Charles Sidney Winder
(October 18, 1829 – August 9, 1862), was a career
United States Army
officer and a
Confederate
general officer
in the
American Civil War
. He was killed in action during the
Battle of Cedar Mountain
.
Early life and career
[
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]
Winder
was born in the town of
Easton
in
Talbot County, Maryland
, a nephew of future
U.S. naval officer
Franklin Buchanan
and a second cousin to future Confederate general
John H. Winder
. He attended
St. John's College
, also located in Maryland. Then in 1846 he entered the
United States Military Academy
at
West Point
, and graduated 22nd of 44 cadets in 1850. He was appointed a
brevet
second lieutenant
in the
4th U.S. Artillery
. Exactly a year after leaving West Point, Winder was promoted to second lieutenant in the
3rd U.S. Artillery
on July 1, 1851.
[1]
Winder served as the 3rd's
Regimental
Adjutant
from April 4, 1854 to March 3, 1855, with a promotion to
first lieutenant
coming on April 5, 1854.
[1]
In 1854, while en route to
California
, the vessel on which he was aboard, the
San Francisco
, was struck by a
hurricane
. For his valor in the face of this crisis, Winder was promoted to
captain
in the
9th U.S. Infantry
on March 3, 1855,
[1]
at the relatively young age of twenty-six.
He later saw action against
Native Americans
in the
Washington Territory
. At the outbreak of hostilities between North and South, he resigned from the Army in 1861.
[2]
Civil War service
[
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]
Winder resigned his U.S. Army commission on April 1, 1861, and was appointed a captain of
artillery
in the Confederate Army on May 16, and then quickly promoted to
major
later that day.
[1]
He was appointed
colonel
of the
6th South Carolina Infantry
on July 8,
[1]
leading it to prominence in the Confederate army.
He was promoted to
brigadier general
on March 1, 1862,
[1]
and assigned to the
Shenandoah Valley
under the command of
Stonewall Jackson
. Having recently
court-martialed
Brig. Gen.
Richard B. Garnett
, Jackson placed Winder in command of his old brigade. This, combined with Winder's reputation as a strict disciplinarian, was widely resented by both the officers and men now under him. In fact, so general was the feeling of animosity toward him, by August 1862 it was widely rumored Winder would be shot by one of his own men in the next battle.
[3]
Winder ‘s men acknowledged he was personally a brave man. But his disciplinary tactics were considered severe enough that he was called “tyrannical” by his men. Winder was told by commanding General, Stonewall Jackson, to end his disciplinary practice of “bucking”.
Casler, John O. Four years in the Stonewall Brigade pgs 101-10
Cedar Mountain and death
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]
On August 9, 1862, Winder led his men into battle at Cedar Mountain, on the left flank of the Confederate line. He did so despite having been ill for several days, and in defiance of a surgeon's order to rest. He was personally directing the fire of a battery when a
Union
shell struck him in his left side, horribly mangling him. Borne to the rear on a stretcher, Winder died later that evening.
[4]
Winder's body was initially buried in nearby
Orange Court House
, before being disinterred and transported to
Richmond
. There, a state funeral was given in his honor, followed by re-interment at
Hollywood Cemetery
. Three years later, his family had his body again removed, this time to be permanently buried in the family cemetery at
Wye House
, located near his birthplace of Easton, Maryland.
[5]
In his official report of the battle, Stonewall Jackson lamented General Winder's loss, writing,
It is difficult within the proper reserve of an official report to do justice to the merits of this accomplished officer. Urged by the medical director to take no part in the movements of the day because of the then enfeebled state of his health, his ardent patriotism and military pride could bear no such restraint. Richly endowed with those qualities of mind and person which fit an officer for command and which attract the admiration and excite the enthusiasm of troops, he was rapidly rising to the front rank of his profession. His loss has been severely felt.
[6]
See also
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]
Notes
[
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]
- ^
a
b
c
d
e
f
Eicher, p. 757.
- ^
Freeman, p. 326.
- ^
Krick, p. 19
- ^
Krick, pp. 96, 377.
- ^
Krick, pp. 377-78.
- ^
Official Records
, Series I, Vol. XII, Part II, p. 183.
References
[
edit
]
- Eicher, John H., and
David J. Eicher
,
Civil War High Commands.
Stanford: Stanford University Press, 2001.
ISBN
978-0-8047-3641-1
.
- Freeman, Douglas S.
Lee's Lieutenants: A Study in Command
. 3 vols. New York: Scribner, 1946.
ISBN
978-0-684-85979-8
.÷
- Krick, Robert K.
Stonewall Jackson at Cedar Mountain
. Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press, 1990.
ISBN
978-0-8078-5355-9
.
- Sifakis, Stewart.
Who Was Who in the Civil War.
New York: Facts On File, 1988.
ISBN
978-0-8160-1055-4
.
- Tanner, Robert G.,
Stonewall in the Valley: Thomas J. "Stonewall" Jackson's Shenandoah Valley Campaign, Spring 1862
, Stackpole Books, 1996.
- U.S. War Department,
The War of the Rebellion
Archived
2009-09-13 at the
Wayback Machine
:
a Compilation of the
Official Records
of the Union and Confederate Armies
, U.S. Government Printing Office, 1880–1901.
- Warner, Ezra J.
Generals in Gray: Lives of the Confederate Commanders.
Baton Rouge: Louisiana State University Press, 1959.
ISBN
978-0-8071-0823-9
.
External links
[
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]