14. The highest ranking Union officer to die in the American Civil War, John Sedgwick was shot dead after bragging the enemy “couldn’t hit an elephant at this distance”
A career military officer in the United States Army, upon the breakout of the American Civil War John Sedgwick sided with the Union and was elevated to the rank of brigadier general. Wounded three times at the Battle of Antietam whilst personally leading his division, Sedgwick remained a prominent figure throughout several other major battles of the conflict. Encountering Confederate sharpshooters at the onset on the Battle of Spotsylvania Court House on May 9, 1864, targeting members of his staff and artillerymen from over one thousand yards away, the shots were nevertheless causing panic and disruption among the soldiers.
In a display of defiant bravery, Sedgwick began marching around in the open in an effort to ease their concerns. Flaunting his bravado, exclaiming “men dodging this way for single bullets? What will you do when they open fire along the whole line?”, following the loud pronouncement that “they couldn’t hit an elephant at this distance” Sedgwick was struck beneath the left eye and killed instantly. A beloved commander and the highest-ranking Union officer to perish in the course of the Civil War, his loss was felt severely among both his men and colleagues, with Ulysses S. Grant reportedly despondent at news of his death.