All in the Family – Relatives of Generals

Tom Elmore

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The following lists general officers at Gettysburg with relatives who were, or may have been, participants in the battle or campaign, typically serving as a member of their staff. The position of aide (aide-de-camp) was often filled by a talented family member or other trusted confidant, whose tenure lasted only as long as their patron general remained in his position.

CSA

George Edward Pickett, Major General, commanding division in the First Corps.
(brother) Charles Francis Pickett, Major, assistant adjutant general to his brother, present at Gettysburg.
[Confederate Military History, vol. 4, p. 1115; The National Tribune, December 5, 1889, p. 3]

Lewis Addison Armistead, Brigadier General, commanding brigade, mortally wounded July 3.
(son) Walker Keith Armistead, Lieutenant, aide to his father, present at Gettysburg, automatically lost his appointment when his father was killed.
(brother) Bowles Edward Armistead, 1st Lieutenant, Company A, 6th Virginia Cavalry, possibly present at Gettysburg.
[Alexandria Gazette, October 17, 1916; Compiled Service Records; Coupland R. Page, Reminiscences of the Battle of Gettysburg]

Lafayette McLaws, Major General, commanding division in First Corps.
(nephew-in-law) Alfred D. Edwards, 1st Lieutenant, ordnance officer to his uncle-in-law, possibly present at Gettysburg.
(nephew-in-law) John Franklin Edwards, commissary officer to his uncle-in-law, reportedly present at Gettysburg.
[https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/9023052/alfred-edwards; https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/48111600/john-franklin-edwards; Fold3, Confederate Letters, September 9, 1863 letter of Edwin Taliaferro]

Paul Jones Semmes, Brigadier General, commanding brigade, mortally wounded July 2.
(nephew-in-law) Thomas P. Cleveland, Private, Company F, 10th Georgia, present at Gettysburg. Semmes had married his mother’s sister. Cleveland escorted Semmes to Martinsburg, (West) Virginia, where Semmes died.
[Reminiscence, by Thomas P. Cleveland (F/10 GA), Confederate Reminiscences and Letters, UDC, vol. XV, Georgia Division, 2000, p. 72]

Henry Lewis Benning, Brigadier General, commanding brigade.
(son) Seaborn Jones Benning, assistant adjutant general on his father’s staff, present at Gettysburg, named after Henry L. Benning’s father-in-law, Seaborn Jones Jr.
(brother-in-law) John Abraham Jones, Colonel, 20th Georgia, killed July 2. Son of Seaborn Jones, Jr., Henry L. Benning’s father-in-law.
[http://archives.columbusstate.edu/findingaids/mc6.php]

John Brown Gordon, Brigadier General, commanding brigade.
(brother) Eugene C. Gordon, Lieutenant, aide to his brother, present at Gettysburg.
[Confederate Military History, Extended Addition, vol. 7, Alabama, p. 535; Confederate Veteran, vol. 20, p. 465; Compiled Service Records]

Ambrose Powell "A. P." Hill, Lieutenant General, commanding Third Corps.
(brother) Edward Baptist Hill, Major, commissary of his brother’s corps, possibly present.
[https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/111798366/edward-baptist-hill]

Ambrose Ransom Wright, Brigadier General, commanding brigade.
(son) William Ambrose Wright, 1st Lieutenant, ordnance officer on his father’s staff, captured at Keedysville, Maryland on June 23 or 24 by a party of New York scouts.
[Papers of the Grinnan Family, letter of July 27, 1863]

Isaac Ridgeway Trimble, Major General, commanding division in Third Corps, wounded and captured on July 3.
(nephew) Samuel Boyer Davis, Lieutenant, aide to his uncle, wounded on July 3, captured, escaped from a Federal hospital.
[October 21, 1863 letter of John H. Winder, Fold3, Confederate Letters; Confederate Casualties at Gettysburg by John W. Busey and Travis W. Busey, 1:27; Staunton Spectator, August 18, 1863, p. 2]

Edward Lloyd Thomas, Brigadier General, commanding brigade.
(brother) Henry Philip Thomas, Lieutenant Colonel, 16th Georgia, present at Gettysburg.
[https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/84426644/henry-phillip-thomas; E. H. Sutton, K/24 GA, Grand Pa’s War Stories]

Alfred Moore Scales, Brigadier General, commanding brigade, wounded July 1.
(brother) Erasmus Decatur Scales, Captain, assistant commissary in his brother’s brigade, probably present at Gettysburg.
[https://www.geni.com/people/Erasmus-Decatur-Scales/6000000008850578677; Compiled Service Record of E. D. Scales]

USA

George Gordon Meade, Major General, commanding the army.
(son) George Gordon Meade, Jr., Captain, aide to his father, present at Gettysburg.
[Bachelder Papers, 1:389]

Oliver Otis Howard, Major General, commanding Eleventh Corps.
(brother) Charles Henry Howard, Major, aide to his older brother, present at Gettysburg.
[Letters of Charles H. Howard]

John White Geary, Brigadier General, commanding Second Division, Twelfth Corps.
(son) Edward Ratchford Geary, 2nd Lieutenant, Knap’s Independent Pennsylvania Battery E, present at Gettysburg, killed at Wauhatchie, Tennessee on October 29, 1863.
[Atlanta History Center, Georgia; https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/23482959/edward-ratchford-geary]

George Sears Greene, Brigadier General, commanding brigade.
(son) Francis Vinton Greene, 13 years old, present on the march to Gettysburg until June 29 and left behind at Frederick, Maryland.
[Diary of Francis Vinton Greene]

USA and CSA

John Gibbon, Brigadier General, commanding Second Division, Second Corps, USA, wounded July 3.
(cousin) J. Johnston Pettigrew, Brigadier General, commanding brigade and division in Third Corps, CSA, wounded July 3, mortally wounded July 14.
[Civil War Trust, Hallowed Ground, CivilWar.org]
 
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IIRC, Winfield Scott Hancock's brother served on his staff. His name escapes me at the moment, however.

Ryan

Presumably that would be the same Major John Hancock who served on Caldwell's staff and was mentioned by him in his official report?
 
Presumably that would be the same Major John Hancock who served on Caldwell's staff and was mentioned by him in his official report?

I assume so. I was thinking that he went with Hancock when he took over the corps but could be wrong.

Ryan
 
Lewis Addison Armistead, Brigadier General, commanding brigade, mortally wounded July 3.
(son) Walker Keith Armistead, Lieutenant, aide to his father, present at Gettysburg, automatically lost his appointment when his father was killed.


Poor man! I realize relatives serving together was common but it had to awful when someone was killed and you were there. Never thought of what happens to staff when a general is lost. Would he have remained a Lieutenant and been assigned elsewhere?
 
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