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Civil War Soldiers - Upton

Upton, Emory, brigadier-general, U.S. Army, was born at Batavia, N. Y., Aug. 27, 1839. After a few months at Oberlin college, Ohio, he was appointed to the U. S. military academy in 1856 and was graduated in 1861. Entering the war as a lieutenant of artillery, he was wounded at the first battle of Bull Run; served through the Peninsular campaign; won praise from Gens. Franklin and Slocum, and had command of an artillery brigade at South mountain and Antietam. He was appointed colonel of the 121st N. Y. infantry in Oct., 1862, was engaged at Fredericksburg and Salem heights, and led a brigade at Gettysburg and Rappahannock Station, receiving a brevet for the latter. He took part in the Wilderness campaign, was wounded at Spottsylvania while heading an attack, and was made brigadier-general of volunteers May 12, 1864. He had a share in the defense of Washington, and in Sheridan's campaign in the Shenandoah valley he was again wounded at the Opequan while commanding a division. Upon recovering he was assigned to the 4th cavalry division and was engaged in the expedition which resulted in the taking of Selma, Columbus and other places in Alabama and Georgia. At the end of the war he had received all the brevets from major to major-general in the regular army, but he held merely a captain's commission. After this he had commands in Tennessee and Colorado; was mustered out of the volunteer service April 30, 1866, and was made lieutenant-colonel of the 26th infantry three months later. He now had time to complete his "System of Infantry Tactics," which was published and adopted in 1867. In 1870-75 he was commandant of cadets at West Point, and in 1875-77 went on a tour of inspection abroad, the outcome of which was his "Armies of Asia and Europe" (1878). In 1877 he was assigned to the artillery school of practice at Fortress Monroe, and in 1880 became colonel of the 4th artillery and was stationed at the Presidio, San Francisco, Cal., until his death. He died by his own hand on March 14, 1881, while suffering derangement from chronic catarrh. 

Source: The Union Army: A History of Military Affairs in the Loyal States 1861-1865, Volume 8 Biographical, 1908
 


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