★  Lytle, William Haines

William Haines Lytle

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Lytle.jpg


Born: November 2, 1826

Birthplace: Cincinnati, Ohio

Father: Robert Todd Lytle 1804 – 1839
(Buried: Spring Grove Cemetery, Cincinnati, Ohio)​

Mother: Elizabeth Haines 1805 – 1841
(Buried: Spring Grove Cemetery, Cincinnati, Ohio)​

Education:

Graduated from Cincinnati College​

Occupation before War:

Attorney in Cincinnati, Ohio​
Served in Mexican – American War as Captain​
Attorney in Cincinnati, Ohio​
Ohio State Representative​
1857: Unsuccessful Candidate for Lt. Governor of Ohio​
1857 – 1861: Major General in Ohio State Militia​
Known for his poet writings​
1858: Author of Antony and Cleopatra, One of his most famous​
1860: Campaigner for Stephen A. Douglas for President Campaign​
1860: Unsuccessful Democratic Candidate for U.S. Congress​

Civil War Career:

1861 – 1862: Colonel of 10th​ Ohio Volunteers Infantry Regiment​
1861: Served in the fighting in Western Virginia​
1861: Wounded during the Battle of Carnifex Ferry​
Union Army Commander of Bardstown, Kentucky training camp​
1862: Wounded and captured at Battle of Perryville, Kentucky​
1862 – 1863: Prisoner of War held by the Confederate Army​
1862 – 1863: Brigadier General of Union Army Volunteers​
1863: Mortally Wounded during Battle of Chickamauga, Georgia​

Died: September 20, 1863

Place of Death: Field hospital at Crawfish Springs, Georgia

Cause of Death: Died from his wounds

Age at time of Death: 36 years old

Burial Place: Spring Grove Cemetery, Cincinnati, Ohio
 
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On November 29, 1862, Lytle was promoted to brigadier general of volunteers. In September 1863 the officers of the 10th Ohio Volunteer Infantry, which he had originally led, presented him with a jeweled Maltese cross. Eleven days later he was killed at Chickamauga. This cdv from my collection shows him wearing the cross. It was taken by Schwing & Rudd, "Photographers, Army of the Cumberland."
Gen. Lytle.jpg
 
I have a warm regard for this General. He was a lawyer in Cincinnati, and was well known as a Poet, and when he was killed, soldiers from both sides were respectful with his body, and If I am not mistaken, the Confederates even guarded his body, and shed a tear. It is said most could recite his "Antony and Cleopatra" by heart. His family and mine were in Cincinnati at the same time and my GGGGrandfather's son (from a first wife) even named one of his sons ( William Haines Lytle Wiseman) after this man. That would have been in 1853, long before he died a soldier's glorious death at Chickamauga.
 
In the midst of a battle like Chickamauga, with thousands of rifles being fired amid clouds of smoke who could know who shot who? And Longstreet's intense attack doesn't seem a sniperish situation.

"I am dying, Egypt, dying..."
 
That cemetery where he is buried, Spring Grove, is also the burial place of Salmon P. Chase, Joseph Hooker, and several other generals.

* My Uncle Steve (USMC Vietnam Vet) standing in front of the Hooker grave at the Spring Grove Cemetery.

IMG_20180917_144859.jpg
 
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