Online Encyclopedia

GOUVERNEUR KEMBLE WARREN (183o-1882)

Online Encyclopedia
Originally appearing in Volume V28, Page 330 of the 1911 Encyclopedia Britannica.
Spread the word: del.icio.us del.icio.us it!

GOUVERNEUR

KEMBLE WARREN (183o-1882)  ,
See also:
American soldier, was born at Coldspring, New York, on the 8th of
See also:
January 183o, and entered West Point in 1846, graduating in 185o . He was assigned to the engineers, and for several years was employed in survey
See also:
work in the West, where he took
See also:
part in some expeditions against the Indians . In 1859 he was made assistant instructor in mathematics at West Point . But two years later, at the outbreak of the
See also:
Civil War, the scientific subaltern was made
See also:
lieutenant-colonel of
See also:
volunteers and posted to the newly raised 5th New York Volunteer
See also:
Infantry . He was fully equal to the task, for his regiment was very soon brought into a state of marked efficiency . In August he was promoted colonel . He commanded a brigade of the V. corps at Gaines's Mill, Second Bull Run and
See also:
Antietam, and was shortly afterwards promoted brigadier-general of Volunteers . During the Fredericksburg
See also:
campaign he was on the engineer staff of the Army of the
See also:
Potomac, but after Chancellorsville he was appointed chief of engineers in that army, and in that capacity rendered brilliant services at
See also:
Gettysburg (q.v.), his
See also:
reward being promotion to major-general U.S.V. and the brevet of colonel in the
See also:
regular army . When the Army of the Potomac was reorganized in the spring of 1864 Warren returned to the V. corps as its
See also:
commander . His services in thsi
See also:
Wilderness (q.v.) and
See also:
Petersburg (q.v.)
See also:
campaigns proved his fitness for this large and responsible command, but his naturally lively
See also:
imagination and the engineer's inbred habit of caution combined to make hint a brilliant but somewhat unsafe subordinate . He would have become one of the
See also:
great chiefs of staff of
See also:
history, or even a successful army commander, but he sometimes failed where a less highly gifted man would have succeeded . He was at his best when the military situation depended on his exercising his initiative, as on the first day in the Wilderness, in which his
See also:
action saved the army, at his worst when, as on the loth of May before
See also:
Spottsylvania, he was ordered to attempt the impossible .

On the latter occasion both

Grant and Meade threatened to relieve him of his command, and Humphreys, the chief of staff of the army, was actually sent to control the movements of the V. corps . Similar incidents took place in the later stages of the campaign, and at last, at the critical moment preceding the
See also:
battle of Five Forks, Sheridan, who was in charge of the operations, was authorized by Grant to relieve Warren of his command if he thought
See also:
fit . The thoughtful Warren and the, eager, violent Sheridan were
See also:
ill-matched . At the outset the V. corps, being no longer composed of the solid troops of 1862 and 1863, fell into confusion, which Warren exerted himself to remedy, and in the event the battle was an important Union victory . But after it had ended Sheridan sent for Warren and, with no attempt to soften the blow, relieved him of his command . A court of inquiry was subsequently held, which entirely exonerated Warren from the reckless charges of apathy, almost of cowardice, which Sheridan brought against him . - Shortly after Five Forks Warren resigned his volunteer commission, and received the brevet of brigadier-general in the regular army . After the war he was employed, in the substantive rank of major (1879 lieutenant-colonel) of engineers, in survey work and harbour improvements . General Warren died on the 8th of August 1882 at
See also:
Newport, R.I . A statue to his memory was erected at Round Top, on the field of Gettysburg, on the
See also:
sixth anniversary of his
See also:
death .

End of Article: GOUVERNEUR KEMBLE WARREN (183o-1882)
[back]
WARREN
[next]
JOSEPH WARREN (1741—1775)

Additional information and Comments

There are no comments yet for this article.
» Add information or comments to this article.
Please link directly to this article:
Highlight the code below, right click and select "copy." Paste it into a website, email, or other HTML document.