The Civil War Generals by Robert I. Girardi

Author:Robert I. Girardi [Girardi, Robert I.]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: MBI
Published: 2013-04-20T23:00:00+00:00

General Winfield Scott and staff in 1861, photographed by Mathew Brady.

JOHN SEDGWICK Major general. West Point (1837). Seminole and Mexican War veteran. Brigade, division, and corps commander, Army of the Potomac. Killed at Spotsylvania, May 9, 1864.

“General John Sedgwick, then well known as one of our best division commanders, and one of the sternest soldiers in the Army of the Potomac. Bred as a soldier, he had served with great distinction in Mexico … Modest and retiring in his ordinary intercourse with his fellows, he exhibited the most brilliant qualities in time of battle. The dignity of his bearing fitted him to command and he needed not the insignia of rank to command the deference of those about him … No soldier was more beloved by the army or honored by the country than this noble general. His corps regarded him as a father, and his great military abilities made his judgment, in all critical emergencies, sought after by his superior as well as his fellows.” —George T. Stevens, Three Years in the Sixth Corps, p. 186, 328

“Our first impressions of Sedgwick were not happy. I have heard that a smile occasionally invaded his scrubby beard, but I never saw one there. His official manner sent chills down the backs of the rank and file. He was an old bachelor with oddities; addicted to practical jokes and endless games of solitaire, rather careless of his personal appearance, and habitually crowning his rough head, when not on parade, with a hat that looked like a small beehive of straw.” —Abner Small, The Road to Richmond, p. 30–31

“Sedgwick was a fine man, a man you could be fond of. He was a good soldier, but not a great soldier, such as some of his friends would like to make you believe. He could never tell about location. In the Wilderness he told me where he wanted to move, and asked me if I could do it.… I got the maps and found out where we were … and taking my bearings … came out about 50 yards from where I started for … He wondered how I did it …” —Horatio Wright, Generals in Bronze, p. 210

“He was a very solid man; no flummery about him. You could always tell where Sedgwick was to be found, and in a battle he was apt to be found where the hardest fighting was. He was not an ardent impetuous solider like Hancock, but was steady and sure.” —Charles A. Dana, Recollections, p. 190–191

“Sedgwick was essentially a soldier. He had never married; the camp was his home, and the members of his staff were his family. He was always spoken of familiarly as “Uncle John,” and the news of his death fell upon his comrades with a sense of grief akin to the sorrow of a personal bereavement.” —Horace Porter, Campaigning with Grant, p. 90

“Sedgwick … was stocky, had short, curling chestnut hair, was a bachelor and spent lots of time playing solitaire. His whole

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