"Happiness Is Not My Companion": The Life of General G. K. Warren [Hardcover]

David M. Jordan (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: May 28, 2001

"Happiness Is Not My Companion"
The Life of General G. K. Warren

David M. Jordan

The valorous but troubled career of the Civil War general, best known for his quick action to defend Little Round Top and avert a Union defeat at Gettysburg.

Gouverneur K. Warren, a brilliant student at West Point and a topographical engineer, earned early acclaim for his explorations of the Nebraska Territory and the Black Hills in the 1850s. With the start of the Civil War, Warren moved from teacher at West Point to lieutenant colonel of a New York regiment and was soon a rising star in the Army of the Potomac. His fast action at Little Round Top, bringing Federal troops to an undefended position before the Confederates could seize it, helped to save the Battle of Gettysburg. For his service at Bristoe Station and Mine Run, he was awarded command of the Fifth Corps for the 1864 Virginia campaign.

Warren's peculiarities of temperament and personality put a cloud over his service at the Wilderness and Spotsylvania and cost him the confidence of his superiors, Grant and Meade. He was summarily relieved of his command by Philip Sheridan after winning the Battle of Five Forks, just eight days before Appomattox. Warren continued as an engineer of distinction in the Army after the war, but he was determined to clear his name before a board of inquiry, which conducted an exhaustive investigation into the battle, Warren's conduct, and Sheridan's arbitrary action. However, the findings of the court vindicating Warren were not made public until shortly after his death.

For this major biography of Gouverneur Warren, David M. Jordan utilizes Warren's own voluminous collection of letters, papers, orders, and other items saved by his family, as well as the letters and writings of such contemporaries as his aide and brother-in-law Washington Roebling, Andrew Humphreys, Winfield Hancock, George Gordon Meade, and Ulysses S. Grant. Jordan presents a vivid account of the life and times of a complex military figure.

David M. Jordan, a native of Philadelphia, a graduate of Princeton University, and a practicing attorney, has previously published biographies of New York political boss Roscoe Conkling, Union general Winfield Scott Hancock, and pitcher Hal Newhouser, as well as a history of the Philadelphia Athletics.

May 2001
400 pages, 13 b&w photos, 11 maps, 6 1/8 x 9 1/4, index, append.
cloth 0-253-33904-9 $35.00 t / £26.50

Contents
Cold Spring and West Point
Topographical Engineer
Into the West with Harney
The Black Hills
The Explorer Becomes a Soldier
On the Virginia Peninsula
Second Manassas to Fredericksburg
With Hooker
To Little Round Top
The Aftermath of Gettysburg
Second Corps Interlude
Fallout 1863–1864
Into the Dark Woods
Bloody Spotsylvania
Around Lee's Right
Standoff at Petersburg
The Mine and the Railroad
West to Peebles' Farm
To the End of 1864
Beginning of the End
To the White Oak Road
All Fools' Day
A Soldier's Good Name
An Engineer, Again
Newport
The Court Begins
The Court Resumes
The Lawyers Have Their Say
The Frustration of Waiting
Where Malevolence Cannot Reach

Editorial Reviews

About the Author

David M. Jordan, a native of Philadelphia, graduate of Princeton University, and a practicing attorney, has previously published biographies of New York political boss Roscoe Conkling, Union general Winfield Scott Hancock, and left-handed pitcher Hal Newhouser, as well as a history of the Philadelphia Athletics.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 400 pages
• Publisher: Indiana University Press (May 28, 2001)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0253339049
• ISBN-13: 978-0253339041
• Product Dimensions: 9.5 x 6.4 x 1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.7 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (12 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,001,279 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

17 of 18 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars FILLS A VOID, June 18, 2001

By 

N. Langenbrunner (Cincinnati, OH USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: "Happiness Is Not My Companion": The Life of General G. K. Warren (Hardcover)

"Happiness Is Not My Companion" The Life of Gouverneur K Warren by David M. Jordan (Insiana University Press, 2001) is a welcome addition to Civil War literature, filling a void in the biographies of key players in the North's bid for victory.

G. K. Warren, a graduate of West point, served in the Corps of Topographical Engineers and then taught mathematics at the Point until he was named lieutenant colonel of volunteers of the Fifth New York regiment. The high point of his career occurred on July 2, 1863, at Gettysburg, when he recognized that the unoccupied Little Round Top was the key to the Federal's defense and quickly positiond troops on its summit and backside to prevent the Confederates from taking that hill and possibly destroying the entire Federal line.

As Jordan tells the rest of the story, Warren's subsequent service was characterized by arrogance, depression, a quick, sulphurous temper, and a bad habit of second-guessing his superior's orders. Just days before Lee's surrender, Warren's superior, General Phil Sheridan, relieved him of duty, casting a shadow of disgrace upon Warren's career and courage.

Unable to persuade General U S Gant to give him a court of hearing, Warren had to wait 15 years before the commanding general William T Sherman approved his application. By the time the inquiry was completed and the findings released (findings which at least partially exonerated him)Warren was dead.

The only other significant biography of Warren was published by his family in 1932, an apology vindicating the General and arguing his place in Civil War history.

Jordan's research includes the vast collection of papers which the General himself had arranged for his defense, but it is not for that reason one-sided or uncritical in its presentation of the General's personality, career, or place in history.

Everyone who today climbs to the crest of Little Round Top sees the larger than life statue of G. K. Warren, erected by the survivors of his first command. Few visitors, however, know that he was wounded there on that hot July afternoon, that he later was responsible for a meticulously exact map of the battlefield, that in spite of his success in Pennsylvania he was relieved of duty at Five Forks, Virginia, less than two years later and spent the remainder of his life trying to salvage his good name.

Jordan's book is an honest and revealing look at one of the lesser known but nonetheless significant military leaders of the war. The author's background as an attorney does influence his presentation,providing some analysis that readers may or may not accept. But this book does sit well along side his other Civil war biography on General Winfield Scott Hancock.

11 of 11 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Justice Delayed, June 4, 2001

By 

D. Braveman (Philadelphia, PA United States) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: "Happiness Is Not My Companion": The Life of General G. K. Warren (Hardcover)

This biography has the ring of truth and the happy tone of justice done at last. G.K.Warren, born upstate New York 1830, West Point class of '50, brevet Major General in the Union Army, brilliant strategist at Gettysburg, later commander of the Fifth Corps, died in 1883 awaiting the results of hearings he had instigated to clear his reputation. Following one of the last Civil War battles, a Union victory at Five Forks, VA to which he had contributed, Warren was fired by General Sheridan with U. S. Grant's prior approval. With little else of interest to do for the next 18 years, Warren focussed ever more intently on restoring his good name , marching in place while his personal demon, Grant, occupied the White House. Shaara (Killer Angels) did most of the heavy lifting to unearth Warren and Joshua L. Chamberlain, letting Chamberlain stand as The Hero of Little Roundtop. Jordan, more subtle, leaves him as A Hero of Little Roundtop. (Moreover, Jordan's narrative recital of this and other battles is exceptionally coherent.) Warren is a puzzle: was he a depressive personality? an adult-onset diabetic? a Democrat-for-McClellan sore loser? just one more brilliant, touchy, odd-ball Civil War general? Jordan wisely declines any one conclusive answer and gives detailed evidence for several. The hearing commission's report published after Warren's death "cut both ways", as a lawyer (such as the author) might say. To his credit, Jordan lets the report pretty much speak for itself. If you have no stomach for ambiguity, stop with Killer Angels. Otherwise, read "Happiness is Not My Companion...."

9 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars An apt title for an outstanding biography!, June 11, 2001

By A Customer

This review is from: "Happiness Is Not My Companion": The Life of General G. K. Warren (Hardcover)

Having just finished David M. Jordan's "Happiness in Not My Companion", a well researched biography of General G. K. Warren, I wish to congratulate the author for his thorough and readable account of the general's life, and to recommend this book to anyone interested in civil war history, american military history, or biography of an individual who should be remembered in human as well as historical terms. The first half of Warren's story, describing his civil and military achievements, including his significant role at Gettysburg, through the Army of the Potamac's campaign of 1864, describes a man of ability and leadership, although Mr. Jordan plants the seeds of his future tangles with those in military authority. His relief from command by Sheridan near the end of the war and subsequent history is described with honesty and compassion, ending with Warren's death while attempting to clear his name via a military Court of Inquiry some 18 years after the fact. Mr. Jordan's research is exhaustive and heretofore unplumbed. His extensive use of quotations advances the narrative in an organized and readable style that had this reader unable to put the book down, especially after the battle at Five Forks. The author is to be commended for his research, his objectivity, and his highly readable style.