Major General John F. Reynolds
Commander, First Corps
Army of the Potomac
Gettysburg, June 1863
John Fulton Reynolds (September 20, 1820 – July 1, 1863) was a career U.S. Army officer and a general in the American Civil War. One of the Union Army's most respected senior commanders, despite having a relatively limited amount of combat experience in the war, he played a key role in committing the Army of the Potomac to the Battle of Gettysburg and was killed at the very start of the battle.
On the morning of July 1, 1863, Reynolds was commanding the "left wing" of the Army of the Potomac, with operational control over the I, III, and XI Corps, and Brig. Gen. John Buford's cavalry division. Buford occupied the town of Gettysburg, Pennsylvania, and set up light defensive lines north and west of the town. He resisted the approach of two Confederate infantry brigades on the Chambersburg Pike until the nearest Union infantry, Reynolds's I Corps, began to arrive. Reynolds rode out ahead of the 1st Division, met with Buford, and then accompanied some of his soldiers, probably from Brig. Gen. Lysander Cutler's brigade, into the fighting at Herbst's Woods. Troops began arriving from Brig. Gen. Solomon Meredith's Iron Brigade, and as Reynolds was supervising the placement of the 2nd Wisconsin, he fell from his horse with a wound in the back of the neck,and died almost instantly. Command passed to his senior division commander, Maj. Gen. Abner Doubleday.
The loss of General Reynolds was keenly felt by the army. He was loved by his men and respected by his peers. There are no recorded instances of negative comments made by his contemporaries. Historian Shelby Foote wrote that many considered him "not only the highest ranking but also the best general in the army." His death had a more immediate effect that day, however. Reynolds essentially selected the location for the Battle of Gettysburg for Meade, turning a chance meeting engagement into a massive pitched battle, committing the Army of the Potomac to fight on that ground with forces that were initially numerically inferior to the Confederates that were concentrating there. In the command confusion that followed Reynolds's death, the two Union corps that reached the field were overwhelmed and forced to retreat through the streets of Gettysburg to the high ground south of town, where they were rallied by his old friend, Maj. Gen. Winfield S. Hancock.
Reynolds's body was immediately transported from Gettysburg to Taneytown, Maryland, and then to his birthplace, Lancaster, Pennsylvania, where he was buried on July 4, 1863. Befitting his importance to the Union and his native state, he is memorialized by three statues in Gettysburg National Military Park (an equestrian statue on McPherson Ridge, one by John Quincy Adams Ward in the National Cemetery, and one on the Pennsylvania Memorial), as well as one in front of the Philadelphia City Hall.
This is a figure from many years back that I “refreshed” now. Added a new tunic with BGT buttons in the correct set up for a Major General(in threes), added high boots and chaged holster from SST to an early BGT. Also replaced the SST rubber gauntlets with DID German ceremonial gloves painted a buff color with an acrylic wash.
The HS is from SST Sherman, with hair repainted black. I thought of replacing the HS with a Douglas Caldwell HS with hair repainted, but the kepi was a bit large for the HS so decided to keep the repainted Sherman.
I checked the references to see if Sherman was much older than Reynolds and curiously enough both were born in 1820. Sherman graduated West Point in 1840 and Reynolds in 1841.
Here is an old image of the bash before refreshing:
