William Stevens Gibbons was born around 1842 in Virginia to Samuel Gibbons and Christina Miller. His father was a farmer in Luray, Virginia, and he owned $16,000 of real estate and $97,550 of personal property, including at least three enslaved laborers. Gibbons also worked as a farmer before the war.

 

He enlisted in the Confederate army on November 16, 1862, in Luray, Virginia, and mustered in as a private in Company K of the 10th Virginia Infantry. He was discharged on January 10, 1863. He enlisted again at Orange Court House, Virginia, on May 1, 1864, and mustered in as a private in Company C of the 39th Virginia Cavalry Battalion. According to his enlistment records, he was 5 feet, 11½ inches tall, with light hair and dark eyes. He was captured near Martinsburg, West Virginia, on June 28, 1864, and Union forces sent him to Camp Chase, Ohio. He was paroled on March 2, 1865, and transferred to City Point, Virginia, in order to be exchanged.

 

Gibbons and his parents moved to Floyd County, Georgia, after the war, and Gibbons worked as a clerk in a store. He married Ella J. Pitner around 1877, and they had at least six children: Samuel, born around 1877; Albert, born around 1878; William, born around 1881; Robert, born around 1883; Charles, born around 1885; and Frances, born around 1894. Gibbons remained in Floyd County for the rest of his life, working as a farmer. He died there on April 11, 1931, and was buried in Myrtle Hill Cemetery.

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