George Gibson
Private George Gibson was a skilled hunter and fiddle player who served in the Corps of Discovery. Along with Pierre Cruzatte, Gibson provided musical entertainment that boosted morale and helped establish friendly relations with Native peoples during the expedition. He was frequently selected for hunting parties and special assignments. Gibson suffered a serious fall from a horse during the return journey in 1806, which temporarily incapacitated him. He died in St. Louis in 1809, just a few years after the expedition's return.
Biography
George Gibson (d. 1809) was a private in the Corps of Discovery known for his fiddle-playing abilities — he and Pierre Cruzatte provided the expedition’s musical entertainment. Gibson was also a skilled horseman and hunter.
During the return journey, Gibson served in Clark’s party descending the Yellowstone River. He suffered a serious injury when he fell on a sharp snag while mounting a horse, driving a stick nearly two inches into his thigh. Despite this painful wound, he recovered and continued the journey.
Gibson was also one of the expedition’s salt-makers at Fort Clatsop, helping to boil seawater on the Oregon coast to produce the salt the party desperately needed for preserving food on the return trip.
After the expedition, Gibson died in St. Louis in 1809 under circumstances that are unclear. His death came just a few months before Lewis’s own death on the Natchez Trace.
