COL Cross, Edward Ephraim

Edward Ephraim Cross

Cross.jpg
Born:
April 22, 1832

Birthplace: Lancaster, New Hampshire

Father: Colonel Ephraim Cross 1795 – 1876
(Buried: Wilder Cemetery, Lancaster, New Hampshire)​

Mother: Abigail C. Everett – 1884
(Buried: Wilder Cemetery, Lancaster, New Hampshire)​

Occupation before War:
Writer for Coos Democrat Newspaper
Printer for Cincinnati Times Newspaper
Washington Correspondent for Cincinnati Times Newspaper
Supporter and Campaigner for Know – Nothing political party​
Newspaper Article Writer for New York Herald Newspaper
Member of Santa Rita Silver Mining Company​
Investor of Mines in Arizona Territory​
Founder and Owner of Weekly Arizonian Newspaper
Scout for United States Army during the Apache Expeditions​
1860: Commander of Sonoran Army Garrison in Mexico​

Civil War Career:
1861 – 1863: Colonel of 5th New Hampshire Infantry Regiment​
1862: Wounded during the Battle of Seven Pines, Virginia​
1862: Served in the Seven Days Campaign in Virginia​
1862: Wounded during the Battle of Antietam, Maryland​
1862: Regimental Commander at Battle of Fredericksburg, Virginia​
1863: Regimental Commander at Battle of Chancellorsville, Virginia​
1863: Brigade Commander at Battle of Gettysburg, Pennsylvania​
1863: Mortally Wounded at Rose Woods at Battle of Gettysburg​

Died: July 3, 1863

Place of Death: Gettysburg, Pennsylvania

Cause of Death: War Wounds

Age at time of Death: 31 years old

Burial Place: Wilder Cemetery, Lancaster, New Hampshire
 
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He seems to have been a newspaper man earlier, how did he become "military".He was a Lt.Colonel in the Mexican Army around the time the war started. I'm guessing it had something to do with his silver mines out West. But being an investor in mines doesn't make a military man out of a person.
 
He seems to have been a newspaper man earlier, how did he become "military".He was a Lt.Colonel in the Mexican Army around the time the war started. I'm guessing it had something to do with his silver mines out West. But being an investor in mines doesn't make a military man out of a person.

If you had silver mines out in the Arizona territory (Santa Rita mine is in Southwest New Mexico today, but near the Arizona border), you had to deal with Apaches...in particular, at that time, Cochise and Mangas Coloradas. I see he served as a scout for the Army, so I guess you could say he might have gotten some idea of deadly conflict...but Apaches didn't have artillery.
 
It is interesting that Col. Cross, who once remarked that General Meagher was drunk as usual, or words to that effect, was a supporter of the Know - Nothing party.

John
 
One bio says he was severely wounded near the Devil's Den, this one says mortally wounded at Rose Woods. What was the nature of his wounding?

He was shot in the abdomen in the woods just northwest of the southwest corner of the Wheatfield, behind the 5th New Hampshire. He was shot from about 45 yards away by a Confederate hiding behind a rock who was subsequently shot by Sergeant Charles Phelps (Company I, 5th New Hampshire). The 5th's monument at Gettysburg marks the spot where Colonel Cross was shot.

Ryan
 
Interestingly, what was probably the very first book I ever read about the Civil War, a so-called young person's or juvenile history Gettysburg by Makinlay Kantor said that Cross was a cruel commander and strongly suggested that he may well have been fragged by his own men for being a petty tyrant!
 
@ James N. Your posting above (#9) recalls fond memories to me. I received that book as a gift for my tenth birthday. I loved it. I read it over and over. However it's been so long since I read it, 65 years, that I didn't remember that part about Cross.


Thanks, John
 
Gettysburg by Kantor.jpg

@ James N. Your posting above (#9) recalls fond memories to me. I received that book as a gift for my tenth birthday. I loved it. I read it over and over. However it's been so long since I read it, 65 years, that I didn't remember that part about Cross.


Thanks, John
I still have my copy, pictured here in a scan; likewise, I read it many times, and also liked the illustrations. I don't know why I remembered - maybe it was because it was my first intimation that service wasn't always a glorious thing or that commanders cared for or looked out for their men, likely one reason I sought successfully to keep out of what was essentially "our" war in Vietnam.
 
Interestingly, what was probably the very first book I ever read about the Civil War, a so-called young person's or juvenile history Gettysburg by Makinlay Kantor said that Cross was a cruel commander and strongly suggested that he may well have been fragged by his own men for being a petty tyrant!

The 148th Pennsylvania certainly did not like Colonel Cross. On June 30, he had summoned the officers of the regiment to introduce them to Colonel H. Boyd McKeen (81st Pennsylvania) who would be taking command of the 148th in place of Lt. Colonel Robert McFarlane (Colonel James A. Beaver had been wounded at Chancellorsville). Understandably, the officers of the 148th saw this as a serious insult to Lt. Colonel McFarlane in spite of it being a logical decision for Cross (the veteran 81st was well under 200 men while the relatively inexperienced 148th had more than 500 and Cross trusted the very experienced McKeen over McFarlane). The 148th Pennsylvania would never forgive Cross for this transgression.

Ryan
 
The 148th Pennsylvania certainly did not like Colonel Cross. On June 30, he had summoned the officers of the regiment to introduce them to Colonel H. Boyd McKeen (81st Pennsylvania) who would be taking command of the 148th in place of Lt. Colonel Robert McFarlane (Colonel James A. Beaver had been wounded at Chancellorsville). Understandably, the officers of the 148th saw this as a serious insult to Lt. Colonel McFarlane in spite of it being a logical decision for Cross (the veteran 81st was well under 200 men while the relatively inexperienced 148th had more than 500 and Cross trusted the very experienced McKeen over McFarlane). The 148th Pennsylvania would never forgive Cross for this transgression.

Ryan
According to Kantor in the book above, he angered his regiments on the march to Gettysburg by refusing to allow them time to remove their shoes before crossing a creek, resulting in blisters and misery. Thinking about it now, I've read the same or similar situations involving some of the best-liked commanders, Stonewall Jackson and Pat Cleburne to name a couple. (Of course, Stonewall has been discussed here before, and as the possible victim of fragging himself.) I'm sure it depends highly on the particular situations and frequency of such complaints.
 
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