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Civil War Soldiers - Sedgwick
| Sedgwick, John, major-general, U.S.
Army, was born in Connecticut about 1815. He was graduated at West
Point in 1837, twenty-fourth in a class of fifty members, among whom
were Gens. Benham, Hooker, Arnold, French, and others of the Federal
service, and the Confederate Gens. Bragg, Early, and Pemberton. He
entered the Mexican war as first lieutenant of artillery, and was
successively brevetted captain and major for gallant conduct at
Contreras, Churubusco, and Chapultepec. He also distinguished himself
at the head of his command in the attack on the San Cosmo gate of the
city of Mexico. At the outbreak of the Civil war he held the position
of lieutenant- colonel of the 2nd U. S. cavalry. On April 25, 1861, he
was promoted to the colonelcy of the 4th cavalry, and on Aug. 31 was
commissioned a brigadier-general of volunteers and placed in command
of a brigade of the Army of the Potomac, which in the subsequent
organization of the army was assigned to the 2nd corps, under Gen.
Sumner, Gen. Sedgwick assuming command of the 3d division of the
corps. In this capacity he took part in the siege of Yorktown and the
subsequent pursuit of the enemy up the Peninsula, and greatly
distinguished himself at the battle of Fair Oaks, where the timely
arrival of Sumner's troops saved the day. In all the seven days'
fighting, and particularly at Savage Station and Glendale, he bore an
honorable part, and at the battle of Antietam he exhibited the most
conspicuous gallantry, exposing his person with a recklessness which
greatly imperiled his life. On this occasion he was twice wounded, but
refused for two hours to be taken from the field. On Dec. 23, 1862, he
was nominated by the president a major-general of volunteers, having
previously been made a brevet brigadier-general of the regular army,
and in the succeeding February he assumed command of the 6th army
corps. At the head of these troops he carried Marye's heights in the
rear of Fredericksburg during the Chancellorsville campaign in May,
1863, and after the retreat of Gen. Hooker across the Rappahannock,
succeeded only by very hard fighting in withdrawing his command in the
face of a superior force, against which he had contended for a whole
day, to the left bank of the river. He commanded the left wing of the
Army of the Potomac during the advance from the Rappahannock into
Maryland in June, and also at the succeeding battle of Gettysburg,
where he arrived on the second day of the fighting, after one of the
most extraordinary forced marches on record, and where his steady
courage inspired confidence among his tried troops. During the passage
of the Rapidan on Nov. 7 he succeeded by a well-executed maneuver in
capturing a whole Confederate division with a number of guns and
colors, for which he was thanked by Gen. Meade in a general order. In
command of his corps he took part in the spring campaign of the
Wilderness, under Gen. Grant, and on May 5 and 6 had position on the
Federal right wing, where the hardest fighting of those sanguinary
engagements took place. On May 9, 1864, while directing the placing of
some pieces of artillery in position in the intrenchments in front of
Spottsylvania Court House, he was struck in the head by a bullet from
a sharp- shooter and instantly killed. Source: The Union Army: A History of Military Affairs in the Loyal
States 1861-1865, Volume 8 Biographical, 1908
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