William Gamble (1 January 1818 – 20 December 1866) was a civil engineer and a United States Army cavalry officer. He served during the Second Seminole War, and fought for the Union during the American Civil War. He commanded one of two brigades in Brigadier General John Buford's Division of Cavalry, in which he played an important role in defending Union positions during the first day of the Battle of Gettysburg. Early life Gamble was born in the townland of Duross, Lisnarick, County Fermanagh, Ireland. He studied civil engineering, worked in the Queen's Surveying Office, and participated in the Northern Ireland survey. He emigrated to the United States in 1838. Since he had experience as a dragoon in the British army, he enlisted as a private in the 1st U.S. Dragoons and rose through the ranks to become Sergeant Major by 1839. While in the Army he married Sophia Steingrandt, daughter of King's German Legion Feldwebel Georg Steingrandt, on 6 May 1841, and they had 13 (by some accounts 15) children together. After fighting in the Seminole Wars, he was discharged in 1843 and worked as a civil engineer for the Board of Public Works in Chicago and lived in Evanston, Illinois. His house is now used by the Anthropology Department of Northwestern University. Civil War After the start of the Civil War, Gamble was appointed Lieutenant Colonel of the 8th Illinois Cavalry regiment on 18 September 1861. His nomination was urged by his close friend, U.S. Congressman John F. Farnsworth, who raised and commanded the regiment. Gamble's son George also joined the regiment as a first lieutenant. (George survived the war, but was killed in a collapsed hotel during the 1906 San Francisco earthquake). Gamble's regiment was attached to the Pennsylvania Reserve Division and fought in the Peninsula Campaign, where he was wounded in the chest, leading a cavalry charge against rebel pickets more than a month after the end of the Seven Days Battles. After recovering from his wound, Gamble was promoted to colonel on 5 December 1862, just before the Battle of Fredericksburg, but his regiment saw no action in that fight. When Farnsworth was promoted, Gamble was given command of the 8th Illinois Cavalry. In the spring of 1863, he was promoted to command of the 1st Brigade of Maj. Gen. Alfred Pleasonton's cavalry division in the Army of the Potomac, but he was away from