William Wells ( general ) William W . Wells , Jr . ( 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 . Early life and career . Wells was born in Waterbury , Vermont , the third of ten children ( nine boys ) of William and Eliza Wells . He began his education in the common schools of his native town , and mastered the higher branches in Barre Academy and Kimball Union Academy in Meriden , New Hampshire . While in Barre at the age of 17 , he used an odometer in surveying for a county map of Caledonia County , a task which occupied him for two months . From the age of nineteen until the spring of 1861 , he was his father ' s assistant in his extensive business . Civil War . At the outbreak of the Civil War , William Wells and three of his brothers joined the Union army . Wells enlisted as a private soldier on September 9 , 1861 , and assisted in raising Company C of the 1st Vermont Cavalry . He was sworn into Federal service October 3 , 1861 , and was soon promoted first lieutenant and then captain in November of that year . He was in the thickest of the fight at Orange Court House , Virginia , August 2 , 1862 , and was promoted to major on October 30 , 1862 . Medal of Honor . 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 sabre 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 . " After the return of the regiment from the Kilpatrick raid , in March 1864 , Major Wells was detached and placed in command of the 7th Michigan Cavalry ( which had lost its commander ) for a month . He commanded a battalion of Sheridan ' s cavalry at the Battle of Yellow Tavern , in which J . E . B . Stuart was killed . Wells was promoted to colonel on June 4 , 1864 . From September 1864 to April 1865 , he was several times in command of the Third Cavalry Division . In the Battle of Tom ' s Brook , Virginia ( October 9 , 1864 ) , a cavalry action , Wells commanded a brigade of Custer ' s division , and at Cedar Creek , his brigade took a foremost part in turning the rout of the morning into a decisive victory at nightfall , capturing forty - five of the forty - eight pieces of artillery taken from Jubal Early ' s fleeing army . Wells was appointed brevet brigadier general of volunteers on February 22 , 1865 . On the personal recommendations of Generals Sheridan and Custer , Wells was commissioned brigadier general May 16 , 1865 , and he was appointed brevet major general of volunteers , March 30 , 1865 , " for gallant and meritorious service , " having received more promotions than any other Vermont officer during the war ( from Private to General in less than three and a half years ) . Wells served under Generals Kilpatrick , Sheridan , and Custer , and was with Kilpatrick in his famous raid on Richmond , and with James H . Wilson in his daring foray to the south of that city . At Appomattox Court House , on the morning of the surrender of the Army of Northern Virginia , Wells ' brigade had started on its last charge and was stopped by General Custer in person . He distinguished himself repeatedly in action . Sheridan remarked : " He is my ideal of a cavalry officer . " Following Appomattox , the departure of Sheridan and Custer for Texas left Wells as the ranking officer and last commander of the Cavalry Corps of the Army of the Potomac . At the Grand Review in Washington , D . C . on May 22 , 1865 , he commanded the Second Brigade of Custer ' s Division of the Cavalry Corps , which led the advance . Wells participated in seventy cavalry engagements , in eighteen of which he led a brigade or division . He was honorably mustered out of army January 15 , 1866 . Postbellum career . Soon after General Wells ' return to civil life , he became a partner in a firm of wholesale druggists at Waterbury . In 1868 they transferred their business to Burlington , which was thereafter his residence . He represented Waterbury in the legislature of 1865 - 66 , being chairman of the military committee and an influential legislator . In 1866 he was elected adjutant general of Vermont , and held the office until 1872 . He was succeeded by James Stevens Peck and accepted appointment as collector of customs for the district of Vermont , a position which he filled with efficiency and credit for thirteen years . At the end of that time , he resumed his active connection with the business house known the world over as the Wells Richardson Company , manufacturer of Paine ' s Celery Compound . General Wells was married with two children — Frank Richardson and Bertha Richardson Wells ( who later married Dr . Horatio Nelson Jackson ) . In 1886 , Wells was state senator from Chittenden County , Vermont . He was active in veteran soldiers ' societies ; was one of the presidents of the Reunion Society of Vermont Officers , and president of the Society of the First Vermont Cavalry . He was one of the trustees , and first president of the Vermont Soldiers ' Home , and was a member of the Gettysburg Commission of 1889 - 90 . He was the first commander of the Vermont Commandery of the Loyal Legion , and would have been re - elected had he lived until the coming annual meeting of the Commandery . He was a member of Stannard Post , No . 2 , G . A . R . , Department of Vermont , and would have been made department commander several years ago had he been willing to accept an election as such . He was a member of the Vermont Society of Sons of the American Revolution . General Wells was identified with many important business enterprises in the city , being president of the Burlington Trust Company , president of the Burlington Gas - Light Company , president of the Burlington Board of Trade , director in the Burlington Cold Storage Company , director in the Rutland Railroad Company and director in the Champlain Transportation Company . He was a member and a vestryman of St . Paul ' s church , and was one of the trustees of the Young Men ' s Christian Association of Burlington , and one of its most liberal supporters . Few men , if any , touched the life of the community in which he lived in so many important capacities . His sudden death from angina pectoris in New York City removed , while in the prime of life , a most genial , courteous and kind - hearted man , a gallant soldier , and one of the most respected citizens of the Green Mountain state . Burlington effectively shut down for his funeral . His remains lie at Lakeside Cemetery on North Avenue . References . This article is a composite of information from the following articles , all of which are in the public domain : The three articles , in their entirety , with additional links and material , are available on the Vermont in the Civil War website .