Person:James Wadsworth (6)

the text in this section is copied from an article in Wikipedia

James Samuel Wadsworth (October 30, 1807 – May 8, 1864) was a philanthropist, politician, and a Union general in the American Civil War. He was mortally wounded in battle during the Battle of the Wilderness of 1864.

Major General in the Civil War, generally considered to be the richest man in the Union army. He never accepted any pay, and offered his fortune to the government at the outset of the war. Served for a short time as a volunter aide to Gen. Irwin McDowell during the First Manassas Campaign. Appointed Brigadier General of U.S. Volunteers, 9 Aug 1861. Became Military Governor of the District of Columbia in March 1862, even though he had no formal military training. He felt he had no prospects for advancement during the Peninsula Campaign, so he ran for Governor of New York but was not elected. After the Battle of Fredericksburg, he was assigned the command of the 1st Division of the I Corps under Gen. John F. Reynolds. He fought bravely on the First Day at Gettysburg, trying to stave off Confederate attacks. At the Battle of the Wilderness, 6 May 1864, while leading his men in an attempt to repel an assult, he was shot off his horse, with the bullet entering the back of his head and then his brain. He was taken to a Confederate field hospital where he died two days later without regaining consciousness. His remains were recovered later under a flag of truce and sent home to New York. He was postumously breveted Major General to rank from the date of his wounding. Today a statue of him stands on the First Day's Battlefield in the Gettysburg National Military Park, and a monument marks the spot where he was mortally wounded in the Wilderness.

Maj. Gen. James S Wadsworth Monument

1. ↑ ^{1.0 1.1 1.2} James S. Wadsworth, in Wikipedia: The Free Encyclopedia.
2. ↑ MacColl, Gail, and Carol McD. Wallace. To Marry an English Lord. (New York: Workman Publishing, 1989).
3. ↑ ^{3.0 3.1 3.2} James Wadsworth, in Find A Grave.
4. ↑ Family Recorded, in Olmsted, Henry King (1824-1896), and George Kemp Ward (1848-1937). Genealogy of the Olmsted Family in America: Embracing the Descendants of James and Richard Olmstead and Covering a Period of Nearly Three Centuries, 1632-1912. (New York: A. T. DeLaMare, 1912).

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   pp 112-113 -
   (1260) (Brig. Gen.) JAMES S. WADSWORTH, Geneseo, N. Y. b. Oct. 3„ 1807; d. May 8, 1864; m. Mary Craig Wharton.
   
   Early in the year 1861, the rebellion in the slave states of the Union against the general Government found Mr. Wadsworth at his temporary residence in the city of New York. The President of the United States had called for troops to defend the seat of Government from spoliation and possible capture at the hands of the South. In this hour of its extremity, Mr. Wadsworth, in the impulsive patriotism of his nature, rushed to the country's, rescue. With his own purse and credit, he furnished a vessel with a cargo of army supplies, went with it to Annapolis, and gave his personal attention to its distribution among the troops that had been hastily called to protect the city of Washington. This assistance on the part of Mr. Wadsworth, rendered in the impoverished condition of the public treasury, although afterwards repaid to him, was none the less creditable to both his patriotism and liberality. He now abandoned his private affairs to his agents, and devoted his entire energies to his country. As a volunteer Aide to General McDowell, he engaged in the first battle of Bull Run, and by his courage and skill, retrieved much of the disaster of that ill-fated engagement. In July, 1861, he was appointed Brigadier General, and assigned to a command in the Army of the Potomac. He was later the Military Governor of the city of Washington. Under General Reynolds he was appointed Commander of the 1st Division, and led this Division in the battles of Fredericksburg and Chancellorsville. At Gettysburg, his was the first Division engaged, going into action at nine in the morning and remaining on the field till four in the afternoon. Nor was he of his family alone in his devotion to the public service. Three sons, Charles F., Craig W., and James W., followed him into the army. His son-in-law, Captain Ritchie, also served in the early part of the war. If, in the annals of time, an instance of higher patriotism and intenser devotion to the honor of their country has been shown by a father and three sons, possessing millions of wealth, and beckoned by all the allurements of ease and luxury from personal danger, that instance has yet to be written. General Wadsworth fell in the " Battle of the Wilderness." — The Wadsworth Family in America, pp. 75-76.
   
   2432, Charles Frederick +.
   2433, Cornelia; b. 1839; m. (1) Montgomery Ritchie; (2) John Adair.
   2434, Craig Wharton +.
   2435, Nancy; b. 1843; m. E. M. Rogers.
   2436, James Wolcott +.
   2437, Elizabeth; b. 1848; m. Arthur Post.