Randall L. Gibson

Randall Lee Gibson was born near Versailles, Kentucky, on September 10, 1832, and grew up in Louisiana. He graduated from Yale College in 1853 and studied law at the University of Louisiana. At the outbreak of the Civil War, Gibson entered Confederate service and became colonel of the 13th Louisiana Infantry. He fought at Shiloh, Perryville, Stones River and Chickamauga before receiving promotion to brigadier general in 1864. He subsequently participated in the Atlanta and Franklin-Nashville Campaigns.

In the spring of 1865, Gibson commanded Confederate troops defending Spanish Fort, a key stronghold protecting Mobile, Alabama. His outnumbered garrison resisted Union forces for nearly two weeks before evacuating the fort on the night of April 8, 1865.

After the war, Gibson practiced law in New Orleans and entered politics, representing Louisiana in the U.S. House of Representatives from 1875 to 1883 and the U.S. Senate from 1883 until his death in 1892. He also served as president of the board of administrators of Tulane University and as a regent of the Smithsonian Institution.