Brigadier General James S. Wadsworth

The monument to Brigadier General James Wadsworth is west of Gettysburg on Reynolds Avenue north of the Railroad Cut. It was dedicated in 1914 by the State of New York.

Location: 39.83829 N, 77.24769 W; see map

James Samuel Wadsworth was born on October 30, 1807 in Geneseo, New York. His father, a wealthy landowner, prepared him for a life of pubic service. He went into politics, eventually becoming a Free Soil Republican. At the start of the war he offered himself to the Union cause, and except for an unsuccessful bid for governor of New York in 1862 for which he did not campaign, spent the rest of his life in army service.

From the front of the monument:

Brevet Major General
James Samuel Wadsworth
United States Volunteers
1807 - 1864
in command of
First Division First Army Corps
at the
Battle of Gettysburg
July 1, 2, 3 1863

From the rear:

Volunteer aid-de-camp with the rank of Major on personal staff of Brigadier General Irvin McDowell at Battle of Manassas July 21, 1861.

Brigadier General U.S.V. August 23, and from August 27, 1861 to March 12, 1862, in command of a brigade of New York regiments in McDowell's Division, Army of the Potomac.

Military Governor of District of Columbia Mar. 17 to Nov. 19, 1862.

Commanded First Division, First Corps, from December 23 to 26, 1862; First Corps, December 26, 1862 to January 4, 1863; First Division, First Corps January 4 to February 27; First Corps, February 27 to March 8; and First Division, First Corps, March 9 to March 22; March 25 to May 17; May 27 to July 15, 1863.

Assigned October 9, to special duty-inspection of colored troops to December 19, 1863. Detailed January 9, 1864; on Court of Inquiry.

Ordered March 15, 1864, to report to Gen. Meade. In command of Fourth Division, Fifth Corps, March 27 to April 11; April 13 until mortally wounded May 6, 1864, in the Battle of the Wilderness, Virginia. Died May 8, 1864.

Appointed Brevet Major General U.S.V., to rank from May 6, 1864 for gallant conduct at the Battle of Gettysburg and the Wilderness.

Read Brigadier General Wadsworth's official report on the First Division in the battle of Gettysburg