Gouverneur Kemble Warren | |
---|---|
Nickname(s) | Hero of Little Round Top |
Born |
Cold Spring, New York |
January 8, 1830
Died | August 8, 1882 Newport, Rhode Island |
(aged 52)
Place of burial | Island Cemetery, Newport, Rhode Island |
Allegiance | United States |
Service/branch |
United States Army Union Army |
Years of service | 1850–1882 |
Rank | Major general |
Commands held |
5th New York Volunteer Infantry II Corps V Corps |
Battles/wars |
Gouverneur Kemble Warren (January 8, 1830 – August 8, 1882) was a civil engineer and Union Army general during the American Civil War. He is best remembered for arranging the last-minute defense of Little Round Top during the Battle of Gettysburg and is often referred to as the "Hero of Little Round Top." His subsequent service as a corps commander and his remaining military career were ruined during the Battle of Five Forks, when he was relieved of command of the V Corps by Philip Sheridan, who claimed that Warren had moved too slowly.
Warren was born in Cold Spring, Putnam County, New York, and named for Gouverneur Kemble, a prominent local Congressman, diplomat, industrialist, and owner of the West Point Foundry. His sister, Emily Warren Roebling, would later play a significant role in the building of the Brooklyn Bridge. He entered the United States Military Academy at age 16 and graduated second in his class of 44 cadets in 1850. He was commissioned a brevet second lieutenant in the Corps of Topographical Engineers. In the antebellum years he worked on the Mississippi River, on transcontinental railroad surveys, and mapped the trans-Mississippi West. He served as the engineer on William S. Harney's Battle of Ash Hollow in the Nebraska Territory in 1855, where he saw his first combat.