Union
General James Samuel Wadsworth died May 8th 1864 from wounds
received two days earlier at the Battle of the Wilderness.
James Samuel
Wadsworth was born October 30th 1807, the son of James Wadsworth in
Geneseo, Livingston, New York. He
studied law at both Harvard and Yale, and was admitted to the bar. He didn't set up a practice; instead
Wadsworth managed the family’s estate.
He would enter politics as a Democrat, but then became one of the
organizers of the Free Soil Party, and finally a Republican. In 1861 Wadsworth was a member of the Peace
Conference.
When the
Civil War became inevitable, Wadsworth volunteered his service to the
Union. He served as an aide-de-camp at
the First Battle of Bull Run to Union Major General Irvin McDowell. McDowell recommended Wadsworth for command,
and with the rank of Brigadier General on October 3rd 1861 he began
commanding the 2nd Brigade of 3rd Division of the 1st
Corps. From March 17th to
September 7th 1862 Wadsworth had command of the Military District of
Washington, and had a hand in holding troops for its defense against the wishes
of Major General George B McClellan.
After having stepped on McClellan’s toes, Wadsworth could see no
prospect in McClellan’s army, and so put his name into the running for Governor
of New York State. After McClellan was
replaced at the head of the Army of the Potomac, and Wadsworth had lost the
election to Democrat Horatio Seymour, he took the command of the First Division
in the 1st Corps. He was well
thought of by his men. As the leader of
his new division, they were only marginally involved at the Battle of
Chancellorsville in May 1863. At the
Battle of Gettysburg, his division was the first Union infantry troops to
arrive on the field on July 1st 1863, and was heavily engaged,
loosing over 50% of their strength that day.
They would also fight on the second day.
When the spring
1864 Campaign began, the Army of the Potomac was reorganized, and Wadsworth
became the commander of the 4th Division in the V Corps. At the Battle of the Wilderness, Wadsworth
was the oldest Union divisional command at 56.
On May 5th 1864 his division was ordered to defend the left
of the Union line, but lost their way in the thick underbrush, exposing his
left flank to an attack. Then on May 6th
1864 while placing two of his brigades, Wadsworth was shot in the back of head,
he fell from his horse and was captured by the Confederates. Wadsworth would die in a Confederate field
hospital two days later on May 8th 1864. His son-in-law Montgomery Harrison Ritchie
would cross line under a flag of truce to retrieve his body. He is buried in the Temple Hill Cemetery in
Geneseo, New York.
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