Principal Players in the Wheatfield Drama

Meet the principal players in the Wheatfield battle. This page is divided into Union officers and Confederate officers.

Union Players

John Curtis Caldwell (1833-1912), teacher from Vermont by way of the state of Maine. Commander of the 1st Division of the 2nd Corps (Hancock). His division includes the brigades of Edward Cross, Samuel Zook, John Brooke, and the Irish Brigade under Patrick Kelly. This is one of the best divisions in the Army of the Potomac, but Caldwell will prove to be at best simply an average commander. An officer recalled "There is none of the assumed dignity and importance so common among officers. . . . He is much more familiar with his officers than General Meagher [of the Irish Brigade] and is much better like by them than M[eagher] by his." Nevertheless and despite doing fairly well at Gettysburg, Caldwell will pass from the Civil War stage when the Army of the Potomac is reorganized in early 1864.

Romeyn Beck Ayres (1825-1888), son of a doctor who became a professional soldier (West Point 1847); originally from the Mohawk River region of New York. A former artillerist. Famous for this exchange: "General, poor Colonel _____ is killed." "Thank God!" replied Ayres, "his children can now be proud of him." He is a new division commander during the Gettysburg Campaign and commands the mainly battle-hardened 2nd division of the Fifth Corps made up of two brigades of United States Regular Infantry (under the command of Day and Burbank) and a volunteer brigade which will be detached to fight at Little Round Top. His division will not have a chance to distingush itself at Gettysburg, something for which he is not found at fault. He will end the War as commander of a Fifth Corps Division and continue his career as a professional soldier.

James Barnes (1801-1869) one of the oldest officers at Gettysburg. Only Brig. Gen. George Greene was older among Army of the Potomac generals. Boston native, graduate of West Point (class of 1829 which made him a classmate of Robert E. Lee, though he is considerably older than Lee). He resigned his commission in 1836 to become a railroad civil engineer. Has the 1st Division of the 5th Corps because its regular commander (Charles Griffin) is ill; two brigades will fight in the Wheatfield (Tilton and Sweitzer) while the third will go on to glory without Barnes on Little Round Top. Although he will not distingush himself at Gettysburg, he was able to please as strict a taskmaster as Griffin, who writes after Fredericksburg, "James Barnes is entitled to special notice for his coolness, energy, and marked ability." Wounded at Gettysburg he never returns to field service after recovery.

Samuel Wylie Crawford (1829-1892); the only one of the rather undistingushed lot of Union division commanders in the Wheatfield honored with a staute on the battlefield. Commander of the 3d Division (the Pennsylvania Reserves) in the Fifth Corps. The talented Joshua L. Chamberlain described Crawford thusly: "a conscientious gentleman, having the entré at all headquarters, somewhat lofty of manner, not of the iron fiber, nor spring of steel, but punctilious in a way, obeying orders in a certain literal fashion that saved him the censure of superiors--a pet of his State, and likewise, we thought, of Meade and Warren, judging from the attention they always gave him--possibly not quite fairly estimated by his colleagues as a military man." He is a doctor from Pennsylvania who joined the army as an assistant surgeon in 1851.

Edward E. Cross (1832-1863), a personal favorite of the webmaster, Cross has his own detailed biography on the site. A New Hampshire native, the original colonel of the famous 5th Regiment. He is the commander of one of Caldwell's brigades. An often wounded, out spoken man, always to be found where the fighting is at its hottest. Some of his men think he is a tyrant, but his command is one of the best in the Army of the Potomac. He comes to Gettysburg haunted by the specter of death. He is a favorite of his corps commander, Winfield Scott Hancock, who promises that July 2d will bring him a star. Indeed, Cross is brigade commander material, but his mouth keeps him from promotion. His role at Gettysburg will be very brief; and he will pass from this world before the sun rises on July 3, 1863. The promised general's star never arrives.

Patrick Kelly (?-1864), commander of the famous "Irish Brigade" in Caldwell's Division. His name is appropriate for the commander of the War's most famous Irish unit. New York native who comes up with the famous 69th Regiment. Has seen service all over the place, from First Bull Run to out west with the U.S. Regulars at Shiloh to the Seven Days, Sharpsburg, Fredericksburg, and Chancellorsville. Due to heavy battle losses, his famous brigade is tiny, even by Gettysburg standards. Because of the size of the brigade and the circumstances, he will not have much of a chance to add to the sterling reputation of the brigade at Gettsyburg. Kelly will ping pong between command of his 69th Regiment and the Irish Brigade command. He will die in command of the brigade in one of the assaults on Petersburg on July 16, 1864.

Samuel K. Zook (1821-1863), the only general commanding a brigade in Caldwell's Division. A native of Valley Forge, Pennsylvania. He is a pioneer in the telegraph field and a veteran of milita service. He has been a brigade commander since prior to the Sharpsburg campaign and is thus one of the most experienced brigade leaders in the entire Army of the Potomac. Zook was profane; a soldier recalled on the march to Chancellorsville that Zook and Hancock engaged in a cursing match. The soldier remembered that "It was the greatest cursing match I ever listened to; Zook took advantage of Hancock, by waiting until the latter got out of breath, and then he opened his pipe organ, and the air was very blue." Zook is probably a man destined for higher command; however, Gettysburg will be his last battle. He will die of wound similar to Colonel Cross's on July 3, 1863.

John R. Brooke (1838-1926), the youngest of Caldwell's brigade commanders and the only one who will survive the War, although he will not escape the battle of Gettysburg unscathed. A Philadelphia native who has commanded a brigade temporarily at Antietam and at Chancellorsville. He will launch a limited counterattack at the Wheatfield and in the process fall severely wounded. Brooke will return to again be badly wounded at Cold Harbor; he received his general's star to date from the "Mule Shoe" May 12, 1864. He stays in the Army, is prominent in the "Indian Wars" and even serves in the Spanish-American War, ultimately winding up as governor of Puerto Rico and Cuba. Brooke will live well into the 20th century; in fact, he is the second to last surviving Union general of the Civil War at the time of his death in 1926.

Hannibal Day (1804-1891) is one of the commanders of the U.S. Regular Infantry in Ayres Division. Son of an assistant surgeon in the Army. A West Pointer, class of 1823, he is one of the oldest officers on the field. He has seen service in the Seminole Wars and the Mexican Wars and is a veteran infantry soldier.

Nevertheless, he has spent the first two years of the Civil War headquartered in Boston doing recruiting duty. Gettysburg is his last battle; on August 1, 1863 he retires from field duty "on his own application after forty consecutive years of service." He then commands Fort Hamilton and serves on various court martial details until ultimately retiring from the army in 1869. He is a hardy sort; survives all the way until 1891.

Sidney Burbank (1807-1882) like Hannibal Day is one of the oldest officers in service; he is the same age as General Robert E. Lee. He commands one of Ayres' "Regular" Brigades. Graduated with Lee in the West Point class of 1829. A veteran infantryman with service in the Seminole wars and on the frontier, he counts teaching at West Point among his talents.

Unlike Day, Burbank has more Civil War experience; he has seen action at Perryville, Stones River, and Chancellorsville. After Gettysburg, he will be sent to New York, then Kentucky and Tennessee to help enforce the draft. Although his troops do not have the chance to show it, he must have impressed someone; he is brevetted for Gettysburg. Stays in the Army for the rest of his career.

Jacob B. Sweitzer (1821-1888) commands one of Barnes' brigades in the 1st Division of the 5th Corps. Native of Cannonsburg Pennsylvania with much combat experience including being wounded and captured at Yorktown in early 1862. Has been a brigade commander since Fredericksburg. By profession, he is an attorney. Former United States District Attorney for the Western District of Pennsylvania.

Commander of the 62nd Pennsylvania, he is never promoted despite long service as a brigade commander. When his regiment is mustered out on July 13, 1864, Sweitzer is mustered out along with it and thus passes off the stage. After the War, he serves in minor civil servant posts near his home in Pittsburgh.

William Stowell Tilton (1828-1889) is a native of Massachusetts and the commander of the other brigade of Barnes' Division to fight in the Wheatfield. Like Sweitzer, he has been wounded and captured previously; for Tilton the event occurred at Gaines Mill during the Seven Days.

Returns in time to fight at Antietam although his unit is in reserve there; his first time in command of the brigade is at Gettysburg. He commands it through the fall, then reverts to his old command (the 22nd Massachusetts) for the Overland Campaign. He returns to brigade command for periods at Petersburg. Like Sweitzer, he is mustered out with his regiment at the end of its service term, on October 17, 1864. After the War he is Commander at the Soldier's Home, Togus, Maine.

Confederate Players

Lafayette McLaws (1821-1897) is a native of Georgia and a professional soldier, West Point class of 1842. He is related by marriage to a former president; his wife is the niece of Zachary Taylor. He is the senior division commander of Longstreet's Corps and his name was at least bandied about in connection with the new corps command. He is solid, literate, experienced, but unspectacular. He can be relied upon, but is not known for feats of brillance. His division is one of the best in the Army of Northern Virginia. Of his brigades, Semmes and Kershaw will do the majority of the fighting in the Wheatfield. The Gettysburg Campaign fractures his relationship with his corps commander Longstreet. He will nonetheless serve with that officer until relieved in Tennessee. McLaws works in the insurance business after the War.

Joseph B. Kershaw (1822-1894) is a South Carolina native, a lawyer, and a former state senator. His division commander, Lafayette McLaws terms him "Gallant and pious;" under fire Kershaw is "cool and judicious." Kershaw has been a brigade commander since January 1862. Eventually he will lead this division after McLaws. At Gettysburg, he is one of the Army of Northern Virginia's most experienced and trusted brigade commanders and his brigade of "Gamecocks" is made up of very good stuff. It is a formidable force in the Wheatfield fight. Kershaw is personally very brave, graceful, literate, and dignified and shows a decided aptitude for military affairs despite his legal training and lack of a formal military education. Captured at the very end of the War, he will survive and serve later as a judge in the state court system and as a postmaster in Camden.

Paul J. Semmes (1815-1863) is the brother of the famous Confederate naval Captain Raphael; Paul is a former a banker and businessman. A native of Wilkes County, Georgia; educated at the University of Virginia. A former plantation owner in Columbus, Georgia. As captain of Georgia milita, he authors a book called Infantry Tactics. He is an experienced brigade commander, having had a brigade since March 1862. The man, and his gallant brigade of Georgians can be summed up in words Semmes spoke before his death: "I consider it a privilege to die for my country." Semmes will not survive Gettysburg. He is mortally wounded charging the Wheatfield and dies a week later in Virginia. Of Semmes, Lee will write, he "died as he had lived, discharging the highest duty of a patriot with devotion that never faltered and courage that shrank from no danger."

John Bell Hood (1831-1879) is a Kentuckian best associated with Texas from his time commanding the wild and unique Texas Brigade of the Army of Northern Virginia. A professional, West Point 1853. Young, tall and although not particularly handsome, he has an electric effect on the fairer sex. He has been a division commander under Longstreet since October 1862. Experienced, unquestionably brave to the point that some criticize him as almost reckless. One of the most charismatic and promising commanders in the Army of Northern Virginia. He will suffer a severe wound at Gettysburg that will cost him the use of his arm. He will never again see service with the Army of Northern Virginia; promotion awaits Hood, though most in the Confederacy will probably later wish he had remained in command of his incomparable division.

George "Tige" Anderson (1824-1901) commands a Georgia brigade. He has combat experience from the Mexican War and with the U.S. regular cavalry on the frontier, but is not a professional. He has commanded a brigade since the Seven Days.

Part of his brigade sees action at Gettysburg in the Devil's Den; the other part takes a role in the Wheatfield. Anderson is wounded at Gettysburg, but returns to fight in the Overland Campaign. One of Lee's hardest-fighting subordinates, he serves until Appomattox. Post-war chief of police in Alabama.