Dow Shibley was born around 1831 in Montgomery County, New York, to Christian and Mary Ann Shibley. His father was a farmer and mechanic. By 1860, he was working as a painter in Oswego, Illinois.
He enlisted in the Union army on August 18, 1862, and he mustered in as a sergeant in Company G of the 127th Illinois Infantry on October 22. According to his service records, he was 5 feet, 5 ½ inches tall, with black hair and black eyes. The regiment took part in the Vicksburg campaign, the Battle of Missionary Ridge, the Atlanta campaign, the March to the Sea, and the Carolinas campaign. He mustered out on June 5, 1865.
He settled in Yorkville, Illinois, after the war and resumed his work as a painter. He married Mary A. Platt on December 28, 1868, and they had at least two children: Fred, born around 1868; and Florence, born around 1879. By 1870, he owned $700 of real estate and $200 of personal property. He applied for a federal pension in May 1877 and eventually secured one. He moved to Chicago, Illinois, in the late 1800s. He died in 1907.