Brig. Gen. Samuel W. Crawford commanded the Third Division of the Fifth Corps at Gettysburg. Samuel Crawford was born in 1846 in Pennsylvania. He graduated from the University of Pennsylvania in 1850 and its medical school in 1851, joining the army as an assistant surgeon.
He was serving at Fort Sumter as the Civil War began, and commanded several guns during the bombardment in spite of being medical staff. Combat command apparently appealed to him, for shortly afterwards he accepted a commission as a Major in the Infantry
Crawford was wounded at Antietam after briefly commanding his division. He didn't recover from the wound until May of 1863, when he was given command of the Pennsylvania Reserves, then recovering from hard campaigning by serving in the Washington defenses.
The Gettysburg crisis saw two brigades of the Reserves return to the Army of the Potomac. Crawford led them into the fighting around Little Round Top at the end of the day on July 2nd. Crawford seizied the colors of the First Pennsylvania Reserves from a surprised Corporal Bertless Slot. After a brief struggle and with Corporal Slott running alongside his horse grasping his pant leg, Crawford led his division in a charge that cleared the Valley of Death and, in his estimation, saved Little Round Top.
Crawford remained in command of his division through the Overland campaign and the Siege of Petersburg and was again wounded at the Weldon Railroad. He was with the army at Appomattox, one of two men (the other General Truman Seymour) who could claim to be present at both the beginning of the war at Fort Sumter and its end at Appomattox.
After the war Crawford stayed on with the army until his retirement in 1873. He took a leading role in helping to develop Gettysburg as a memorial park. at one point purchasing land around Little Round Top to build a museum. Crawford died in 1892 and is buried in Philadelphia.
The Brigadier General Samuel W. Crawford Statue is located on the right or east side of south Crawford Avenue if traveling north and just before the Wheatfield Road intersection, 302 feet northeast of this position. The monument only a few feet form the road. Parking is available along the avenue at intermittently enlarged shoulder areas. This is never one of the busier roads so it is safer to walk around more than the other sites. Take care to not park on anything remotely green looking as Park Police will happily ticket you. I visited this site on Monday, July 1, 2013 on the 150th anniversary of the Battle of Gettysburg @ 3:27 PM, EDT & @ an altitude of 516 feet, ASL. As always, I used my trusty and oft abused Canon PowerShot 14.1 Megapixel, SX210 IS digital camera for the photos.
The Draw the Sword site helped out by the NPS narrative and the SIRIS site offers the following description: Full-length portrait of Brig. Gen. Samuel W. Crawford stands on a rock base. He is in the uniform of his rank, including a wide-brimmed hat. A sword hangs at his proper left side. He holds a flagpole vertically in both gloved hands, braced against his proper right knee.
The Brigadier General Samuel W. Crawford Statue was dedicated on June 25, 1988. The monument is composed of bronze with a stone base. The sculpture is 15.16 feet high approximately 9 feet 4 inches and the base is 3 feet x 5 feet x 4 feet. The monument was created by Ron Tunison, who created a number of bronzes at Gettysburg, including the Masonic Memorial, the bas-relief from the State of Delaware monument, and Elizabeth Thorn's statue. The sculpture was finished at the Tallix foundry. The small little bronze plaque on the lower, front base reads:
Brig. General Samuel Wiley Crawford
Commander of the Pennsylvania Reserves
1829 - 1892
The Brigadier General Samuel W. Crawford Statue is a contributing feature to the Gettysburg National Military Park Historic District which is nationally significant under NR Criteria A, B, C & D. Areas of Significance: Military, Politics/Government, Landscape Architecture, Conservation, Archeology-Historic. Period of Significance: 1863-1938. The original National Register Nomination was approved by the Keeper March 19, 1975. An update to this nomination was approved by the Keeper on January 23, 2004. The monument is identified as structure number MN803.
From the Nomination Form:
Commemorates the services of Brigadier General Samuel W. Crawford, Commander of the Pennsylvania Reserves, during Battle of Gettysburg. Located on east side of Crawford Ave.
Short Physical Description:
Natural boulder from Crawford's Franklin Country serves as base. Rough-cut base, 3'2"x5'x3'. Heroic bronze statue of Brig. General Crawford, 10' high. Narrative bronze tablet on W face of base.
Long Physical Description:
N/A
My Sources
1.
NRHP Nomination Form
2.
SIRIS
3.
Stone Sentinels
4.
Virtual Gettysburg
5.
Draw the Sword
6.
Historical Marker Database
7.
Wikipedia