William Wells (general) - Civil War

Civil War

At the outbreak of the Civil War, William Wells and three of his brothers joined the Union army. Wells enlisted as a private soldier on September 9, 1861, and assisted in raising Company C of the 1st Vermont Cavalry. He was sworn into Federal service October 3, 1861, and was soon promoted first lieutenant and then captain in November of that year. He was in the thickest of the fight at Orange Court House, Virginia, August 2, 1862, and was promoted to major on October 30, 1862.

Big Round Top cavalry charge
Part of Battle of Gettysburg, third day cavalry battles

The Wells cavalry charge rode eastward across Plum Run and along a stone wall to where "the troopers reached the spur" of Big Round Top and turned north to pass to the rear of Law's Alabama regiments. The Confederates turned about and fired on the cavalry: "It was a swift, resistless charge, over rocks, through timber, under close enfilading fire." (Captain Henry C. Parsons) After "a struggle, the hill was carried by the 1st Vermont", and in 1891, Wells received the Medal of Honor "for leading the second battalion of regiment on a daring charge" at Gettysburg.
Date July 3, 1863 (5 pm)
Location Gettysburg Battlefield, Pennsylvania
Result hill "carried by the 1st Vermont",
1891 Wells' Medal of Honor
Belligerents
USA (Union) CSA (Confederacy)
Commanders and leaders
Major William Wells
Strength
2nd Battalion, 1st VT 5 regiments of Law's Brigade
Following Wells' 1891 Medal of Honor for the charge, his statue was erected on the 1913 1st Vermont monument.

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