Following the American's victory over the British, Gibbons and other remaining Tories was convicted of treason and he was considered a prisoner of the Sheriff of Chatham County. His estate was confiscated and only after executive order was he permitted to remain at his mother's and allowed and to pass between there and Savannah. In January 1783, Gibbons petitioned the Assembly for citizenship, which was granted six months later under the stipulation that he could not vote, hold office for 14 years, or practice law. However, in only four years, he was granted full rights and privileges of citizenship. Between 1791 and 1801, only four years after being granted full rights of citizenship, Gibbons served several terms as the Mayor of Savannah, Georgia from 1791 to 1792, again in 1794 to 1795 and lastly from 1799 to 1801, as a Democratic-Republican. In addition to his service as mayor, he was also an aldermen of the city. In 1801, he was appointed a federal judge. As mayor, Gibbons was the head of the Savannah delegation who welcomed U.S. President George Washington to Savannah during Washington's "ceremonial tour of the South" in May 1791.
In 1801, Gibbons moved north and purchased a summer house in Elizabethtown in New Jersey, where he purchased a large private dock facility a few years later. His neighbor was former United States Senator and New Jersey GovernorAaron Ogden. Gibbons formed a partnership with Ogden, to operate steamboats. In 1817 Gibbons acquired a steam ferry, the Stoudinger, built by Allaire Iron Works, as a Hudson River ferry business between Elizabethtown and New Brunswick, New Jersey. In 1818, he acquired Bellona. Gibbons hired Cornelius Vanderbilt to captain the Bellona. Over the next few years, he also purchased Thistle, Swan, and Emerald. Vanderbilt biographer T.J. Stiles described Gibbons as "a staggeringly rich rice planter from Georgia." Gibbons turned out to be a mentor to Vanderbilt throughout his life. In 1818, Gibbons broke his partnership with neighbor Aaron Ogden and started competing with him, just months before Gibbons hired Vanderbilt. Ogden had acquired rights to a steamboat monopoly in New York waters. The monopoly had been granted by the New York State Legislature to the politically influential patrician Robert Livingston and Robert Fulton, who had designed the steamboat. Both Livingston and Fulton had died by the time Vanderbilt started working for Gibbons. The monopoly was held by Livingston's heirs. They had granted a license to Ogden to run a ferry between New York and New Jersey. Gibbons launched his steamboat venture because of a personal dispute with Ogden, whom he hoped to drive into bankruptcy. To accomplish this, he undercut Ogden's prices. Ogden then secured an injunction against Gibbons on October 21, 1818. This prompted Gibbons to bring a legal action to overturn the monopoly. The landmark legal case, known as Gibbons vs. Ogden, was fought all the way to the United States Supreme Court, where Gibbons, represented by Daniel Webster and U.S. Attorney GeneralWilliam Wirt, eventually won in 1824.
Personal life
In 1780, Gibbons was married to Ann Miles Heyward. Together, they were the parents of many children, only three of which survived to adulthood:
Ann Heyward Gibbons, who married John Trumbull, son of Gov. Joseph Trumbull.
Gibbons died on May 16, 1826 in New York. He was "obese and diabetic from a life of rapacious eating and drinking."
Descendants
Through his daughter Ann, he was the grandfather of Thomas Gibbons Trumbull, John Heyward Trumbull, and Hannah Gibbons Trumbull, who married Ralph Henry Isham, and Sarah Backus Trumbull, who married Daniel Coit Ripley. However, due to Gibbon's falling out with his son-in-law, no child of John Trumbull was able to inherit any piece of Gibbon's estate or property as dictated in Gibbons' scathing will. Through his son William, he was the grandfather of Sarah Taintor Gibbons, who was married to Ward McAllister ; and William Heyward Gibbons, William's only son. William Heyward sold the family mansion, known as the Gibbons Mansion, to Daniel Drew in 1867 for $140,000. Drew donated the mansion and grounds to found Drew Theological Seminary, named in his honor.
