Civil War Articles by Julian WilliamsSome Civil War Generals Died "Unusually" And "Uncle John" Was Amongst Them
This article was compiled by Julian Williams.
It had been roughly one year and nine months since Sergeant John McCrimmon of Jacksonville, Georgia, killed Union General Phil Kearny at Chantilly, Virginia, on a rainy stormy night regretted by all. Even General Lee was so distraught he personally paid for Bayard, General Kearny's horse, and his saddle, and sent those items to his grieving widow. Everyone seemed to like Kearny. If you remember the story, General Kearny had made a mistake of identity. He thought the Confederates were Yankees. They weren't.
But John was rewarded for doing his duty as General Lee gave him a furlough home, which he took later. That's why his wife had a son (little John) in 1864. The resulting boy was a furlough baby. It was amazing how soldiers on furlough could raise crops and families.
And now the War is at The Wilderness and Spotsylvania Courthouse. Another general was about to be killed and everyone liked him, too. We'll get back to him, but this wasn't the first time (or last) a general would be killed under unusual circumstances.
Not long before Kearny's death, another general made a mistake of identity. That time, it was a Confederate general with the unusual name of Felix Zollicoffer - sometimes called Zollie. Zollie had a handicap suffered by many of us - he was nearsighted. Riding out in the smoke and fog at Mill Springs, Kentucky, he thought the Yankees were Confederates. They weren't. It wasn't the fog of nature that betrayed him but Major Fogg of his own staff did him in. Instead of quietly riding up to his side and telling him he was about twenty feet from the business end of Yankee Colonel Speed Fry's pistol, he rides out shouting at the top of his lungs something to the effect, "Watch out, General Zollie, that's a bunch of Yankees!"
This salutation did not work well for the safety and well-being of General Zollicoffer. He was immediately shot from his horse at point blank range by Colonel Speed Fry of the Yankee army. Major Fogg also was mortally wounded. Poor Zollie was dead. Leaned against a tree he became immediately popular with the enemy who had just disposed of him and they began to come by and pick off sash, belt, boots, buttons, sword and whatever personal accoutrements they found to their liking. The soldiers, after reducing the poor dead general to his underwear, began snipping locks of hair from his head for souvenirs for their wives and girlfriends back home. Not until some kind and compassionate officer came along did this frenzied and irreverent activity cease. You can go there now, read the marker and see the Zollie Tree. Actually you probably will see a new Zollie Tree started from an acorn because the original was struck by lightning in 1995. Neither the general or the tree came out very well. His fate was tragic and the conduct of the enemy did not reflect any respect for the fallen. It was a terrible thing indeed to be without your glasses in that War. So much for another case of mistaken identity.
Of course, we all know the story of Stonewall Jackson, one of the South's top generals. He had a bad habit of riding to the front lines himself and scouting enemy positions. A general was not supposed to do this. He could get killed. He was supposed to send someone else of lesser rank to get in that kind of fix. The theory was they would not be missed as much because they were not worth as much. To numerically show this, the going rate of exchange for prisoners of war was 60 privates for one general or 15 privates for a captain or 20 privates for a major or maybe 35 privates for a full colonel - give or take a few, probably depending on the reputation of the privates and officers in question and other needs at hand. But, General Jackson came by one dark night and the Confederates thought he was a Yankee. He wasn't. Another case of mistaken identity. They buried his arm in one cemetery and his body, which lived about a week longer, in another. The South had lost a great military strategist. And, a good soldier. It is said Jackson got the nickname, "Old Blue Light," because his blue eyes would light up when he was in the midst of battle.
Yes, "Uncle John" Sedgwick, a Yankee general, and a good one, was to suffer a similar fate. But this time, it was not mistaken identity.
The unusual death of "Uncle John" came right after our Telfair boys had fought in the terrible tangles of The Wilderness. It was a dreadful place to be.
The following Telfair soldiers were casualties:
James L. Bowen was killed in The Wilderness. Sergeant William H. McDonald also paid the last full measure of devotion in the dense and hellish inferno.
Telfairians wounded at The Wilderness:
- Alchanah Brown - Wounded in leg resulting in amputation. Died as result of amputation 29 May 1864.
- John J. Ray - Died of wounds at Macon, Ga., in June 1864, enroute home.
- Ambrose Smith
- James Franklin Watson - Right leg disabled.
- Sherrod White.
- John Yancey.
Telfairians captured at The Wilderness:
William C. Bowen - Exchanged at Point Lookout, MD, 29 October 1864 and received at Venus Point, Savannah River, GA on 15 November 1864. No later record.
The South killed many Union soldiers in The Wilderness, but General Grant pressed on. Other Union generals had retreated, but he had a hard time saying the word. When he came to a mustering point, his soldiers anxiously awaited to see if he would signal retreat. Instead, he pointed to the right in the direction of Spotsylvania Courthouse. For him, there was no turning back or running. His soldiers cheered. They now had a man who would fight.
And on that Spotsylvania battlefield, not far from The Wilderness, "Uncle John" Sedgwick lined up his troops for action. The men loved "Uncle John" because like the Marines of today, his motto was "do not send a man when you can send a bullet." He did not recklessly expose his men to enemy fire. He was a careful but brave soldier. But he had his own lapses from caution and was personally a mite reckless from time-to-time.
Gazing across a great expanse toward a Confederate tree line, "Uncle John" heard the bullets whizzing around and about. His men hit the ground and begged him to get down. "Uncle John" laughed at them and said, "Why they couldn't hit an elephant at this distance." He didn't even finish the word "distance" when a trickle of blood appeared under his left eye and he fell into the arms of a fellow officer. He was dead. Killed by Sergeant Grace of Tennessee, firing a sniper-rigged, telescopic sight-equipped Whitworth rifle from almost a mile away. It was not a case of mistaken identity. Sergeant Grace thought the figure in blue was a Yankee. He was. "Uncle John" was no more. Spotsylvania Courthouse, Virginia, in May of 1864 was also not a good place to be for the men from between the Ocmulgees.
Credits:
"The Civil War" by Geoffrey C. Ward with Ric and Ken Burns;
"A Battlefield Atlas of the Civil War" by Craig L. Symonds;
"Georgia 49th Regiment" by John Griffin;
"Don't Drink The Water" by John and Anita Rigdon;
"Civil War Blunders" by Clint Johnson;
"The Battle of Mill Springs" by Thomas L. Breiner.
