William "Billy" Gibson was born into slavery in Virginia or Kentucky. He was the child of Sallie Gibson and Richard "Dick" Lewis a.k.a. William Gibson, and the only one of their children to escape bondage. The family was enslaved in the 1850s and 1860s by Sarah Elizabeth (Taylor) Mallory and Kentucky state representative Gibson "Gip" Mallory in Oldham and Jefferson Counties in Kentucky. Prior to that, Sallie was enslaved by a Miss Elizabeth Gibson* in Virginia.
William Gibson served with Company D of the famous 54th Massachusetts Volunteer Infantry during the American Civil War under the alias John Saunders, and re-enlisted in 1867 with one of the first Buffalo Soldier regiments, the 10th United States Cavalry. He is at present the only soldier identified to have served with both the 54th Massachusetts and as a Buffalo Soldier.
He enlisted with the 54th Massachusetts in 1863 from Chatham in Canada West, which was a common destination for freedom seekers fleeing slave states and the threatening circumstances created in free states by the Refugee Slave Act of 1850. Thanks to his military service and the subsequent special examination of his military pension application, we have the words of Gibson himself, his brother Sandy Lewis, mother Sallie Gibson, sister Sophia Thomas, and others to confirm his self-emancipation to Chatham via the Underground Railroad.
* Miss Elizabeth Gibson mentioned by Sallie Gibson may have been one and the same as Sarah Elizabeth (Taylor) Gibson.
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The Self-Emancipation of Kentucky slave William Gibson
Non-FictionNon-fiction. Writing an extraordinary Black man back into our histories. Born a slave in Kentucky, William Gibson served in both the famous 54th Massachusetts Volunteer Infantry during the American Civil War under his alias John Saunders and as a Bu...
