A war with astounding bravery, ten times the killed of Vietnam in half the time.
Regarding Chamberlain, Ronald Reagan in his first Innaugural Address, January 20, 1981, said, "There is no limit to what a man can do or where he can go if he doesn't mind who gets the credit."
On the second day at Gettysburg, 2 July 1863, Gouverneur K. Warren, Chief Engineer, Army of the Potomac, noticed that Little Round Top, key to the Union defensive position, was undefended. He ordered troops to the hill in time to blunt Hoods attack. Almost two years later on 1 April 1865 at the Battle of Five Forks, Major General Philip Sheridan, with Grants authority, relieved him from command and sent him to the rear.When Warren graduated second in the West Point class of 1850 he accepted a commission as a second lieutenant in the Corps of Topographical Engineers. In the years prior to the Civil War he worked with Andrew Humphreys on the Mississippi River, on transcontinental railroad surveys, and explored, surveyed, and mapped the trans-Mississippi West. At the start of the war he received a commission as a Lieutenant Colonel of Volunteers in the 5th New York Infantry Regiment, and by the fall he was a Colonel and regimental commander. Promoted to Brigadier General in September 1862 he served as Chief Topographical Engineer and then Chief Engineer, Army of the Potomac.
Promoted to Major General after Gettysburg, he commanded 2d Corps until March 1864 when Grant made him 5th Corps commander. He led the 5th Corps through the Union offensive from the Wilderness, to Cold Harbor, and into the Petersburg trenches. He must have done well because he was still in command when Grant began the offensive that led to Appomattox. Grant ordered an attack on the Confederates at Five Forks for 1 April with Sheridan in command of both his Cavalry Corps and Warrens 5th Corps. Grant wanted Sheridan to push the attack and authorized him to relieve Warren if he got in the way.
Although Warren successfully defended his position against the Confederates, Sheridan and Grant thought he did not press the attack fast enough. At the end of the day, as Warren met Sheridan for what he thought was a celebration, Sheridan charged him with neglect during the battle, relieved him from command of 5th Corps for cause, and ordered him to report to Grant. Warren asked for a Report of Inquiry, but the end of the war, Lincolns assassination, and Johnsons impeachment all got in the way.
Warren reverted to his Regular Army rank of Major, CE, and went back to work on the Mississippi River. In July 1866 he was assigned to serve as the first Engineer in Charge of the Corps new office in St. Paul, Minnesota, where he served until May 1870. He then was in charge of engineer operations along the New England coast with headquarters at Newport, Rhode Island. It took the Army until 1879, after Grants two terms, to grant Warrens request for a hearing. The board finally published its findings in November 1882 exonerating Warren of any neglect at Five Forks on 1 April 1865.
However, it was too late for Warren. He died three months earlier on 8 August 1882. At his request his family buried him in civilian clothes and without military ceremony at Newport. He felt disgraced by his relief on the field of battle. Ironically, however, in 1888 a bronze statue of him in uniform as Chief Engineer, Army of the Potomac, was placed at Little Round Top, the key position he saved on the second day at Gettysburg.
Sergeant
Andrew J Tozier
Organization: Company I, 20th Maine Infantry
Entered Service: Plymouth, Maine.
Birth: Monmouth, Maine.
Date Medal Issued: 13 August 1898.
Date of Action: 2 July 1863.
Place of Action: Gettysburg, Pa.
Citation: At the crisis of the engagement this soldier, a color bearer, stood alone in an advanced position, the regiment having been borne back, and defended his colors with musket and ammunition picked up at his feet.
Why pretend we are not at war with Iran?
The "insurgency" is a supply of fighters from Iran trained by the Pasdaran.
Nuke the mullahs.
Put Ted Kennedy in jail.
Go Putin on CBS et al.
Note to "insurgents": Are you talkin to me?
It's way past time to quit the fairy minuet wafting over reality on a pair of Lindsey Graham's loafers.
This is war--who demanded a timetable for our exit from a) Iwo Jima; b) the Normandy Beach; c) the Bulge; d) World War II in general and any battle in particular?
Nobody.
Note to John McCain the Senator from Manchuria: You are so never being president.
My own plan for the Battle of Fallujah involved leaflets and daisy cutters.
The lesson of X-Ray and abu Ghraib: no prisoners.
Ship the current Gitmo perps to Tyson for processing and air drop by drone to the starving North Koreans.
Great Post!
Bravo! Great minds think alike. I just don't have the words you do. :-)
Thanks Phil.
BTTT!!!!!!!!
Morning Phil Dragoo.
We have too many "enemies within" and unfortunately they retain too much power in our Courts and Government. :-(