Gouverneur K. Warren

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Gouverneur Kemble Warren
First Sioux War

American Civil War

Gouverneur K. Warren as the West Point cadet, c.1850
Major General Gouverneur Kemble Warren. From the Liljenquist Family Collection of Civil War Photographs, Prints and Photographs Division, Library of Congress

Gouverneur Kemble Warren (January 8, 1830 – August 8, 1882) was an American civil engineer and United States Army general during the American Civil War. He is best remembered for arranging the last-minute defense of Little Round Top during the Battle of Gettysburg and is often referred to as the "Hero of Little Round Top". His subsequent service as a corps commander and his remaining military career were ruined during the Battle of Five Forks, when he was relieved of command of the V Corps by Philip Sheridan, who claimed that Warren had moved too slowly. A post-war court of inquiry found that Sheridan's relief of Warren was unjustified.

Early life

Warren was born in

Corps of Topographical Engineers
.

In the Antebellum South, he worked on the Mississippi River, participating in the Pacific Railroad Surveys of possible transcontinental railroad routes, and, in 1857, mapping the Western United States, extensively exploring the vast Nebraska Territory, including Nebraska, North Dakota, South Dakota, part of Montana, and part of Wyoming.[2][3] He served as the engineer on William S. Harney's Battle of Ash Hollow in the Nebraska Territory in 1855, where he saw his first combat.[4][5]

One region he surveyed was the Minnesota River Valley, a valley much larger than expected from the low-flow Minnesota River. In some places, the valley is 5 miles (8 km) wide and 250 feet (80 m) deep. Warren first explained the region's hydrology in 1868, attributing the gorge to a massive river that drained Lake Agassiz between 11,700 and 9,400 years ago. The great river was named Glacial River Warren in his honor after his death.[6]

American Civil War

At the start of the war, Warren was a

first lieutenant and mathematics instructor at the United States Military Academy. He helped raise a local regiment for service in the U.S. Army and was appointed lieutenant colonel of the 5th New York Infantry Regiment on May 14, 1861.[1][4][7] Warren and his regiment saw their first combat at the Battle of Big Bethel in Virginia on June 10, arguably the first major land engagement of the war.[4] He was promoted to colonel and regimental commander on September 10.[1][8]

In the 1862

Gaines Mill, he was bruised in the knee by a shell fragment but remained on the field. He continued to lead the brigade at the Second Battle of Bull Run, suffering heavy casualties in a heroic stand against an overwhelming enemy assault,[9] and at Antietam, where the V Corps was in reserve and saw no combat.[4]

General Warren fighting at Bristoe station as sketched by Alfred Waud
Henry J. Hunt, Andrew A. Humphreys and George Sykes
in September 1863

Warren was promoted to brigadier general on September 26, 1862,[1] and he and his brigade went to the Battle of Fredericksburg in December, but again were held in reserve and saw no action. When U.S. Maj. Gen. Joseph Hooker reorganized the Army of the Potomac in February 1863, he named Warren his chief topographical engineer and then chief engineer. As chief engineer, Warren was commended for his service in the Battle of Chancellorsville.[4]

At the start of the

General Robert E. Lee began his invasion of Pennsylvania, Warren advised Hooker on the routes the Army should take in pursuit. On the second day of the Battle of Gettysburg, July 2, 1863, Warren initiated the defense of Little Round Top, recognizing the importance of the undefended position on the left flank of the U.S. Army and directing, on his initiative, the brigade of Col. Strong Vincent
to occupy it just minutes before it was attacked. Warren suffered a minor neck wound during the Confederate assault.

Promoted to major general after Gettysburg (August 8, 1863), Warren commanded the

Appomattox Campaign.[4]

During these Virginia campaigns, Warren established a reputation for bringing his engineering traits of deliberation and caution to the role of an infantry corps commander. He won the Battle of Globe Tavern, August 18 to August 20, 1864, cutting the Weldon Railroad, a vital supply route north to Petersburg. He also won a limited success in the Battle of Peebles' Farm in September 1864, carrying a part of the Confederate lines protecting supplies moving to Petersburg on the Boydton Plank Road.

The aggressive Maj. Gen. Philip Sheridan, a key subordinate of Lt. Gen. Ulysses S. Grant, was dissatisfied with Warren's performance. He was angry at Warren's corps for supposedly obstructing roads after the Battle of the Wilderness and its cautious actions during the Siege of Petersburg. At the beginning of the Appomattox Campaign, Sheridan requested that the VI Corps be assigned to his pursuit of Lee's army. Still, Grant insisted that the V Corps was better positioned. He gave Sheridan written permission to relieve Warren if he felt it was justified "for the good of the service".[10] Grant later wrote in his Personal Memoirs,[11]

I was so much dissatisfied with Warren's dilatory movements in the battle of White Oak Road and in his failure to reach Sheridan in time, that I was very much afraid that at the last moment he would fail Sheridan. He was a man of fine intelligence, great earnestness, quick perception, and could make his dispositions as quickly as any officer, under difficulties where he was forced to act. But I had before discovered a defect which was beyond his control, that was very prejudicial to his usefulness in emergencies like the one just before us. He could see every danger at a glance before he had encountered it. He would not only make preparations to meet the danger which might occur, but he would inform his commanding officer what others should do while he was executing his move.

— Ulysses S. Grant, Personal Memoirs
Gerhardt's statue of Warren on Little Round Top in Gettysburg

At the Battle of Five Forks on April 1, 1865, Sheridan judged that the V Corps had moved too slowly into the attack and criticized Warren fiercely for not being at the front of his columns. Warren had been held up, searching for Samuel W. Crawford's division, which had gone astray in the woods. But overall, he had handled his corps efficiently, and their attack had carried the day at Five Forks, arguably the pivotal battle of the final days. He even led the final charge, which broke the Confederate lines. Nevertheless, Sheridan relieved Warren of command on the spot. Warren asked Sheridan for reconsideration, who retorted, "Reconsider? Hell, I'll never reconsider. Obey the order!" Meade told Warren that he had contemplated his relief for some time, but he relented and later recommended Grant reinstate him as the V Corps commander to ease tensions in the Army. [12] He was assigned to the defenses of Petersburg and then briefly to command of the Department of Mississippi.[1]

Post-war

Humiliated by Sheridan, Warren resigned his commission as major general of volunteers due to his disagreement with suppressing the meeting of the Mississippi legislature "by any means necessary" on May 27, 1865. He reverted to his permanent rank as

Chester Alan Arthur directed that the findings be published; no other action was taken.[13] Unfortunately for Warren, these results were not published until after his death.[14]

In 1867, he was elected as a member of the American Philosophical Society.[15]

Warren's last assignment in the Army was as district engineer for

Island Cemetery in Newport in civilian clothes and without military honors at his request. His last words were, "The flag! The flag!"[17]

Legacy

A bronze statue of Warren stands on Little Round Top in

Brooklyn, New York. It depicts Warren standing in uniform, with field binoculars on a granite pedestal made of stone quarried at Little Round Top.[3]

Reflecting a pattern of naming many Washington, DC streets in newly developed areas in the Capital after Civil War generals, an east–west street in the Northwest quadrant is named Warren Street, NW.

The United States Army Transport Warren was named for Warren.

The

United States National Academy of Sciences. It is funded by a gift from his daughter, Miss Emily B. Warren, in memory of her father.[19]

Mount Warren in California is named in his honor.[20]

See also

Notes

  1. ^ a b c d e f Eicher, pp. 554–55.
  2. ^ "Gouverneur Kemble Warren Papers, 1848–1882 (finding aid)". New York State Library Website. New York State Library. Retrieved May 11, 2016.
  3. ^ a b "General Warren Statue". New York City Department of Parks and Recreation. August 27, 2001. Retrieved June 4, 2007.
  4. ^ a b c d e f Heidler, pp. 2062–63.
  5. ^ Wittenberg, p. 116.
  6. ^ Upham, Warren (April 16, 1999). "The Glacial Lake Agassiz". North Dakota State University Libraries. Archived from the original on April 29, 2007. Retrieved June 3, 2007.
  7. ^ Compiled Military Service Record of Colonel Gouverneur K. Warren, 5th New York Infantry Regiment. Series: Carded Records Showing Military Service of Soldiers Who Fought in Volunteer Organizations During the American Civil War, 1890 - 1912.
  8. ^ Combined Military Service Record
  9. ^ a b Wittenberg, p. 117.
  10. ^ Wittenberg, p. 119.
  11. ^ Grant, p. 702.
  12. ^ Wittenberg, pp. 119–25.
  13. ^ [Battles and Leaders of the Civil War Vol IV p.724 "General Warren at the Battle of Five Forks, and the Court of Inquiry" pp.723-734]
  14. ^ Wittenberg, pp. 127–31.
  15. ^ "APS Member History". search.amphilsoc.org. Retrieved 2021-04-23.
  16. ^ Approved Pension File for Widow of G K Warren
  17. ^ Wittenberg, p. 129.
  18. ^ "Maj. Gen. G. K. Warren Standing Statue, h(sculpture)". Smithsonian Art Inventories Catalogue. 1995. Retrieved September 25, 2009.
  19. doi:10.17226/9238. Retrieved June 4, 2007. {{cite journal}}: Cite journal requires |journal= (help
    )
  20. ^ Francis Peloubet Farquhar (1926), Place Names of the High Sierra, Publisher: Sierra Club, p. 101

References

Further reading

External links

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Military offices
Preceded by Commander of the Second Army Corps
August 16, 1863 – August 26, 1863 		Succeeded by
Preceded by Commander of the Second Army Corps
September 2, 1863 – October 10, 1863 		Succeeded by
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October 12, 1863 – December 16, 1863 		Succeeded by
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December 29, 1863 – January 9, 1864 		Succeeded by
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Winfield S. Hancock
Preceded by Commander of the Fifth Army Corps
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Preceded by Commander of the Fifth Army Corps
January 27, 1865 – April 1, 1865 		Succeeded by
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