September 22, 2011
This lot is closed for bidding. Bidding ended on 9/22/2011
WELLS, Jr. William (1837-1892) was a businessman, politician, and general in the Union Army during the American Civil War who received a Medal of Honor for gallantry at the Battle of Gettysburg. Wells commanded the Second Battalion, 1st Vermont Cavalry, in the repulse of Stuart's Cavalry at the Battle of Hanover during the Gettysburg Campaign. In the famous and desperate cavalry charge on Big Round Top on the third day at Gettysburg (July 3, 1863), he commanded the leading battalion, rode by the side of General Farnsworth, the brigade commander, and, almost by a miracle, came out unharmed, while his commander fell in the midst of the enemy's infantry. A few days later, in the savage cavalry melee at the Battle of Boonsboro in Maryland, Wells was wounded by a saber cut. At Culpeper Court House, Virginia, September 13, 1863, he charged the enemy's artillery with his regiment and captured a gun, and was again wounded, by a shell. Congress later awarded Wells a Medal of Honor "for distinguished gallantry at the battle of Gettysburg, July 3, 1863." War-date Union Document Signed "William Wells Maj. Commanding 1st Vt. Cav." 1pp. quarto, Head Quarters, First Vermont Cavalry, Stevensburg, Virginia, December 10, 1863, addressed to the Assistant Adjutant General of the Cavalry Corps pertaining to procuring "overcoats and blankets" needed by his men while they were wintering in Virginia.
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