The exact origin of the Gibson is unclear, with numerous popular tales and theories about its genesis. According to one theory, it was invented by Charles Dana Gibson, who created the popular Gibson Girl illustrations. Supposedly, he challenged Charley Connolly, the bartender of the Players Club in New York City, to improve upon a martini. As the story goes, Connolly simply substituted an onion for the olive and named the drink after the patron.
Another version now considered more probable recounts a 1968 interview with a relative of a prominent San Francisco businessman named Walter D. K. Gibson, who claimed to have created the drink at the Bohemian Club in the 1890s. Charles Clegg, when asked about it by Herb Caen, also said it was from San Francisco, not New York. Other reporting supports this theory; Edward Townsend, former vice president of the Bohemian Club, is credited with the first mention of the Gibson in print, in a humorous essay he wrote for the New York World published in 1898.
Another theory is that the Gibson after whom the drink was named was a popular California onion farmer, as seen in the publication Hutchings' illustrated California magazine: Volume 1 (p. 194) by James Mason Hutchings in 1857:
ONION VALLEY. During the winter of 1852 and '53, snow fell in Onion Valley to the depth of twenty-five feet, ... Even the towns of Gibsonville, Seventy-Six, Pine Grove, Whiskey Diggings, and several others, did their trading here.
Other stories of the drink's origins feature apocryphal businessmen, including an American diplomat who served in Europe during Prohibition. Although said to be a teetotaller, he often had to attend cocktail receptions, where he'd ask for a martini glass filled with cold water, garnished with a small onion so he could distinguish his drink from others. A similar story involves an investment banker named Gibson, who would take his clients out for the proverbial three-martini business lunches. He purportedly had the bartender serve him cold water so he could stay sober while his clients became intoxicated; the cocktail onion garnish served to distinguish his beverage from those of his clients.
A 1928 description of the drink was: gin, and a spot of lime. A description in the 1953 Raymond Chandler novel The Long Goodbye stated that "a real gimlet is half gin and half Rose's lime juice and nothing else."This is in line with the proportions suggested by The Savoy Cocktail Book (1930), which specifies one half gin and one half lime juice. However, modern tastes are less sweet, and generally provide for up to four parts gin to one part lime cordial.
The derivation of the name of the cocktail is contested. It may be named after the tool for drilling small holes (alluding to its "piercing" effect on the drinker) or after the surgeon Rear-Admiral Sir Thomas Gimlette (1857–1943), who is said to have first added lime cordial to gin to help combat the ravages of scurvy on long voyages.
It is unknown when gunfire was concocted, but it is known that it was mixed by British Army soldiers during the 1890s. Gunfire is served by officers and non-commissioned officers to lower ranks before a morning attack (as a form of Dutch courage) and as a celebration before a Passing out parade. It is also traditionally served to soldiers in their beds by their officers on Christmas Day at reveille if they are deployed over Christmas. Individual regiments may carry out the ritual on other days: for example, in the Royal Tank Regiment gunfire is served on Cambrai Day; in the Queen's Royal Hussars on Balaclava Day and Saint Patrick's Day; and in the Royal Dragoon Guards gunfire made with whiskey on St Patrick's Day.