★ Patterson, Francis Engle

Francis Engle Patterson​

Born: March 7, 1821 - (as per Generals in Blue by Ezra Warner)

Birthplace: Philadelphia, Pennsylvania

Father: Major General Robert Patterson 1792 – 1881

(Buried: Laurel Hill Cemetery, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania)​

Mother: Sarah Ann Engle 1792 – 1875

(Buried: Laurel Hill Cemetery, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania)​

Occupation before War:

1847: 2nd​ Lt. United States Army, 1st​ Artillery​

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1847: 1st​ Lt. United States Army, 1st​ Artillery​

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Transferred as 1st​ Lt. to United States Army, 9th​ Infantry Regiment​

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1855 – 1857: Captain, United States Army, 9th​ Infantry Regiment​

Civil War Career:

1861 – 1862: Colonel of 17th​ Pennsylvania Infantry Regiment​

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1862: Brigadier General, Union Army Volunteers​

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1862: Brigade Commander at the Battle of Williamsburg, Virginia

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1862: Relinquished command of his regiment at Seven Pines, Virginia​

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1862: Suffered from the effects of Typhoid Fever​

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1862: Did Administrative duty at Army Headquarters​

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1862: Withdrew his Brigade from Catlett's Station​

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1862: Accused by General Sickles of retreating without orders​

Died: November 2, 1862

Place of Death: Near Occoquan, Virginia

Cause of Death: Accidental discharge of his own pistol

Age at time of Death: 41 years old

Burial Place: Laurel Hill Cemetery, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania

 

[gentlemanrob]

 

[Pollaco]

His death has been ruled an accident but it was still clouded in controversy. At the time of his death he was in a heated dispute with his division commander, Daniel Sickles. Patterson had been defending Washington at about the time of the Maryland Campaign and was charged by Sickles with withdrawing his brigade upon false information that the Confederates were at Warrenton Junction. The disputed was still ongoing when Patterson was found dead in his tent from a gunshot.

Brother to brevet Brigadier General Robert Emmet Patterson and brother-in-law to General John Joseph Abercrombie.

Was he the son or brother to Robert Patterson?

 

[mofederal]

Francis E. Patterson's presentation Sword and shoulder epaulets.

 

[NH Civil War Gal]

‘A Tragic Affair’: The Death of Brigadier General Frank Patterson - Emerging Civil War

In November 1862, Francis E. Patterson shot himself, making him the only full-rank Union general to die by his own hand during the Civil War.

emergingcivilwar.com

This is a sad and complex story. Please go to the link to find out the rest of the story. I didn't realize Sickles was involved in this.

'Everybody Felt it Like a Personal Sorrow'
Hooker's division was under the temporary command of the notorious Brig. Gen. Daniel Sickles and on picket duty along the Potomac. Patterson's brigade was tasked with repairing and rebuilding the tracks near Catlett's Station along the Orange and Alexandria Railroad. There were rumors of a considerable-sized Confederate cavalry force to the south of Patterson's position, and he reported, "The whistles of cars are going freely, indicating the arrival of troops." Acting on the belief that he was outnumbered and his position untenable, Patterson ordered a retreat back to his old camp at Bristoe Station on November 9. Sickles believed Patterson's withdrawal was unnecessary and unauthorized, relieving him of command and calling for a court of inquiry.[13]

For nearly two weeks, Patterson awaited investigation, apparently quite ill and trying to keep dry, like his troops, from incessant rainfall. On November 22, 1862, Rusling observed his old brigade commander near his tent, "ill and acting strangely all the evening." Rusling said that "about 2 A.M. suddenly his pistol went off, accidentally or otherwise, and poor Patterson was no more."

Brig. Gen. Francis Engle Patterson. (LOC)