Maj. Gen. John Sedgwick, USA

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Sedgwick

John Sedgwick (September 13, 1813 – May 9, 1864) was a teacher, a career military officer, and a Union Army general in the American Civil War. His death at the Battle of Spotsylvania Court House is often considered a well known tale of irony.

Sedgwick was born in the Litchfield Hills town of Cornwall, Connecticut. He was named for his grandfather, John Sedgwick (brother of Theodore Sedgwick, an American Revolutionary War officer and the 5th Speaker of the US House of Representatives).

After teaching for two years, he attended the United States Military Academy, graduated in 1837 ranked 24th of 50, and was commissioned a second lieutenant in the U.S. Army's artillery branch. He fought in the Seminole Wars and received two brevet promotions in the Mexican-American War, to captain for Contreras and Churubusco, and to major for Chapultepec. After returning from Mexico he transferred to the cavalry and served in Kansas, in the Utah War, and in the Indian Wars, participating in 1857 in a punitive expedition against the Cheyenne.

At the start of the Civil War, Sedgwick served as a colonel and Assistant Inspector General of the Military Department of Washington. He missed the early action of the war at the First Battle of Bull Run, recovering from cholera. Promoted to brigadier general on August 31, 1861, he commanded the 2nd brigade of Maj. Gen. Samuel P. Heintzelman's division in the Army of the Potomac, then his own division, which was designated the 2nd division of the II Corps for the Peninsula Campaign. In Virginia, he fought at Yorktown and Seven Pines and was wounded in the arm and leg at the Battle of Glendale. He was promoted to major general on July 4, 1862.

In the Battle of Antietam, II Corps commander Maj. Gen. Edwin V. Sumner impulsively sent Sedgwick's division in a mass assault without proper reconnaissance. His division was engaged by Confederate forces under Maj. Gen. Thomas J. "Stonewall" Jackson from three sides, resulting in 2,200 casualties. Sedgwick himself was hit by three bullets, in the wrist, leg, and shoulder, and was out of action until after the Battle of Fredericksburg.

From December 26, 1862, he briefly led the II Corps and the IX Corps, and then finally the VI Corps of the Army of the Potomac, which he commanded until his death in 1864. During the Battle of Chancellorsville, his corps faced Fredericksburg in an initial holding action while Maj. Gen. Joseph Hooker's other four corps maneuvered against Robert E. Lee's left flank. He was slow to take action, but eventually crossed the Rappahannock River and assaulted Maj. Gen. Jubal Early's small force on Marye's Heights. Moving west slowly to join forces with Hooker and trap Lee between the halves of the army, he was stopped by elements of Lee's Second Corps (under Maj. Gen. J.E.B. Stuart, following the wounding of Jackson) at the Battle of Salem Church, forcing his eventual retreat back over the Rappahannock.

At the Battle of Gettysburg, his Corps arrived late on July 2 and as a result only few units were able to take part in the final Union counterattacks in the Wheatfield. In the 1864 Overland Campaign, the VI Corps was on the Union right at the Battle of the Wilderness and defended against assaults by Lt. Gen. Richard S. Ewell's Second Corps.

In a rather ironic turn of events, Sedgwick fell at the beginning of the Battle of Spotsylvania Court House, on May 9, 1864. His Corps was probing skirmish lines ahead of the left flank of Confederate defenses and he was directing artillery placements. Confederate sharpshooters were about 1,000 yards (910 m) away and their shots caused members of his staff and artillerymen to duck for cover. Sedgwick strode around in the open and was quoted as saying, "What? Men dodging this way for single bullets? What will you do when they open fire along the whole line? I am ashamed of you. They couldn't hit an elephant at this distance." Although ashamed, his men continued to flinch and he repeated, "I'm ashamed of you, dodging that way. They couldn't hit an elephant at this distance." Just seconds later he fell forward with a bullet hole below his left eye.

Sedgwick was the highest ranking Union casualty in the Civil War. Although James B. McPherson was in command of an Army at the time of his death and Sedgwick of a Corps, Sedgwick had the most senior rank by date of all major generals killed. Upon hearing of his death, Lt. Gen. Ulysses S. Grant, flabbergasted by the news, repeatedly asked, "Is he really dead?"

Sedgwick's reputation was that of a solid, dependable, but relatively unaggressive general. He was well-liked by his soldiers, who referred to him affectionately as "Uncle John". His death was met by universal sorrow; even Robert E. Lee expressed his sadness over the fate of an old friend. George G. Meade wept at the news. Ulysses S. Grant characterized Sedgwick as one who "was never at fault when serious work was to be done" and he told his staff that the loss for him was worse than that of an entire division.

John Sedgwick is buried near his birthplace of Cornwall Hollow, Connecticut. An equestrian statue honors him and the VI Corps at Gettysburg National Military Park.

There is a monument of General Sedgwick at West Point. Academy legend has it that a Cadet who spins the spurs of the statue at midnight while wearing full dress uniform will have good luck on their final exam.

----------------------------------------------------

"Civil War Union Army Major General. He was one of the most well-liked Generals in the Union Army, and was called by the men under his command “Uncle John”. Born in Cornwall Hollow, Connecticut, he graduated from the United States Military Academy at West Point, New York in 1837, placing twenty-fourth (his class included seven future Civil War Confederate generals, including Braxton Bragg, Jubal Early and John C. Pemberton, and ten future Union generals including Israel Vogdes, William H. French, and Joseph Hooker). Posted as a 2nd Lieutenant in the 2nd United States Artillery regiment, he fought in the 2nd Seminole War in Florida, took part in the removal of the Cherokee Nation from Georgia to Oklahoma, and performed garrison duty in Virginia, New York and Rhode Island. When the Mexican War began in 1846, he served in the army commanded by Major General Winfield Scott that marched from Vera Cruz, Mexico to the capture of Mexico City, taking part in the battles of Cerro Gordo, Churubusco, Molino del Rey, and Chapultepec. For his services in the war he was brevetted Major. He returned to garrison duty until the mid-1850s, when her was promoted to Major of the 1st United States Cavalry regiment, and posted to Kansas as part of the government’s efforts to quell the “Bleeding Kansas” sectional strife. He later served on the American Western Frontier, and in the 1858 expedition against the Mormons in the Utah Territory. Just prior to the Civil War he was promoted to Lieutenant Colonel of the 2nd United States Cavalry, then after the war started to full Colonel of the 1st Cavalry. Recalled to Washington, DC, he was commissioned as a Brigadier General, US Volunteers on August 31, 1861, and assigned to brigade command. In February 1862 he was advanced to division command, which he led in the Army of the Potomac’s II Corps in the subsequent Spring 1862 Peninsular Campaign under Major General George B. McClellan. At the June 30, 1862 Battle of Glendale he was shot in the leg and arm. On July 25, 1862 he was promoted to Major General, US Volunteers. He led his command during the September 1862 Antietam Campaign, and at the Battle of Antietam on September 17, 1862 he led his division into the West Woods area, where it was caught by a Confederate flank attack and cut to pieces, suffering 2,200 casualties in under twenty minutes. General Sedgwick was wounded three times and brought off the field unconscious. He returned to duty just after the December 1862 Fredericksburg Campaign, and was placed in command of the VI Corps in February 1863. At the May 1863 Battle of Chancellorsville, he was in command of the Army of the Potomac’s left flank, and directed the capture of the town of Fredericksburg, Virginia and the successful storming of Marye’s Heights there (both of which the Union Army, facing far more Confederate troops, failed to do so with great casualties the previous December). His advance to Chancellorsville was eventually stopped at Salem Church, Virginia, and he received criticism for his slow, cautious movements which allow Confederates to take up formidable defensive positions. He led his men through the June-July Gettysburg Campaign, where at the Battle of Gettysburg the VI Corps was mostly in a reserve position around the Weikert Hill area, and were in a position to stop any breech in the Union lines. The day after the battle his men were the first Union troops to begin the pursuit of the defeated Army of Northern Virginia. In the Fall 1863 Mine Run Campaign, he commanded the V and VI Corps at the Battle of Rappahannock in November, a successful engagement that netted seventeen hundred Confederate prisoners. When Lieutenant General Ulysses S. Grant assumed command of all Union Armies, the Army of the Potomac’s corps were consolidated, and Major General Sedgwick retained command of an augmented VI Corps. He led his men in the thick of the fighting at the May 1864 Battle of the Wilderness. On May 9, 1864, he was walking through the frontline trenches to assure and calm his men when a Confederate bullet killed him instantly with a shot under his left eye. His death caused great shock and sorrow amongst the Army, with General Grant repeatedly asking if it was certain he was dead. Transported to Connecticut, his remains were laid to rest in the small cemetery in the town of his birth. Several monuments were erected to honor him after the war – one just south of Gettysburg on Sedgwick Avenue in the Gettysburg National Military Park, one marking where he fell in the Spotsylvania National Battlefield at the corner of Brock Road and Grant Drive, one at 410 Connecticut State Road 43 and the corner of Hautboy Hill Road in Cornwall Hollow, Connecticut across the street from where he is buried, and one at “The Plain”, the parade field at the United States Military Academy at West Point. His death at Spotsylvania was witnessed by Civil War Medal of Honor recipient Julian A. Scott who later in life became an accomplished artist. Scott would create the acclaimed painting “The Death of General Sedgwick” in 1887, which today is on display at the Drake House Museum in Plainfield, New Jersey."
[https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/6475/john-sedgwick]