The FReeper Foxhole Profiles General Gouverneur K. Warren, CE - April 11th, 2004

http://www.hq.usace.army.mil/history/vignettes/Vignette_53.htm ^

[snippy_about_it]

Lord,

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.

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What Happened to the "Hero of Little Round Top," Gouverneur K. Warren, CE?




During the battle of Gettysburg, General Warren is credited with the discovery of the Confederate troop movements attempting to attack the area known as "Little Round Top". His subsequent action is reported to have saved the entire left flank of the Union Army.

Robert E. Lee, with his eerie sense of a battlefield, was hastily assembling a force to attack the Union left, but it would take him the greater part of the day to get his men ready to strike. Meanwhile, Meade also sensed something significant about the two adjacent hills to his left. That afternoon he sent his chief of engineers, Brig. Gen. Gouverneur K. Warren, to assess the situation.



To his utter chagrin, Warren found Little Round Top completely undefended. He hastily sent messengers to Meade and Sickles, requesting immediate assistance. Sickles, by that time hotly engaged with el-ements of Longstreet's corps, had none to spare. But Colonel Strong Vincent, who commanded the 3rd Brigade of Brig. Gen. Charles Griffin's 1st Division of the V Corps, received word from a harried courier about the threat to Little Round Top and led his men to the hill at the double-quick. Vincent's brigade included the 44th New York, 16th Michigan, 83rd Pennsylvania and the 358-man 20th Maine under Joshua L. Chamberlain.



On the second day at Gettysburg, 2 July 1863, Gouverneur K. Warren, Chief Engineer, Army of the Potomac, noticed that Little Round Top, key to the Union defensive position, was undefended. He ordered troops to the hill in time to blunt Hood’s attack. Almost two years later on 1 April 1865 at the Battle of Five Forks, Major General Philip Sheridan, with Grant’s authority, relieved him from command and sent him to the rear.



When Warren graduated second in the West Point class of 1850 he accepted a commission as a second lieutenant in the Corps of Topographical Engineers. In the years prior to the Civil War he worked with Andrew Humphreys on the Mississippi River, on transcontinental railroad surveys, and explored, surveyed, and mapped the trans-Mississippi West. At the start of the war he received a commission as a Lieutenant Colonel of Volunteers in the 5th New York Infantry Regiment, and by the fall he was a Colonel and regimental commander. Promoted to Brigadier General in September 1862 he served as Chief Topographical Engineer and then Chief Engineer, Army of the Potomac.

Promoted to Major General after Gettysburg, he commanded 2d Corps until March 1864 when Grant made him 5th Corps commander. He led the 5th Corps through the Union offensive from the Wilderness, to Cold Harbor, and into the Petersburg trenches. He must have done well because he was still in command when Grant began the offensive that led to Appomattox. Grant ordered an attack on the Confederates at Five Forks for 1 April with Sheridan in command of both his Cavalry Corps and Warren’s 5th Corps. Grant wanted Sheridan to push the attack and authorized him to relieve Warren if he got in the way.

The Battle of Five Forks, April 1, 1865, was the final Confederate offensive in the American Civil War.



Battle Of Five Forks "Hold At All Hazards" April 1, 1865

"I tell you, I'm ready to strike out tomorrow and go to smashing things!" exclaimed Union cavalry Gen. Philip H. Sheridan. It was March 30, 1865, and he was trying to convince Gen. Ulysses S. Grant not to let the heavy rains delay the offensive against the right of the Confederate line defending Petersburg, VA. Sheridan's cavalry, newly arrived from its victorious Shenandoah Valley campaign, had been sent by Grant along with some infantry units to envelop the Confederate flank and to sever the Southside Railroad, Richmond's last supply line to the South.


Philip Sheridan

For 10 months Grant had used his superior numbers to keep extending the westward the Union lines confronting Petersburg. Each movement stretched the opposing Confederate lines thinner, and Grant felt the time had come for those Rebel lines to break. Accordingly, he instructed Sheridan to continue the advance with his 30,000-man mixed command of cavalry and infantry to the crossroads southwest of Petersburg called Five Forks, which was five miles down White Oak Road from the existing battle lines and three miles south of the railroad.

Confederate Gen. Robert E. Lee, informed of Union activity near Five Forks, anticipated Grant's intention to cut the Southside Railroad. Union troops on the Rebel right flank would block the withdrawal route from Petersburg that Lee was planning for his army. On March 29, Lee ordered one-third of his army- 14,000 infantry commanded by Gen. George E. Pickett and 5,000 cavalry troops under Gen. W.H.F. "Rooney" Lee- to move to Five Forks and drive away the Union force.



When Sheridan's horsemen approached Five Forks around noon on March 31, they were attacked by Pickett's soldiers and pushed back to Dinwiddie Court House. Pickett returned his command to Five Forks and reported his success to General Lee. Lee's returning message said, "Hold Five Forks at all hazards."

On April 1, while Sheridan’s cavalry pinned the Confederate force in position, the V Corps under Major General G.K. Warren attacked and overwhelmed the Confederate left flank, taking many prisoners. Sheridan personally directed the attack, which extended Lee’s Petersburg lines to the breaking point. The loss of Five Forks threatened Lee’s last supply line, the South Side Railroad.

The next morning, Lee informed President Jefferson Davis that Petersburg and Richmond, Virginia must be evacuated. Union general Frederick Winthrop was killed and Willie Pegram, beloved Confederate artillery officer, was mortally wounded. Dissatisfied with his performance at Five Forks, Sheridan relieved Warren of command of the V Corps.


Spotsylvania Court House, Va., vicinity. Beverly house, headquarters of Gen. Gouverneur K. Warren, 5th Corps

Although Warren successfully defended his position against the Confederates, Sheridan and Grant thought he did not press the attack fast enough. At the end of the day, as Warren met Sheridan for what he thought was a celebration, Sheridan charged him with neglect during the battle, relieved him from command of 5th Corps “for cause,” and ordered him to report to Grant. Warren asked for a Report of Inquiry, but the end of the war, Lincoln’s assassination, and Johnson’s impeachment all got in the way.

Warren reverted to his Regular Army rank of Major, CE, and went back to work on the Mississippi River. In July 1866 he was assigned to serve as the first “Engineer in Charge” of the Corps’ new office in St. Paul, Minnesota, where he served until May 1870. He then was in charge of engineer operations along the New England coast with headquarters at Newport, Rhode Island. It took the Army until 1879, after Grant’s two terms, to grant Warren’s request for a hearing. The board finally published its findings in November 1882 exonerating Warren of any neglect at Five Forks on 1 April 1865.



However, it was too late for Warren. He died three months earlier on 8 August 1882. At his request his family buried him in civilian clothes and without military ceremony at Newport. He felt disgraced by his relief on the field of battle. Ironically, however, in 1888 a bronze statue of him in uniform as Chief Engineer, Army of the Potomac, was placed at Little Round Top, the key position he saved on the second day at Gettysburg.

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[JustAmy]

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[SAMWolf]

Thanks JustAmy.

[PhilDragoo]

2001 Ending a tense 11-day standoff, China agreed to free the 24 crew members of an American spy plane after President George W. Bush said he was "very sorry" for the death of a Chinese fighter pilot whose plane had collided with the American aircraft.

"Collided"?

"Collided"?

The fanatic jackass kept harrassing until he flew through the prop!

In international waters!

[PhilDragoo]

[PhilDragoo]

[SAMWolf]

Evening Phil Dragoo. I had a Revell model of the POGO.

[SAMWolf]

Pity the Yankee General
June 18, 2001

It never occurred to me to ever feel sorry for any Yankee general.

Years of reading Civil War history have left me feeling sorry for many Confederate generals.

Some died sadly on the battlefield: Albert Sidney Johnston in his first major engagement, Stonewall Jackson shot by his own soldiers, A. P. Hill killed just before Lee surrendered, J.E.B. Stuart shot from the saddle, Bishop-General Leonidas Polk hit by a cannonball on a mountaintop in Georgia, and the six generals killed at Franklin in December 1864 by Hood’s folly.

Other southern generals deserve sorrow for their ineptness or because circumstances got in their way: northern-born John Pemberton trapped at Vicksburg, Braxton Bragg blinded to his own faults at Chattanooga, P.G.T. Beauregard victimized by his own vivid imagination, Joe Johnston a prisoner of his self-esteem and master of non-engagement, Gideon Pillow the coward of Ft. Donelson, John Hood who lost a leg and an arm and then a whole army charging when he should not, James Longstreet whom Jubal Early painted unfairly as a villain after Gettysburg, and a dozen or so others.

But, southern-biased as I am-mostly because Civil War history writing for years was dominated by southerners and some admiring northern writers, and because I am a southerner and love underdogs-it has only been in recent years that I have felt much sympathy for northern generals.

Most historians agree that Pope, Hooker, Burnside, and especially John Fremont, Franz Sigel, “Beast” Butler, and Nathaniel Banks were inadequate leaders who either suffered justly or who never got the disdain they deserved. But as more and more history books have poured off the presses, I find myself drawn sympathetically to several Yankee generals: Carlos Buell, George Thomas, Fitz-John Porter, and G. K. Warren especially.

Generals Ulysses S. Grant, William Tecumseh Sherman, and Phil Sheridan emerge as the most illustrious generals for the northern side. These three had the good luck to be in command as the war ended.

Grant lost thousands and thousands of men in needless bloody charges in which his only strategy seemed to be “out-number them and keep pouring northern troops at them”. He erred in almost removing George Thomas from command in Tennessee, although Thomas had been the hero of Chickamauga and had defeated Hood at Franklin, and defeated Hood decisively at Nashville just in time to avoid being shelved.

Sherman, for years despised in the South for “marching through Georgia,” comes off looking good in recent histories, for he took pains to spare his men and avoid big battles, electing to wear down his enemy with time and maneuvers, and while he destroyed much property on his march, he really took or lost few lives.

But nothing I have read has changed my early opinion that Phil Sheridan was one of the most reprehensible and uncouth generals on either side. He loved slaughtering and self-serving reports and press releases, and he was the epitome of vanity. He relished ravaging the Shenandoah Valley

My distaste for Sheridan has increased with reading David M. Jordan’s “Happiness Is Not My Companion” (Indiana University Press, 2001, 402 pp.), about Sheridan’s (and Grant’s) shabby treatment of General Gouverneur K. Warren, the general whose rapid action in sending troops to Little Round Top sealed the fate of Lee’s army at Gettysburg, and a general who performed well from the Wilderness to Petersburg (especially Mine Run), and who won the major last victory in Virginia, at Five Forks, as Lee retreated to Appomatox.

At the height of his victory, Warren was summarily relieved on the spot by Sheridan. He spent the rest of his life as an army engineer waiting until Grant-who would hear no criticism of Sheridan-was no longer president for a hearing and a clearing of his name.

A prolonged hearing was finally held, but Warren-who died in 1882-was not alive to receive the vindication of his name and fame. It came a few weeks after Warren died, and 17 years after his mistreatment. The court issued a mild opinion clearing him (which Sheridan countered with a pamphlet impugning Warren and ignoring the court of inquiry). Sympathetic observers raised funds for a home for Warren’s widow and lobbied successfully for a pension for her, and others erected a statue of Warren atop Little Round Top, the most familiar monument to tourists at Gettysburg. It was a victory that came too late.

Warren, like General Chamberlain who served under him, should have received a Medal of Honor. Instead, he got military cover-up and grief from revered generals-Grant and Sheridan, whose reputations he had made.

Larry McGehee

[Professional Engineer]

I learned something rather cool this weekend. I was talking with Msdrby's mom about the flag presented at the grandad's funeral recently. Mom said we'd receive the flag in the end.

Mom also told me we'd get the Confederate flag presented at Msdrby's father's funeral. That raised my eyebrows! It seems Msdrby's father was a member of the Sons of Confederate Veterans. This also makes our son eligible to join.

Wow, between your threads and everything else I've learned in the last year regarding the WBTS, I've sure got some thoughts to ponder. History being written by the victor sure takes on a personal side.

[Professional Engineer]

ROFLOL!

[PhilDragoo]

High resolution available by placing cursor at lower right corner of this image to produce enlarge button.

Throughout the post-war period, Warren had never ceased in his efforts to obtain an investigation into his removal from command at Five Forks. Repeatedly thwarted in his attempt to get his day in court, first by Sheridan (who was chief of the Armies by then) and then Grant who used the power of the Presidency to block any inquiry. It wasn’t till December 1879, after Grant left office, that President Rutherford B. Hayes ordered a Court of Inquiry. The Court convened in January 1880 and in July 1881 after hearing over a 100 witnesses they left to consider a verdict. Throughout the trial and after there was a storm of controversy as both sides and their circle of friends rallied to each side’s defense. On one side were Grant Sheridan, and Sherman. On the other were such men as Chamberlain and Griffin who replaced Warren at Five Forks. In summary, what comes through is the hypocrisy of Sheridan, and his friends, and how it really was a personality conflict. [Sheridan admitted that he had no idea where Warren was during the Battle or what he was doing. What Warren was doing was leading his men around Pickett's flanks and into their rear] The verdict came in November 1882, exonerating Warren of all major accusations related to the Five Forks affair. However, Warren would never know his name had finally been cleared: he died on 8 August 1882 of “acute liver failure” related to diabetes. Among his comments on his death bed he said “I die a bitter bitter man’. His last words were ‘The flag, the flag, oh the flag!” One other thing that has struck me is this; just before Gettysburg he left specific instructions with his father that if he should be killed in combat he was to be buried in his uniform with all the ruffles and flourishes of a military funeral. When he was preparing for his death, he instructed his beloved wife that he not be buried in his uniform, but in his favorite suit, no flag or anything other related to the his military career. However on his tombstone, there is the 5th Corp and the 2nd Corp symbol and the symbol of what is now known as the Corp of Engineers. The tomb stone reads, Gouverneur K. Warren Major Gen. U.S.V. “He has written his epitaph with sword and pen.” Warren left his wife, Emily Chase Warren a son Sydney, and a daughter, Emily.

"Happiness Is Not My Companion" — The Life of General G.K. Warren

by David M. Jordan

Illustrated, maps, endnotes, bibliography, index, 401 pp., 2001. Indiana University Press, 601 North Morton St., Bloomington, IN 47404-3797, $35.00 plus shipping.

David M. Jordan’s "Happiness Is Not My Companion"— The Life of General G.K. Warren is a superb biography of an often overlooked and misunderstood Union officer. The story of Gouverneur Kemble Warren is essential to any comprehensive understanding of the Army of the Potomac, and Jordan tells Warren’s story quite well.

G.K. Warren possessed one of the most brilliant minds in the Army of the Potomac. He also possessed an explosive temper, a moody gloom that affected his spirits, and a propensity to share his brilliance with his superiors, whether or not they wanted him to do so. Warren’s intellect and uneven temperament made him a poor match for men like Ulysses Grant, Phil Sheridan and even his fellow engineer George Meade.

Warren’s life and career can be divided into the period before the April 1, 1865, battle of Five Forks, and the period after his brusque removal from command of the Fifth Corps by Sheridan. Jordan covers both periods extensively in his brisk narrative, using a wealth of documentation.

Warren believed that Sheridan committed an unpardonable injustice against him at Five Forks, and spent the rest of his life trying to right this wrong. Warren’s quest for redemption consumed him in nearly every sense of the word. He remained in the military for the sole purpose of obtaining a court of inquiry into his actions at Five Forks.

He abandoned postwar opportunities for wealth and comfort in order to restore his honor. In the end, depression, stress, bitterness and overwork ruined Warren’s health.

Jordan is sympathetic to his subject, but not to the point of hero worship. Warren’s flaws and their impact on his battlefield performance are ex-amined closely. Despite his flaws, Warren emerges from these pages as a courageous and capable officer.

Fans of Phil Sheridan, on the other hand, will no doubt take issue with Jordan’s depiction of their hero. Calling him a "coarse" and "crude" little man, Jordan portrays Sheridan as a petulant and not altogether honest soldier who expected Warren to do the impossible at Five Forks, then punished him in a reprehensible way when Warren did not meet his expectations.

Superior in many ways to his biography of Winfield Scott Hancock, Jordan’s book will remain the definitive study of G.K. Warren for some time to come.

John E. Deppen

John E. Deppen is a member of the Susquehanna Civil War Round Table. He has an MA in military studies with honors in Civil War studies from American Military University.

Easterspankenbunnen

[SAMWolf]

It seems Msdrby's father was a member of the Sons of Confederate Veterans. This also makes our son eligible to join.

Cool! It's part of your family's heritage, I hope you and your son take advantage of it.

[SAMWolf]

It seems Msdrby's father was a member of the Sons of Confederate Veterans. This also makes our son eligible to join.

Cool! It's part of your family's heritage, I hope you and your son take advantage of it.

[SAMWolf]

EasterspankenbunnenWOW! Nice eggs!!

[snippy_about_it]

Easterspankenbunnen

Grrrrr! You guys!!!! How am I ever going to rally my truppen?

[snippy_about_it]

Ah, the famous "wong way" pilot. How quick history is re-written.

[Professional Engineer]

Easterspankenbunnen

Oh my!

[Professional Engineer]

We watched the first half of Gods and Generals tonight. WOW.

[snippy_about_it]

We watched the John Wayne version of the Alamo! Gods and Generals is on my list!

[Soaring Feather]

:-) LOL

[SAMWolf]

I've got the DVD, saw it in the theatre but havn't watched it on the DVD yet.