J . H . Hobart Ward John Henry Hobart Ward ( June 17 , 1823 – July 24 , 1903 ) , most commonly referred to as J . H . Hobart Ward , was a career United States Army soldier who fought in the Mexican – American War and served in the New York state militia . He also served as a Union general during the American Civil War . During the Civil War he was wounded several times , and noted for both his performance in the 1863 Battle of Gettysburg and for his misconduct in the 1864 Battle of the Wilderness . After the war Ward worked in New York ' s Superior Court , and was also remembered for his death when he was hit by a train . Early life . Ward was born in New York City to a family of military veterans . His grandfather John Ward had fought in the American Revolutionary War and had suffered a disabling wound , as had his father , James Ward , during the War of 1812 . Hobart Ward was educated at Trinity College and enlisted at the age of 18 in the 7th U . S . Infantry . He was promoted several times over the next four years , reaching the rank of Sergeant Major . Mexican - American War . Ward saw considerable combat action during the Mexican - American War , fighting in the siege of Fort Brown and being wounded at the Battle of Monterrey . He recovered in time to participate in the capture of Veracruz . Ward returned to his native New York and served as assistant commissary general from 1851 until 1855 , when he became the state ' s commissary general , a post he held until 1859 . Civil War service . Responding to President Abraham Lincoln ' s call to arms at the outbreak of the Civil War , Ward recruited the 38th New York Infantry and was appointed its first colonel . He led his regiment at the July 1861 First Battle of Bull Run , becoming acting commander of Brig . Gen . Orlando B . Willcox ' s brigade when the latter was wounded in battle . He next saw action in the 1862 Peninsula Campaign in Brig . Gen . David B . Birney ' s brigade of III Corps . Ward continued to perform well during the Northern Virginia Campaign , seeing more action at Second Bull Run and Chantilly . For his efforts , he was promoted to brigadier general of volunteers on October 4 , 1862 , and assigned command of what had been Birney ' s brigade in the III Corps of the Army of the Potomac . ( Birney had succeeded Maj . Gen . Philip Kearny , who had been killed leading his division at Chantilly . ) Ward commanded the brigade at Fredericksburg and Chancellorsville . Gettysburg . During the Gettysburg Campaign , Ward ' s brigade was assigned on July 2 by Maj . Gen . Daniel Sickles to hold a large area from the Wheatfield Road to Devil ' s Den . Stretched thin with little reserves , Ward ' s brigade nevertheless held their ground stubbornly . Regiments were moved to threatened points of the line , especially the left flank . Finally it was driven back by determined Confederate attacks . Ward became temporary commander of the division when Birney assumed corps command following the wounding of General Sickles . Col . Hiram Berdan took command of Ward ' s brigade . Ward lost 781 officers and men out of 2 , 188 present , a loss of 35 . 7 % . Ward suffered a wound on July 2 but did not relinquish command . Late 1863 and 1864 . Ward was again wounded later that summer in fights at Kelly ' s Ford and Wapping Heights . During the Overland Campaign in the spring of 1864 , he was assigned a brigade of Birney ' s 3rd Division , II Corps , one of the divisions in III Corps before the army reorganization of March 1864 . Ward was wounded in the head at the Battle of Spotsylvania Court House . Removed from command on May 12 by Maj . Gen . Winfield S . Hancock for " misbehavior and intoxication in the presence of the enemy during the battle of the Wilderness , " Ward was arrested on June 12 . Despite these charges , he was nevertheless honorably mustered out on July 18 , 1864 . Postbellum career . After the war , he was a civil employee of New York City , serving as a clerk in the Superior Court from 1871 to 1896 . Death . At the age of eighty , Ward died in Monroe , New York , after being struck by a passing Erie Railroad train . Following a funeral in Brooklyn , his body was brought back to Monroe and buried in the city ' s Community Cemetery .