My great-great-uncle was Emery Upton. He was born in 1839 in Geneseo
county, New York. When he was a boy he went to a grammar school and then he went
to a high school for two years. Then he got an appointment to West Point. He
passed the examinations and entered West Point June 3, 1856.
He studied
very hard there for five years. Then in 1860 the cadets from the South started
to resign because they were to train in the southern army for the Civil war.
After these cadets had left there were many vacancies in West Point. Upton then
became an officer in the artillery department of this military school. He wrote
home that he saw that the Civil war was going to break out and he would enlist
as soon as it did.
When the Civil war broke out he was one of the first
to be chosen by the government to train men that had come to Washington in
response to Lincoln's call for volunteers. He trained many men for the field
artillery. He did not like to train men so he enlisted in the field artillery in
the Army of the Potomac. He was commander of the First and Sixth Infantry from
Massachusetts. The first battle he took part in was the first battle of Bull
Run. He also fought in the battle of Antietam Creek, where he was wounded twice
by musket balls. He was a good leader. In the battle of Gettysburg his artillery
came up during the night of the second day of battle. The next day his artillery
played an important part in driving Lee back across the Potomac into Virginia.
When Grant became commander-in-chief of the Union army he fought under
Grant in the Battle of the Wilderness and the skirmishes around Petersburg. The
officers that were in command that did not go with the army sent a small force
of men to capture a large place that was guarded by a large force of men. Many
thousands of men lost their lives because of the foolish leaders of the Union
army. Upton said that if the leaders of the Union army would come along with the
army and see what they had sent the army against they would think out plans to
capture the places without so much bloodshed.
Upton became an officer in
Sheridan's army. When General Lee sent Early to raid the Shenandoah Valley,
Upton was among Sheridan's army that was sent to defeat Early and finish Early's
task. Upton was a colonel in the left wing of Sheridan's army. The commander of
the left wing was wounded during the attack on Early's army and was taken to the
rear. Then Upton took charge and broke through the Confederate lines and sent
that part of Early's army flying in retreat. While he was making the charge a
cannon ball burst near him and wounded him in the hip. It tore the ligaments and
laid the artery bare. General Sheridan ordered him to the rear, but he just
called for a surgeon to bandage the wound and stop the flow of blood. Then he
called for a stretcher. He was borne around the field, giving orders.
After his wound had healed, Sheridan told him to come to the Ohio, where he took
charge of a division of cavalry. There he helped very much in the capture of
Columbus, Georgia, and other cities near Columbus. He was the leader of the army
that captured cities from Columbus to Atlanta that ended the Civil war after the
surrender of Lee at Appomattox court house.
When the war was over he was
sent to Europe and Asia by President Grant to study tactics. He learned about
the equipment, armies and artillery of the countries of both continents. He came
back to the United States and reported what he had found out. Then he wrote
Upton's "Tactics," which became the standard guide for our army for many years.
After that he became commandant of the artillery division of West Point.
Extracted 08 Nov 2018 by Norma Hass from Stories of Pioneer Days in La Salle County, Illinois, by Grammar Grade Pupils, published in 1932, page 100.
| Lee | DeKalb | Kane |
| Bureau |
 |
Kendall |
| Putnam | Grundy | |
| Marshall | Woodford | Livingston |
