William Harvey Gibson

William Harvey Gibson. .

General Gibson believed the two most important things in life were piety and patriotism. In his creed they were linked in indissoluble union. His piety was broad enough to include every creed, his patriotism wide enough to cover the whole country. He once said to me that he put the flag just beneath the cross. That, he said, was high enough for it. His name will be remembered as long as patriotism is revered. , Wm. McKinley. , "I have just finished reading The Life of Patrick Henry. I closed the book and asked myself: 'Have we any man living like him?' Only one figure arose before me and that was our own Eloquent Gibson." , Rutherford B. Hayes

, Battle of Stone River , Dec. 31, A.D. 1862 , Gibson's Birthplace, , Jefferson County, , May 18, A.D. 1821. , Gibson's Pioneer Home , Seneca County, , Oct. 12 A.D. 1821. , Springdale-Home, from , which Gibson went to War , Sept. 18, A.D. 1861. , Gibson's Fort Ball , Home-where he died. , Nov. 22, A.D. 1894. ,

"I have heard many of the gifted Orators of Europe and America, but have never listened to such eloquence as poured forth for two hours and a half from the lips of William H. Gibson." , Harriet Beecher Stowe

, May 16 A.D. 1821. , November 22 A.D. 1894. , This monument, erected A.D. 1906, in loving remembrance of General Wm. H. Gibson. , Pioneer, citizen, soldier, peerless orator, loyal statesman, - a lover of his country and his countrymen, - by the Grand Army of the Republic and the Military Order of the Loyal Legion, his compatriots in the War of the Rebellion, the State of Ohio, by appropriation of the legislature in session A.D. 1904; the Ohio Societies throughout the Republic individual contributors in all parts of the globe; all fraternal orders represented in Tiffin; and the public school children of Seneca County. , "As the ages and centuries pass, let our children and our children's children. And the children of the future eras, come trooping here with songs and roses and beneath the shadow of this statue let them draw inspiration for the testing of life's hard battles." , Monument Commission , Governor Myron T. Herrick, Pres't, State Auditor Walter D. Guilbert, Sec'y of State Lewis C. Laylim, David Dwight Digger, Sec'y, Edward T. Naylor, Frank A. Mabery, Governor John M. Pattison, Governor Andrew L. Harris. ,

"Have listened to the most eloquent orators of my day. General Gibson has no equal as a master of mass assemblies." , James G. Blaine , "Could I speak like that man I would willingly forfeit my stars." , Gen. Phil. Sheridan

, Scene at Melmore July 4 A.D. 1843 , , A soldier of the War of the Revolution had a seat upon the platform towards the close of his address, Wm. H. Gibson, the Orator of the day who was but twenty-two years of age, grasping the folds of the American Flag, and with his hand on the head of the aged soldier, said; "This flag is ours! It is kissed by the sunlight of God. It floats over a free and independent people and is honored throughout the word, but they who gave it to us are passing away. Reverently I place this flag on the brow of my friend Armold. , For it was he and his compatriots who gave in to us. These white stripes tell the purity of their devotion; those red stripes speak of the blood shed by patriots fallen at his side. These stars, shining from that field of blue, tell to all nations what they won-and all this is ours! This soldier's race is nearly run. He will soon go to meet the brave spirits of comrades with whom he served in the paths of the mountains and in the storm-swept plains of the valleys but sacred will be his dust. . This historical marker is in Tiffin in Seneca County Ohio