| George Archibald McCall | |
|---|---|
 George A. McCall | |
| Born | March 16, 1802 |
| Died | February 25, 1868 (aged 65) |
| Place of birth | Philadelphia, Pennsylvania |
| Place of death | West Chester, Pennsylvania |
| Place of burial | Christ Church Cemetery, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania |
| Allegiance |
 United States of America Union |
| Service/branch |
 United States Army Union Army |
| Years of service |
1822 - 1853 1861 - 1863 |
| Rank |
 Brigadier General Major General (State of Pennsylvania) |
| Commands held |
3rd U.S. Infantry Pennsylvania Reserves Corps |
| Battles/wars | |
George Archibald McCall (March 16, 1802 – February 25, 1868) was a career United States Army infantry officer who served in the Seminole Wars and Mexican-American War prior to his retirement from the Army in 1853. Upon the outbreak of the American Civil War, McCall returned to military service at the head of the Pennsylvania Reserve Corps, a volunteer state-controlled division which saw action in the Eastern Theater of the war. McCall was taken prisoner at the Battle of Glendale and paroled in 1862, but never returned to combat duty. He resigned his commission in 1863 due to failing health.
Early life and military career[]
George Archibald McCall was born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. He attended the United States Military Academy at West Point, New York and graduated 26th out of 40 cadets in the Class of 1822. Commissioned a second lieutenant in the infantry, he served first with the 1st Regiment and soon thereafter the 4th Regiment, U.S. Infantry.
Following his promotion to first lieutenant in 1829, McCall served for a time as aide-de-camp to Brigadier General Edmund Pendleton Gaines, and was present during the Second Seminole War in Florida, in action at Camp Izard during February and March 1836. In September 1836, McCall was promoted to the rank of captain and transferred north to the Canadian border during a period of civil unrest, and later to the western frontier in then-Indian Territory, before returning once more with his regiment to the campaign in Florida in 1841.
Mexican-American War[]
Upon the outbreak of the Mexican-American War, Captain McCall was already stationed in Texas with his regiment. He was accordingly attached to Brevet Brigadier General Zachary Taylor's Army of Occupation, engaged at the Battles of Palo Alto and Resaca de la Palma in May 1846, for which he was awarded brevet promotions to the rank of major and lieutenant colonel respectively for gallant and meritorious conduct in action. Following a period of staff duty stateside, McCall returned to the war as a divisional chief of staff during the Siege of Veracruz in 1847.
Late career and retirement[]
McCall was promoted to the Regular Army rank of major with the 3rd U.S. Infantry in December 1847, on duty in Santa Fe, New Mexico until his promotion to the rank of colonel on the staff of the United States Army Inspector-General in 1850.
McCall retired from the U.S. Army in 1853 after 31 years of service and returned to his native Pennsylvania, where he farmed and devoted himself to the study of natural history and ornithology.
American Civil War[]
Pennsylvania Reserves Corps[]
Upon the outbreak of the American Civil War in 1861, Governor Andrew Curtin of Pennsylvania responded to President Abraham Lincoln's call for the formation of state volunteer units to put down the rebellion; the state of Pennsylvania levied more than its required quota of men and Secretary of War Simon Cameron would not accept the excess for Federal service. As a result, Curtin formed the Pennsylvania Reserve Corps, a state-raised, funded, and controlled volunteer infantry division, and appointed then-retired George McCall as its leader. He was commissioned a major general of the state of Pennsylvania, followed soon thereafter with a Federal commission as a brigadier general of United States Volunteers. McCall assumed command of the Pennsylvania Reserves and deployed to the defenses of Washington, D.C. in July 1861.
Peninsula Campaign and Seven Days Battles[]
In March 1862, McCall's division was incorporated into Major General George B. McClellan's Union Army of the Potomac as it embarked upon the Peninsula Campaign undertaken against the Confederate capital of Richmond, Virginia. Initially designated the Second Division of Major General Irvin McDowell's Union I Corps, the division was reorganized as the Second Division of the newly-formed Union V Corps under Brigadier General Fitz John Porter in June 1862.
McCall's three brigade commanders would far surpass his own fame, as they were Brigadier General John F. Reynolds (KIA at Gettysburg), Brigadier General George Meade (Union Army commander at Gettysburg), and Brigadier General Truman Seymour (of Fort Sumter and Olustee fame).
When the Army of the Potomac closed upon Richmond, newly-appointed Confederate field commander Robert E. Lee gambled that if he struck the divided Union force (then straddling the Chickahominy River) hard and fast enough, he could send it into flight. With the isolated Union V Corps, McCall's division was engaged in the heavy fighting which ensued north of the Chickahominy River during the Seven Days Battles of June 1862, in action at the battles of Mechanicsville (June 26) and Gaines' Mill (June 27) before the corps retired south of the river and retreated across the peninsula toward the perceived safety of Malvern Hill on the James River.
The Battle of Glendale[]
Although McCall's Pennsylvanians sustained disproportionately heavy casualties in the two previous engagements, his division was inexplicably placed on the western vanguard near the crossroad community of Glendale, Virginia, charged with the prevention of any sudden Confederate flanking maneuver made against the vulnerable Army of the Potomac in transit toward Malvern Hill. Correspondingly, it was struck hard by Lee's Army of Northern Virginia on June 30, 1862 as the Confederate force indeed attempted to bisect the Union Army spread out thinly north-to-south.
After several hours of intense fighting at Glendale, McCall's division managed to generally hold the Confederates back until dark, in concert with supporting Union divisions to his right and left, though his Pennsylvanians arguably absorbed the worst of the rebel thrust made by Confederate Generals James Longstreet and A.P. Hill. In the end, Lee's force failed to break up the Army of the Potomac, but McCall's force was resultingly shattered by nightfall: in his battle report following the close of the campaign, he reported a total of 3,180 men killed, wounded, or captured in the three battles of June 26-30, 1862 out of the approximately 7,000 who were present at the commencement. Among the lost were Brigadier General Reynolds (captured at Gaines' Mill), Brigadier General Meade (severely wounded at Glendale), Colonel Seneca Simmons (Reynolds' replacement, killed at Glendale), and McCall himself, captured around dusk when he unintentionally rode into a Confederate picket line and was seized by vigilant infantrymen.
Prisoner of war and retirement[]
As a prisoner of war, McCall was transported to Richmond's Libby Prison where he remained until August 1862 before he was returned north via prisoner exchange. At the age of 60, already in a weakened condition due to the rigors of campaign, he never fully regained his health, nor returned to divisional command: on a sick leave of absence from the Army until his eventual retirement in March 1863, the command of the Pennsylvania Reserves was passed to Brigadier General Seymour (himself wounded at Glendale) until Meade recovered from his own Glendale wounds.
McCall returned once more to his home state, and he spent the final years of his life on his quiet Pennsylvania farm until his death in 1868 at the age of 65.
See also[]
References[]
- "George A. McCall". Find a Grave. http://www.findagrave.com/memorial/5895122. Retrieved 2008-12-29.
- Boatner, Mark M. III, The Civil War Dictionary: Revised Edition, David McKay Company, Inc., 1984.
- Cullum, George W., "George A. McCall" in Biographical Register of the Officers and Graduates of the U.S. Military Academy. Vol. 2 (3 ed.), Boston: Houghton, Mifflin, 1891.
- Eicher, John H., and Eicher, David J., Civil War High Commands, Stanford University Press, 2001, ISBN 0-8047-3641-3.
- Heitman, Francis B., "McCall, George Archibald" in Historical Register and Dictionary of the United States Army, Washington, D.C.: Government Printing Office, 1903.
- Sypher, Josiah R., History of the Pennsylvania Reserves Corps, Lancaster, PA: Elias Barr and Company, 1865.
- Warner, Ezra J., Generals in Blue: Lives of the Union Commanders, Louisiana State University Press, 1964, ISBN 0-8071-0822-7.
External links[]
- The McCall Family Papers, including correspondence, accounts, papers and other printed materials belonging to George A. McCall, are available for research use at the Historical Society of Pennsylvania.
The original article can be found at George A. McCall and the edit history here.