Gil R.
Posts: 10821
Joined: 4/1/2005 Status: offline
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Funny. I forgot that I had edited it, and reedited it. Here's how it looks now. Brig. Gen. Lewis Addison Armistead (b. 1817, d. 1863). A North Carolinian, Armistead attended the Military Academy at West Point, but was expelled either for poor academic performance or for breaking a plate over the head of future Confederate General Jubal Early (or for a combination of the two). Despite his failure to graduate, his father, Gen. Walker K. Armistead, a veteran of the War of 1812, secured for him a position as a 2nd lieutenant, and he went on to serve in the Seminole Wars of 1835-1842 (fighting under the elder Armistead’s command) and later in the Mexican-American War. His heroism, especially at Chapultepec, earned him a brevet to major. When the Civil War broke out, Armistead received was initially made a major in the Confederate army, but was quickly promoted to Colonel of the 57th Virginia Infantry. He served in the western part of Virginia, but soon returned to the eastern part of the state and joined the Army of Northern Virginia. Armistead was promoted to brigadier general on April 1, 1862 and fought as a brigade commander under Gen. Robert E. Lee during the Seven Days Battles of June 25-July 1, 1862, most notably being chosen to spearhead the bloody, senseless assault on Malvern Hill. Two months later, he led Gen. James Longstreet’s assault at Second Bull Run, and at Antietam he served as the provost marshal for the army, which required dealing with the high levels of desertion that plagued the army in that campaign. Armistead’s most famous moment in the Civil War came at the Battle of Gettysburg, which he joined late on the second day, July 2nd, 1863. Being attached to the division led by Maj. Gen. George E. Pickett, Armistead’s brigade represented an important component of Pickett’s Charge. Armistead led his brigade from the front, waving his hat from the tip of his sword, and reached the stone wall at the “Bloody Angle," which served as the charge's objective. In doing so, his brigade got farther in the charge than any other – an accomplishment widely recognized as the “High Watermark of the Confederacy.” The brigade, however, was quickly overwhelmed by a Union counterattack, and Armistead himself was shot three times just after crossing the wall. As his captors tended to him, he was informed that his old friend, Union Gen. Winfield S. Hancock, had been commanding this part of the defensive line, and that he, too, had just been wounded. In a scene made famous in literature and film – and based on contemporary accounts – Armistead had said to Hancock shortly before taking up arms against the Union that if he should ever lead troops in battle against his friend Hancock, “God should strike me dead." Though only wounded in the arm and left leg, exhaustion and a broken spirit led Armistead to succumb two days later in a Union field hospital; his friend Hancock survived his wounds. Armistead is buried next to his uncle, George Armistead, the commander of Fort McHenry during the famous British bombardment during the War of 1812, at the Old Saint Paul's Cemetery in Baltimore, Maryland. (Bio by Scott Jennings) Leadership: 6 Tactical: 5 Initiative: 3 Command: 7 Cavalry: Teaches: Heroes, Chargers, Steady (twice) Death date: 62
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