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 [decorative delimiter] Class of 1850


[image ALT: A head-and-torso photograph of a man of about 35 in a 19c U. S. Army uniform with stars on his epaulets. He is seen in profile looking to the viewer's right. He has long wavy hair somewhat negligently brushed back, a bristly moustache an air of great alertness about him. He is Gouverneur K. Warren.]

Vol. II
p401
1451

(Born N. Y.)

Gouverneur K. Warren

(Ap'd N. Y.)

2

Gouverneur Kemble Warren: Born Jan. 8, 1830, Cold Spring, NY.

Military History. — Cadet at the Military Academy, July 1, 1846, to  p402 July 1, 1850, when he was graduated and promoted in the Army to

Bvt. Second Lieut., Top. Engineers, July 1, 1850.

Served: as Asst. Top. Engineer on the topographical and hydrographical Survey of the Delta of the Mississippi, 1850‑1852, — and to the Board for the Improvement of Canal around the Falls of the Ohio, 1852‑53; in charge of Studies for the Improvement of Rock Island and Des Moines Rapids, Mississippi River, 1853‑54; in compiling General Map and Reports (conjointly with Captain Indicates a West Point graduate and gives his Class.Humphreys), of Pacific Railroad

(Second Lieut., Top. Engineers, Sep. 1, 1854.)

Explorations, 1854; as Chief Top. Engineer on Sioux Expedition, 1855, being engaged in the Action of Blue Water, Sep. 3, 1855; in charge of Reconnoissances in Dakota Territory, and making Map and Report of same, 1855‑56, — and in Nebraska Territory, 1856‑57,​a and preparing

(First Lieut., Top. Engineers, July 1, 1856)

Maps and Reports thereof, 1857‑59; and at the Military Academy, 1859‑61, as Asst. Professor of Mathematics, Aug. 29 to Nov. 3, 1859, — and Principal Asst. Professor of Mathematics, Nov. 3, 1859, to Apr. 27, 1861.

Served during the Rebellion of the Seceding States, 1861‑66: in the Department of Virginia, May to July, 1861, being engaged in the Action

(Lieut‑Colonel, 5th New York Volunteers, May 14, 1861)

at Big Bethel Church, June 10, 1861; in the Defenses of Baltimore, and constructing Fort on Federal Hill, July, 1861, to Mar., 1862, being temporarily

(Colonel, 5th New York Volunteers, Aug. 31, 1861)

detached on Expedition to Northampton and Accomac Counties,

(Captain, Top. Engineers, Sep. 9, 1861: Corps of Engineers, Mar. 3, 1863)

Va., Nov.‑Dec., 1861; in the Virginia Peninsular Campaign (Army of the Potomac), Mar. to Aug., 1862, being engaged in the Siege of Yorktown, Apr. 11 to May 4, 1862, — and in command of Brigade, May 24, 1862, — Skirmish on Pamunky River, May 26, 1862, — Capture of Hanover C. H., May 27, 1862, — Battle of Gaines's Mill, June 27, 1862,

(Bvt. Lieut.‑Col., June 27, 1862,
for Gallant and Meritorious Services at the Battle of Gaines's Mill, Va.)

where he was wounded, — Repulse of Wise's Rebel Division at Malvern Hill (in command), June 30, 1862, — Battle of Malvern Hill, July 1, 1862, — and Skirmish at Harrison's Landing, July 2, 1862; in the Northern Virginia Campaign, Aug.‑Sep., 1862, being engaged in the Battle of Manassas, Aug. 30, 1862, — and Skirmish near Centreville, Sep. 1, 1862; in command of Brigade (Army of the Potomac), in the Maryland Campaign, Sep. to Nov., 1862, being engaged in Skirmishes and Battle of Antietam, Sep. 15‑17, 1862, — Skirmish with the enemy's rear guard on Potomac, Sep. 19, 1862, — and March to Falmouth, Va., Oct.‑Nov., 1862;

(Brig.‑General, U. S. Volunteers, Sep. 26, 1862)

in the Rappahannock Campaign, Dec., 1862, to June, 1863, in command of Brigade till Feb. 4, 1863, when he became Chief Top. Engineer of the Army of the Potomac, being engaged in the Battle of Fredericksburg, Dec. 13‑16, 1863, — making Reconnoissances, Dec., 1862, to June, 1863, — Action on Orange Pike, May 1, 1863, — Storming of Marye Heights, May 3, 1863, — and Battle of Salem, May 3‑4, 1863; as Chief Engineer

(Major‑General, U. S. Volunteers, May 3, 1863)

of the Army of the Potomac, June 8 to Aug. 12, 1863; in the Pennsylvania Campaign, being engaged in charge of the re-embarkation of stores at Acquia Creek, June 14‑15, 1863, — Reconnoissance and Battle  p403 of Gettysburg, July 1‑3, 1863, where he was wounded, — and construction

(Bvt. Colonel, July 4, 1863,
for Gallant and Meritorious Services at the Battle of Gettysburg, Pa.)

of Bridges, and making Reconnoissances while pursuing the enemy, July‑Aug., 1863; in temporary command of 2d Corps (Army of the Potomac), Aug. 12, 1863, to Mar. 24, 1864, in Operations in Central Virginia, being engaged in movement to Culpeper and the Rapidan, Sep. 13‑16, 1863, — Combat at Auburn and Bristoe Station (in command), Oct. 14, 1863, — Skirmish at Bull Run, Oct. 15, 1863, and at Kelly's Ford, Nov. 8, 1863, — Movement to Mine Run, with heavy skirmishing, Nov. 26‑30, — and Demonstration upon the enemy across Morton's Ford, Feb. 6, 1864; in command of 5th Corps (Army of the Potomac), Mar. 24, 1864, to Apr. 1, 1865, in the Richmond Campaign, being engaged in the Battle of the Wilderness, May 5‑6, 1864, — Battles about Spottsylvania, May 8‑20, 1864, — Battles of North Anna, May 23‑25, 1864, — Skirmish on Tolopotomy Creek, May 29, 1864, — Battle of Bethesda Church, May 30, 1864, — Battles of Cold Harbor, June 1‑4, 1864, — Skirmish on White Oak Swamp, June 13, 1864, — Assaults on Petersburg, June 17‑18, 1864, — Siege of Petersburg, June 18, 1864, to Apr. 2, 1865, — Petersburg Mine Assault, July 30, 1864,

(Major, Corps of Engineers, June 25, 1864.)

— Actions for the Occupation of the Weldon Railroad, Aug. 18‑25, 1864, — Combat of Peebles' Farm, Sep. 30, 1864, — Action at Chapel House, Oct. 1, 1864, — Skirmishes near Hatcher's Run, Oct. 27‑28, 1864, — Destruction of Weldon Railroad to Meherrin River, Dec. 7‑10, 1864, — Combat near Dabney's Mill (in command), Feb. 6‑7, 1865. — Actions

(Bvt. Brig‑General, U. S. Army, Mar. 13, 1865,
for Gallant and Meritorious Services at the Battle of Bristoe Station)

(Bvt. Maj.‑General, U. S. Army, Mar. 13, 1865,
for Gallant and Meritorious Services in the Field during the Rebellion)

and movement to White Oak Ridge, Mar. 29‑31, 1865, — Battle of Five Forks, Apr. 1, 1865, — and in command of the Defenses of Petersburg and Southside Railroad, Apr. 3 to May 1, 1865; in command of the Department of Mississippi, May 14‑30, 1865; at New York city, preparing

(Resigned Volunteer Commission, May 27, 1865)

Maps and Reports of his Campaigns, June 20, 1865, to July 31, 1866; and as Member of Board of Engineers to examine Washington Canal, D. C., Mar. 10 to May 28, 1866.

Served: as Superintending Engineer of Surveys and Improvements of the Upper Mississippi and its Tributaries, July 31, 1866, to May 31, 1870, — of Survey of the Battlefield of Gettysburg, Pa., 1868‑69, of Manassas, Sep., 1878, and of Groveton, Va., 1878‑79, and preparing Campaign Maps of the Army of the Potomac, 1879, — of Rock Island Bridge

(Lieut.‑Colonel, Corps of Engineers, Mar. 4, 1879)

across the Mississippi, July, 1869, to May 31, 1870, — of Surveys and Improvements of various Rivers and Harbors in Southeast Massachusetts, Rhode Island, Connecticut, and Long Island, N. Y., July 1, 1870, to Aug. 8, 1882, — of the Defenses of New Bedford, Mas., of Western Entrance to Narragansett Bay, and of Newport Harbor, R. I., July 1, 1870, and of New London and New Haven, Ct., July 1, 1870, to July 1, 1874, — of Construction of Block Island Breakwater, R. I., July, 1870, to Aug. 8, 1882; as Member of Commission to examine Union Pacific Railroad and Telegraphic Lines, 1868‑69,​b — of Board on Bridge across Niagara River at Buffalo, N. Y., Sep., 1870, to Feb. 7, 1871, — on Bridging the Ohio River, Oct., 1870, to Apr. 19, 1871, — on Plan for Docks  p404 constructed for Breakwater at Chicago Harbor, Ill., Aug. 1871, — on the completion of Cincinnati and Newport Bridge over the Ohio, Aug., 1871, — on the Harbors of St. Louis, Mo., and Alton, Ill., and Banks of the Mississippi, Feb. 19 to Apr. 13, 1872, — on Bridging the Channel between Lake Huron and Lake Erie, Dec., 1873, — on Ship Canal from the Mississippi to the Gulf of Mexico, July 30, 1873, to Jan. 4, 1874, — to examine the St. Louis Bridge across the Mississippi, Sep. 2‑12, 1873, — on the Reclamation of the Alluvial Basin of the Mississippi, July, 1874, to Jan. 18, 1875, — to consider proposed Railroad from Austin, Tex., to Topolobampo, on the West Coast of Mexico, Feb., 1875, — on use of Shear-booms for bridge piers in the Mississippi, Aug., 1876, to Feb. 2, 1877, — on Mississippi Bridges between St. Paul, Minn., and St. Louis, Mo., Oct., 1876, — to consider plan and location of Bridge across the Ohio, prepared by the Commonwealth Bridge Company, Oct., 1877, — on pier and abutment of Bridge at Ft. Snelling, Min., and on the Improvement of the Mississippi River, from the Falls of St. Anthony to Rock Island Rapids, July, 1878, — and on Ohio River Bridges, Oct., 1878; and as Member of Advisory Council of the Harbor Commissioners of the State of Rhode Island, Oct., 1878, to Aug. 8, 1882.

Civil History. — Author of Report upon the Minnesota River, 1874; upon the Fox and Wisconsin River improvements, 1876; and upon Bridging the Mississippi between St. Paul and St. Louis, 1878. Member of the American Association for the Advancement of Science, 1858‑82; of the National Academy of Sciences, 1876‑82; and of several Scientific Associations, 1860‑82.

Died, Aug. 8, 1882, at Newport, R. I.: Aged 52.

Buried, Island Cemetery, Newport, RI.

Biographical Sketch.

Bvt. Major‑General Gouverneur Kemble Warren was born, Jan. 8, 1830, at Cold Spring, N. Y., amid the picturesque Hudson Highlands, and was named after the patriarch of the place, the veteran Gouverneur Kemble, so well known to West Pointers and many eminent men who often sat at his hospitable board.

With a good preliminary education, young Warren entered the Military Academy at the age of sixteen, and was graduated therefrom, second in his class, July 1, 1850, when he was promoted to the Corps of Topographical Engineers. For the next four years he was principally engaged as an Assistant upon the hydrographic survey of the Delta of the Mississippi, and in compiling maps and reports of Pacific Railroad explorations. At great personal risk, in 1855, he joined General Harney to accompany him on the Sioux Expedition, memorable for the Action of Blue Water. Till 1859 he was actively employed on dangerous reconnoissances in Dakota and Nebraska, and in constructing, with much care and labor, a general map, of great value, of the then little known region west of the Mississippi, designed to aid in the selection of railroad routes to the Pacific. These important duties being completed, he was ordered to the Military Academy in the Department of Mathematics, continuing there, with great advantage to the institution, till he was called to a wider field wherein to exhibit his greater powers as a leader in the War of the Rebellion.

"Warren," says General Indicates a West Point graduate and gives his Class.Abbot, "brought to the strife an intellect fitted for high command, a courage which knew no fear and shrunk from no responsibility, judgment ripened by responsible duties, an earnest patriotism free from fanatical bias, and an energy so indomitable that it carried his delicate frame through labors and exposures which broke down many men of stronger physique. Like most soldiers of conscious ability, he despised the vulgar arts and claptrap which form the stock in trade of  p405 coarser natures, and his magnanimity to the vanquished equaled his stubborn persistence during the contest."

He entered upon his new career as Lieut.‑Colonel of the Fifth N. Y. Volunteers (Zouaves), becoming Colonel of the regiment, Aug. 30, 1861, which was ordered to Fort Monroe, and soon after was hotly engaged in the Action of Big Bethel, where Warren was the last to leave the field, in order to carry away in his own arms, at the risk of his life, the body of Lieutenant Indicates a West Point graduate and gives his Class.Greble, the first regular officer slain in the Civil War. During the remainder of 1861, Warren was chiefly engaged in disciplining his regiment, and in building a fort on Federal Hill for the defense of Baltimore, Md.

In the Virginia Peninsular Campaign, Warren accompanied the Army of the Potomac, his regiment being attached to the siege train at Yorktown. Soon after the Army had resumed its forward movement, Warren was assigned to the command of a brigade in the Fifth Corps, with which he covered the extreme right of the Army; took part in the Capture of Hanover Court House; pursued Stuart's cavalry, boldly raiding our rear; and was engaged in the Battles of Gaines's Mill (where wounded) and Malvern Hill, and some minor affairs. For his conspicuous gallantry in this campaign he was brevetted Lieut.‑Colonel in the Regular Army, his commission dating from the Battle of Gaines's Mill.

When the Army of the Potomac left the Peninsula, Warren's brigade joined the Army of Virginia, with which it was engaged in the desperate Battle of Manassas, losing half of the Zouave regiment in killed and wounded. Next followed the Maryland Campaign, in which, at Antietam, Warren did valiant service. He was appointed, Sep. 26, 1862, Brigadier-General, U. S. Volunteers, and accompanied the Army of the Potomac to Falmouth. In the Rappahannock Campaign he was engaged in the bloody encounters of Fredericksburg, Marye Heights, and Salem, besides making many important reconnoissances. Warren, June 8, 1863, became the Chief Engineer of the Army of the Potomac, and as such served in the Pennsylvania Campaign. On the second day of Gettysburg his topographic eye discovered the importance of Little Round Top, the key of the field of battle, which, assuming the authority of General Indicates a West Point graduate and gives his Class.Meade as his staff officer, he directed to be immediately occupied by such forces as he could collect, and thus, after a severe hand-to‑hand contest, in which many valuable lives were lost, our left was secured till the next day's victory was won. Warren's coup d'oeil and prompt assumption of authority probably saved Gettysburg, the turning point of the Rebellion. Upon this now celebrated mound, a graceful statue of Warren, reconnoitering-glass in hand, has been erected to the memory of one of the chief heroes of that memorable battle.

The opportune seizure of Little Round Top is graphically described by General Warren in a private letter to the Adjutant of the 140th N. Y. Volunteers, commanded by Indicates a West Point graduate and gives his Class.Col. O'Rorke (Lieut. U. S. Engineers), who, but two years before, had been graduated at the head of his class from the Military academy:—

Just before the action began in earnest on July 2d, I was with General Meade, near General Sickles, whose troops seemed very badly disposed on that part of the field. At my suggestion, General Meade sent me to the left to examine the condition of affairs, and I continued on till I reached Little Round Top. There were no troops on it, and it was used as a signal station. I saw that this was the key of the whole position, and that our troops in the woods in front of it could not see the ground in front of them, so that the enemy would come upon them before they would be aware of it. The long line of woods on the west side of the Emmettsburg road (which road was along a ridge) furnished an excellent place for the enemy to form out of sight, so I requested the captain of a rifle battery  p406 just in front of Little Round Top to fire a shot into these woods. He did so, and as the shot went whistling through the air the sound of it reached the enemy's troops, and caused every one to look in the direction of it. This motion revealed to me the glistening of gun barrels and bayonets of the enemy's line of battle, already formed and far outflanking the position of any of our troops, so that the line of his advance from his right to Little Round Top was unopposed. I have been particular in telling this, as the discovery was intensely thrilling to my feelings, and almost appalling. I immediately sent a hastily written dispatch to General Meade to send a division at least to me, and General Meade directed the Fifth Army Corps to take position there. The battle was already beginning to rage at the peach orchard, and before a single man reached Round Top the whole line of the enemy moved on us in splendid array, shouting in the most confident tones. When I was still all alone with the signal officer the musket balls began to fly around us, and he was about to fold up his flags and withdraw, but remained at my request and kept waving them in defiance. Seeing troops going out on the peach orchard road, I rode down the hill, and fortunately met my old brigade. General Weed, commanding it, had already passed the point, and I took the responsibility to detach Colonel O'Rorke, the head of whose regiment I struck, who, on hearing my few words of explanation about the position, moved at once to the hilltop. About this time First Lieut. Indicates a West Point graduate and gives his Class.Charles E. Hazlett, of the Fifth Artillery, with his battery of rifled cannon, arrived. He comprehended the situation instantly, and planted a gun on the summit of the hill. He spoke to the effect that, though he could do little execution on the enemy with his guns, he could aid in giving confidence to the infantry, and that his battery was of no consequence whatever compared with holding the position. He stayed there till he was killed.

I did not see Vincent's brigade coming up, but I suppose it was about this time they did, and coming up behind me through the woods, and taking post to the left, their proper place, I did not see them. The full force of the enemy was now sweeping the Third Army Corps from its untenable position, and no troops nor any reinforcements could maintain it. It was the dreadful misfortune of the day that any reinforcements went to that line, for all alike — Third Corps, Second Corps, and Fifth Corps — were driven from it with great loss. The earnest appeals for support drew, I suppose, the troops of the Fifth Corps away from their intended position, that is, Little Round Top, out on the road to the peach orchard, and so it was that the Fifth Corps reached this vital point in such small detachments.

"I was wounded with a musket ball while talking with Lieutenant Hazlett on the hill, but not seriously, and seeing the position saved, while the whole line to the right and front of us was yielding and melting away under the enemy's fire and advance, I left the hill to rejoin General Meade, near the centre of the field, where a new crisis was at hand."

Warren, after the enemy's retreat into Virginia, was promoted Major-General, U. S. Volunteers, to date from May 3d, when he had done such distinguished service at Marye Heights and Salem. With his new rank he was temporarily assigned to the command of the Second Corps, and in October following, when the Confederate Army was making a flank movement to Centreville, he encountered A. P. Hill's corps of double his strength, but held his position till reinforced by the Fifth Corps. The Chief of Staff of the Army of the Potomac says: "The handling of the Second Corps in this operation, and the promptitude, skill, and spirit with which the enemy was met, were admirable, and might form an excellent model for the conduct of a rear guard."

Warren's next conspicuous service was in the Mine Run movement, where he had designed a flank attack on the enemy, but had the moral  p407 courage to desist upon finding, when about to move the next morning, that the Confederates had much strengthened their position in the night.

On the re-organization of the Army of the Potomac for the Richmond Campaign, Warren was assigned to the command of the Fifth Corps, in command of which he bravely battled in all the conflicts from the Wilderness to Five Forks. The operations which culminated in this last battle were reviewed by a Court of Inquiry, which, after fifteen years of persistent application, Warren at last secured. General Abbot gives a summary of its more salient points as established by testimony:—

"At sunset of Mar. 31 the Fifth Corps occupied the extreme left of the Union position; and General Sheridan's was at Dinwiddie Court House, distant about five miles to the left and rear. Both had been severely attacked during the day, and the latter was still confronted by infantry and cavalry. At 8.40 P.M., General Warren himself suggested that he be allowed to move in force against the rear of the enemy operating against General Sheridan. On his own responsibility, as early as 5 P.M., he had detached a strong brigade with orders to attack that force; and in consequence of this movement the Confederates withdrew during the night from General Sheridan's front.

"About 7 A.M. of Apr. 1, the Fifth Corps and the cavalry effected a junction, and, under command of General Sheridan, prepared for a combined attack upon the enemy, then at Five Forks, a detached position about four miles to the westward of the Confederate main intrenched line before Petersburg. The country was much wooded. The cavalry was early disposed along the enemy's front, the Fifth Corps (12,000 men) being left massed at J. Boisseau's until ordered forward about 1 P.M. At 4 P.M. it had advanced about two and a half miles, and formed near Gravelly Run Church, ready to assault.

"General Sheridan's purpose was to crush and turn the Confederate left flank with the Fifth Corps, at the same time assaulting their line of battle in front with his cavalry.

"The Fifth Corps advanced as directed by General Sheridan, Ayres' Division on the left, Crawford's on the right, and Griffin's in reserve. The indicated point of attack lay too far to the right. Ayres soon received a sharp fire on his left flank from the return which formed the extreme left of the Confederate position. He promptly changed front, assaulted and finally handsomely carried this angle taking many prisoners. This movement left the other divisions advancing in air with only a cavalry force to oppose them, and Warren hastened in person to change Crawford's direction to the left, having previously sent orders to Griffin to move to his left and come in on the right of Ayres. The country was rough and wooded, and the position of the enemy had been supposed by General Sheridan to extend much more to the eastward than was actually the case. Hence the primary importance of these movements in order to bring the whole Fifth Corps into action.

"In this difficult task Warren was everywhere, — first with Crawford's Division, establishing the new line of advance; then with Griffin, directing him upon the enemy lying along the west side of the Sydnor field, whose exact position he had just discovered by drawing their fire upon himself; then to Ayres, finding him in possession of the angle with many prisoners; then back to Crawford, and conducting the advance through the woods so as continually to outflank the enemy in his attempt to form new lines to cover his natural retreat (the Ford road) and to hold the position at the Forks. Finally Crawford's Division, still accompanied by Warren, and having swept everything before it, found itself on the east side of the Gilliam Field, but somewhat disorganized by the fighting through difficult woods. Confronting it on the west side was a new and last line of the enemy slightly intrenched.

 p408  "Here a pause occurred, and personal magnetism seemed called for to lead on the troops, who for a moment had lost their organizations in the confusion. Warren, having discharged the more pressing duty of directing the whole force of his Corps upon the enemy, now found time to yield to his natural impulse. He seized his headquarters flag, rode into the opening, and, calling on the color-bearers to advance, he led the charge. His horse fell dead under him close to the enemy's lines, an orderly by his side was killed, and his own life was probably saved by the gallant act of Colonel Richardson, 7th Wisconsin, who sprang between him and the enemy, receiving a severe wound. This charge put an end to all resistance. Surrounded by his captures and flushed with victory, Warren sent back a staff officer to report to General Sheridan and ask for further orders.

"These orders came in writing. They relieved him from the command of his Corps, and ordered him to report to General Indicates a West Point graduate and gives his Class.Grant.

'If the bullet which killed his horse had pierced the heart of the rider, Warren, like Wolfe dying upon the Heights of Abraham, would have gone down in history the hero of the battle. This order, more cruel than the bullet, doubtless caused his death after seventeen years of suffering which intimate friends who understood his sensitive organization can alone appreciate. It is piti­ful that one of his last requests was to be laid in the grave without the usual military ceremonial, without soldierly emblems on his coffin or uniform upon his body. The iron had entered his soul."

General Francis A. Walker, in his "History of the Second Army Corps," referring to Warren's removal at Five Forks, says:—

"What is infinitely to be regretted is, that the brilliant and fortunate successor of Grant and Sherman did not, when the heat of action had passed, when the passions of the moment had cooled, himself seize the opportunity, which his own power and fame afforded him, to take the initiative in vindicating the reputation of one of the bravest, brightest, and most spirited of the youthful commanders of the Union Armies. It would not have diminished the renown which Sheridan won at Yellow Tavern, Cedar Creek, and Five Forks, had he welcomed an early occasion to repair the terrible injury which one hasty word, in the heat of battle, had done to the position, the fame, and the hopes of the man who snatched Little Round Top from the hands of the exulting Confederates."

After this sad event Warren was assigned to the command of the Defenses of Petersburg and the South Side Railroad, and, May 14, 1865, to that of the Department of the Mississippi; but, wounded more deeply than when exposed to the enemy's fire in seventeen great battles and twenty minor actions, he resigned, a week after, his volunteer commission of Major-General, conferred upon him for many heroic deeds, and returned to his Corps duties above detailed, which were responsible, and, it is needless to say, were performed most satisfactorily till he died, Aug. 8, 1882, of a broken heart. In the Civil War, by his merits, he had risen from a First Lieutenant to a Bvt. Major-General in the Regular Army.

Warren, besides being a distinguished soldier, was a scientist of a high order and in many departments, which will be found fully described by General Henry L. Abbot, in a "Biographical Memoir" read before the National Academy of Sciences, Apr. 17, 1884.

The Chief of Engineers, in announcing the death of this valued officer, says:—

"In scientific investigations General Warren had few superiors; and his elaborate reports on some of the most important works which have been confided to the Corps of Engineers are among the most valuable contributions to its literature."

General Abbot thus sums up Warren's worth and character:—

 p409  "The lives of few graduates more perfectly illustrate the fruits of what we are proud to call West Point culture than that of General Warren. Everything with him was subordinated to duty, and he put forth his whole strength in whatever he had to do. His tastes were cultivated and refined, and his reading in both literature and science was extensive. A man of warm affections and sympathetic nature, he was ever ready to listen to the cry of distress. Even after his long experience in war, the misery of the wounded, and the severe hardships of all his soldiers in some of the winter movements south of Petersburg, so touched his heart that he wrote to his brother: 'I do not feel it much in my own person, but I sympathize so much with the sufferings around me that it seems at times I can hardly endure it.' He is now peacefully at rest, beyond the reach of praise or censure; but his memory is a sacred legacy to West Point and to the Army of the Potomac. There is no nobler name upon either roll."


Thayer's Notes:

a Among the Engineer Pamphlets of the U. S. Corps of Engineers online: Engineer Historical Studies — Explorer on the Northern Plains: Lieutenant Gouverneur K. Warren's Preliminary Report of Explorations in Nebraska and Dakota, in the Years 1855‑'56‑'57.

[decorative delimiter]
b Probably the most important result of the commission's work was in confirming the judgment of private surveyors that the Transcontinental Railroad should follow the north shore of Great Salt Lake rather than the south, and should thus bypass Salt Lake City (Galloway, The First Transcontinental Railroad, p131).


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