A Black Confederate General That We Can All Embrace?

I trust that after this post no one will accuse me of dismissing any and all evidence for the existence of black Confederate soldiers.  Better yet, I give you at least one black Confederate general.  The interesting question is whether the Sons of Confederate Veterans and others will accept him as one of their own.  From The Boston Globe:

Randall Lee Gibson, an urbane, Yale-educated Confederate general, mocked black people as “the most degraded of all races of men.’’ Later, as a US senator from Louisiana, he helped broker the end of Reconstruction, freeing the South to harass and lynch blacks virtually at will…. In the 20th century, his orphaned son, Preston, was raised by an aunt and her husband, who had been a justice on the US Supreme Court that legitimated racial segregation in the infamous case of Plessy v. Ferguson…. What Senator Gibson did not know was that his great-grandfather Gideon Gibson was a free man of color, and a substantial landowner and slaveholder, who led the “Regulators’’ to a successful back-country revolt in Colonial South Carolina. To his peers, the author contends, Gideon Gibson was neither black nor white but merely rich and respected. His marriage to a white woman further blanched his progeny, and their relocation to Mississippi and Louisiana allowed the family’s African-American past to fade away altogether.

The following passage comes from a review of a new book that explores the complex web of racial identity through the experiences of three families that straddled the the racial divide.  Gibson’s life is also the focus of a recent biography by Mary Gorton McBride, titled, Randall Lee Gibson of Louisiana: Confederate General and New South Reformer (Louisiana State University Press, 2007).  In 1876 Gibson was attacked by former Republican governor James Madison Wells, who accused him of being “colored” in the pages of the New York Times.  Gibson followed up by consulting with two historians in Mississippi concerning his family history.  Apparently neither Gibson nor his siblings had any knowledge of their black ancestors, but what is more interesting is that the accusations apparently had no impact on how he viewed himself or on society’s acceptance of Gibson as a “white” leader.

So, was/is General Randall Lee Gibson a black Confederate?

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55 comments… add one
  • hansnielsen58 May 7, 2021 @ 7:56

    Yes, Randall Gibson was a black Confederate and not the only one. I descend from the same family. My great uncle was Edmund Winchester Rucker. Namesake of Fort Rucker. His 2nd great grandfather was Jordan Gibson, brother of Gideon “the Regulator”. Edmund’s line passed into whiteness by acts of the Tennessee Legislature where the children of Gen. James Winchester and his common-law wife, Susan Black were granted the surname Winchester. Susan’s mother, Mariah Gibson Black, was Jordan’s daughter. Mariah is buried in the garden at “Cragfont” in Sumner County, Tennessee with my 2nd great grandmother’s twin, Malvina Winchester.

    • Claudia Gibson May 7, 2021 @ 14:54

      I hate to say it but this story just isn’t true. Randall Gibson is my husband Harlan Gibson’s second great grandfather. Both my husband and my son had their DNA done and there is no sub-Saharan African. There was a little bit of confusion among the genetic lines because they were two Gideon Gibsons. Someone made a mistake along the way. Although there is some hidden Jewish blood in there!

      • Randal Gibson Feb 10, 2022 @ 23:21

        You are incorrect as the Black Gibsons in Louisiana would disagree with in which who I am head of the Louisiana Branch of the Gibson family from Tom Gibson to Gideon. My DNA says you are wrong and need to check to see if your husband is lying to you or if his daddy lied to him don’t matter. DNA is a stationary fact.

  • Ernest Kobs Jun 14, 2018 @ 6:03

    Great article but why would the Sons of Confederate Veterans not accept him? I don’t even understand why you would say that. We have black members. We have hispanic members that joined under Hispanic Confederate sponsorship. We have members that join under black Confederate sponsors (ancestors). My latest camp induction is a black man. We have Christrians, Jews and Muslims. I don’t really understand what the comment has to do with the rest of the article except to diminish the organization. Did I miss something?

    • Kevin Levin Jun 14, 2018 @ 6:30

      It is quite impressive how the SCV has refashioned itself to appear as a progressive group committed to inclusiveness and civil rights. LOL

  • Claudia Gibson Mar 8, 2018 @ 13:14

    Well I can state unequivocally and for the record that Randall Lee Gibson had zero African ancestry. My husband is a direct descendant, the great-great grandson of Randall Lee Gibson. He recently had a DNA test done that revealed zero African ancestry. However, there was some ancestry showing up from Portugal, which is in line with oral history from the Gibson family line that their darker complexions and wavy hair came from Portuguese ancestors. My son’s DNA test said the same thing. Interestingly though, there was some Jewish blood that showed up, which probably made its way into the Gibsons at some point, since my husband’s maternal line was from Sweden and England.

  • tony Sep 26, 2017 @ 6:04

    We all got Negro DNA people!! as much as you may not want to believe facts…. we all come from one… and that one came out of AFRICA!!! we can alter and modify history all we want to make us feel better… DNA don’t lie.. “cause the bible tell us so” .. sing along….

  • Krissi Jul 15, 2015 @ 13:48

    As a descendant of the MS Gibsons via Gideon Gibson “the Regulator”, I find your article interesting yet missing some important information. Gideon was not a free black man. He was of Portuguese descent. To be sure, I had my DNA tested & not surprisingly, it came back with 0% African descent & 16% Portuguese descent. Just thought I would help clear it up…

    • Claudia Gibson Mar 8, 2018 @ 13:15

      Yes, the same thing from my husband’s DNA, Krissi. Would love to compare notes.

  • AD Powell Feb 6, 2015 @ 19:00

    As long as we’re looking for “black” Confederates (and playing fast and loose with the definition of “black”), here’s a claim about the wife of Jefferson Davis:

    http://originalpeople.org/jefferson-davis-wife-mixed/

  • Wayne Binning Jan 6, 2015 @ 12:24

    Thank you, Kevin, for your apology. I credit you with this. And I also credit you with permitting me a fair hearing. Having said this, let me suggest that you throw one of your “tongue-in-cheek” stink bombs into the Abraham Lincoln site, claiming to have discovered that Lincoln was homosexual, after all. You might head it, “Abe Was a Babe.” This would, of course, all be in good fun. And this would enable the light-hearted Andy to witness some really “obsessive” responses. By the way, Andy, what’s with the “Lookit”? Is that the vernacular somewhere?

  • Wayne Binning Jan 5, 2015 @ 18:23

    You are the one who made the assertion that Gibson had black ancestry, not I, when you remarked, “I give you at least one black Confederate general.” And none of your respondents above, including Andy Hall in his comment on Wells, seemed to take your assertion as “tongue-in-cheek.” Plenty sarcastic, all right, but not tongue-in-cheek. Now that you, not I, claims he has found a black Confederate general, it is for you to find the evidence to support your claim. You do know the difference between evidence and baseless rumor? Evidence can be documented and rumor alone cannot.

    Do I expect you to take seriously my comment that you will believe what you want to believe? I do .

    • Kevin Levin Jan 6, 2015 @ 2:02

      I apologize if you didn’t pick up on the tone of the post. It was not meant as an investigative piece. I had come across a newspaper article online and shared it with my readers. I framed it around the controversy surrounding black Confederate soldiers. There is nothing more to it.

    • Andy Hall Jan 6, 2015 @ 7:16

      And none of your respondents above, including Andy Hall in his comment on Wells, seemed to take your assertion as “tongue-in-cheek.”

      I did indeed ask if Wells had any actual knowledge of the case, and Kevin responded appropriately. That’s a legitimate question and, given your concern that Gibson’s reputation is being unfairly sullied, you should be interested in the answer to that, too.

      As I said before, Kevin’s reference to Gibson as a “black Confederate” was tongue-in-cheek. I don’t know how I can make myself any more clear in my meaning.

      Lookit, if you want to obsess over a perceived slight to Gibson, fine. It does appear to me that you’re having difficultly recognizing that sometimes legitimate and serious questions can be treated in a light-hearted way. But that’s on you, not Kevin.

  • Wayne Binning Jan 4, 2015 @ 17:23

    Revealing response. Let me see if I can direct your focus to the point I was making. There is no evidence, other than rumor, that Randall Lee Gibson had black ancestry. If so, I challenge you to produce it. You conclude from the rumor that Gibson was a “black Confederate.” On the other hand, there is a wealth of evidence, albeit circumstantial, in my opinion rising to the level of probability, that Abraham Lincoln was homosexual. Yet you are, as you say, unconvinced. Then why so easily convinced of Gibson’s black ancestry?
    Is it because you are one for whom the evidence is never an impediment to what he believes—and wants to say?

    • Kevin Levin Jan 4, 2015 @ 17:30

      Perhaps you should go back and re-read the post. I simply shared a story that appeared in a newspaper along with a reference to a book about Gibson. At the time I was writing quite a bit about the myth of the black Confederate soldier. The only evidence that I am aware of is what is contained in those two sources. Feel free to direct me to additional sources.

      Is it because you are one for whom the evidence is never an impediment to what he believes—and wants to say?

      Do you really expect me to take this seriously?

  • Wayne Binning Jan 3, 2015 @ 9:34

    I notice that Kevin Levin teaches an entire course on Lincoln. Does he teach that Lincoln was a homosexual as eagerly as he suggests that Randall Lee Gibson was black? After all, it has been rumored for generations that Lincoln was a homosexual. Therefore, it must be true.

    • Kevin Levin Jan 3, 2015 @ 17:29

      Does he teach that Lincoln was a homosexual as eagerly as he suggests that Randall Lee Gibson was black?

      Strange comment. I have shared selections from C.A. Tripp’s _The Intimate World of Abraham Lincoln_ but have never suggested that the argument made about L’s homosexuality is convincing.

    • Andy Hall Jan 5, 2015 @ 6:44

      Most of us recognized that Kevin’s reference to Gibson as a “black Confederate” was tongue-in-cheek.

      • Kevin Levin Jan 5, 2015 @ 11:19

        Thanks, Andy. I am not sure what is driving Mr. Binning’s comments.

  • Steele Gibson May 23, 2014 @ 5:12

    Claudia Gibson, did your genealogy research show a connection to a Joseph Edward Gibson? He was born in the early 1900’s in the United States. His parents however, immigrated over from Scotland.

  • Claudia Gibson Feb 9, 2014 @ 14:47

    This is my husband’s ancestor; I first learned about him while researching genaeology for my MLS. What is most interesting about RLG is that his father, Tobias Gibson, was considered rather progressive for his time and position; Tobias did view slavery as morally wrong (which of course did not mean he was ready to give up his own slaves) and also advocated the right to vote for women, and taught this to his own children, including his daughter, who was widowed early and who became an ardent supporter of women’s sufferage in her later years. The family papers and letters, kept in various archives, make fascinating reading. RLG also was the valedictorian at Yale in 1853, and apparently engaged in many debates with his northern classmates about the issue of slavery. At any rate, Randall’s sons managed to lose the family fortune through their bad habits; they lacked the focus of their father, who died when they were in their teens and twenties. Randall’s namesake, Randall Lee Gibson III, was a Boston Unitarian minister and ardent supporter of civil rights for blacks and gays in the 1960s and 1970s.

  • AD Powell Jun 1, 2013 @ 18:42

    A touch of “Negro blood” didn’t make Randall Lee Gibson any less white. His fellow white elites knew that when they rallied to silence the fool who accused him of “invisible blackness.”

    http://www.yalelawjournal.org/the-yale-law-journal/essay/the-secret-history-of-race-in-the-united-states/

    http://www.amazon.com/The-Invisible-Line-History-America/dp/B0085S8GFU/

    http://www.amazon.com/Legal-History-Color-Line-One-Drop/dp/0939479230/

  • Joanne Pezzullo Oct 2, 2011 @ 2:40

    I find it interesting that among the thousands of articles about Randall Gibson and his black family no one produces his genealogy. That they have *attached* this Gibson family to the Gideon Gibson family with no proof whatsoever simply astounds me. I am a genealogist and have done much research on the Gibson family neither of these are my Gibson lines ftr.

    • Kevin Levin Oct 2, 2011 @ 2:49

      Thanks for the comment, but I am not clear as to who it is directed at. Perhaps you can elaborate.

      • Joanne Pezzullo Oct 2, 2011 @ 12:28

        Not directed at anyone in particular, just the numerous authors that keep writing what they find in books and not doing proper research. That research would show that there is no proof that Randall Lee Gibson’s ancestors were related to Gideon Gibson who appeared before Governor Johnson. Most novice genealogists are aware of the ‘same name syndrome’ you simply cannot assume because they have the same name they are related.

  • M.M.Atkinson Mar 21, 2011 @ 8:59

    Good grief! No, this man WAS NOT a black confederate general. Society recognized him as a white man; therefore, he was a white man.

    I think our time would be spent more wisely debating more important things, such as dispelling the myth of black confederates period!

    • Andy Hall Mar 21, 2011 @ 9:47

      Pretty sure Kevin’s question was in jest.

      • Kevin Levin Mar 21, 2011 @ 9:52

        Not completely in jest. I am was using this case to get a sense of the conceptual boundaries of the black Confederate.

  • London John Mar 21, 2011 @ 6:31

    I think Mariane Davis is right – altho’ Gibson may have had Black ancestry, if neither he nor anyone else knew about it, it had no significance.
    I should think no country ever gave more thought to classifying people’s race than apartheid South Africa. What they came up with amounted to saying you are whatever race you appear to be and other people take you for. The birth of the first child of an Afrikaner (Boer) couple was always interesting in case both parents’ unknown African ancestry might combine to produce a legally Black child – which did actually happen.

    • erasmuse Oct 8, 2014 @ 6:54

      I wonder if Randall Gibson was also the first black Yale man?

  • Marianne Davis Mar 19, 2011 @ 20:22

    Kevin,
    Race is a social construct, not a biological verity. No one is black or white except in so far as someone recognizes them as such. My grandfather was Cherokee, I’m a green-eyed blonde with skin the color of Wonder Bread. So what am I? I may not be white, but there’s no one whiter.
    Gen. Gibson was not a black Confederate, he was an urbane, Yale-educated racist. Claiming him as a black Confederate is tantamount to saying that America voted for a gay man in 1856. (They’re both fun diversions, though, thanks.)

  • James F. Epperson Mar 18, 2011 @ 5:40

    Something interesting about this is that, IIRC, Gibson was one of the pro-Bragg officers in that army.

    • Lyle Smith Mar 18, 2011 @ 6:26

      I thought Gibson didn’t like Bragg because Bragg had thought him a coward at Shiloh (Bragg apparently was wrong in his judgement). Daniel W. Adams, Gibson’s brigade commanding partner of sorts was the pro-Bragg man, I thought. That’s what I read somewhere recently, maybe in the Noe Perryville book.

      • James F. Epperson Mar 18, 2011 @ 6:54

        OK, I’m going on memory of what a friend told me long ago while tramping Shiloh, so I could easily be wrong or have confused things.

        • Lyle Smith Mar 18, 2011 @ 8:54

          I don’t know if what I said is correct either — about Gibson possibly not being pro-Bragg. Gibson could have still supported Bragg as a commander despite Bragg’s handling of him at Shiloh. And being from Louisiana Gibson would have been a ‘natural’ ally of Bragg’s perhaps, just like brigade commanders Adams and Liddell were.

          • William Satterwhite Sep 28, 2017 @ 4:30

            In the old Time-Life Civil War Series Shiloh book (not a great source I know but those books kindled my love for Civil War history and little bits like this always seem to stick with me) it is mentioned that despite Bragg’s opinion of Gibson at Shiloh he became a well-respected officer who Bragg at least did support later on.

            • Claudia Gibson Mar 8, 2018 @ 13:06

              Bragg hated Gibson. The whole story is set out in the biography of Randall Lee Gibson entitled Randall Lee Gibson of Louisiana: Confederate General and New South Reformer
              by Mary Gorton McBride

  • Colin Woodward Mar 18, 2011 @ 5:26

    Interesting story. I don’t see how you could view him as a black Confederate. Though if we were going by the “one drop” rule, I suppose you could.

  • Andy Hall Mar 18, 2011 @ 4:14

    I wonder if James Madison Wells actually knew about Gibson’s lineage, or if he just tossed out that accusation as a damning slur (in that time and place), that coincidentally happened to be true unbeknownst to either man.

    • Kevin Levin Mar 18, 2011 @ 4:32

      I thought the same thing, but I can’t be sure. I need to go through his biography at some point.

  • Lyle Smith Mar 17, 2011 @ 19:58

    Cool, didn’t know this about Mr. Gibson.

  • Corey Meyer Mar 17, 2011 @ 18:03

    “So, was General Randall Lee Gibson a black Confederate?”

    Great question. I would venture to say No, because neither he nor society saw him as a black man.

    • EarthTone Mar 18, 2011 @ 7:24

      Agreed.

      As a side note: In November 1863, CSA Secretary of War James Seddon was asked if a group of creoles (mixed race persons) from Mobile, AL, could be enlisted, even though “many of them [have] negro blood in the degree which disqualifies other persons of negro race from the rights of citizens.”

      Seddon responded that “our position with the North and before the world will not allow the employment as armed soldiers of negroes. If these creoles can be naturally and properly discriminated from negroes, the authority may be considered as conferred; otherwise not, unless you can enlist them as “navvies” (to use the English term) or for subordinate working purposes.”

      In other words: they could serve as soldiers – IF they could pass for white!

      • Don May 17, 2011 @ 10:38

        I have heard that part of this was social. The ability to treat other people as slaves meant that you had to believe that they were lower than you. In a sense, that they could only be used as manual labor (your comment about navvies and subordinate work purposes). If a black man could be trained to fight in an army to defend a cause, he could be considered to be at or close to the level of a white man. It would then be wrong to keep such a man as a slave.

      • bernie melvin Jun 29, 2015 @ 14:32

        my grandfather from the state of VA. had a friend from his county that could pass for white. He was inducted in the U.S. Army during WWII. and put with an all white unit. He was told to keep his mouth shut, they didn’t want any confusion, when he told them of his ethnic race.

  • James F. Epperson Mar 17, 2011 @ 17:54

    He is certainly a black Confederate in the sense that he was black (as defined by the South) and a CS general. But since he was “passing,” perhaps w/o knowing his true racial background, he doesn’t count within the context of the modern controversy.

  • Gregg Jones Mar 17, 2011 @ 17:45

    Kevin,

    I am remiss! Yes! We should claim him as a Black Confederate.

  • Gregg Jones Mar 17, 2011 @ 17:37

    Kevin,

    This is a very good article. While the man was not humane in thought or deed, he is a good example of one of many that are genetically part of the pool of humanity but are inhumane. How many men have had a hatred, a fear of other races but in reality were related to the object of their hatred? National Geographic a year ago was collecting the DNA from as many citizens to show just how we are all related to humanity. I did it was was very well surprised. The truth will set us all free.

    • Kevin Levin Mar 18, 2011 @ 2:51

      Apparently, Gibson was not aware of his racial identity.

      • AD Powell Jun 1, 2013 @ 18:43

        Gibson’s “racial identity” was white – no ifs, ands or buts.

      • hansnielsen58 May 7, 2021 @ 8:20

        He was aware. He was confronted about it contemporaneously. He stated that he had a genealogical investigation done and it wasn’t true. (It was). A person was invented for his tree. This invented person is John Jordan Gibson. (No such person).

  • Allen Gathman Mar 17, 2011 @ 17:06

    Fascinating story. I need to read more about him.

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