Gamble - Named in honor of two brothers, Lt. Peter Gamble and Brevet Lt. Col. John Marshall Gamble, USMC, both heroes of the War of 1812.

Peter Gamble – born on 5 November 1793 in Bordentown, N.J. – was appointed a Navy midshipman on 16 January 1809. He served on the New York Station and on board the frigate President. He was promoted to the rank of lieutenant on 8 October 1813 and transferred to the brig Enterprise. On 4 May 1814 he was ordered to proceed to Vergennes, Vt., and report to Commodore Thomas Macdonough, commanding officer of naval forces on Lake Champlain. While acting as first lieutenant of Macdonough’s flagship Saratoga, Gamble was killed while sighting his gun on 11 September 1814 during the Battle of Lake Champlain. Macdonough mourned Gamble’s death and praised his bravery in a letter to the young officer’s father. In its vote of thanks to Macdonough for the victory on Lake Champlain, Congress expressed its gratitude for Gamble’s service and authorized the presentation of a commemorative silver medal to his nearest male relative, stating that his name “ought to live in the recollection and affection of a grateful country.” (No image of Peter Gamble is available at this time)

John M. Gamble – born in New Jersey on 12 March 1790 – ­­was, like his younger brother Peter, appointed a Navy midshipman on 16 January 1809. U.S. Marine Corps records indicate that on 16 July 1809, John Gamble took the oath as a second lieutenant of Marines, with his appointment effective on 10 July. He was promoted to first lieutenant on 5 March 1811.

By October 1811, Gamble had been put in charge of a detachment of marines on board the frigate Essex commanded by Capt. David Porter. With the country at war with Britain, Essex sailed south from Delaware on 27 October 1812, capturing numerous vessels of the British whaling fleet along both coasts of South America over the next several months. Porter placed Gamble in charge of one of the prize ships, Greenwich, which had been captured off the Galapagos Islands on 28 May 1813. On 13 July, the out-manned and out-gunned Greenwich, under Gamble’s command, captured the British privateer Seringapatam, which Porter later described as “an armed vessel of the enemy which had long been the terror of the American ships which had been engaged in commercial and other pursuits” in the Pacific Ocean