Charles S. Wainwright

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Charles Shiels Wainwright (December 31, 1826 – September 13, 1907) was a farmer and artillery officer in the Union Army during the American Civil War.

Wainwright was born in New York City, the brother of future doctor and Union general, William P. Wainwright.

Wainwright was commissioned a major in the 1st New York Artillery on October 17, 1861, and served throughout the war as an artillery officer in the Army of the Potomac. Wainwright was chief of artillery of I Corps at the Battle of Chancellorsville. He commanded the artillery brigade of the I Corps at the Battle of Gettysburg. During the struggle for control of Cemetery Hill on July 2, 1863, Wainwright commanded all the guns on the eastern part of the hill. His batteries were instrumental in helping repulse the twilight attack of the Louisiana Tigers, and they dueled with Confederate artillery the following day preceding Pickett's Charge.

When Maj Gen George G. Meade reorganized the Army of the Potomac in 1864, Wainwright became chief of artillery of V Corps. He served in that role to the end of the war. He was promoted to brevet brigadier general on August 1, 1864. He was the author of A Diary of Battle: The Personal Journals of Colonel Charles S. Wainwright, 1861 – 1865, published posthumously in 1962. His journals provide insights into the adminstration of the artillery, as well as its use in battle.

Wainwright died in Washington, D.C., and is buried in Green-Wood Cemetery, Brooklyn.

[edit] References

• Eicher, John H., and Eicher, David J., Civil War High Commands, Stanford University Press, 2001, ISBN 0-8047-3641-3.
• A Diary of Battle: the Personal Journals of Colonel Charles S. Wainwright, 1861-1865, ed. Allan Nevins, New York, Harcourt, Brace & World, 1962.