Union Colonel
Charles Shiels Wainwright received his commission to major in the 1st
New York Artillery October 17th 1861.
Charles
Shiels Wainwright was born December 31st 1826 in New York City, the
son of William P Wainwright. He grew up
on his father’s estate in the Hudson Valley known as “The Meadows”, where they
grew produce that he delivered to the markets in the city.
Wainwright
was 34 in 1861 when the Civil War started. He began keeping a diary on October 1st
that year. Wainwright received a
commission in the 1st New York Artillery on October 17th
1861 to Major. He was with his guns at
the Battles of Antietam and Fredericksburg.
At the Battle of Chancellorsville, Wainwright served as the chief of
artillery of the First Corps, where he received praise from Union Brigadier
General Henry J Hunt. During the Battle
of Gettysburg Wainwright commanded the artillery on the eastern part of
Cemetery Hill on July 2nd 1863, and was involved in the twilight
attack on the hill. When the Army of the
Potomac was reorganized in 1864 Wainwright became the chief of artillery for
the Fifth Corps. It was in this position
that his guns broke the Confederate attack at the Battle of North Anna. He was given a brevet promotion to Brigadier
General August 1st 1864.
After the
war ended Wainwright returned to Dutchess County, New York and farming, before
doing a tour of Europe, and then settling in Washington, DC. He died at the George Washington University
Hospital in Washington, DC September 13th 1907, and is buried in the
Green Wood Cemetery, in Brooklyn, New York.
Wainwright’s brother inherited the diary he had kept during the Civil
War, and he used it to write “A Diary of Battle: The Personal Journals of
Colonel Charles S Wainwright, 1861 – 1865”.
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