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| John Sedgwick (Library of Congress collection) |
Fondly called "Uncle John" by his soldiers, Union Major General John Sedgwick was wounded in the wrist, leg and shoulder at the Battle of Antietam. He recovered from those wounds at his home in Cornwall Hollow, a speck on the map in rural Connecticut, about an hour northwest of Hartford. (No cell phone service for me in Cornwall Hollow!)
Sedgwick met his demise at Spotsylvania Courthouse, Va., on May 9, 1864, famously telling soldiers that Rebels "couldn't hit an elephant at that distance" moments before a sharpshooter's bullet smashed through the 50-year-old officer's left cheek and killed him instantly. If there's a Civil War Quote Hall of Fame somewhere, that one must be in it. Posts with photos of Sedgwick's grave and memorial also appear here and here on my blog. With the 151st anniversary of Antietam coming Tuesday, I took time out for a short trip this afternoon to Cornwall Hollow to shoot the interactive panoramas above of Sedgwick's grave in Cornwall Hollow Cemetery and at the nearby memorial for the general.
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| John Sedgwick was buried here on May 15, 1864, six days after he was killed. |
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| VI Corps emblem on Major General John Sedgwick's gravestone in Cornwall Hollow, Conn. Sedgwick took command of the VI Corps just before the Battle of Chancellorsville in May 1863. |
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| This memorial to Sedgwick, dedicated on Memorial Day 1900, is across the road from the cemetery where the general is buried in Cornwall Hollow, Conn. (CLICK ON IMAGE TO ENLARGE.) |
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