of course!!!! thank you so so much anon genuinely i've been wanting a reason 2 yap about him.
i usually chip away at his toyhouse profile every so often, though i've recently taken it upon myself to rewrite some of the nonsensical stuff about him lol. gail's one of my older fallout ocs. he was created a few years ago now as a result of me smashing my 2 mainstay interests (the american civil war and fallout, how obvious!) together. i didn't go into too much detail on his lore in his sole post considering yeah that's his only post to date and i fear just putting a load of information in it would just be overwhelming to see. Nevertheless, gail r. caldwell! presents him to you like a... a prize horse
gail's born 1833 in maine. gail's mum had fled to the united states in early 1813 at age 7 after her dad died of wounds in the french invasion of russia. her mum had died years prior in childbirth. yerpppp his maternal family is french and rich sorry. specifically a cadet branch of the house of harcourt in rouen.
gail's dad was a former us army logistician that got discharged after a near-fatal draught horse kick to the face while out on campaign. he used his logistics skills 2 monopolise the fishing and shipbuilding industry in maine after this. his paternal family is also upper upper class wealthy because like none of this would've made sense if he was working class or middle class. this part of his family was also very involved with the military, politics, and law. he has two paternal aunts (lydia & elaine) who he was very close with. they usually went around in the northern us on social events and parties together when gail was younger.
he has an elder brother, amos. him and gail are naturally close, but tend to drift apart due to their differences in demeanour. amos was a lieutenant in the mexican american war however, much like his father, got near-fatally injured by shrapnel and was discharged. amos is disabled and slightly cray cray due to this. mental illness is something i try to put a lot of into gail and his related characters as an outlet for my own mental illness.
worth to note that gail is a very devout catholic! both sides of his family are catholics, be that his paternal scottish-english catholics or his maternal french catholics. i use his paternal catholicism to set up a theme of having 2 hide who you are for some reason or another.
his paternal family were secret glaswegian catholics after john knox's scottish reformation. he's an altar boy.
he graduated from the united states military academy in 1854 at age 21 an got a commission as a second lieutenant w/ the role of adjutant for the 1st us dragoons. he would also become a sort of aide-de-camp and chaplain after 1855 due to the newly stretched thin supply of officers following disastrous attempts at genocide of the rogue river native americans. he was discharged in 1858 after a psychotic break.
schizophrenia was not a recognised disorder until 1908, but would've possibly saved him years of battling with his own self. not to mention, he's GAYYY!!!
he spent the years leading up to the american civil war staying with his wife and daughter whilst also becoming increasingly involved with the church. even with his record of severe mental illness, he was offered a commission as a junior captain once again w/ the role of an adjutant in the union cavalry at the outbreak of the civil war. wounded in the first battle of manassas, after which he was deemed unfit for the eastern theatre of the american civil war and sent back to california. he formed an extramarital relationship with the doctor/surgeon tending to him, lieutenant commander john prendergast.
when john departed from gail in 1862 after having accompanied him the better half of his trip to california, gail's judgement became..... weird.... in grief.... managing to get lost in the sierra nevadas and chancing upon a mysterious relic, he and his horse got snowed in!!!! the relic kept him alive though for 4 centuries before malfunctioning from the events of the lonesome road dlc
