#grant was stunned and meade was really upset because he and sedgwick got into a bit of an argument

[quicksiluers]

On this day back in 1864, at the battle of Spotsylvania Courthouse, General John Sedgwick (leader of the VI Corps of the Army of the Potomac) was personally directing artillery placements and forming his line. Confederate sharpshooters about 1,000 yards away fired at them, causing some of his staff and the artillerymen to duck. Sedgwick, upright, said "Why are you dodging like this?They couldn't hit an elephant at this distance." Just then, in a moment of profound irony, he was struck and killed by a Confederate bullet.  When Grant heard the news he could hardly believe it, repeatedly asking, “Is he really dead?”

Maj. Gen. John Sedgwick was the highest-ranking Union casualty of the war, and widely beloved by his soldiers and his superiors.  

#john sedgwick #american civil war #rip to a real one #i mean talk about some last words #grant was stunned and meade was really upset because he and sedgwick got into a bit of an argument #and that was the last sort of meeting between them and meade felt really awful about it #ol 'uncle john' as his guys called him