Talk:Samuel Gibbs French/GA1

GA Review
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Reviewer: Hog Farm (talk · contribs) 20:03, 22 October 2021 (UTC)

First run through will be mainly current content, although I plan on going through some books I have to see if anything further relevant can be included.


 * First paragraph of the lead - three straight sentences start with "he", can this be varied some?
 * done. Dwkaminski (talk) 13:19, 25 October 2021 (UTC)
 * "French was born near Mullica Hill, New Jersey, the second son of Samuel and Rebecca (Clark) French" - provide the exact date of birth, which isn't actually directly cited anywhere
 * done. Dwkaminski (talk) 14:07, 25 October 2021 (UTC)
 * "He received a promotion to brevet Captain and was sent home to recuperate" - lowercase captain, it is lowercased when referring to the rank itself
 * done. Dwkaminski (talk) 14:08, 25 October 2021 (UTC)
 * "In August, 1845, he sailed from Baltimore with Major Ringgold's battery of horse artillery to join General Zachary Taylor and the Army of Occupation in Aransas Pass, Texas" - Link Aransas Pass, Texas. Also, "General" wasn't Taylor's exact rank, recommend looking up the exact one and using it instead
 * Not sure. His wikipedia page has an image that refers to him as General Taylor in the Mexican-American War section and he was not promoted to Major General until 1846. Dwkaminski (talk) 14:17, 25 October 2021 (UTC)
 * "He led expeditions in 1849 and 1851 to the Republic of Texas and was assigned to Fort Smith, Arkansas at his request in 1854. He resigned his commission in May, 1856" - checked with my copy of Warner, and have tagged the first sentence as failed verification as Warner has none of that information. Also, Warner only gives the year of 1856 for the resignation, not the month
 * Added French reference, pages 298-299. Dwkaminski (talk) 14:44, 25 October 2021 (UTC)
 * " He oversaw the improvements to Fort Fisher and built Camp French[12] and Fort French[13] (named in his honor[14] but renamed Fort Lee in 1863[13]) near Wilmington, North Carolina and the fortifications around Petersburg, Virginia" - long, convoluted sentence. Recommend tacking ", respectively" onto the end to make it clearer that Fisher was in NC, but French/Lee was the one in VA
 * Moved the camp and fort naming into legacy section. Restructured sentence to improve clarity. Dwkaminski (talk) 14:59, 25 October 2021 (UTC)
 * "French became a major general on October 22, 1862" - you can add that his promotion had seniority backdated to August 31, per Warner p.94
 * done. Dwkaminski (talk) 15:18, 25 October 2021 (UTC)
 * "He commanded a brigade and subsequently a division under Gen. Daniel Harvey Hill at Petersburg, Virginia. " - Especially don't use just "Gen." here. "General" by itself was also a formal rank in the CSA, see General officers in the Confederate States Army.  Use Hill's actual rank
 * Updated to Lieutenant General. Dwkaminski (talk) 16:03, 25 October 2021 (UTC)
 * Hill was a major general at this point. Hog Farm Talk 20:55, 25 October 2021 (UTC)
 * Updated. Dwkaminski (talk) 21:18, 25 October 2021 (UTC)
 * " In 1863, French led a division under LTG James Longstreet in the Siege of Suffolk" - Avoid the jargon usage of LTG, most reader's won't be familiar with it. This jargon also appears with Polk later
 * Updated to Lieutenant General. Dwkaminski (talk) 16:03, 25 October 2021 (UTC)
 * Include more exact dates of Suffolk and Vicksburg, the chronology isn't as clear as it should be
 * Added additional dates and details. Dwkaminski (talk) 13:44, 26 October 2021 (UTC)
 * "French served under LTG Leonidas Polk in Mississippi and in the Atlanta Campaign of the Army of Tennessee, which was led by Johnston and then by Gen John Bell Hood" - clarify when things turn to 1864 here
 * Added additional detail. Dwkaminski (talk) 13:44, 26 October 2021 (UTC)
 * Per Warner p. 94, he was officially attached to the Army of Tennessee on May 18, 1864
 * Updated. Dwkaminski (talk) 20:30, 25 October 2021 (UTC)
 * " The pass was held by a federal garrison under Gen. John M. Corse," - Again, exact rank for Corse
 * Done. Dwkaminski (talk) 20:35, 25 October 2021 (UTC)
 * "French suffered an eye infection that rendered him nearly blind and he relinquished command to Claudius W. Sears" - specify that this change of command occurred before the Battle of Nashville, per Warner p. 94
 * Done. Dwkaminski (talk) 20:52, 25 October 2021 (UTC)
 * "First to Eliza Matilda Roberts of Mississippi." - Sentence fragment. Also, can you add when this occurred, and was this the marriage through which he acquired the plantation?  Also, when did Eliza die?
 * Added that the plantation was acquired through the marriage to Eliza Matilda Roberts in Mexican-American War section. Source: Howard French pages 298-299.  Dwkaminski (talk) 21:00, 25 October 2021 (UTC)
 * Added marriage date - source: French's autobiography page 128. Added Eliza Matilda Roberts death date - source French autobiography pages 132-133.  Dwkaminski (talk) 21:15, 25 October 2021 (UTC)
 * "Mary Fontaine Abercrombie died on 16 May 1900 at Atlanta, Georgia." [citation needed]
 * Added reference. Dwkaminski (talk) 21:47, 25 October 2021 (UTC)
 * "A cenotaph for him was placed in his family's plot in Laurel Hill Cemetery in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania." [citation needed]
 * Citation added. Dwkaminski (talk) 22:03, 25 October 2021 (UTC)
 * Ancestraltrackers.net does not appear to be RS
 * Updated using Fonvielle reference - page 491. Dwkaminski (talk) 14:24, 26 October 2021 (UTC)
 * "Samuel Gibbs French: a Northern-Born Confederate General". www.thehistorymakers.org. Retrieved 12 October 2021." - this looks like Mark Hudziak's personal blog. What are his credentials that would pass WP:SPS?
 * Removed Iron Brigadier as citation. Added it as external link. Replaced citations with other sources.  Dwkaminski (talk) 22:39, 25 October 2021 (UTC)
 * The exact death date of April 20 is never directly cited; this can also be cited to Warner p. 94
 * Added the date. Left reference as Waltzer.  Dwkaminski (talk) 16:08, 25 October 2021 (UTC)
 * Eicher and Sifakis are listed as sources but are never used, remove or move to a further reading section
 * Removed. Dwkaminski (talk) 16:06, 25 October 2021 (UTC)


 * - I believe I have addressed all the initial comments. Please let me know if there are any additional changes that need to be made.  Thanks!  Dwkaminski (talk) 14:29, 26 October 2021 (UTC)
 * I just got a book I ordered off of Amazon today that contains a short bio of all Confederate generals, among other things. Will check after work to see if it contains any new details about French. Hog Farm Talk 15:17, 26 October 2021 (UTC)

Source is

All information here comes from p. 73
 * Further detail about his Buena Vista wound - was from a musket ball
 * He was on sick leave August through October 1863
 * Can provide more exact dates for He returned home in December 1864 to recuperate; but he returned to service in 1865, commanding forces in the defense of Mobile, Alabama - December 16, 1864 through February 1865

Looking pretty good now. According to Welsh p. 73, his death certificate apparently gave a cause of death as "senility", but I don't think that's necessary to include. Hog Farm Talk 03:48, 27 October 2021 (UTC)

- I found the Welsh reference on google books and added the recommended info. Dwkaminski (talk) 12:40, 27 October 2021 (UTC)


 * "During the Civil War, Camp French[12] and Fort French near Wilmington, North Carolina were named in his honor.[13] Fort French was renamed Fort Lee in 1863." - This still isn't right. The links for Fort Lee and Camp French are going to places in Virginia, so the Wilmington, NC reference seems off.  If you can't get a citation for Fort French, you can remove that sentence but piped link it to Fort Lee.  Fort Fisher was the fort at Wilmington. Hog Farm Talk 13:50, 27 October 2021 (UTC)
 * - I think I got it. I found the Historic Sites in North Carolina website that talks about the fort French built in Brunswick Town, North Carolina near Wilmington. Camp French was in Quantico, Virginia. I removed the portion about Fort French becoming Fort Lee since that was not supported by any reference I could find. I restructured the Civil War section to represent the different forts and when they were built. Dwkaminski (talk) 17:12, 27 October 2021 (UTC)