Major Erasmus Corwin Gilbreath

Like so many other citizens in the more than 200 years of United States history, Erasmus Corwin Gilbreath evolved almost seamlessly from an ordinary citizen into a capable and dedicated soldier. This exhibit, based on Major Gilbreath’s own journals and family scrapbooks, follows his life from a volunteer soldier from Indiana in the Civil War to a regular Army senior officer. Gilbreath’s writings are an illuminating journey through much of 19th century America that reveal the growing pains of a nation seeking its identity in the wake of the most devastating event in its history.