Gorgas, Josiah, 1818-1883

Josiah Gorgas was the chief ordnance officer of the Confederacy during the Civil War.

Born on July 1, 1818, in Pennsylvania, Gorgas graduated from the United States Military Academy at West Point, New York, in 1841. He was commissioned as an officer in the U.S. Army’s ordnance department, responsible for weaponry, equipment, and ammunition, and served during the Mexican-American War from 1846 to 1848. He continued to serve in the army through the 1850s at various arsenals across the United States.

Although Gorgas was from the north, he opposed the Republican party and its strong anti-slavery platform. Additionally, he had preferred assignments in the south and had disputes with his army leadership. Therefore, when the Civil War broke out in 1861, he resigned from the U.S. Army and volunteered for Confederate service. He accepted a position as chief of ordnance for the Confederacy in Richmond, Virginia. With his years of ordnance and arsenal experience, Gorgas led the creation of the Confederacy’s armaments capability. He helped develop domestic production of weapons at places like Tredegar Iron Works in Virginia, and facilitated the importation of European firearms, despite limitations by a Union naval blockade. Gorgas is largely credited with ensuring the Confederacy did not lack the necessary weaponry to wage war during the four year conflict.

After the Civil War, Gorgas initially invested in iron works in Alabama, but soon afterwards became involved in university administration work. He became a chancellor of the University of the South in Tennessee in 1870 and then was elected president of the University of Alabama in 1878. Gorgas died on May 15, 1883. He was married to Amelia Gayle and had at least six children that survived to adulthood. He is buried in Evergreen Cemetery in Tuscaloosa, Alabama. (Wikipedia; FindaGrave; Mary DeCredico, “Josiagh Gorgas,” Encyclopedia Virginia)