Maj. Gen. John Newton

(National Archives)



When the Union First Corps lost their esteemed and beloved commander, John Reynolds, during Gettysburg’s first day, General Abner Doubleday replaced him. Doubleday was not able to secure a victory for the Federals that day; in fact, he was driven from the field, and his troops fell back to Cemetery Hill. When General Meade, the commander of the Union army at Gettysburg, arrived, he did not trust Doubleday to continue leading the famed First Corps. He selected another, a man from another corps in fact, to lead the First Corps at Gettysburg. The man he chose was John Newton.

John Newton is one of those Civil War commanders who is almost forgotten in the annals of history – and he should not be in that position. 

He was born, interestingly, in Virginia, where his ancestors had lived for two centuries, on August 24, 1822. He was the youngest son of a large family, born to statesman Thomas Newton and his wife, Margaret. With older brothers named Cincinnatus, Virginius, Augustus, and Washington Irving Newton, it is not surprising that the Newton parents expected eminence for their offspring. John showed exceptional intelligence and aptitude, so his appointment to West Point was assured, especially with his father’s connections. John graduated in 1842, second in a class of 56 cadets. Some of his classmates included future Civil War generals William Rosecrans, John Pope, Seth Williams, Daniel H. Hill, Earl van Dorn, George Sykes, James Longstreet, Lafayette McLaws, and Abner Doubleday.¹  

Because of his highly ranked status at West Point, Newton was placed with the engineers upon graduation. He saw little frontier duty, except for his time as chief engineer of the Utah expedition in 1858. Ten years earlier, in 1848, he had wed Anna Morgan Starr, who also claimed a pedigree from the colonial families of America. Eleven children were born to the couple, although only four survived to adulthood.²

When the war exploded upon the nation in 1861, Newton was employed as the Chief Engineer of the Department of Pennsylvania. He quickly offered his services to the Union and spent the rest of the year in building up the defenses of Washington. When General George McClellan of the Army of the Potomac began his Peninsular Campaign in 1862, Newton requested a transfer to fight at the front, which was accepted. He commanded a brigade in the newly organized Federal Sixth Corps under General William Franklin, a Pennsylvania man who graduated from West Point in 1843. Newton was conspicuous in his bravery during the battles in Virginia that spring. He continued in that capacity through the rest of 1862, fighting with great temerity at South Mountain, Antietam, and Fredericksburg. By the end of 1862, Newton was a division commander in the Sixth Corps.³

McClellan was relieved of command after Antietam. The man who replaced him, Ambrose Burnside, did not fare well with his subordinates, who considered him inferior to the rigors of high command. Burnside's subsequent, embarrassing Union loss at Fredericksburg, combined with the deplorable Mud March in January of 1863, incensed many Union generals, and Newton was among them. Having met Abraham Lincoln many times when he was in charge of the defenses at Washington, Newton met again with the President and expressed his doubts about Burnside. Soon other generals joined in, and seven of them, including Newton, asked to be relieved of command if Burnside remained in charge of the Army of the Potomac. Lincoln acquiesced and replaced Burnside with Joseph Hooker.⁴

Hooker fared no better, losing the Battle of Chancellorsville to Robert E. Lee, showing a disconcerting lack of leadership in the wilderness near Richmond. Newton led the Third Division of the Union Sixth Corps, commanded by the capable John Sedgwick. The Sixth Corps deployed at Fredericksburg during the Chancellorsville battle, where they launched another assault on Marye’s Heights, in which John Newton took part. A significant number of Confederates still held the heights, even though the majority of their number fought at Chancellorsville. This is one reason why Lee was so outnumbered at Chancellorsville, and why his victory there in 1863 against Hooker was so significant – leading Lee to believe his troops were unconquerable. It was the outcome of Chancellorsville that caused the Confederate invasion into Pennsylvania several weeks later.

The march into Pennsylvania in June 1863 was hot and arduous. In the interim before the onset of the Battle of Gettysburg, Joe Hooker was replaced by General George Meade. General Newton accompanied General Sedgwick and his staff into Pennsylvania via Westminster, Maryland and headed toward Taneytown, where General Meade’s headquarters were located. On July1, Sedgwick received a missive from General Meade, ordering the Sixth Corps to reach Gettysburg as quickly as possible, and to use the Baltimore Pike. The troops had already passed the pike, but obeyed orders, turning the corps around to reach the pike, which, they later conceded, was much quicker, as the men were able to march on a straighter and smoother road. Newton left Sedgwick at that juncture and traveled with his staff to Meade’s headquarters in Taneytown, shortly before Meade left for Gettysburg.⁵

When General Meade reached Gettysburg in the early hours of July 2, he apparently did not trust Abner Doubleday’s leadership capacity in replacing the fallen John Reynolds. He relieved Doubleday of his command – and Doubleday never led any troops in the field after that. Miffed at being replaced, Abner secured another assignment in Washington for the duration of the war. General Newton, now in charge of shockingly depleted troops, placed many of the survivors of the First Corps on Culp’s Hill. Realizing that both Culp’s Hill and the stretch between Cemetery Ridge and Little Round Top were filled with gaps, he requested men from his former Sixth Corps to deploy in those areas.⁶

As a new corps commander, Newton was present at Meade’s Council of War at Meade's headquarters in the Leister house on the night of July 2. As the leaders discussed the situation at Gettysburg – including possibly leaving the field – Newton, an experienced engineer who understood the importance of their position, commented that “Gettysburg is no place to fight a battle”. Since he was highly regarded as an engineer, the rest of the general officers wanted him to elaborate his misgivings. He explained that the Union flanks were dangerously exposed, and he believed (wrongly) that Lee would never launch a frontal assault on the Union center. After hours of discussion, a vote was taken – and all commanders under the Leister roof voted to stay.⁷

To bolster the line behind the troops on Cemetery Ridge, Newton placed John Robinson’s Division of the First Corps behind the division of Alexander Hays (of Hancock’s Second Corps) in anticipation of Pickett’s Charge, in case he was mistaken about Lee’s decision to attack the center – which General Lee certainly did. The Federals prevailed at Gettysburg.⁸

When George Meade was later wrongly accused of wanting to leave Gettysburg before Pickett's Charge, John Newton was one of many at the Council of War who defended Meade, insisting that the general, although “care worn” that night, in no way ever wanted to vacate Gettysburg and cede the victory to the Confederates.⁹

Because of the overwhelming number of wounded and killed at Gettysburg, both Meade and Lee needed to reorganize their troops. The Union First and Third Corps, with so many fallen, ceased to exist after Gettysburg. Their survivors were absorbed into the Second and Fifth Corps. Now without a command, Newton was sent westward, in charge of a division under William T. Sherman in the Army of the Cumberland. He fought in Oliver Howard’s Fourth Corps, and saw action in the Atlanta Campaign. He finished the war in Florida, far from Appomattox, in command of the district there shortly after the reelection of President Lincoln. He remained in Florida until he was mustered out, on January 31, 1866, with the brevetted rank of Major General.¹⁰

After the war, John Newton returned to his engineering pursuits. He moved his family to New York City, where he improved conditions there by helping with the removal of Hell’s Gate, a dangerous section of waterway on the East River. He also used his skill in improving areas along the Atlantic and Gulf coasts. He was known as “one of the most distinguished engineers of the age” as well as “a brave soldier” of the late war.¹¹

General Newton spent his later years as President of the new Pan American Railway, a company that sought to connect North and South America. It was during this time, in the spring of 1895, that John Newton, who appeared in good health, suddenly died at his home in Manhattan on May 1, 1895. The cause of death was a heart attack.¹² 

The eminent engineer left behind his wife and three surviving children. After a funeral in New York City with full military honors, Newton was buried at West Point. A “great fighter in battle”, General Newton was better known as a builder, conspicuous in logic, intellect, and temerity at all times. While his leadership at Gettysburg was a short one, it cemented the great trust other commanders of the war put in him – for good reason.¹³

Union Sixth Corps generals, May 1862.

General Franklin sits at the center, and John Newton is seated far right

(Library of Congress)

Sources: Ancestry.com: Colonial Families of the U.S., p. 491. American General Officers of the Civil War, Vol. 8, also found on Ancestry.com. Appleton, John. Appleton’s Cyclopedia of American Biography. New York: J. Appleton &Sons, 1887-1889, vol. IV. The Buffalo News, May 3, 1895. Coddington, Edwin B. The Gettysburg Campaign: A Study in Command. New York: Charles Schribner’s Sons, 1968. Cleaves, Freeman. Meade of Gettysburg. Norman, OK: The University of Oklahoma Press, 1960. The Santa Cruz Surf, May 4, 1895. Warner, Ezra J. Generals in Blue, Lives of the Union Commanders. Baton Rouge & London: Louisiana State University Press, 1964. Historical newspapers found on newspapers.com.

End Notes: 

1. Appleton, p. 537. 

2. Colonial Families of the U.S. p. 491. American General Officers of the Civil War, p. 326. 

3. Warner, p. 345. Appleton, p. 537. 

4. Ibid. 

5. Coddington, p. 333. 

6. Cleaves, p. 225. Coddington, pp. 275. 477. 

7. Coddington, p. 450. 

8. Ibid. 

9. Cleaves, p. 143. Coddington, p. 452. 

10. American Civil War General Officers, p. 326. 

11. The Santa Cruz Surf, May 4, 1895. The Buffalo News, May 3, 1895.

12. The Buffalo News, May 3, 1895. 

13. Ibid.