Movements of Generals - Brig. Gen. James S. Wadsworth

Tom Elmore

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Brig. Gen. James Samuel “Old Waddy” Wadsworth (1807-1864) commanded the First Division of the Union First Corps at Gettysburg. Educated at Yale and Harvard, Wadsworth was an abolitionist, and one of the richest men in the army. He distrusted George B. McClellan. While assigned as the Military Governor of the District of Columbia, Wadsworth obstructed efforts to impose the Fugitive Slave Law in the District. He was a very capable combat officer. In May 1864, Wadsworth was mortally wounded in the Wilderness battle.

One of his sons, James Wolcott Wadsworth, served as a major in the war. Another son, Captain Craig Wharton Wadsworth, served at Gettysburg as an aide to Maj. Gen. John Reynolds, his successor John Newton, and also as Assistant Adjutant General to John Buford. It was Capt. Wadsworth who took the 71st Pennsylvania to Culp’s Hill on the evening of July 2. His son, Craig W. Wadsworth, was born in 1872, and served in the Rough Riders under Teddy Roosevelt during the Spanish-American War; he died in 1960.

Timeline:

- July 1, around 9:30 a.m. Near the Seminary, Gen. Wadsworth detaches the 14th Brooklyn and 95th New York to act with the 6th Wisconsin as a reserve. [John A. Kellogg, 6th Wisconsin, AAG to Cutler, Bachelder Papers 1:205]

- July 1, around 10 a.m. After Reynolds personally selected the position for the 2nd Maine battery [under Capt. James Hall] near the Chambersburg Pike, Wadsworth rode up and Reynolds told him, “Put a strong support on the right of this battery; I will look out for the left.” [the 147th New York was put there.] Reynolds then rode away and was soon killed. [Maine at Gettysburg, Hall’s Second Maine Battery, p. 16] When Davis’ advance threatened Cutler’s right regiments, Wadsworth ordered them to retreat, leaving Hall unsupported and badly cut up, but after the war Hall refused to blame him. [Bachelder Papers, 1:306-307]

- July 1, around 11 a.m. Wadsworth found Battery A, 2nd U.S. [Calef’s battery of the Horse Artillery] on Seminary Ridge and advanced it to the front line, where it engaged a battery of the enemy. [Wadsworth’s Official Report]

- July 1, about 12:10 p.m. When the enemy placed a battery to enfilade the line [on Oak Hill to the north], Wadsworth ordered Cutler to fall back to Seminary Ridge. [Wadsworth’s Official Report]

- July 1, early afternoon Major Alexander Biddle of the 121st Pennsylvania received orders from Maj. Gen. Doubleday through an aide to move his men over the crest of the hill behind him. His men marched back about 75 feet when Gen. Wadsworth rode up [Wadsworth had likely came from the eastern edge of Reynold’s woods] and asked why the unit was going back. When Biddle explained, Wadsworth asked where Doubleday was, and Biddle pointed to the grove in the rear [near the Seminary]. Wadsworth turned to an aide and said, “Give my compliments to Gen. Doubleday and tell him he can’t see down there what is going on over here." Brig. Gen. Rowley soon rode up and said Doubleday had ordered the regiment behind the crest of the hill. [Alexander Biddle, 121st Pennsylvania, Biddle Family Papers]

- July 1, afternoon Wadworth directed Surgeon George W. New to transport the wounded in ambulances from the field hospital at the Seminary to the rear of Cemetery Ridge. [George W. New, 7th Indiana, Bachelder Papers, 1:198]

- July 1, about 3:45 p.m. On Seminary Ridge, Wadsworth told Lt. Whittaker of the 5th Maine battery that the battery had better withdraw (the Second Division line was then collapsing to the north). [A Diary of Battle, The Personal Journals of Colonel Charles S. Wainwright, 1861-1865, ed. by Allen Nevins, 1962, p. 136]

- July 1, about 3:45 p.m. Wadsworth ordered his command to retire from Seminary Ridge. [Wadsworth, Official Report]

- July 1, about 5 p.m. Just back of Cemetery Hill, met Gen. Wadsworth and his son, the Captain. [Alexander Biddle, 121st Pennsylvania, Biddle Family Papers]

- July 1, evening On the slope of an exposed hill [Culp’s Hill] by the side of a smoldering campfire lay Gen. Wadsworth, on the ground, surrounded by his staff. [Rebellion Record, vol. 7, p. 89]

- July 2, noon Wadsworth mentioned to Surgeon George W. New that he was compelled to take a civilian’s milk cow to feed himself and his staff. [George W. New, 7th Indiana, Bachelder Papers, 1:199]

- July 2, about 7 p.m. Wadsworth came over to Cemetery Hill and wanted to fire a shot at the rebels attacking Culp’s Hill. One of Battery L’s guns was pointed there, and Wadsworth aimed it. The gun was fired slowly, and after about six shots, a major of the Twelfth Corps came over and said we were dropping every shot directly into their line and had already disabled half a dozen men. [A Diary of Battle, The Personal Journals of Colonel Charles S. Wainwright, 1861-1865, ed. by Allen Nevins, 1962), p. 245]
 
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