{{Short description|American politician (1822–1898)}} {{Infobox officeholder | name = Nathan Kimball | image = NKimball.jpg | order = 15th | office = Treasurer of Indiana | term_start = February 9, 1867 | term_end = February 9, 1871 | governor = [[Conrad Baker]] | predecessor = John I. Morris | successor = James B. Ryan | birth_date = {{birth date|1822|11|22}} | death_date = {{death date and age|1898|1|21|1822|11|22}} | birth_place = [[Fredericksburg, Indiana]] | death_place = [[Ogden, Utah]] | party = [[Republican Party (United States)|Republican]] | other_party = [[Whig Party (United States)|Whig]] (prior to 1854) | education = | profession = | spouse = | branch = {{army|United States}}<br/>[[Union Army]] | allegiance = {{flag|United States of America}}<br/>[[Union (American Civil War)|Union]] | rank = [[File:Union Army brigadier general rank insignia.svg|35px]] [[Brigadier general (United States)|Brigadier General]]<br />[[File:Union Army major general rank insignia.svg|35px]] [[Brevet (military)|Brevet]] [[Major general (United States)|Major General]] | unit = [[14th Indiana Infantry Regiment]]<br>[[Gibraltar Brigade]] | battles = {{tree list}} *[[Mexican–American War]] **[[Battle of Buena Vista]] *[[American Civil War]] **[[Battle of Cheat Mountain]] **[[First Battle of Kernstown]] **[[Battle of Antietam]] **[[Battle of Fredericksburg]] **[[Siege of Vicksburg]] **[[Battle of Peachtree Creek]] **[[Second Battle of Franklin]] **[[Battle of Nashville]] {{tree list/end}} | awards = }} '''Nathan Kimball''' (November 22, 1822 – January 21, 1898) was a physician, politician, postmaster, and military officer, serving as a general in the [[Union army]] during the [[American Civil War]]. He was the first statewide commander of the [[Grand Army of the Republic]] veterans organization in [[Indiana]].
==Early life and career== Kimball was born in [[Fredericksburg, Indiana]], a small rural hamlet where he attended the local school. He attended the Washington County Seminary and then Indiana Asbury College (what is now [[DePauw University]]) from 1839 until 1841 before leaving to teach school and farm in [[Independence, Missouri]]. He studied medicine under his brother-in-law at the [[University of Louisville]] Medical School in 1844 and established a private practice in [[Salem, Indiana|Salem]] and [[Livonia, Indiana|Livonia]].<ref>SUVCW website</ref> He married Martha A. McPheeters in [[Washington County, Indiana]], on September 22, 1845. The couple had one child, a son named James.
When the [[Mexican–American War]] erupted, Dr. Kimball volunteered his services to the state, raising a company from Livonia in the 2nd Indiana Infantry and being elected as a [[Captain (United States O-3)|captain]]. Kimball was distinguished at the [[Battle of Buena Vista]], where he rallied his company and held them fast even as the rest of the regiment crumbled and fled in disorder. He mustered out in June 1847 and returned to Indiana, where he resumed his medical practice, expanding it to [[Loogootee, Indiana|Loogootee]]. He was defeated for election as a [[Whig Party (United States)|Whig]] to the Indiana State Senate in 1847. His wife died in early 1850, and he married Emily McPheeters in August. In 1852, he again lost an election, this time for Presidential Elector. Kimball joined the newly formed [[Republican Party (United States)|Republican Party]] in 1854. His medical practice flourished, and he became well known in the region.
==Civil War== With the outbreak of the Civil War in 1861, Kimball again volunteered his services to Indiana and raised a company of infantry. Governor [[Oliver Morton]] named him the [[Colonel (United States)|colonel]] of the 1,143-man [[14th Indiana Infantry Regiment|14th Indiana Infantry]] on June 7, 1861.<ref name="Baxter, page 185">Baxter, page 185.</ref> He led his [[regiment]] in the campaigns in [[West Virginia|western Virginia]], seeing his first combat at the [[Battle of Cheat Mountain]] in the autumn.
In March 1862, he fought in the [[Shenandoah Valley]], commanding a brigade at the [[Battle of Kernstown I|Battle of Kernstown]]. On the second day of the fighting at Kernstown, he temporarily assumed command of the [[division (military)|division]] of wounded [[Brigadier general (United States)|Brigadier General]] [[James Shields (politician, born 1810)|James Shields]], and then pushed back [[Stonewall Jackson]] in a successful [[counterattack]]. It was one of the first repulses that Jackson had suffered. In recognition of Kimball's performance, he was promoted to [[Brigadier general (United States)|brigadier general]] on April 16, 1862. With the victory at Kernstown, Kimball had now participated in early Civil War defeats of both Robert E. Lee and Thomas J. Jackson.
In July 1862, Kimball led his regiment, the [[8th Ohio Infantry]], and the 7th West Virginia Infantry to join the [[Army of the Potomac]].<ref name="Baxter, page 185"/> After adding the [[4th Ohio Infantry]] to his [[brigade]], Kimball was briefly stationed in [[Fort Monroe]] before covering [[John Pope (general)|John Pope]]'s retreat from the [[Second Battle of Bull Run]] on September 1. During the subsequent [[Maryland Campaign]], Kimball commanded the First Brigade of [[William H. French]]'s third division in the [[II Corps (ACW)|II Corps]]. His men formed the right of the division during its series of assaults on the Sunken Road at the [[Battle of Antietam]], losing over 600 men killed or wounded.<ref>Warner, page 268.</ref> Despite the severe losses, the men held their ground and eventually pushed aside the [[Confederate States Army|Confederates]] in their front, capturing 300 men and several colors. Kimball's brigade became known as the "[[Gibraltar Brigade]]" for their steadfast ability to withstand enemy fire.<ref>SUVCW webpage</ref>
In December, his men were part of the desperate assaults ordered by [[Ambrose Burnside]] against Marye's Heights during the [[Battle of Fredericksburg]]. There, Kimball suffered a painful thigh wound that put him out of action for the winter and spring of 1863. The Gibraltar Brigade was subsequently turned over to Col. [[Samuel S. Carroll]]. In early 1863, Kimball was nominated to run for the Lieutenant Governor of Indiana, but he declined the nomination to remain in the army.
After finally recovering enough for field command, Kimball was assigned to duty in the [[Western Theater of the American Civil War|Western Theater]], reporting in June 1863 to [[Corinth, Mississippi]], where he assumed command of a division in the [[XVI Corps (Union Army)|XVI Corps]]. His was one of three divisions in that corps that were ordered to [[Mississippi]] in to join the [[Siege of Vicksburg]], although they arrived too late to participate in much of the actual fighting. In September, the greater part of Kimball's division was ordered to [[Arkansas]], where it became incorporated in the [[VII Corps (Union Army)|VII Corps]]. He commanded the rear echelon in the [[Camden Expedition]].
In April 1864, Kimball was relieved of duty in the [[Department of Arkansas]] and ordered to report to [[William T. Sherman]], who became a close personal friend.<ref>[[Official Records of the American Civil War|Official Records]], Series 1, Volume XXXIV, Chapter XVVI, page 280.</ref> Kimball was on detached duty under Sherman until May 1864, when he was given command of a brigade in the [[IV Corps (ACW)|IV Corps]] at the beginning of the [[Atlanta campaign]]. Following the [[Battle of Peachtree Creek]] in July, Kimball assumed command of a division in the same corps.
He returned to Indiana at Governor Morton's request to help subdue the [[Knights of the Golden Circle]] in that state, then returned to active field duty in the late fall, serving as a division commander in the battles of [[Battle of Franklin II|Franklin]] and [[Battle of Nashville|Nashville]]. He had originally been selected to stand as the Republican nominee for lieutenant governor in the [[1864 Indiana gubernatorial election|1864 gubernatorial election]], but he would decline the nomination in the midst of the campaign. This was encouraged by the state Republican Party so that he could be replaced with [[Conrad Baker]], who they believed could better appeal to recalcitrant radical German voters. He received a [[Brevet (military)|brevet]] as a [[Major general (United States)|major general]] on February 1, 1865, and mustered out of the army on August 24, 1865, following the close of the war.
==Postbellum activities== Kimball returned to Indiana, where he became associated with the newly organized [[Grand Army of the Republic]], serving as its first state commander. Reentering politics, he was elected in 1867 as the State Treasurer, where he focused on banking reform and was re-elected to a second term. In 1869, he joined the [[Freemasons]] lodge in Mount Pleasant, Indiana.<ref>Denslow, page 22.</ref> Kimball won election to the [[Indiana House of Representatives]] in 1873 from [[Marion County, Indiana|Marion County]]. His former commander in the [[Vicksburg Campaign]], [[Ulysses S. Grant]], appointed Kimball in 1873 as Surveyor General for the [[Utah Territory]], a post that he held until 1878. The following year, President [[Rutherford B. Hayes]] appointed him as the Postmaster of [[Ogden, Utah]], Kimball's adopted home. He served in this role until his death in 1898. Kimball was buried in Ogden, Utah.
==Honors== [[File:22-26-019-kimball.jpg|thumb|Bust of Kimball by [[George Brewster (sculptor)|George Brewster]] at [[Vicksburg National Military Park]]]]
A bronze bust of Kimball was erected in the [[Vicksburg National Military Park]] in 1915.
==See also== {{Portal|American Civil War}} *[[List of American Civil War generals (Union)]]
==Notes== {{Reflist}}
==References== * Baxter, Nancy Niblack, ''Gallant Fourteenth: The Story of an Indiana Civil War Regiment''. Carmel, Indiana: Guild Press, 1980. {{ISBN|0-9617367-8-X}}. * Denslow, William R., ''10,000 Famous Freemasons from K to Z''. Whitefish, Montana: Kessinger Publishing, 2004. {{ISBN|1-4179-7579-2}}. * Heitman, Francis, ''Historical Register and Dictionary of the United States Army 1789-1903''. Washington: U.S. Government Printing Office, 1903. * Warner, Ezra J., ''Generals in Blue: Lives of the Union Commanders''. Baton Rouge: Louisiana State University Press, 1964, {{ISBN|0-8071-0822-7}}. * U.S. War Department, [https://cdl.library.cornell.edu/moa/browse.monographs/waro.html ''The War of the Rebellion'']: ''a Compilation of the [[Official Records of the American Civil War|Official Records]] of the Union and Confederate Armies'', U.S. Government Printing Office, 1880–1901. *[http://suvcw.org/in/NKimball.html Sons of Union Veterans of the Civil War webpage for Kimball]{{Dead link|date=August 2025 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }}
==External links== {{Commons category}} *[https://web.archive.org/web/19990128132003/http://www.nps.gov/vick/us_cmnd/kimball.htm Vicksburg National Military Park webpage for Kimball's monument]
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Kimball, Nathan}} [[Category:1822 births]] [[Category:1898 deaths]] [[Category:People from Loogootee, Indiana]] [[Category:People from Washington County, Indiana]] [[Category:DePauw University alumni]] [[Category:University of Louisville School of Medicine alumni]] [[Category:Politicians from Ogden, Utah]] [[Category:American military personnel of the Mexican–American War]] [[Category:Union army generals]] [[Category:Gibraltar Brigade]] [[Category:People of Indiana in the American Civil War]] [[Category:Grand Army of the Republic officials]] [[Category:State treasurers of Indiana]] [[Category:Republican Party members of the Indiana House of Representatives]] [[Category:19th-century members of the Indiana General Assembly]]