About: Samuel W. Crawford

Samuel Wylie Crawford (November 8, 1829 – November 3, 1892) was a United States Army surgeon and a Union general in the American Civil War. He served as a surgeon at Fort Sumter, South Carolina during the confederate bombardment in 1861. He transferred to the infantry early in the war and led a brigade at Cedar Mountain which routed a division that included Stonewall Jackson’s unit, though it was later driven back. He was severely wounded at Antietam and returned to action at Gettysburg, where his division drove the Confederates out of "the valley of Death" beside Little Round Top, with Crawford dramatically seizing the colors and leading from the front. The preservation of the battlefield, however, is largely due to his efforts.