General George Nelson Macy

Military Service of George Nelson Macy Enlistment Date:7 Oct 1861

Rank at enlistment: 1st Lieut

Promoted to Full Captain on 08 Nov 1861.

Commissioned an officer in Company I, Massachusetts 20th Infantry Regiment on 08 Aug 1861.

Promoted to Full Major on 18 Dec 1862.

Promoted to Full Lt Colonel on 01 May 1863.

Promoted to Full Colonel on 05 Jul 1863.

Promoted to Brevet Brig-General on 14 Aug 1864.

Mustered out on 27 Jul 1865.

Promoted to Brevet Major-Gen on 09 Apr 1865.

FIELD COMMANDS

20th Massachusetts Infantry Regiment Lieutenant Colonel

BATTLES FOUGHT

Gettysburg -- 20th Massachusetts Infantry Regiment 3rd Brigade (Hall), 2nd Division (Gibbon), II Corps

DIVISION COMMANDS [all commands chronologically]

1st Division, II Corps February 15, 1865 - February 22, 1865

BRIGADE COMMANDS [all commands chronologically]

1st Brigade, 2nd Division, II Corps August 13, 1864-August 14, 1864

Consolidated Brigade, 1st Division, II Corps October 13, 1864-October 27, 1864

3rd Brigade, 1st Division, II Corps November 2, 1864-November 4, 1864

1st Brigade, 1st Division, II Corps November 3, 1864 - February 15, 1865

1st Brigade, 1st Division, II Corps March 17, 1865 - April 17, 1865

Civil War Union Brevet Major General. At the advent of the Civil War, he was employed at the banking firm of Warren and Osborn, Boston. He enlisted in the 20th Massachusetts Volunteer Infantry and was commissioned a 1st Lieutenant in command of Company I. On October 21, 1861, surrounded by Confederates at the battle of Ball's Bluff, Virginia, rather then to surrender, he swam the Potomac River to find boats to rescue survivors. He gained the admiration of the regiment and was promoted Captain. In December of 1862, he with his regiment was part of General Ambrose Burnside‘s army who ordered the assault on the town of Fredericksburg. Crossing the Rappahannock River in small boats, he led his men through the streets in a series of charges that helped secure the town. At Gettysburg on July 3, 1863, when Colonel Paul J. Revere, was killed, Macy assumed command of the regiment. Facing Pickett's Charge, he led the 20th Massachusetts in the front line of General Winfield S. Hancock's men on Cemetery Ridge and stopped Pickett's Charge. A minié ball shattered his left hand, the arm was amputated and after recovery in Boston, he was fitted with an artificial arm. Despite his disability, he returned to action. As a full Colonel in the Battle of the Wilderness, on May 6, 1864, he was ordered to lead a charge to save the Union line of defense. Charging up the Orange Plank Road, he was shot in both legs, but survived. He returned to duty in Virginia in August 1864. At the battle of Deep Bottom, Richmond, he was leading his men on horseback when his horse was shot and fell upon him. He arose and pushed forward with his men until he fell on the field. For his distinguished conduct at the Wilderness and Deep Bottom, on February 6, 1865, he was brevetted Brigadier General, US Volunteers. He was twenty-seven years old and later he was brevetted Major General, US Volunteers by General Ulysses S. Grant. At the Grand Review of the Army held May 23, 1865, as Provost Marshall General he led the parade before President Andrew Johnson and General Grant. After the war, he returned to Boston, where he became an officer of the Suffolk Savings Bank. Known to carry a Derringer pistol in his vest pocket returning home, he suffered a dizzy spell, fell and the pistol fired sending a ball through his heart. His family is the same that started Macy’s Department Stores. (bio by: John "J-Cat" Griffith)

http://www.findagrave.com/cgi-bin/fg.cgi?page=gr&GSln=Macy&GSfn=Geo...

*http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rowland_Hussey_Macy