On a hot, rainy day in August, 2023, I went to Cornwall Hollow, Ct. to visit the memorial to Union Major General John Sedgwick. Many people who know little about his life do know that he supposedly told his men at Spotsylvania in 1864 to stop dodging bullets from Confederate sharpshooters. He reportedly said “Why are you dodging like this? They couldn’t hit an elephant at this distance.” He was then shot dead by a Confederate.
While Sedgwick is known by that quote, he had a full life and he was loved by many of his men. Born on Sept. 13, 1813 in Cornwall Hollow, he graduated from West Point in 1837 at 23 years of age. He served with distinction in the Mexican War, the Utah War, and the Indian Wars. During his more than two decades in the pre-Civil War army, Sedgwick served in the artillery, the cavalry, and the infantry.
If you have visited Connecticut, you might be familiar with the state’s many small cities or its prosperous suburbs. Cornwall is in the upper northwest of the state, in the Litchfield Hills. The area nearby the monument is mostly farms. Right across the street is Cornwall Hollow Cemetery. Six Civil War soldiers are buried there, as is Sedgwick. The general attended school just a few hundred yards from where the monument is today.
Behind the monument is the Hallenbeck River, a small stream providing a gently soothing melody for those visiting it.
The monument was dedicated on May 30, 1900 on Memorial Day. The small area where the site is must have felt crowded that day since a reported 3,000 people attended. People from Cornwall contributed to the fund to pay for the monument, as did people who contributed from throughout the state. The front of the monument is a howitzer used by Sedgwick during the Mexican War. Below is a photo from the 1900 dedication.
Here are the cannon balls lined up in 1900 to be stockpiled at the monument. These were later taken away during World War II as scrap!
On the day of the dedication, a color guard is in front of the monument. The monument is covered by an American flag that will soon be removed at the unveiling.
While the monument today is in excellent condition, it was not always so. After World War II the cannon balls had to be replaced with concrete replicas. In 1989 three plaques were stolen from the monument. These were replaced and the monument was rededicated in 1994.
In 1861,Sedgwick was assigned to Washington where he was inspector general. He soon won promotion as a brigadier general of volunteers. During the Peninsula Campaign he commanded a division. On July 4, 1862 he was promoted to Major General of volunteers. At Antietam, Sedgwick was wounded three times and his horse threw him. He was only removed from the field after he was rendered unconscious by his wounds. After recovering, he was placed in command of the Sixth Corps.
In May of 1863 Sedgwick men took Marye’s Heights during the Battle of Chancellorsville. In November, the Sixth Corps captured 1,700 Confederates at Rappahannock Station. Sedgwick commanded his troops reliably during the opening phase of the Overland Campaign. On May 9, 1864 he was at Spotsylvania. Here is how Bvt. Major General Martin McMahon recalled the death of John Sedgwick:
I gave the necessary order to move the troops to the right, and as they rose to execute the movement the enemy opened a sprinkling fire, partly from sharp-shooters. As the bullets whistled by, some of the men dodged. The general said laughingly, ” What! what! men, dodging this way for single bullets! What will you do when they open fire along the whole line? I am ashamed of you. They couldn’t hit an elephant at this distance.” A few seconds after, a man who had been separated from his regiment passed directly in front of the general, and at the same moment a sharp-shooter’s bullet passed with a long shrill whistle very close, and the soldier, who was then just in front of the general, dodged to the ground. The general touched him gently with his foot, and said, ” Why, my man, I am ashamed of you, dodging that way,” and repeated the remark, ” They couldn’t hit an elephant at this distance.” The man rose and saluted and said good-naturedly, ” General, I dodged a shell once, and if I hadn’t, it would have taken my head off. I believe in dodging.” The general laughed and replied, “All right, my man; go to your place.”
For a third time the same shrill whistle, closing with a dull, heavy stroke, interrupted our talk; when, as I was about to resume, the general’s face turned slowly to me, the blood spurting from his left cheek under the eye im a steady stream. He fell in my direction ; I was so close to him that my effort to support him failed, and I fell with him.
Colonel Charles H. Tompkins, chief of the artillery, standing a few feet away, heard my exclamation as the general fell, and, turning, shouted to his brigade-surgeon, Dr. Ohlenschlager. Major Charles A. Whittier, Major T. W. Hyde; and Lieutenant Colonel Kent, who had been grouped near by, surrounded the general as he lay. A smile remained upon his lips but he did not speak. The doctor poured water from a canteen over the general’s face. The blood still poured upward in a little fountain. The men in the long line of rifle-pits, retaining their places from force of discipline, were all kneeling with heads raised and faces turned toward the scene ; for the news had already passed along the line.
I was recalled to a sense of duty by General Ricketts, next in command, who had arrived on the spot, and informed me, as chief-of-staff, that he declined to assume command of the corps, inasmuch as he knew that it was General Sedgwick’s desire, if anything should happen to him, that General Horatio G. Wright, of the Third Division, should succeed him. General Ricketts, therefore, suggested that I communicate at once with General Meade, in order that the necessary order should be issued. When I found General Meade he had already heard the sad intelligence, and had issued the order placing General Wright in command.
Returning I met the ambulance bringing the dead general’s body, followed by his sorrowing staff.
The body was taken back to General Meade’s headquarters, and not into any house. A bower was built for it of evergreens, where, upon a rustic bier, it lay until nightfall, mourned over by officers and soldiers. The interment was at Cornwall Hollow, Connecticut. Source
The memorial inscription reads:
This memorial including ordnance
used in the Mexican and Civil Wars and
given by the government of the
United States is in honour of
Major General John Sedgwick
Commander of the Sixth Corps
Army of the Potomac
who gave his life for the
preservation of the Union.
A skilled soldier, a brave
leader, a beloved commander
and a loyal gentleman.
The fittest place where man can die
is where man dies for man.
Sedgwick shared the hardships of his men and looked after their well-being leading to him being called “Uncle John” by his men.
On the back of the monument are these battles Sedgwick took part in:
Vera Cruz
Cerro Gordo
Puebla
Cherubusco
Molino del Rey
Mexico
Fair Oaks
Antietam
Fredericksburg
Gettysburg
the Wilderness
Spotsylvania
Near the monument is a plaque marking where school children planted a tree. The monument needs to be polished to be read.
All color photos were taken by Pat Young. To see more sites Pat visited CLICK HERE for Google Earth view.
I was able to locate this by using the book by Dave Pelland Civil War Monuments of Connecticut.
Follow Reconstruction Blog on Social Media:
