Augustus van Horne Ellis Augustus van Horne Ellis ( May 1 , 1827 – July 2 , 1863 ) was an American lawyer , sea captain , and soldier . He was a brevet brigadier general in the Union Army during the Civil War , and was killed in action at the Battle of Gettysburg Early life and career . A . V . H . Ellis was born in New York City and educated in the city ' s public schools . He later attended Columbia University . Prior to the outbreak of the Civil War , he was a lawyer in New York City . At some point , he moved to California where he became a tax commissioner and a fireman , and later , a sea captain . Ellis is said to have voyaged to the Kingdom of Hawaii , where he became friends with the king of the islands . Kamehameha III appointed Ellis as the head of the Hawaiian Navy , but when Ellis discovered that the navy had no warships , he returned to California and became captain of a steamship . Civil War . When the Civil War began , Ellis was living in New Windsor , New York . He joined the 71st New York State Militia as a captain and accompanied the regiment to Washington , D . C . , where it became part of the newly organized Army of Northeastern Virginia under Brig . Gen . Irwin McDowell . Ellis saw his first combat action at the First Battle of Bull Run . He was then asked by Charles H . Van Wyck to help train the 56th New York Infantry , a three - years ' volunteer regiment . On September 5 , 1862 , Ellis became the first colonel of the newly raised 124th New York Infantry . The regiment had been recruited from mainly Orange County . After training and drilling , the 124th joined the Army of the Potomac in Northern Virginia . Ellis and his men saw no heavy fighting until May 1863 . Then , at the Battle of Chancellorsville , he gave the 124th the nickname of " Orange Blossoms " . He admonished the soldiers , " Let the girls of old Orange hear a good report of this day ' s work . " The regiment lost 40 % of its strength at Chancellorsville . Within a month after Chancellorsville , the 124th marched north with the rest of the Army of the Potomac towards Gettysburg . The regiment was part of Ward ' s Brigade in Birney ' s Division of Daniel Sickles ' Third Corps . On the second day of action at Gettysburg , they found themselves posted on Houck ' s Ridge near the large rocks of Devil ' s Den . Because of the heavy casualties at Chancellorsville , the 124th only numbered 18 officers and 220 men when it went into action against John Bell Hood ' s Confederate division on July 2 . Their position fronted a triangular - shaped field . As Benning ' s brigade attacked the 124th , Ellis and his field officers remained mounted on atop their horses . An officer in the regiment protested , but Ellis ' major , James Cromwell simply stated " The men must see us today . " This phrase gave title to a painting by Civil War artist Don Troiani that depicts Ellis and the 124th at Gettysburg . By all accounts , Ellis was brave and cool during the fighting . He remained in the saddle , sword drawn , urging his men to stand firm amongst the extreme chaos and smoke of the fighting . At the height of the fighting , a bullet slammed into Ellis ' s forehead . He pitched dead off his horse . In the battle for control of the triangular field , the 124th New York lost 28 men killed , 57 wounded , and 5 missing . Ellis ' s body was returned to New York City , where he was buried in Manhattan ' s St . Mark ' s Church in - the - Bowery . The specific location of Ellis ' body in the churchyard was uncertain until 2007 , when the burial site was positively identified via church archival records by Dr . Gary Brucato Jr . ( a psychologist ) and Attila Deak ( a guest services specialist at an art museum ) in the course of freelance field research for a book by Civil War historian E . F . Bishop . Memorialization . After the war , the citizens of Orange County raised money to erect a monument to the 124th Regiment at Gettysburg . Dedicated on July 2 , 1884 , it was the first regimental New York monument placed on the field . Located on Houck ' s Ridge where the regiment stood above the triangular field , the monument has a life - sized statue of Colonel Ellis , standing with his arms folded gazing calmly ahead . It is the only official full - sized statue of a Union regimental commander at Gettysburg . In 1868 , the United States Army built a new fort in Gallatin County , Montana Territory , to provide protection for travelers using the Bozeman Trail . The post was named " Fort Ellis " . It served as a base for part of the 2nd U . S . Cavalry until being decommissioned in 1886 . The Augustus van Horne Ellis Camp # 124 of the Sons of Union Veterans of the Civil War in Goshen , New York , was named in his honor . The camp annually awards a high school senior the Augustus van Horne Ellis Memorial Scholarship . A friend of Ellis recalled that he was " a rather cold , harsh ambitious man , and sometimes chilled us with his terrible bursts of profanity ; but he was every inch a soldier . "