Sedgwick Memorial Association; 6Th Army Corps
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E ./ ii Class Book. 9^c>T 2-? 7 ^-7 V edeojieS // emoriaf (3i%so(Bm\ion ARMY CORPS pette^fuQFiiQ Q©Jdrt ^©Mge, ^et, Cfl&^ M, i^ Qfid is, ii^i. Front View of Monument. INSCRIPTION ON MONUMENT. SEDGWICK. Maj. Genl. John Sedgwick, born Cornwall, Litchfield Co., Conn.. Sept. 13th, 1813. Cadet U. S. Mil. Acmy. July 1st, 1833. 2nd Lieut., 2nd Arty., July 1st, 1837. 1st Lieut., 2nd Arty., Apl. 19, 1839. Captain 2nd Arty, Jan. 26th, 1849. Maj. 1st Cav'ly, Mar. 8th, 1855. Lieut. Col. 2nd Cal'vy, Mar. 16th, 1861. Col. 1st Cal'vy, Apl. 25th, 1861. Brig. Genl. TJ. S. Vols., Aug. 31st, 1861. Maj. Genl. U. S. Vols., July 4, 1862. SIXTH AKMY CORPS. Dedicated May r2th, 1887, on the 23rd anniversary of the heaviest days' fight at Spottsylvania. A tribute to a beloved comraander l)y the survivors of his corps and their friends. Erected to commemorate this spot where Maj. Genl. .John Sedgwick, U. S. Vols., commanding Sixth Army Corps was killed in action on the morning of the 9th of May, 1864. 4 \i\ DUNLAP & CLARKE, PRINTERS, 819 & 821 Filbert St., Philadelphia. DEDICATORY PROCEEDINGS. Introduction, The spot where Sedgwick fell, in the vicinity of Spottsyl- vania Court House, slumbered in fovgetfulness, until General Humphreys, in his investigations, preparatory to the prepara- tion of his substantial and relial:ft»* historic narrative of the ^'Virginia Campaigns of '64 and '65/' first brought it to atten- tion. He visited the locality about 1874, and causing a rough houlder to be rolled to the spot to identify it, subsequently " described it in his work as follows : The skirmishers and sharpshooters were very active on both sides, and in the morn- ing [May 9th] General Sedgwick was killed, close to the en- trenchments, at the right of his Corps, but not under cover, at the point where the forks of the road in Alsop's field unite." Following the direction from which the Union army ap- proached the battle-field, it is really where the forks re-unite. From a half to three-quarters of a mile to the northwest, near the Alsop house, a lane, Avhich a gate now there indicates it to be, breaks off from the main Brock or Goshen Church road. Both lane and road bearing Avell off to the southward, continue nearly parallel, about a quarter of a mile apart, and again unite where the Sedgwick monument now stands. On a main road, and they are decidedly scarce in that country, it is one of the few points on the extended lines, occupied by the Union forces during the engagement where anything of prominence could be erected to be seen, except the traveler left the usual traveled routes to find it. The Court-house lays some mile and three-quarters to the southeast. Ten years and more rolled by, and other travelers, not so prominent, nor yet engaged on such an important mission, happened in the same locality. They were men of the old Sixth Army Corps. What they laclvcd in prominence, what their mission w^anted in importance, was measurably compen- sated for in the deep and abiding reverence in which they held the memory of their old beloved commander ; and they there resolved that the duty Sedgwick's soldiers owed, as weU to him as to each other, to perpetuate, in enduring stone, the ground made sacred by his fall, should be discharged with zealous promptitude. It was only so recently as October of the past year, these Sixth Corps tourists discovered this neglected spot, and by May of the present, the Corps itself had accomplished the de- sign, of which it is the purpose of these pages to tell. The announcement of the project met with universal acqui- escence, and after a few preliminary meetings the enterprise took shape in January last, in the organization of the Sedg- Avick Memorial Association. By circulars and through the press its purpose was freely promulgated, and in a few weeks su'bstantial financial responses and approving endorsements gave such satisfactory assurance of ultimate success that the Execu- tive Committee felt justified in letting the contract for the Monument, and they so did by awarding it to John Ferguson, of Philadelphia. At the same time negotiations were opened to secure title to the ground, and subsequently the Association purchased the historic acre within the limits of which the heroic Sedjrwick fell. ; The 9th of May happening upon Monday, to avoid the incon- venience of laying over, Sunday, the 12th, the twenty-third anniversary of the heaviest day's fighting at Spottsylvania, was selected as the most desirable for the dedication. The Excursion. Most auspicious weather favored the occasion, and continued throughout the trip. The special train left Philadelphia at 7.20 on the morning of the 11th, and arrived at Fredericks- burg, with but few interruptions, on its advertised schedule. The excursion numbered upwards of three hundred, and of the eleven States which supplied the troops that made up the Corps organization, all save one was represented. Nearly every regi- ment had a representation, many of them in goodly numbers. Of the three Corps Commanders who survive—General Wright was present. General Smith temporarily out of the country, and General Franklin, because of his health, were absent. General Getty, of the Division Commanders, was also present most of the others explained, and regretted their absence. invalid General Seymour is abroad ; General Ricketts is an from his wounds, and General Couch was in the far northwest. General. Shaler, General MacMahon, the Assistant Adjutant General of the Corps, Col. Scofield, Chief Commissary, Major Fobes, Assistant Adjutant General, A^ermont Brigade Colonel W. P. Roome, Assistant Adjutant General, Upton's Brigade, General McCartney and Colonel Cowan, two of the eminent artillerists of the Corps, were also in attend- ance. Governor Ormsbee, of Vermont, with his staif, and Adjutant General Stryker, representing the State of New Jersey accompanied the party, all actively participating in the ceremonies. The Regimental Commanders present wei'e 8 Colonel Seaver and Colonel Pingrce, Third Vermont, Colonel Harris, Sixth Maine, Colonel Kidder, One Hundred and Twenty-first New York, General Clark, One Hundred and Nineteenth Pennsylvania, General Pinto, Thirty-second New- York, Colonel Orr and Colonel Greene, Sixty-first Pennsyl- vania. General Hill, Sixth Maryland, Colonel Brown, Twen- ty-third New Jersey, Major Bryan, Third New Jersey, Colonel Davis, Fifteenth New Jersey, Major Tailoff", Sixty-fifth New York. General Keifer, detained in Washington as the orator at the unveiling of the Garfield statue, took part in the recep- tion by the President. On the arrival at Fredericksburg, escorted by the Fredericks- burg Grays, Captain McCracken, and a committee of citizens, the Association was marched to the Exchange Hotel, where the Hon. Josiah Hazard, Mayor of the City, formally wel- comed it. deception at Freclericksbnrfj. The Mayor spoke as follows : Gentlemen of the Sed'gavick Memorial Associa- tion: The honor and privilege has been accorded me, in behalf of the citizens of Fredericksburg, to extend to you a cordial and hearty welcome to our city, and in behalf of the City Council, to thank you for your kind and courteous invitation to participate in the ceremonies of dedicating a monument near Spottsylvania Court-house to the gallant soldier and pa- triot, General John Sedgwick. We accept your invitation, and will be with you, where the blue and the gray will mingle, and with open hearts and Avill- ing hands do honor to the fallen liero. When we assemble around the spot where " Sedgwick" fell. Ave will knoAv no North, no South, but join hands Avitli you in placing wreaths of everlasting flowers (immortelles) upon the monument erected to his memor}'. : We who bore the heat and burden of the day in " the times that tried men's souls," forgetting the past, living in the present, with bright hopes for the future, must strive to impress upon our children, that the war is over, and we have a common country left us as our heritage ; a grand and glorious country, bequeathed to us by our forefathers to love, cherish and defend —" Peace hath more might than war." When we, the survivors of the late cruel war, who have been spared to do honor to our fallen heroes, shall have been peace- fully laid to rest beneath the sod, no monument to mark our last resting-place; no " storied urn or eulogistic epitaph" to proclaim our deeds to coming generations, and when " the feet of those Ave fought for, the voices of those we wrought for, shall echo round our bones forevermore ;" then, when the children and children's children of the men who wore the blue and the men who wore the gray at each recurring May time, shall make that pilgrimage to the monument that you have erected to General John Sedgwick, and to one that shall rise ere long to Stonewall Jackson (both heroes of one common country), and place garlands of sweet May flowers over them, as they call to remembrance their heroism and braver}^ let them not forget the brave men who followed them, and like their loved leaders, laid down their lives for their country. The President of the Association, General Latta, replied as follows On behalf of the Association, Mr, Mayor, I thank you for your very gracious reception, your very generous and cor- dial words of welcome. I represent a body of hungry, famished patriots from all the States of the Atlantic seaboard, from Maine to Maryland (laughter). A toilsome, lengthy journey has whetted appe- tites, and the urgency of unappeased hunger demands that they be promptly and bountifully satisfied.