The Hero of Little Round Top at Gettysburg, on July 2, 1863!

He was wounded at Gaines Mills, Va., and at Gettysburg, Pa.

(1830-1882) He was born in Cold Spring, New York, and named for Gouverneur Kemble, a prominent local Congressman, diplomat, industrialist, and owner of the West Point Foundry. "G.K." graduated in the West Point class of 1850, ranking #2, and he was commissioned a brevet second lieutenant in the prestigious Corps of Topographical Engineers. In the Antebellum South, he worked on the Mississippi River, participating in the Pacific Railroad Surveys of possible transcontinental railroad routes, and, in 1857, mapping the Western United States, extensively exploring the vast Nebraska Territory, including Nebraska, North Dakota, South Dakota, part of Montana, and part of Wyoming. He served as the engineer on William S. Harney's Battle of Ash Hollow in the Nebraska Territory in 1855, where he saw his first combat action. The start of the Civil War found Warren as a first lieutenant, and mathematics instructor at the United States Military Academy. He helped raise a local regiment for service in the U.S. Army and was appointed lieutenant colonel of the 5th New York Infantry Regiment, on May 14, 1861. Warren and his regiment saw their first action at the Battle of Big Bethel, Va., on June 10th, the first major land engagement of the war. He was promoted to colonel, and regimental commander on September 10, 1861. Promoted to brigade command, he was wounded at Gaines Mills during the 1862 Virginia Peninsular campaign, and later saw action with his brigade at the second battle of Bull Run, and at the bloody battle of Antietam, Md, on September 17, 1862. Warren was promoted to brigadier general on September 26, 1862, and he and his brigade went to Fredericksburg, Va. in December with the army under General Ambrose E. Burnside. When General Joseph Hooker was named to replace Burnside as commander of the Army of the Potomac in February 1863, he reorganized it, and named Warren his chief topographical engineer, and then chief engineer. As chief engineer, Warren was highly commended for his service in the Battle of Chancellorsville, in May 1863. At the start of the Gettysburg Campaign, as Confederate General Robert E. Lee began his invasion of Pennsylvania, General Warren advised Hooker on the routes the Army should take in pursuit. On the second day of the Battle of Gettysburg, July 2, 1863, Warren's keen eye and speedy action helped to save the vital position of Little Round Top and initiated its defense by recognizing the importance of the undefended position on the left flank of the Union Army, and he directed, upon his own initiative, the brigade of Colonel Strong Vincent to occupy it just minutes before it was attacked by the Rebels. Warren suffered a neck wound during the Confederate assault. Promoted to major general after Gettysburg, Warren commanded the 2nd Corps from August 1863, until March 1864, replacing the seriously wounded General Winfield S. Hancock, and distinguished himself at the Battle of Bristoe Station, Va., receiving promotion to brevet major general in the Regular U.S. Army. During the 1864 Mine Run Campaign, Warren's corps was ordered to attack General Lee's army. Perceiving that a trap had been laid, he refused the order from army commander General George G. Meade, and although Meade was initially angry at Warren, he later acknowledged that Warren had been right. Upon General Hancock's return from recovery from his Gettysburg battle wounds, and the reorganization of the Army of the Potomac, General Warren was appointed commander of the 5th Corps and led it through the Overland Campaign, the Siege of Petersburg, and during the Appomattox Campaign. After the war, Warren served as an engineer in the U.S. Army for 17 years, building railroads with assignments along the Mississippi River. Warren's last assignment in the Army was as district engineer for Newport, Rhode Island, where he died of complications from diabetes on August 8, 1882. He was buried in the Island Cemetery in Newport and his last words were, "The flag! The flag!"

Wet plate, albumen carte de visite photograph, mounted to 2 3/8 x 4 card. Half view in uniform with rank of major general. Back mark: E. & H.T. Anthony, New York, made from a photographic negative in Brady's National Portrait Gallery. Light age toning. Very fine image. An extremely desirable Gettysburg participant where a statue on Little Round Top commemorates his actions on that fateful summer day of July 2, 1863, when his heroic actions saved the Union Army!