Major Erasmus Corwin Gilbreath
Susan Gilbreath Lane Family Scrapbook Ca. 1898
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.
