Description
At the outbreak of the Civil War Slocum became Colonel of the 27th New York Infantry. He would be wounded during the First Battle of Bull Run where his regiment suffered 130 casualties. Soon after, in August 1861, Slocum was promoted to Brigadier General in command of a brigade. In October of 1862, he was made commander of the 12th Army Corps after its commander Joseph Mansfield was killed at the Battle of Antietam. Slocum would later fight at Chancellorsville and Gettysburg. During the fight at Gettysburg, he was the senior Union general in the field, under General George Meade. During the battle, he held the Union right from Culp’s Hill to across the Baltimore Pike. His successful defense of Culp’s Hill was crucial to the Union victory at Gettysburg. Following Gettysburg, Slocum was transferred to the Western Theater. When General James McPherson was killed in Atlanta, General Sherman selected Slocum to command the newly formed 20th Army Corps made from remnants of his old 12th Corps and the 11th Corps. When Atlanta fell in September 1864, Slocum’s corps was the first to enter the city. The Army of Georgia was formed by combining Slocum’s 20th Corps and the 14th Corps and was the left wing of Sherman’s Army on his “March to the Sea”. During the Carolinas Campaign, Slocum’s army was heavily engaged at the Battle of Averasborough and the Battle of Bentonville, where Slocum successfully held off a surprise assault by Gen. Joseph E. Johnston. After the Confederate surrender, Slocum commanded the Department of the Mississippi but would resign from the Army on September 28, 1865. Nice bust shot of the general. Back marked out of Washington.
