George Lucas Hartsuff

(1830 - 1874)
Home State: New York
Command Billet: Brigade Commander
Branch of Service: Infantry
Unit: 3rd Brigade, 2nd Division, I Corps

Before the Antietam Campaign:
Raised in Michigan, he graduated from West Point in 1852. He was assigned briefly to the 4th US Artillery, and in 1853 was commissioned 2nd Lieutenant in the 1st Artillery. He was promoted to 1st Lieutenant in 1855. He saw action in Florida in the Seminole War (1855-6), and was then instructor of Artillery and Infantry Tactics at West Point.

Early in the War he served at Fort Pickens, Florida, and as Captain and AAG to Gen Resecrans in Western Virginia, but was appointed Brigadier General of Volunteers in April 1862.

In the Antietam Campaign:
Commanding the 3rd Brigade, 2nd Division of the I Corps, he was wounded in action on 17 September. He was relieved in command of the Brigade by Colonel Coulter of the 11th Pennsylvania Infantry.

The remainder of the War:
He was promoted to Major General of Volunteers in November 1862, and served in Division and Corps command to the end of the War. His last post, in April 1865, was as Military Commander of Petersburg, Virginia with headquarters at Centre Hill.

After the War:
At War's end he was honored by brevet for "gallant and meritorious service" for Antietam (Bvt. Colonel), the Appomattox Campaign (bvt. Brig. Gen.), and war service (bvt. Maj. Gen.). During the War years he had been successively promoted in the Regular Army Adjutant General Department to Captain (1861), Major (1862), and Lieutenant Colonel (1864).

He continued in service in administrative jobs in the West and retired, at the rank of Major General, on 29 June 1871.

References, Sources, and other notes:
Service data from Heitman1 and Appleton's.2

More on the Web:
Fort Hartsuff, Nebraska (1874-1881) was named for him.
His gravesite is pictured online.

Birth Date: 05/28/1830    Place of Birth: Tyre, NY
College: US Military Academy, West Point, NY    Graduating Year: 1852    Class Rank: 19th
Death Date: 05/16/1874    Death Place: New York, NY    Burial Place: US Military Academy Post Cemetery, West Point, NY

Notes

1 Heitman, Francis Bernard, Historical Register and Dictionary of the United States Army 1789-1903, 2 volumes, Washington DC: US Government Printing Office, 1903, pg. 507 [AotW citation 515]

2 Fiske, John, and James Grant Wilson, editors, Appleton's Cyclopedia of American Biography, 6 vols., New York City: D. Appleton and Company, 1887-1889, Vol. 3, pg. 106 [AotW citation 516]

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