John Reynolds | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Born | (1820-09-21)September 21, 1820 Lancaster, Pennsylvania |
| Died | July 1, 1863(1863-07-01) (aged 42) Gettysburg, Pennsylvania |
| Place of burial | Lancaster Cemetery, Lancaster, Pennsylvania |
| Allegiance | United States of America Union |
| Service | United States Army Union Army |
| Years of service | 1841–1863 |
| Rank |  Major General |
| Commands | I Corps,Army of the Potomac |
| Battles / wars | Mexican–American War |
John Fulton Reynolds (September 21, 1820 – July 1, 1863)[1] was a careerUnited States Army officer and ageneral in theAmerican Civil War. One of theUnion Army's most respected senior commanders, he played a key role in committing theArmy of the Potomac to theBattle of Gettysburg and was killed at the start of the battle.
Reynolds was born inLancaster, Pennsylvania, one of nine surviving children of John Reynolds (1787–1853) and Lydia Moore Reynolds (1794–1843). Two of his brothers were James LeFevre Reynolds, Quartermaster General of Pennsylvania, andRear AdmiralWilliam Reynolds.[2] Prior to his military training, Reynolds studied in nearbyLititz, about 6 miles (9.7 km) from his home in Lancaster. Next he attended a school inLong Green, Maryland, and finally the Lancaster County Academy.[3]
Reynolds was nominated to theUnited States Military Academy in 1837 bySenatorJames Buchanan, a family friend, and graduated 26th of 50 cadets in the class of 1841. He was commissioned abrevetsecond lieutenant in the 3rd U.S. Artillery, assigned toFort McHenry. From 1842 to 1845 he was assigned toSt. Augustine, Florida, andFort Moultrie, South Carolina, before joiningZachary Taylor's army atCorpus Christi, Texas, for theMexican–American War. He was awarded two brevet promotions in Mexico – tocaptain for gallantry atMonterrey and tomajor forBuena Vista, where his section of guns prevented the Mexican cavalry from outflanking the American left.[4] During the war, he became friends with fellow officersWinfield Scott Hancock andLewis A. Armistead.
On his return from Mexico, Reynolds was assigned toFort Preble, Maine;New Orleans, Louisiana; andFort Lafayette, New York. He was next sent west to Fort Orford,Oregon, in 1855, and participated in theRogue River Wars of 1856 and theUtah War with theMormons in 1857–58. He was the Commandant of Cadets atWest Point from September 1860 to June 1861, while also serving as an instructor of artillery, cavalry, and infantry tactics. During his return from the West, Reynolds became engaged to Katherine May Hewitt. Since they were from different religious denominations – Reynolds was a Protestant, Hewitt a Catholic – the engagement was kept a secret and Hewitt's parents did not learn about it until after Reynolds' death.[5]
Soon after the start of the Civil War, Reynolds was offered the position as aide-de-camp toLt. Gen.Winfield Scott, but declined. He was appointedlieutenant colonel of the14th U.S. Infantry, but before he could engage with that unit, he was promoted tobrigadier general on August 20, 1861, and ordered to report toWashington, D.C. While in transit, his orders were changed to report to Cape Hatteras Inlet, North Carolina.Maj. Gen.George B. McClellan intervened with theSecretary of War to get his orders changed once again, assigning him to the newly formed Army of the Potomac. His first assignment was with a board that examined the qualifications of volunteer officers, but he soon was given command of abrigade ofPennsylvania Reserves.[6]
As McClellan's army moved up theVirginia Peninsula in the 1862Peninsula Campaign, Reynolds occupied and became military governor ofFredericksburg, Virginia. His brigade was then ordered to join theV Corps atMechanicsville, just before the start of theSeven Days Battles. The brigade was hit hard by theConfederate attack of June 26 at theBattle of Beaver Dam Creek, but their defensive line held and Reynolds later received a letter of commendation from his division commander,Brig. Gen.George A. McCall.[7]
The Confederate attack continued on June 27 and Reynolds, exhausted from theBattle of Gaines' Mill and two days without sleep, was captured in Boatswain's Swamp, Virginia. Thinking he was in a place of relative safety, he fell asleep and was not aware that his retreating troops left him behind. He was extremely embarrassed when brought before the Confederate general of the capturing troops;D.H. Hill was an Army friend and colleague from before the war. Hill allegedly told him, "Reynolds, do not feel so bad about your capture, it is the fate of wars."[8] Reynolds was transported toRichmond and held atLibby Prison, but was quickly exchanged on August 15 (forLloyd Tilghman).[9]
Upon his return, Reynolds was given command of the Pennsylvania Reserves Division, whose commander,George A. McCall, had been captured just two days after Reynolds. The V Corps joined theArmy of Virginia, under Maj. Gen.John Pope, atManassas. On the second day of theSecond Battle of Bull Run, while most of the Union Army was retreating, Reynolds led his men in a last-ditch stand on Henry House Hill, site of the great Union debacle atFirst Bull Run the previous year. Waving the flag of the 2nd Reserves regiment, he yelled, "Now boys, give them the steel, charge bayonets, double quick!" His counterattack halted the Confederate advance long enough to give the Union Army time to retreat in a more orderly fashion, arguably the most important factor in preventing its complete destruction.[10]
At the request ofPennsylvania GovernorAndrew G. Curtin, Reynolds was given command of the Pennsylvania Militia during GeneralRobert E. Lee'sinvasion of Maryland. Generals McClellan andJoseph Hooker complained that "a scared governor ought not to be permitted to destroy the usefulness of an entire division," but the governor prevailed and Reynolds spent two weeks in Pennsylvania drilling old men and boys, missing theBattle of Antietam. However, he returned to theArmy of the Potomac in late 1862 and assumed command of theI Corps. One of his divisions, commanded by Maj. Gen.George G. Meade, made the only breakthrough at theBattle of Fredericksburg, but Reynolds did not reinforce Meade with his other two divisions and the attack failed; Reynolds did not receive a clear understanding from Maj. Gen.William B. Franklin about his role in the attack.[10] After the battle, Reynolds was promoted tomajor general of volunteers, with a date of rank of November 29, 1862.[11]
At theBattle of Chancellorsville in May 1863, Reynolds clashed with Maj. Gen. Hooker, his predecessor at I Corps, but by this time the commander of the Army of the Potomac. Hooker originally placed the I Corps on the extreme left of the Union line, southeast of Fredericksburg, hoping to threaten and distract the Confederate right. On May 2, Hooker changed his mind and ordered the corps to conduct a daylight march nearly 20 miles to swing around and become the extreme right flank of the army, to the northwest of theXI Corps. The march was delayed by faulty communications and by the need to move stealthily to avoid Confederate contact. Thus, the I Corps was not yet in position when the XI Corps was surprised and overrun by Lt. Gen.Thomas J. "Stonewall" Jackson's flank attack, a setback that destroyed Hooker's nerve for offensive action. Hooker called acouncil of war on May 4 in which Reynolds voted to proceed with the battle, but although the vote was three to two for offensive action, Hooker decided to retreat. Reynolds, who had gone to sleep after giving his proxy vote to Meade, woke up and muttered loud enough for Hooker to hear, "What was the use of calling us together at this time of night when he intended to retreat anyhow?" The 17,000-man I Corps was not engaged at Chancellorsville and suffered only 300 casualties during the entire campaign.[12]
Reynolds joined several of his fellow officers in urging that Hooker be replaced, in the same way he had spoken out against Maj. Gen.Ambrose Burnside after Fredericksburg. On the previous occasion, Reynolds wrote in a private letter, "If we do not get some one soon who can command an army without consulting 'Stanton andHalleck' at Washington, I do not know what will become of this Army."PresidentAbraham Lincoln met with Reynolds in a private interview on June 2 and is believed to have asked him whether he would consider being the next commander of the Army of the Potomac. Reynolds supposedly replied that he would be willing to accept only if he were given a free hand and could be isolated from the political influences that had affected the Army commanders throughout the war. Unable to comply with his demands, Lincoln promoted the more junior George G. Meade to replace Hooker on June 28.[13]
On the morning of July 1, 1863, Reynolds was commanding the "left wing" of the Army of the Potomac, with operational control over the I,III, and XI Corps, and Brig. Gen.John Buford'scavalry division. Buford occupied the town ofGettysburg, Pennsylvania, and set up light defensive lines north and west of the town. He resisted the approach of two Confederate infantry brigades on the Chambersburg Pike until the nearest Union infantry, Reynolds' I Corps, began to arrive. Reynolds rode out ahead of the 1st Division, met with Buford, and then accompanied some of his soldiers, probably from Brig. Gen.Lysander Cutler's brigade, into the fighting atHerbst's Woods. Troops began arriving from Brig. Gen.Solomon Meredith'sIron Brigade, and as Reynolds was supervising the placement of the 2nd Wisconsin, he yelled at them, "Forward men forward for God's sake and drive those fellows out of those woods."[14] At that moment he fell from his horse with a wound in the back of the upper neck, or lower head,[15] and died almost instantly. Command passed to his senior division commander, Maj. Gen.Abner Doubleday.
For the Union side, the death of John Reynolds meant more than the loss of an inspiring leader; it also removed from the equation the one person with enough vision and sense of purpose to manage this battle.
The loss of General Reynolds was keenly felt by the army. He was loved by his men and respected by his peers. There are no recorded instances of negative comments made by his contemporaries.[17] HistorianShelby Foote wrote that many considered him "not only the highest ranking but also the best general in the army."[18] His death had a more immediate effect that day, however. By ratifying Buford's defensive plan and engaging his I Corps infantry, Reynolds essentially selected the location for the Battle of Gettysburg for Meade, turning a chance meeting engagement into a massive pitched battle, committing the Army of the Potomac to fight on that ground with forces that were initially numerically inferior to the Confederates that were concentrating there. In the command confusion that followed Reynolds' death, the two Union corps that reached the field were overwhelmed and forced to retreat through the streets of Gettysburg to the high ground south of town, where they were rallied by his old friend, Maj. Gen. Winfield S. Hancock.[19]
Reynolds' body was immediately transported from Gettysburg toTaneytown, Maryland, and then to his birthplace, Lancaster, Pennsylvania, where he was buried on July 4, 1863.[6] Befitting his importance to the Union and his native state, he is memorialized by three statues inGettysburg National Military Park (an equestrian statue on McPherson Ridge, one byJohn Quincy Adams Ward in the National Cemetery, and one on the Pennsylvania Memorial),[20] as well as one in front of thePhiladelphia City Hall.[21]
Katherine Hewitt had agreed with Reynolds that if he were killed in the war and they could not marry, she would join aconvent. After he was buried, she traveled toEmmitsburg, Maryland, and joined the St. Joseph Central House of the Order of the Daughters of Charity.[22]
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Historians disagree on the details of Reynolds' death, including the specific time (either 10:15 a.m. or 10:40–10:50 a.m.), the exact location (on East McPherson Ridge, near the 2nd Wisconsin Infantry, or West McPherson Ridge, near the 19th Indiana), and the source of the bullet (a Confederate infantryman, a Confederate sharpshooter, orfriendly fire). One primary source was Sergeant Charles Henry Veil, his orderly and unit Color Guard, who described the events in a letter in 1864 and then contradicted some of the details in another letter 45 years later. A letter from Reynolds' sister, Jennie, stated that the wound had a downward trajectory from the neck, implying that he was shot from above, presumably a sharpshooter in a tree or barn. HistoriansBruce Catton and Glenn Tucker make firm assertions that a sharpshooter was responsible; Stephen Sears credits volley fire from the 7th Tennessee against the 2nd Wisconsin; Edwin Coddington cites the sister's letter and finds the sharpshooter theory to be partly credible, but leans towards Sears' conclusion; Harry W. Pfanz agrees that the location was behind the 2nd Wisconsin, but makes no judgment about the source of the fire. Steve Sanders, writing inGettysburg magazine, suggested the possibility of friendly fire based on some accounts, and concludes that it is as equally likely as enemy fire.[23]
There was a John F. Reynolds Middle School in the School District of Lancaster (PA) named in his honor.[24] Reynolds plays a role inMichael Shaara's 1974Pulitzer Prize winning novelThe Killer Angels, as well as the 1993 film based on that novel,Gettysburg (in which he was played byJohn Rothman). The film portrays Reynolds as being deliberately targeted by a Confederate sharpshooter, a scene based on theDon Troiani painting of the event. Reynolds is also significant in theprequel toThe Killer Angels,Jeffrey Shaara's novelGods and Generals, although his role was deleted from the 2003 film based on the novel. ScholarBrian Reynolds Myers is a relative of Reynolds, his middle name a reference to him.[25]
| John F. Reynolds memorials | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
 |  |  |  |  |  |
| Equestrian statue on McPherson Ridge, Chambersburg Pike, Gettysburg National Military Park, general view and closeup | Statue byJohn Quincy Adams Ward in the National Cemetery, Gettysburg National Military Park | In front ofPhiladelphia City Hall | Gettysburg, Penna | ||
| Military offices | ||
|---|---|---|
| Preceded by | Commander of theI Corps (Army of the Potomac) September 29, 1862 – January 2, 1863 | Succeeded by |
| Preceded by | Commander of theI Corps (Army of the Potomac) January 4, 1863 – March 1, 1863 | Succeeded by |
| Preceded by | Commander of theI Corps (Army of the Potomac) March 9, 1863 – July 1, 1863 | Succeeded by |
| International | |
|---|---|
| National | |
| Other | |
