Everything about Josiah Gorgas totally explained
Josiah Gorgas (
July 1,
1818 –
May 15,
1883) was one of the few Northern-born
Confederate generals in the
American Civil War. As chief of ordnance, he managed to keep the Confederate armies supplied with weapons and ammunition, despite the
Union blockade and even though the
South had hardly any munitions industry before the war began. He kept diaries during the Civil War which are now a popular subject of study for historians.
Early life
Josiah Gorgas was born in
Dauphin County,
Pennsylvania. He was graduated from
West Point in 1841 and was assigned to the Ordnance Department. He served in the
Mexican-American War and was promoted to
captain in 1855. In 1853, he married
Amelia Gayle, daughter of former
Alabama governor
John Gayle. In 1854, their first son
William Crawford Gorgas, who later became
Surgeon General of the U.S. Army, was born. Gorgas served in
arsenals in different parts of the country before the Civil War broke out. He was commanding the
Frankford Arsenal when he resigned from the
U.S. Army.
Civil War
He followed his wife into secession, moved to
Richmond and became chief of ordnance for the Confederacy. In this capacity, he worked to create an armaments industry almost from scratch. The South had no
foundry except the
Tredegar Iron Works. There were no rifle works except small arsenals in
Richmond, and
Fayetteville, North Carolina, plus the captured machines from the Union armory in
Harpers Ferry. Gorgas established armories and foundries, found alternative sources for
saltpeter, and created a huge
gunpowder mill at
Augusta, Georgia. Thanks to his efforts, the Southern armies never lacked weapons, though they were short on almost everything else. On
November 10,
1864, Gorgas was promoted to
brigadier general.
Postbellum
After the war, Gorgas accepted a position at the newly established
University of the South in
Sewanee, Tennessee. In 1878, he was elected president of the
University of Alabama and moved to the house that's still known as Gorgas House. In 1883, he died, after which his wife became the university's librarian. The main university library is named the Amelia Gayle Gorgas Library.
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