Civil War
In the summer after the start of the Civil War, Mott was appointed the lieutenant colonel of the 5th New Jersey Infantry, part of the Army of the Potomac. His regiment fought in the Peninsula Campaign and shortly after the Battle of Williamsburg he was promoted to colonel and command of the 6th New Jersey Volunteer Infantry. He was commended for bravery in the Battle of Seven Pines, but he and his regiment saw little action in the Seven Days Battles.
During the Second Battle of Bull Run, Mott was severely wounded in the arm and for his bravery was promoted to brigadier general on September 7, 1862. He was forced to recuperate during the Battle of Antietam and returned to the Army just after the Battle of Fredericksburg. Mott led a brigade in the III Corps at the Battle of Chancellorsville, but was again seriously wounded and missed the subsequent Gettysburg Campaign. His brigade was commanded by Colonel George C. Burling during that engagement.
Mott returned to duty in the fall of 1863 and led his brigade in the Bristoe and Mine Run campaigns. He commanded the 4th Division of the II Corps during the 1864 Overland Campaign. At the Battle of Spotsylvania Court House his division suffered such heavy losses during an assault on the Mule Shoe that they were dispersed and the division discontinued despite Mott's protests. In addition, Mott and his division, once the proud command of Maj. Gen. Joseph Hooker, were thought unreliable by Winfield S. Hancock and Francis C. Barlow. Mott continued as a brigade commander under Maj. Gen. David B. Birney and was restored to division command (3rd Division, II Corps) in July, performing well during the Siege of Petersburg and the Appomattox Campaign. He was one of the few Union officers to be commended for his actions in the disastrous Battle of the Crater, for which he was given a brevet promotion to major general. Three days before the Confederate surrender at Appomattox, Mott was wounded in the leg at the Battle of Amelia Springs. (Régis de Trobriand served as acting division commander for the remainder of the campaign.) He attained by war's end a reputation for competency and bravery. On December 1, 1865, he was promoted to major general, effective May 26, 1865.
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Famous quotes by civil war:
“During the Civil War the area became a refuge for service- dodging Texans, and gangs of bushwhackers, as they were called, hid in its fastnesses. Conscript details of the Confederate Army hunted the fugitives and occasional skirmishes resulted.”
—Administration in the State of Texa, U.S. public relief program (1935-1943)
“He was high and mighty. But the kindest creature to his slaves—and the unfortunate results of his bad ways were not sold, had not to jump over ice blocks. They were kept in full view and provided for handsomely in his will. His wife and daughters in the might of their purity and innocence are supposed never to dream of what is as plain before their eyes as the sunlight, and they play their parts of unsuspecting angels to the letter.”
—Anonymous Antebellum Confederate Women. Previously quoted by Mary Boykin Chesnut in Mary Chesnut’s Civil War, edited by C. Vann Woodward (1981)