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Citizens of Vicksburg
Killed by Enemy Action Not Forgotten
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Andrew Gamble
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Remembering Mrs. Patience Potticary
Gamble, Patience Potticary Gamble was killed on Mundy Street in front of the Mundy house, on June 28, 1862. The Yankee fleet, in the first siege of Vicksburg, had gotten past Port Hudson and Grand Gulf and approached Vicksburg from down stream. The demand was made of the city to surrender, the demand being refused, the Yankee fleet began to shell the city. It was during this shelling that Mrs. Gamble was struck by a shell and died. The Mundy house survived until the 1960s when it burned. After World War II, the large frame house had been converted into apartments. However, descendants of the Mundy family continued to live in a portion of the house. One of the descendants had attended Julliard, the music school in New York. She sang opera at times. Mundy Street is a short street, only one block. It lies between Farmer and Locust streets and is parallel to and between Clay and South Streets. Patience Potticary had migrated from England to Vicksburg as a young girl. She married Mr. Andrew Gamble on May 12, 1843. This union was to produce nine children. The family was quite wealthy. Mr. Gamble operated a marble yard and was, also, a cotton planter. In December 1858, he took a steamboat to New Orleans to sell his cotton and to tend to other business. He was murdered and robbed. The exact date of his death is unknown, so the date on his grave stone, 1 Jan 1859, reflects the date his remains were discovered. His remains were returned to Vicksburg. The family owned a large family lot in Vicksburg City Cemetery near the first gate. Mrs. Gamble buried him in this lot and placed a large family grave marker over his grave. One face of the grave marker contained Mr. Gamble’s statistics. Another face contained the statistics of their deceased children, and it appears quite obvious that another face was to contain Mrs. Gamble’s statistics. It appears the Civil War overwhelmed everything and her information was never cut into the stone. (Thanks to Dr. Mary Landin for this article on Patience Potticary Gamble)
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The Mundy House. It is no longer in existence, having burned in the 1960s.
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 The Gamble Home on Cherry Street stood where the old Carr Central High School was built.
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The Obituary of Patience Potticary Gamble 1 Jul 1861 "Death of Mrs. A. Gamble" "On the gray morn of the ever-memorable 28th day of June, while retired from the scene of danger, Mrs. Gamble was overtaken by a bloody messenger of tyranny, and after a short but painful agony, she yielded to her God a spirit too pure for this sinful world The deceased was one on whom the patriotic eye had been taught to dwell with fondness and gratitude. Her devotion to the sick, her sympathies for all who crowded the serried ranks of her country's avengers -- her disinterestedness and self-sacrificing patriotism for the cause in which we are all so noble battling, had made her the orb around which the heart of the soldier sought consolation in his forces hardships, and hopes in the realization of his youthful dreams. 'From earliest Spring "If the dauntless hand that first tore from the walls of Alexandria the ensign[i]a of tyranny deserves a bright place in our country's history her name is certainly worth a bright page and an everlasting mausoleum." (Thanks to Gordon Cotton for the transcription from the original newspaper. See farther below for a photo of the family's copy of that front page.)
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A Report from Brig. Gen M. L. Smith, Vicksburg Brig. Gen. Martin Luther Smith was in charge of the Confederate forces in Vicksburg during this first siege of Vicksburg. In his report he described several events of that summer, including the death of Mrs. Gamble -- Patience Potticary Gamble -- on 28 Jun 1862 during the beginning of the 6-week bombardment of the city. "The report of the struggle of Vicksburg would be incomplete without the following merited: During the engagement of the 28th a most estimable lady, Mrs. Gamble, lost her life by the fragment of a shell striking her while [she was] leaving the city. This lady deserves more than a passing notice. Burning with patriotism, she inspired all around her with the noble spirit of resistance to oppression and confidence in the success of our cause. Ever present in the hospitals, ministering to the sick and wounded soldiers, she was among the last of her sex to leave the devoted city, where she yielded up her life in attestation of her faith and devotion. Though but the type of a class of which our Southern land can boast, she is a martyr to the cause she loved, and without her name the history which Vicksburg has made for herself would be incomplete." M. L. Smith, (Official Records of the Army, Series I, Vol. 15, pg.12) |
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| Census for the City of Vicksburg, Warren Co., Miss., 7 Jun 1860, Vicksburg Post Office | ||
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 Page No. 2, showing the Gamble family continued at the top of the column.
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 Silverware engraved A & P Gamble. |
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 The Gamble lot in Cedar Hill Cemetery, Vicksburg. Patience and her husband Andrew share the tall marker. Other names are also on the marker. |
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A special thanks to Mr. James Conway, great-great-grandson of Andrew and Patience Potticary Gamble, for sharing his material and memories. |
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