Col. Jonathan Catlett GIBSON

     Col. Jonathan Catlett GIBSON was born on 17 November 1793 in Virginia, son of Jonathan Catlett GIBSON III and (?) Mallory.^2,3
     During the War of 1812, Jonathan and John GIBSON enlisted in Capt. John Linton's Troop of Cavalry in Lt. Col. Enoch Rennoe's 36th Regiment of Virginia Militia from 21 August 1814 to 7 September 1814 in Orange County, Virginia. Jonathan was a sergeant and his brother John was a lieutenant. They enlisted for a period of 12 days. Jonathan also served in Capt. Jos. R. Gilbert's Company of the 6th regiment of Virginia Militia.
     According to the testimony of William Ross of Culpeper County on 11 Nov 1879 in support of Mary W. Gibson's pension claim, "In 1814 when I landed at Norfolk the first person I met was Col. J. Catlett Gibson, who came up to enquire after the 'Culpeper boys.' He was a member of Capt. Gilbert's company, from Prince William Co. Capt. Gilbert was a large, portly man, and a hatter by trade. We boys used to call him 'Old Man Time' because he couldn't keep time. Chas. Fenton Mercer was the major of our regiment. I don't remember the name of the colonel [Lt. Col. Daniel Coleman]. The commander in chief [at Norfolk] was Gen. [Moses] Porter a very wicked man who used to curse all militia men off the face of the earth. Col. Gibson and myself were both in same regt. called out for six months, but served only three months. We were stationed at Camp Nemo 3 miles of Norfolk. Were in Norfolk occasionally and often called out for pickett service at the Pleasure House on Lynnhaven Bay. Col. J. C. Gibson and myself were discharged on 11 May 1814." Note: Pleasure House was a Chesapeake bayside tavern in which Norfolk area sports, satirically referred to by a contemporary as "the Pleasure House crowd," gathered to gamble and drink. Even so, the long popular watering hole also served during the first two decades of the 19th century as a lookout and vantage point on the Chesapeake Bay from which military observers before and throughout the War of 1812 could spy on the hostile activities of the British naval forces in nearby Lynnhaven Bay and off Cape Henry.^4,5
     At the time of his enlistment in 1814, Jonathan was described as 6 feet tall, with dark brown curling hair, gray eyes, large aquiline nose, and a decided mouth and chin.⁶
     Jonathan married first Martha Dandridge BALL, daughter of Col. Burgess BALL and Frances Ann WASHINGTON, circa 1816 in Virginia. He was an attorney.
     Jonathan married second Mary Williams SHACKELFORD, daughter of John SHACKELFORD and Lucy Tutt, on 28 December 1824 in Fairfax, Culpeper County, Virginia. Parson Woodville conducted the wedding service.^7,8
     According to a history of Culpepper County, during Lafayette's visit to America the Marquis was contacted at Montpelier, James Madison's home in Orange County, and invited to Culpepper. As Lafayette had made a point to visit Virginia counties where he and his men had lived and fought during the Revolution, he accepted. "His party, ex-president James Monroe among them, crossed into Culpepper County at Lightfoot's Ford on Crooked Run at mid-morning, August 22, 1825. There, the entourage met with Maj. Jonathan Catlett Gibson and his mounted fifty-man volunteer escort. Virginia Appeals Court Judge John Williams entertained the party at Greenwood, a mile from town, and while the host poured iced apple toddies, Gibson's horses paraded in the front yard."^7,9
     Col. Jonathan Catlett GIBSON was a member of the Virginia General Assembly. In 1833 he and Capt. Ambrose P. Hill, of later Civil War fame, were appointed to go to Richmond to employ "delaying tactics" to prevent Culpeper county being divided, but they were too late and Rappahannock county was formed. in 1831.¹⁰
     Col. Jonathan Catlett GIBSON died on 9 December 1849 in Culpeper Courthouse, Virginia, at age 56. The official cause of death shown on the 1850 Mortality Schedule was "paralysis", which was probably the result of a stroke. Death came after an illness of three days.^3,11,12 He was buried on 15 December 1849 in St. Stephen's Episcopal Church Cemetery, Culpeper, Virginia. His monument is an upright stone with a pointed top. It reads: "SACRED to the memory of J. C. Gibson, Born the 17th of November 1793, Died the 6th of December 1849 in the 67th year of his age." A separate flat marker reads: "GIBSON: Jonathan Catlett Gibson, 1793-1849. Colonel War of 1812."^13,14