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 after the war is due in large part to his efforts.

During the Battle of Five Forks, his division went astray which caused his corps commander, Maj. Gen. Gouverneur K. Warren, to miss the attack while searching for them – one of the pretexts used by Philip Sheridan for his controversial removal of Warren.

Crawford was present for Robert E. Lee's surrender at Appomattox Court House in April 1865 which made him one of the few soldiers to be present at both the beginning and the end of the Civil War.