Monuments to Individuals at Gettysburg
The monument to Brigadier General Gouverneur Kemble Warren is south of Gettysburg on Little Round Top. (Little Round Top tour map) General Warren (West Point Class of 1850) was Chief Engineer of the Army of the Potomac at the Battle of Gettysburg.
The veterans of the 5th New York Volunteer Infantry Regiment, Warren’s first command during the war, erected the monument in August of 1888. The bronze statue stands on top of the boulder that he is said to have stood on when he discovered the Confederate flanking movement that threatened the Union flank. The statue, which cost $5,000, stands just over eight feet tall and weighs 1,500 pounds. A bronze tablet is set into the side of the boulder, and “Warren” is carved into the stone.
Warren on Little Round Top
Warren reached this point as Longstreet’s attack developed on July 2nd. He discovered Little Round Top was unoccupied except for a small Signal Corps detachment. Warren recognized that Little Round Top was the key to the entire Union flank. On his own authority he found Vincent’s and Weed’s brigades and diverted them to what became the desperate but successful defense of the hill.
Warren was wounded on Little Round Top, nicked in the throat, but he stayed on the field and attended Meade’s council of war that night in the Leister farmhouse.
After Gettysburg
Warren temporarily commanded the 2nd Corps while Hancock recovered from his Gettysburg wound. He took over the 5th Corps in 1864, which he led through the bloody Overland Campaign and the Siege of Petersburg. General Sheridan, whose “smash ’em up” command style was the opposite of Warren’s methodical engineer personality, relieved him of command at the Battle of Five Forks. Warren spent the rest of his life trying to clear his name and insisted upon being buried in civilian clothes and without military honors.
From the tablet on the boulder
Led to this spot
by his military sagacity on July 2, 1863
General Gouverneur Kemble Warren
then Chief Engineer of the Army of the Potomac
detected General Hood’s flanking movement
and by promptly assuming the responsibility of
ordering troops to this place saved the key
of the Union position.
Promoted for gallant services
from the command of a regiment in 1861, through
successive grades to the command of the 2nd Army
Corps in 1863, and permanently assigned to that
of the 5th Army Corps in 1864.
Major General Warren needs no eulogy.
His name is enshrined in the hearts of his countrymen.
This statue
is erected under the auspices of the veteran
organization of his old regiment, the 5th New York
Vols. Duryee Zouaves in memory of their beloved
commander.
Dedicated August 8th 1888
Tablet on the front of Warren’s boulder. His boots can be seen at the top right.
See more on Gouverneur Kemble Warren
Location of the monument to General Warren on Little Round Top at Gettysburg
The monument to General Warren is south of Gettysburg on the summit of Little Round Top. (39°47’33.1″N 77°14’12.1″W)
Recommended reading:“Everyone who today climbs to the crest of Little Round Top sees the larger than life statue of G. K. Warren, erected by the survivors of his first command. Few visitors, however, know that he was wounded there on that hot July afternoon, that he later was responsible for a meticulously exact map of the battlefield, that in spite of his success in Pennsylvania he was relieved of duty at Five Forks, Virginia, less than two years later and spent the remainder of his life trying to salvage his good name. Jordan’s book is an honest and revealing look at one of the lesser known but nonetheless significant military leaders of the war. The author’s background as an attorney does influence his presentation, providing some analysis that readers may or may not accept. But this book does sit well alongside his other Civil war biography on General Winfield Scott Hancock.” (review on Amazon) |