Major-General John Sedgwick


Sedgwick Monument in Cornwall Hollow, Connecticut

Photo by Carol A. Hanny


(Inscriptions on monument - front side)

JOHN SEDGWICK

MAJOR GENERAL

US ARMY

THIS MEMORIAL INCLUDING ORDNANCE USED IN MEXICAN AND CIVIL WARS AND GIVEN BY THE GOVERNMENT OF THE UNITED STATES IS IN HONOUR OF MAJOR GENERAL JOHN SEDGWICK

COMMANDER OF THE SIXTH CORPS
ARMY OF THE POTOMAC
WHO GAVE HIS LIFE FOR THE PRESERVATION OF THE UNION

A SKILLED SOLDIER
A BRAVE LEADER
A BELOVED COMMANDER
AND A LOYAL GENTLEMAN

THE FITTEST PLACE WHERE MAN CAN DIE IS WHERE MAN DIES FOR MAN


(Inscriptions on monument - back side - Sedgwick's battle engagements)

VERA CRUZ
CERRO GORDO
PUEBLA
CHERUBUSCO
MOLINO DEL REY
MEXICO

FAIR OAKS
ANTIETAM
FREDERICKSBURG
GETTYSBURG
THE WILDERNESS
SPOTTSYLVANIA

Major-General John Sedgwick

"Uncle John"


"...couldn't hit an elephant at this distance."

-Quote from
The Berkshire-Litchfield Legacy
By Willard A. Hanna - 1984

p. 109 - "General John Sedgewick (son of General John Sedgewick I, who fought with distinction in the War of the Revolution) was one of the top commanders of the Union Army during the Civil War and according to many of his admirers should have been named Commander-in-Chief. A graduate of West Point, a veteran of Indian Wars in the West and campaigns in Mexico, General Sedgewick performed heroic services at Bull Run, Antietam, and Gettysburg, but his troops, unfortunately, took extremely heavy losses. At Antietam, the General himself had two horses shot out from under him and was carried unconscious from the field of battle with three grievous wounds from which he was long in recovering. In the disasterous Chancellorsville Campaign he managed to save most of his troops, whom he led later in forced march to Gettysburg, where his timely arrival and brilliant strategy turned the tide of the Battle. At Spottsylvania, where he was boldly exposing himself to snipers while directing the artillery fire, reassuring the men that confederate sharpshooters could not hit an elephant at that distance, he was shot dead on the spot."


General John Sedgwick at left
-Scan from
Connecticut
By Albert E. Van Dusen - 1961

Please note: Spellings vary between Sedgwick and Sedgewick.



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