There was a chariot racing around the stadium, and on that chariot sat a fly. As a great dust arose, both from the pounding of the horses' hooves, and also from the turning of the wheels,

the fly exclaimed, "Oh what a mighty dust I have stirred up!"

Aesop

In the days following the Battle of the Wilderness (May 5-7, 1864), the Union

Army moved south out of the Wilderness of Spottslyvania – Spott’s Woods -

- mirroring the movements of General Lee and his Army of Northern

Virginia, as General Grant continued his pursuit.

Travelling little by night because of the thickets of underbrush, the Union

forces moved south by road through the forests, with troops sent out

skirmishing on either side, to guard the flanks of the advancing column.

Private Calif Newton Drew, Pvt. Henry C. Denbo, and other scouts of the

6th

Maine Infantry, were dispatched on this duty….

The Army of the Potomac eventually emerged into an area of sporadically-

timbered farmland in the neighborhood of the Spottsylvania County Court

House, Virginia, only to find that the rebel sharpshooters that had vigorously

harassed them in the thick undergrowth of the Wilderness, had now moved

up into the treetops, to positions which afforded them good vantage & many

clear shots of the Union skirmishers.

It is after a night of continuing tension in the Wilderness, that Pvt. Drew and his

comrades find themselves in the morning, now dodging from tree to tree, in order to escape being picked-off by

rebel sharpshooters. But one of these hits and kills Union Army Major-General John Sedgwick, and Pvt Drew

claims to be the last man to speak to him alive. And he’s not the only one …..

Is Pvt. Drew telling the truth? Remember what he wrote about Rappahannock Station ….

Is this just another manifestation of a Civil War Veteran’s “Egotistical Memoir”? Find out now:

Out of the Wilderness – Scouts Ordered

‘The country more open the roads better and it seems good to get out in the sunlight even if it is some warmer.

“[P. 145] At the end of the day’s march, after we had eaten a bite, the Regiment was advanced about ¼ of a mile

or more, and haulted in a thick groath of Oak timber and formed line of battle in a road and told to lay down and

hold that position until daylight and then take the skirmish for the day .

“I had never see the officer before who placed us there it was dark before we got in the place. Colonel Lincoln

ordered scouts out in front and on each flank.

“We always took such precaution unless we was shore there was pickets in front.

“The grown was levell no underbrush. On the right the scout reported all clear for a half a mile – no pickets.

“On the left the scouts found a rebel fort with guns mounted less than 200 spaces, the foes lines making a bend

and was nigher to us than in front – so we put our pickets on front and left and the [men] was ordered to be on

the watch also.

General John Sedgwick

Saved by Denbo

“No taking, no smoaking, no noise, no blanket – the men laid with their [weapons] in or close at hand. How still

it was, not even a treetoad was chippering. It was warm… I think the men in line was all asleep. I got up and took

a look at the pickets. Denbo’s signal reached me and I went to him, he had been up to the fort and heard the

rebs inside takking, couldn’t make out what they said, but they had loaded cannon in the fort. It must have been

past midnight. I started intending to get the men out of that road and had got close enough to see them when this

strange thing took place –

“The men was pushing themselves backward on their hand and knees, taking their guns with them. They got 50

feet or more [P 146 ] away from that road – they were thoroughly awake when they stoped. Not a word was

spoken. It seems as if some irresistible power had moved the line of battle out of [the] road where they settled

down and became as quiet as before. Denbo slapped me on the shoulder said “Come” and we went into the

brush some ways, when he said “The rebs’s going to fire the guns.”

[Image: Union troops worm themselves backwards after finding themselves in range of rebel works –

caption adapted from Harper’s Pictorial History of the Civil War, p. 354]

“Then guns -- 1, 2, --3—4 was discharged from the fort on our left – grapeshot, shrapnel and shell tore up the

grown where the men had laid. We got redy for the attack and waited, wide awake now. But not even a rebel

scout came out to see if they had down any harm to the Yanks.

“At the crack of day we got out of that place and joined the Brigade cooked and eate.

“The left battalion received a supply of ammunition and took our place as flankers for the Brigade.

“This was the 9th day of May, 1864.”

Gen’l Sedgwick Killed – May 9th, 1864

“As soon as we got our distant from the moveing column we received notice from the rebs that they was redy to

play ball. The column moved on a road, the line of skirmishers a 150 or more yards on the right in places where

the road bent it -- more or less the country was more open, the timber larger with less underbrush. The rebel

sharpshooters had gone to the treetops, there was a line of low rifle-pitts for our pickets to lay behind if they was

laying still, but we was on the move and they was no good to us. We could doge from tree to tree.

“About 9 o’clock A.M. we came to a place where the timber was thin being only a belt. We could see through it

and across a valley we [saw] negroes throwing up earthworks.” 1

EDITOR’S NOTE:

African-Americans under the yoke of slavery in the South,

were generally not directly commandeered or impressed into

service for the Confederate Army – since the master-slave

relationship was sacrosanct, slaves were a special category of

“chattel” and as such were protected by State and Confederate

constitutions. Rather, the Confederate Quartermaster in

Richmond would solicit slave-labor from slaveholding

Confederate citizens, generally through circulars or newspaper

advertisements, and then contract with the slave-owner for

payment of the work performed.

Of course, the slaves never saw a penny for their

labor…

For more, better get your hands on a copy of

1

Drew makes a special mention of having a view in the distance, of negroes in the employ of the Confederate

Quartermaster, at work digging entrenchments for the rebel troops. Note that in Drew’s narrative highlighted

below, Sedgwick himself asks if he doesn’t see a group of “Johnneys” in the distance throwing up earthworks …..

“The road came within some fifty yards of our skirmishers. There was

a couple of our guns setting [ P. 147 ] back on the road as if to let the

troops have the right of way. Out of the woods on the road rode

Gen’l Sedgwick. He took a look around, dismounted, his orderly

came up and took his bridal.”

EDITOR’S NOTE:

General Sedgwick’s General Orderly, or Aide–de-Camp at the time, was Maj. Charles A. Whittier. In the painting,

The Death of General Sedgwick, by Julian Scott, A.D.C. Whittier is shown kneeling at the far right, and holding a

bloodied handkerchief near the head of General Sedgwick. An archival photo of Major Whittier shows a man

with the same clean-shaven features and wearing a bow-tie: a testament to the accuracy of the portraiture in this

magnificent painting by Julian Scott. See below.

“The Gen’l [came] toards the skirmish line, I moved from behind the big tree and told him to go back, he was too

near our skirmishers. There was rebel sharpshooters up some of the trees that could reach him.

“As he came up he was taking his glass out of its case, and said, “What is that over there? I can see Johnneys

making earthworks, but ….’

“For God’s sake, Get behind this tree Gen’l!”

“Why, Helloo young man we are old acquaintances!” 2

“Yes, Gen’l, but get behind that tree or you’ll get shot!”

“Oh, I don’t think any of them will shoot me,” and he lifted his glass toards his eyes.

2 General John Sedgwick was much-beloved by his troops, and, according to Drew, was welcomed for treating

volunteer soldiers as well as he did “the regulars.” In the days following his appointment to replace Gen. Ambrose

Burnsides, Gen. Sedgwick had “made the rounds” of the camp of the Grand Army of the Potomac, but in disguise, and wearing a civilian trench-coat, and in that way gotten familiar with his men. On one such enterprise, he came

upon the campfire of Pvt. Drew and his comrades, and in that way, “gotten acquainted.”

Later, at the battle of Rappahannock Station, Pvt. Drew had scouted the rebel camp and fortifications at Kelly’s

Ford and Rappahannock Station on the Rappahannock river, infiltrated the enemy camp, and returned with critical

intelligence on troop strength and artillery. These fortifications had been intended by General Lee, as his defensive

support for his winter quarters at Culpepper. However, the successful Union assault on the forces of Gen Jubal

Earley, and others, at Rappahannock Station, surprised Lee and forced him into the swamplands near Mine Run,

for the winter of ’63-’64. Thereafter, Sedgwick had gotten further “acquainted” with Drew, during the course of a

Board of Inquiry which Sedgwick called in the field, to review the army actions at Rappahannock Station.

“At that instant a bullet struck him just below the right eye, passed through, came out of the neck below the left

ear – he was dead before he struck the grown. He stood out in the opening a fair target and some rebel

sharpshooter had killed him.”

[ Image: Detail from Sneden, Plan of the Battle of Spottsylvania C.H., Virginia, fought May 8th to 24

th, 1864 ,

with label “Sedgwick Killed here” (Library of Congress)]

“His staff had come up to the orderly and his horse I think some of them must have seen him fall for it seemed to

me three of them got there awfull quick. The 4 of [us] packed him back to the road and laid him down, I went

back on the fireing line.”

EDITOR’S NOTE:

Not surprisingly, four at least of General Sedgwick’s staff are shown in Julian Scott’s painting, kneeling over the

form of the dying general. They are – viewing right to left -- Maj. Charles A. Whittier, aide-de-camp, (again) at

Sedgwick’s head, and holding the handkerchief; next to him, Maj. Thomas Worcester Hyde, provost-marshall and acting aide-de-camp; then Col. Charles H. Tomkins, chief of artillery, kneeling upright and with his arm extended

upward over Hyde’s head; and Lt. Col, Martin T. McMahon, assistant adjutant-general and chief of staff, near the

general’s feet, with his thumb pointed back over his shoulder, as if to say “Here is the ambulance. Let us move him

to the hospital….’

Another member of Sedgwick’s staff, Lt. Col. J. Ford Kent, inspector-general, appears in the picture at the left,

coming up behind the ambulance. See next page.

Julian Scott’s painting, “The Death of General Sedgwick,” is in the collection of the Drake House Museum, of

Plainfield N.J. The Drake House also has in its collection, a “key” to the figures represented, also done by the

artist. YANKEE SCOUT TM

gratefully acknowledges the assistance of curators and staff of the Drake House

Museum, in identifying the figures in Scott’s extraordinary painting w/ reference to Scott’s “key.” To learn more,

visit …

www.drakehouseplainfieldnj.org/

“This was a severe loss to the 6th Corps and the

Army. He was one of the regulars – a Gen’l who

respected the volunteers as much as the regulars, and

we loved him, honored and obeyed him and we

considered we had further cause to hammer the

Johnneys thus, on May 9th, 1864 Gen’l John

Sedgwick between 9 and 10 ‘clock was murdered.

“I am the last man that spoak to him.”

“With sadness in my heart I saw the ambulance bear

him way.”

EDITOR’S NOTE :

A member of the ambulance, a stretcher-bearer,

stands at the left of the painting, in front of Lt. Col. J.

Ford Kent, inspector–general, and “No. 8” in the key.

The stretcher-bearer is the largest standing figure in

the composition, but, like Drew, is a simple private in

the volunteer forces. Yet his features are distinctive,

and not generic, indicating a portrait. He brings a

blood-stained cot, its handles polished smooth from

use…

He wears his green woolen blanket as a sash; and

bears a G. I. leather cartridge box with a polished

brass emblem or clasp stamped U.S.….

Kneeling beside the dying general, Col. Charles H. Tomkins leans back and gestures --

pointing as if to the Stars and Stripes, seen dimly to the right, in the shadows. But the

ambulance has already arrived, and Dr. Ohlenschlager, the Maine Brigade Surgeon, is

treating Sedgwick, feeling his weakening pulse. So what is Tomkins gesturing at, if not

the tree-line across an open field in the distance, as if to explain, “The shot came from

that direction ….” See the discussion below.

A carte de visite image of Col. C. H. Tomkins confirms again the accuracy of artist Julian

Scott’s portraiture ….

“Never had such a gloom rested upon the whole army on account of the death of one man as came over

it when the heavy tidings passed along the lines that General Sedgwick was killed.

“Major-General John Sedgwick, who had so long been identified with the Sixth corps, was a native of

Connecticut. He graduated at West Point on the 30th

of June, 1837, and was at once assigned to the Second

artillery, as second-lieutenant. In 1839 he was promoted to first-lieutenant. He served in Mexico and was

brevetted captain for gallant and meritorious conduct, in the battles of Contreras and Cherubusco. He

was son after brevetted major for gallant conduct, and greatly distinguished himself in the attack on Cosino

gate, Mexico City. In 1845 he was made major of the First United States Cavalry, and served in Texas

until the breaking out of the rebellion. In March, 1861 he was commissioned lieutenant-colonel, Second

United States Cavalry; and in April promoted to the colonelcy of the Fourth Cavalry. He was made

brigadier-general of volunteers in August, 1861, and assigned to the command of a brigade in the Army of

the Potomac.

“He was afterward assigned to the command of the third division, Second corps, then under General

Sumner. He participated in the siege of Yorktown, and greatly distinguished himself in many battles of

the Peninsula. He was particularly noted at the battle of Fair Oaks, Savages’ Station and Glendale. His

division was one of the few divisions of the Army of the Potomac that rendered any assistance to General

Pope in his unfortunate campaign.

“At Antietam, he led his men repeatedly against the rebels, and as often forced back, until the ground over

which his division had fought was covered with dead. He was thrice wounded, but refused to be carried

from the field until faintness from loss of blood obliged him to relinquish his command.

“In December, 1862, he was nominated by the President a major-general of volunteers, and was confirmed

in March, 1863, with rank from the 31st

of May, 1862.

“In January following his promotion, he was assigned to the

command of the Ninth corps, and on the 5th

of February, was

transferred to the command of the Sixth corps, relieving general

Smith, who was assigned to the Ninth corps.

“Soon after taking command of our corps, the famous charge on

Fredericksburgh Heights was made, in which both the corps and

its commander acquired lasting renown. General Sedgwick was

especially commended by General Meade for the manner in

which he handled his corps at Rappahannock Station, and, in

General Meade’s absence, he was several times in command of

the army. He was on several occasions, offered the supreme

command of the army, but excessive modesty forbade him to

accept so important a command.

“No solider 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….”

from George Thomas Stevens – Three Years in the Sixth Corps, pp. 327-28.

General Joe Johnston

The killing of General Sedgwick was of great significance not only in demoralizing the Union Army – and yet

enraging them to higher heroics and acts of daring – but also in shifting the chain of command within the VI Corps

in particular. The aftermath of Sedgwick’s killing, and its effect on the battles of Spottsylvania and Cold Harbor, is

discussed in the Next Issue of YANKEE SCOUT – Spottsylvania !!

The soldier or sharpshooter who hit Sedgwick could be credited with one of the most significant or key shots in

the Civil War. However, it was not the single most significant shot -- for Sedgwick had already declined the Supreme

Command of the Grand Army of the Potomac, and meanwhile, Lincoln’s alternate, General Ulysses S. Grant, was

already on the field, and (though leaving General Meade in titular command ) Grant had just commanded on the day preceding, during the Battle of the Wilderness. See the Last Issue of YANKEE SCOUT !! So the Army

structure managed to absorb the loss of Sedgwick – but just barely.

Undoubtedly, the single most important shot of the Great War of

the Rebellion was an OVERSHOT – and one that had been fired

almost two years earlier on May 31, 1862:

On that day, Confederate General Joe Johnston was riding on

some mission, commanding the Confederate army in a

counterattack against Gen. George McClellan at the battle of Seven

Pines within just a few miles of Richmond, when a spent musket

ball struck him in the right shoulder at the same time as a fragment

of shrapnel from an overshot shell lodged in his chest. Johnston

was disabled – and as Confederate President Jefferson Davis had

left Richmond to view the action, he was also on the field and came

to the assistance of his fallen Commanding General.

It was clear Johnston’s service was done, and as he searched for a

replacement, Jefferson Davis decided on the spot to appoint his

own military advisor -- a Virginian of patrician heritage named

Robert E. Lee.

“From the night of May 31 when the President and Lee

returned to Richmond, the course of the settlement [of the

war] by arms began to change, leading to a change in the

nature of the war and finally in the ultimate objectives.

More than any combination of causes or moral

abstractions, the turn the settlement now took was

determined by a stray piece of metal fired by an unknown

battery whose gunners overshot their targets, Joel Cook, a

reporter for the Philadelphia Enquirer wrote that “this was

the saddest shot fired during the war,” for it changed the

Confederate command. It brought to the test by arms the

first single, controlling hand on either side.”

from Clifford Dowdey, The Seven Days: The

Emergence of Lee, p. 6 (1964)

[ BOOK HIGHLY RECOMMENDED ]

[ P. 148] “I have read several histories of the Great Rebellion and they all tell a different story about the place and

manner of his death.”

In his own account, Pvt. Drew indicates he was skirmishing in a

belt of trees away from the artillery, guarding he movement of

the column, and the artillery had arrived and been moved back

off the road, to allow for troop movement. Because of a bend

in road, the road itself came up to within about 50 yards from

the skirmishers – much too close for safety.

Sedgwick and his orderly, (Whitter) riding along the road,

emerge from the trees; Sedgwick dismounts, gives the “bridal”

to Whittier, and then walks towards the skirmish line, with

Whittier in attendance, probably following behind with the

general’s horse. Sedgwick continues his approach, and

recognizes Pvt. Drew, probably as the wily scout who gathered

intelligence from behind enemy lines, and enabled and

participated in the Army victory at Rappahannock Station.

Sedgwick had, after all, interviewed Drew during a Board of

Inquiry following that victory, and commended him for the

accuracy of his intelligence; and then evidently conferred with

him following, to share his findings from the Board. See, the

relevant issue, YANKEE SCOUT -- Rappahannock Station!! in…

NOW …. Pvt. Drew reports their short exchange this way, and –

in effect – places himself in command:

“For God’s sake, Get behind this tree Gen’l!”

“Why, Helloo young man we are old acquaintances!”

“Yes, Gen’l, but get behind that tree or you’ll get shot!”

“Oh, I don’t think any of them will shoot me,” and he lifted

his glass toards his eyes.

By placing himself in the center of the action, and by issuing

“commands” to General Sedgwick, what Pvt. Drew’s Memoir illustrates, is that during the Civil War, there was, in addition to the

military conflicts being played out on the battlefields of Virginia,

many other battles underway ….

Some of them BETWEEN the STAFF …

and others AMONG the GENERALS !!!

Let’s look ….

Maj. Charles A. Whittier

.

Nowhere does the epic clash of egos play itself out so visibly, as in the memoirs of those who participated in the

events; and in their recorded accounts of the uniquely important roles they played in history. Aesop’s flea cries,

“Oh what a mighty dust I have stirred up!” and some civil war memoirs seem to echo this flea ….

According to Pvt. Drew, the only other immediate eye-witness to the killing of Sedgwick, was Charles A. Whittier,

the general’s aide-de-camp. Fortunately Whittier himself left as strange sort of letter about some of his memories

of service to General Sedgwick, which includes his own account of the great general’s death in the gunsights of a

confederate sharpshooter. Because of Whittier’s own disclaimers, the letter has been captioned by archivists as is

“Egotistical Memoirs” – and it can be found here: https://archive.org/details/egotisticalmemoi00whit

A quick glance will reveal that Whittier’s Memoirs is anything but “egotistical”:

“Those were busy and trying days in the Wilderness and Spottsylvania. The long line in in the thick jungle

of the former, shells dropping in there and there without reason or warning; the inequalities of the ground

making the line very irregular, and it was a long tedious work to communicate with the different divisions.

“As I was riding with Gen Sedgwick, we came in a little wood path across one of the pickets whom I told

to advance, as he was far in rear of the line of the left. He said, “But the enemy is right there.” I ridiculed this as impossible, so he started by a little bend of the road and was killed at once by a musket shot of the enemy. It is certain that the skirmish line on his left was far in advance. This illustrates the difficulties

in of long a line in such a country. On the day of the breaking away of our right in the Wilderness, General

Seymour and Shaler had been sitting talking with General Sedgwick. As Seymour mounted his horse, he

said “Well, General, we have repulsed two attacks today, but my men are pretty shakey (it was a poor

division) and I should be very fearful in case of another attack.” Just as he said these words, Bang, Bang –

the attack came and the Division at once melted into the air. All night was passed in making a new line +

finding and placing the troops. The right was retired and the rifle pits were being dug.

“A very warm morning and the negro troops, who had not been engaged or working, passed through our

lines, loaded with knapsacks, etc. they puffed and sweated. One of the working Vermonters observing two

very black and warm Africans, drew himself up, saluted them, by taking off his hat and said, “Good

morning, gentlemen, you must find this sort of work very fatiguing.”

General Thomas H. Neill

Then, Col. Whittier describes how General T. H. Neill suffers a nervous breakdown, under the extreme

pressure of the Confederate sharpshooters, who appear to be everywhere, in the days before the real fighting

began in Spottsylvania, at the point the generals called “the Salient”, and the soldiers referred to simply as …

“The Bloody Angle.”

“We had a sharp little fight the first day at Spottsylvania and

carried a crest which Gen. Sedgwick deemed most important

to be held and instructed Gen. [Thomas H.] Neill to keep it at

all hazards; that he would soon send him entrenching tools,

etc. This was just at dusk. Gen. Sedgwick and I then rode to

General Meade’s headquarters, and did not get back to the

corps headquarters until midnight.

“We slept by a haystack until daylight, when Gen Sedgwick was

informed that the position had been abandoned. Inquiry

developed an unsatisfactory condition of things – the fact being

that General Neill, who had been an excellent Brigade Commander, had entirely lost his nerve, and from this time on

was not good for command. A wreck from no fault of his,

simply tension too great for him to bear.

“Gen. Sedgwick, as was his custom, immediately went to the

point of importance and there for a long time supervised the

digging of rifle pits and entrenchments. Seeing some troops moving by the angle of our position, he went

me to see whose they were. I approached him to have the message repeated. He thinking that I was going

for my horse said, “Oh, I wouldn’t ride out there.”

“As I returned to report, I met him on the way out. When he reached the angle, he bade the officer

commanding the infantry support move his troops to the right a little to give the gunners an opportunity to

serve their guns. A rifle ball whizzed by us. A soldier in front of the general ducked his head. The general

said, “Oh, don’t duck my man, they couldn’t hit an elephant at that distance.” The man said, “I ducked

once general, and it saved my life,” at which we laughed. Another bullet and another duck, at which the

general reproved the man, discovering that he was a sergeant. The third bullet killed our commander, one

of the truest and whitest souls ever known to any army.”

Thus reads a part of Whittier’s so-called “Egotistical Memoirs” – which gives much food for thought. Q. v. Inter

alia, Whittier also shares with Drew a sense of betrayal and outrage at the level of alcoholism among the generals.

But with the exception of a single detail -- that the soldier who skirmishing and who is reproved by Sedgwick, is identified as a sergeant – the two accounts dovetail. This is no surprise, because Maj. Charles A. Whittier is -

according to his office at the time, Sedgwick’s orderly, and so, seeing the correspondence of these accounts, we can

recognize that must be the same orderly mentioned by Pvt. Drew, as holding the bridle of Sedgwick’s horse, while

Sedgwick approaches the skirmishers line, on foot, to adjust the troop positions in order to provide the artillery a

clearer shot : at which point he, General Sedgwick, becomes involved in a conversation with a posted soldier who

is under close fire from an enemy sharpshooter. Etc.

Could Whittier be mistaken on the rank of the soldier who ducked? Was it in fact Pvt. Calif Newton Drew?

Perhaps: during his scouts Pvt. Drew was re-commissioned as a Major, and reported directly to the Generals ….

Pvt. Drew had said, “I have read several histories of the Great Rebellion and they all tell a different story about the

place and manner of his death.”

This appears to be the case, although considering the sweep and scope of events in

this cataclysm of American civilization, some discrepancies in the details of this single

event, could be expected. In fact, at least two of the officers shown by Julian Scott as

in attendance on the mortally wounded General Sedgwick also recorded their

experience of that morning, in their own later writings.

One of these, Lt. Thomas Worcester Hyde, 7th

Maine Volunteer Infantry, wrote and

published a book on his experiences, entitled Following the Greek Cross, or Memories of the Sixth Army Corps (Houghton & Mifflin, 1894) available online here:

https://archive.org/details/05047532.3057.emory.edu

Hyde placed a full page portrait of Sedgwick in his book, as the frontispiece …

… and placed himself beside General Sedgwick, whom, he

says, was seated on a cracker box, “pulling Hyde’s ears

affectionately” shortly before he was shot:

“My errand done, I got back in the same way, and sat down

beside the general on the ground. He was sitting on a cracker

box behind a tree, and began pulling my ears affectionately, and

chaffing me a little as I was trying to fill my pipe, and to tell him about my ride. Then a section of artillery came up

the road at the trot and went to the right into position. He got up, went over to give them directions, I thought.

Directly I heard some one cry out, “The General;” and hastening over there, saw lying on this back, our friend, our

idol. Blood was oozing slowly from a small wound under his eye. McMahon was trying to raise him up. Tompkins,

Beaumont, Whittier, Halsted and others of the staff gathered mournfully around; the men had risen upon their

knees all along the line and were looking on in sorrow. Gradually it dawned upon us that the great leader, the

cherished friend, he that had been more than a father to us all, would no more lead the Greek Cross of the 6th

Corps

in the very front of battle; that this noble heart was stilled at last!” from, T. W. Hyde, “Following the Greek Cross, or, Memories of the Sixth Army Corps,” pp. 192-335.

Did you get that part about Gen. Sedgwick pulling affectionately on Lt. Hyde’s ears?

Brevet Maj-Gen. Martin T. McMahon

“I gave the necessary order to move the troops to the right, and as they rose to execute the movement the

enemy opened a sprinkling fire, partly from sharp-shooters. As the bullets whistled by, some of the men

dodged. The general said laughingly, “What! 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." A few seconds after, a man who had been separated from his regiment passed directly in front

of the general, and at the same moment a sharp-shooter's bullet passed with a long shrill whistle very close,

and the soldier, who was then just in front of the general, dodged to the ground. The general touched him

gently with his foot, and said, “Why, my man, I am ashamed of you, dodging that way," and repeated the

remark, “They couldn't hit an elephant at this distance." The man rose and saluted and said good-naturedly,

“General, I dodged a shell once, and if I hadn't, it would have taken my head off. I believe in dodging."

The general laughed and replied, "All right, my man; go to your place."

“For a third time the same shrill whistle, closing with a dull, heavy stroke, interrupted our talk; when, as I

was about to resume, the general's face turned slowly to me, the blood spurting from his left cheek under

the eye in a steady stream. He fell in my direction; I was so close to him that my effort to support him

failed, and I fell with him.

Then, Maj- McMahon seems to provide the description that artist Julian Scott might have used in composing his

painting:

“Colonel Charles H. Tompkins, chief of the artillery, standing a few feet away, heard my exclamation

as the general fell, and, turning, shouted to his brigade-surgeon, Dr. Ohlenschlager. Major Charles A.

Whittier, Major T. W. Hyde; and Lieutenant Colonel Kent, who had been grouped near by, surrounded

the general as he lay. A smile remained upon his lips but he did not speak. The doctor poured water from

a canteen over the general's face. The blood still poured upward in a little fountain. The men in the long

line of rifle-pits, retaining their places from force of discipline, were all kneeling with heads raised and faces

turned toward the scene ; for the news had already passed along the line.”

McMahon’s colorful account also appears in a pamphlet commemorating the Sedgwick Memorial Association: 6th Army Corps, Spottsylvania (1887), and one on the Dedication of the Equestrian Statue of Major-General John Sedgwick (1913), for his monument at Gettysburg. These pamphlets contain yet further interesting eyewitness

accounts of the General’s killing. See also http://civilwarhome.com/sedgwickdeath.htm

In a day when oratory was all, this must been a great story to tell the dinner-guests ...

We have two fairly egotistical accounts, McMahon’s and

Hyde’s, that would seem to place General Sedgwick among

the artillery at the time he was shot by the sharpshooter.

Hyde’s story – including the ear-pulling bit – definitely

places Sedgwick off the skirmish line, and directing the

placement of artillery, when he is struck.

Meanwhile McMahon’s account brings an errant soldier

into the vicinity of the General and his staff, and thus also

well off the skirmish line. The General is conversing with

McMahon himself, when he is struck, and then “the

general’s face turned slowly to me…”

If these two accounts are accurate, it would mean of course,

that the painting by Scott not only shows the place where

Sedgwick died, but – to the degree it can be regarded as

historical – also shows the place where he was hit: among

the artillery.

And that is the presumption…. Which cannot entirely be

overcome, even by the gesture of Col. Tomkins, in Scott’s

painting.

But Drew states in his Memoir, “I have read several histories of the Great Rebellion and they all tell a different story about the place and manner of his death.”

But does Drew have any less an egotistical memory than the authors of these other “egotistical memoirs”? He

states at pp. 146-47, that there were “a couple of our guns sitting back by the road to let the troops have the right

of way” and that these guns were idle, to give the advancing column of infantry room. Sedgwick rode up along this

same road, dismounted, gave his horse into the keeping of an orderly – Whittier -- and left the safety of the road

for the area in which Drew and others were working as skirmishers, to provide defense to the advance column,

against the rebel sharpshooters. Whittier’s account confirms Drew, and in detail gives a narrative of Sedgwick’s

movement toward the skirmish line – where he was struck, and then carried back to safety by his staff. So what?

The following account is by Rev. W. R. Helms, chaplain of the 14th

New York Volunteer Infantry: it’s a narrative

which rings with verisimilitude, for its attention to tactics along the skirmish lines. Here, Gen. Sedgwick rides out

into the open pine woods in order to check the route of the night’s march. He passes Rev. Helms who is

skirmishing, and continues on -- “to where the view was clear” -- meaning to a treeline. Within half a minute he is

hit. The only details which differentiate Helms’ account from Drew’s, is that in Pvt. Drew’s memoir, Sedgwick first

dismounts and engages in a momentary exchange with Drew, who is posted as skirmisher, before Sedgwick raises

his field-glasses to examine the distant landscape, when he is hit by the death-dealing sharpshooters. And …..

If Sedgwick is killed on the skirmish line, as Drew and Whittier report, than the following by Rev. Helms is validated:

“Some sharpshooters from our army was sent out to get the high roosters. I heard a few days after that they had

tumbled several rebels out of the trees before night .”

“Gen’l H. G. Wright was put in command of the 6th

Corps and

the army moved on, there was no fighting of any account

during the day by the corps. Soon after dark the skirmishers

was relieved by a picket guard. We went to the rear, cooked

and had something to eat; during the day we had lost four from

the skirmishline from Co’s C + E.

“I think we got more than that from the rebs.

“Just before being relieved we captured a rebel sergeant who

said, this was the greatest surprised the Yanks had ever given to

Marsa Robert …. [General Lee – Ed.]

“Why don’t you’s retreat as you ought? And always has

done after a big fight? And this has been the D and D fighting

of them all but perhaps you will retreat down the Peninsula?”

“We told him we thought we would and take Gen’l Lee with

us.

“This was a very disastrous day to the old 6th Maine Volenteers.

No bugle call or drum was needed to call us out in the morning at 4 o’clock A. M. We had eat breakfast refilled

cartridge boxers, and most of us had filled canteens with coffee, and was waiting for orders to begin our first days

work under Gen’l H. G. Wright as commander of the 6th Corps.

“The movement soon began – battrees and troops was passing us, and remarks was made [P. 149 ] that Gen’l

Wright was getting the corps lined to suit him right.

“The rebel sharp shooters seemed to be trying to get in their work – about 9 o’clock A.M. we took our place in

line making a slow creeping, haulting march which is always very annoying. We [were ] proverly two or less miles

when at mid-day while setting besides the road nibbling hard tack there came an order for skirmishers from the

6th Me. Colonel Lincoln in command of the Reg’t some 400 all told.

Skirmishers Away

“Companyes’ E. G. and K was ordered to step forward, then Lincoln asked the aid how many men he wanted.

“Oh! There are plenty. We followed the aid along the road some half mile or a little less perhaps, was halted and

told we was wanted to drive the rebel pickets and skirmishers into their works and to keep them down, that there

would be a charge made on the rebels works some time that after noon.

“We took distance and started to advance when the aid asked, “Ain’t you going to load them guns?” “Our guns

are always loaded,” someone answered. And we [moved] forward toards the foe. There was a mixture of timber

brush, and open land for near half a mile, then a wide peace of open land, there was our picket line. We passed

through without taking them along.

“In a few minutes the Johnneys gave us notice that our advance was known. We took such cover as we could find

and the ball was opened.

“We took a new mode of skirmishing which I think was a surprise to the rebs. We would use every devise we

could to draw their fire, then we would rush forward on the jump with a yell in a short time. [P. 150 ]. We had

them on the move and kept them so until we drove them across the open field and into their works. They had a

fort with four guns, rifle pits on each flank extending into more timber.

General Horatio G. Wright

“We stoped at the edge of the opening but the skirmishers on each flank worked a head quite a bit.”

The Commanding General, John Sedgwick dead – the victim of a sharpshooter … !!

The soldiers demoralized by the loss of their beloved & favorite general ….

General Thomas H. Neill, disabled mentally by the

sheer pressure of the exposure of rebel

sharpshooters – seemingly on all sides ….!!

A new & untried chain of command …

about to be tested …

And the real fighting is yet to begin!!!

NOT JUST “The BLOODY ANGLE” … but

Pvt. C. N. Drew will be there ….

and Pvt. Henry C. Denbo …

Pleasant Point Passamaquoddy Indian!!