[2] The next year, however, he received the Democratic nomination for Wisconsin State Assembly in his district and won election in the fall.
[6] Politically, Gibson was closely aligned with Albert D. La Due, who was a prominent Democrat in early western Wisconsin.
In the second year of the American Civil War, Gibson volunteered for service in the Union Army and was commissioned major of the 31st Wisconsin Infantry Regiment, under Colonel Isaac E. Messmore.
The regiment left Wisconsin on March 1, 1863, and went south by rail to Cairo, Illinois, then boarded boats and proceeded to Columbus, Kentucky.
They suffered significantly from disease during this time, with often half the regiment unfit for duty, causing four to eight deaths per week.