Gilbert Edwin Dunbar, the son of Lyman and Mary A. Dunbar, was born in New York on July 31, 1840, and moved to Decatur, Michigan, before 1860. He had at least 8 siblings: Francis, Chester, Marietta, Myra, Eugene, Mott, Clarance, and Charles. He joined Company C of the 13th Michigan Infantry Regiment and was mustered into the United States Army as a sergeant on January 17, 1862. He served in Tennessee, Mississippi, and Alabama, and was promoted to second lieutenant (May 15, 1862), first lieutenant regimental quartermaster (August 18, 1862), captain assistant quartermaster (December 5, 1863), major quartermaster assistant (October 1, 1865), and brevet lieutenant colonel (March 13, 1865). He left the military on November 22, 1865, and moved to Kalamazoo, Michigan, where he worked with his father and several siblings as a flour merchant. He died on November 17, 1916.
From the guide to the Gilbert Edwin Dunbar diary and reminiscences, Dunbar, Gilbert Edwin diary and reminiscences, 1864 and after April 1865, (William L. Clements Library, University of Michigan)
