Mapping His Career
Gouverneur Kemble Warren (1830–82) was born in the small town of Cold Spring, New York, approximately 15 miles north of West Point along the Hudson River. At the age of 16, Warren received a commission to attend the Military Academy at West Point and exactly four years later, on July 1, 1850, he graduated second out of a class of 44. He would become the most accomplished of that class.
Exploring Expeditions
During this expansion, the railroad companies, such as the Pacific Railroad and Central Railroad, conducted surveys and created maps. Their cartography left much to be desired. America’s second longest river, the Mississippi, was considered the dividing line between east and west. It was a gold mine for trade. For the next three years, Warren participated in several survey expeditions: The 1851 survey of the lower Mississippi Delta, a survey of the river’s northern Rock Island, and a survey of the Des Moines rapids in 1853. Warren also assisted in constructing the canal around the Ohio River falls.From 1853 to 1855, Warren assisted in surveying the best route for the planned transcontinental railroad. The young topographer studied the landscape with impeccable precision while combing through the railroads’ and historical surveys, even those dating back to the Lewis and Clark Expedition (of which there were 83 manuscript maps).
From 1855 to 1857, Warren was chief topographical officer under Gen. William S. Harney during his march through the southern Nebraska Territory (today’s Nebraska and South Dakota). This march was part of an expedition against the Sioux nation. Harney had been given permission to take whatever measures necessary to protect the Kansas and Nebraska frontiers.
Warren, however, focused less on fighting the Sioux and more on surveying the land, as he led his staff to explore, survey, and chart portions of the continent’s longest river the Missouri (which connects to the Mississippi), from St. Louis to what is today North Dakota and eastern Montana (the latter by way of the Yellowstone River). During the final leg of this expedition, the group became the first to explore the Black Hills and the Niobrara River.
During his time with Gen. Harney, Warren experienced combat for the first time during the Battle of Ash Hollow on Sept. 2 and 3 in 1855. Although his future military efforts would provide him acclaim, as well as great sorrow, it was his topographical efforts that, at least from a national expansion perspective, made the largest impact. In fact, when he reported his findings, Congress awarded him with greater authority and additional exploration expeditions.
Entering the Civil War
Despite the accuracy of his map of the United States west of the Mississippi, Congress remained divided on what route to take for the transcontinental railroad. The split foreshadowed a deeper division as northern politicians wanted a northern route, while southern politicians preferred one closer to them. Congress decided on a northern route, but only after the outbreak of the Civil War. Congress, comprised primarily of northern congressmen, passed the Pacific Railroad Act of 1862.Warren served throughout the war, rising to major general. In 1862, he was part of Maj. Gen. George McClellan’s Army of the Potomac during the Peninsula Campaign. McClellan placed Warren in command of the 3rd Brigade belonging to the 5th Corps’ 2nd Division. During the Battle of Gaines’ Mill on June 27, 1862, he suffered minor injuries during his “gallant and meritorious services” in the battle for which he was brevetted to lieutenant colonel.
Warren fought at Malvern Hill, Harrison’s Landing, and the Second Battle of Bull Run, the latter at which he lost more than half his brigade. Two months later, on Sept. 26, he was promoted to brigadier general of the volunteers. Though his brigade was held in reserve during the battles at Antietam and Fredericksburg, it did cover the Union Army’s retreat across the Rappahannock River after the Fredericksburg defeat.
Hero of Gettysburg
The turning point of the war, however, took place at the onset of July 1863 in a small town in southern Pennsylvania called Gettysburg. During the afternoon of the second day of fighting on July 2, Warren and Maj. Gen. George Meade, commander of the Army of the Potomac, rode along the Union lines. Meade heard gunfire coming from a hill. The commander ordered Warren to ride over and “if anything serious is going on,” to “attend to it.”
Realizing the area, which overlooked the Union’s undefended left flank, was unoccupied and that its topography would benefit whoever held the position, he commandeered troops from 5th Corps and held the position known as Little Round Top. Almost immediately after stationing troops on the hill, 14,000 Confederates under the command of Lt. Gen. James Longstreet charged the area.
Fifth Corps division commander, Brig. Gen. Samuel Crawford, wrote to Warren a decade later recalling the event, stating, “Your name ought to be forever connected with the saving of our left, for Round Top was saved by your foresight.”
Warren, again for his “gallant and meritorious services,” was brevetted and was made colonel. On Aug. 8, 1863, he was promoted to major general of the volunteers (he was also given temporary command of 2nd Corps on Aug. 12 when Gen. Winfield Hancock was severely wounded). Twenty-five years after the battle of Gettysburg, a statue of Warren was erected atop Little Round Top.
An Unjust Fall
In 1865, however, Warren’s prestige faltered. He had continued to command admirably, but after the Battle of Five Forks, Maj. Gen. Philip Sheridan relieved Warren of his command, citing he was too reticent in attacking the enemy. Sheridan did so with the blessing of Lt. Gen. Ulysses S. Grant, general-in-chief of the Union armies. Grant and Warren had disagreed on how to utilize their troops in the war. The former was known for throwing the weight of the Union’s numerical superiority against the Confederates, regardless of casualty numbers. The disagreements were unfortunately just a prelude to Sheridan’s decision, as unjust as it was.Warren was stunned and hurt by the decision, which Sheridan refused to reconsider. Warren resigned his commission after the war and returned to the Corps of Engineers as a major (he was promoted to lieutenant colonel March 4, 1879).
For the next 14 years, Warren defended his honor and pleaded for a military inquiry into his actions and Sheridan’s decision. When Rutherford B. Hayes, who had been a Union general, became president after Grant, he ordered a board of inquiry on Dec. 11, 1879. The board heard more than 100 testimonies, but it took nearly three years for the board to submit its verdict. The board published its verdict on Nov. 22, 1882, completely exonerating Warren. Unfortunately, Warren would never get to bask in the decision as he died months prior on Aug. 8, 1882 due to “acute liver failure” from diabetes.
The tragedy of the circumstances, however, do not diminish Warren’s brilliance in topography and courage in battle. As the 5th New York Volunteer Regiment stated on Warren’s bronze tablet that rests under his statue at Little Round Top, “Major General Warren needs no eulogy. His name is enshrined in the hearts of his countrymen.”
