Civil War
In 1861, the 4th Infantry was recalled to the East and placed in the defenses around Washington, D.C. Russell joined the volunteer army and accepted a commission as colonel of the 7th Regiment Massachusetts Volunteer Infantry. Russell then served in the Peninsula Campaign and the Seven Days Battles. He was brevetted lieutenant colonel in the regular army for gallant and meritorious service.
In 1862, Russell was promoted to major in the regular army and assigned to the U.S. 8th Infantry Regiment. Still in command of the 7th Massachusetts, he fought in the Battle of Antietam. Later in 1862, Russell was promoted to brigadier general of volunteers and commanded a brigade during the Rappahannock campaign. He later fought at the Battle of Fredericksburg. Russell was primarily in reserve during the Battle of Gettysburg, but was brevetted colonel in the regular army shortly afterward.
In 1864, Russell fought in the Overland Campaign. He was mortally wounded later that year in the Shenandoah Valley during the Battle of Opequon, otherwise known as the Third Battle of Winchester, when he was struck by a shell fragment. He was brevetted major general in the regular army in the field.
He is buried in Salem, New York, in Evergreen Cemetery.
Read more about this topic: David Allen Russell
Famous quotes related to civil war:
“Since the Civil War its six states have produced fewer political ideas, as political ideas run in the Republic, than any average county in Kansas or Nebraska.”
—H.L. (Henry Lewis)
“The principle of majority rule is the mildest form in which the force of numbers can be exercised. It is a pacific substitute for civil war in which the opposing armies are counted and the victory is awarded to the larger before any blood is shed. Except in the sacred tests of democracy and in the incantations of the orators, we hardly take the trouble to pretend that the rule of the majority is not at bottom a rule of force.”
—Walter Lippmann (1889–1974)