7 children, 3 born after moving to Virginia. Their daughter Emma Hayden Gilham (b. 1855) married William Nelson PageWilliam N. Page
William Nelson Page was an American civil engineer, entrepreneur, industrialist and capitalist. He was active in the Virginias following the U.S. Civil War...
, a civil engineer
Civil engineer
A civil engineer is a person who practices civil engineering; the application of planning, designing, constructing, maintaining, and operating infrastructures while protecting the public and environmental health, as well as improving existing infrastructures that have been neglected.Originally, a...
who became co-founder of the Virginian Railway
Virginian Railway
The Virginian Railway was a Class I railroad located in Virginia and West Virginia in the United States. The VGN was created to transport high quality "smokeless" bituminous coal from southern West Virginia to port at Hampton Roads....
.
American Civil War
In 1861, as the American Civil WarAmerican Civil War
The American Civil War was a civil war fought in the United States of America. In response to the election of Abraham Lincoln as President of the United States, 11 southern slave states declared their secession from the United States and formed the Confederate States of America ; the other 25...
broke out, the Confederate Army had a lot of new recruits. Promoted to the rank of colonel
Colonel (United States)
In the United States Army, Air Force, and Marine Corps, colonel is a senior field grade military officer rank just above the rank of lieutenant colonel and just below the rank of brigadier general...
, Gilham became the Commandant of Camp Lee, at Richmond, Virginia
Richmond, Virginia
Richmond is the capital of the Commonwealth of Virginia, in the United States. It is an independent city and not part of any county. Richmond is the center of the Richmond Metropolitan Statistical Area and the Greater Richmond area...
, the camp of instruction for thousands of Virginians. Gilham's manual proved to be the ideal book for the training of these young men.
Col. Gilham briefly commanded a brigade in the field in 1861 and 1862, but returned to teaching at VMI. On May 15, 1864, the VMI cadets participated in the Battle of New Market
Battle of New Market
The Battle of New Market was a battle fought on May 15, 1864, in Virginia during Valley Campaigns of 1864 in the American Civil War. Cadets from the Virginia Military Institute fought alongside the Confederate Army and forced Union General Franz Sigel and his army out of the Shenandoah...
. Gilham was present, but did not command the young troops during the battle. After Union troops led by Union
Union (American Civil War)
During the American Civil War, the Union was a name used to refer to the federal government of the United States, which was supported by the twenty free states and five border slave states. It was opposed by 11 southern slave states that had declared a secession to join together to form the...
General David Hunter
David Hunter
David Hunter was a Union general in the American Civil War. He achieved fame by his unauthorized 1862 order emancipating slaves in three Southern states and as the president of the military commission trying the conspirators involved with the assassination of President Abraham Lincoln.-Early...
raided Lexington, and burned buildings at VMI, the VMI cadets were stationed at Richmond
Richmond, Virginia
Richmond is the capital of the Commonwealth of Virginia, in the United States. It is an independent city and not part of any county. Richmond is the center of the Richmond Metropolitan Statistical Area and the Greater Richmond area...
for the remainder of the War. Major Gilham's house, a campus landmark, was later rebuilt to original specifications after the War.
Post-war
After the War, VMI had no money to pay its instructors. Gilham went to work in Richmond for Southern Fertilizer Company, which occupied the former Confederate Libby PrisonLibby Prison
Libby Prison was a Confederate Prison at Richmond, Virginia, during the American Civil War. It gained an infamous reputation for the harsh conditions under which prisoners from the Union Army were kept.- Overview :...
facility near Richmond's Tobacco Row
Tobacco Row
Tobacco Row is a collection of tobacco warehouses and cigarette factories in Richmond, Virginia adjacent to the James River and Kanawha Canal near its eastern terminus at the head of navigation of the James River.-History:...
. One of the company's products, Gilham's Tobacco Fertilizer, was manufactured there.
William Gilham died in Vermont
Vermont
Vermont is a state in the New England region of the northeastern United States of America. The state ranks 43rd in land area, , and 45th in total area. Its population according to the 2010 census, 630,337, is the second smallest in the country, larger only than Wyoming. It is the only New England...
on November 16, 1872, aged 54, of undisclosed causes. He was interred at Lexington, Virginia
Lexington, Virginia
Lexington is an independent city within the confines of Rockbridge County in the Commonwealth of Virginia. The population was 7,042 in 2010. Lexington is about 55 minutes east of the West Virginia border and is about 50 miles north of Roanoke, Virginia. It was first settled in 1777.It is home to...
's Stonewall Jackson Memorial Cemetery.