Robert O . Tyler Robert Ogden Tyler ( December 31 , 1831 – December 1 , 1874 ) was an American soldier who served as a general in the Union Army during the American Civil War . He is best known as the commander of the Artillery Reserve of the Army of the Potomac , including at the Battle of Gettysburg in July 1863 , where many of his batteries played important role in the Union victory . Tyler later led a division of heavy artillery turned infantry during the Overland Campaign of 1864 , when he was badly wounded and relegated to administrative duties for the duration of the war . Early life and career . Tyler was born in the tiny hamlet of Hunter , New York , to Frederick and Sophia ( née Sharp ) Tyler . He was a nephew of Daniel Tyler , who also would serve as a general in the Civil War . He received an appointment to the United States Military Academy in West Point , New York , and graduated 22nd of 52 cadets in the Class of 1853 . He received a brevet appointment as a second lieutenant and was assigned to the artillery . He subsequently served in a variety of posts throughout the country . Tyler served as an artilleryman in the Utah Territory during the Mormon disputes and was among the U . S . Army officers who signed a petition supporting the reappointment of the controversial Mormon leader Brigham Young as governor . Civil War . During the April 1861 crisis at Fort Sumter in Charleston , South Carolina , Tyler was part of a hastily assembled relief force that tried unsuccessfully to reinforce the beleaguered garrison . That September , he was appointed as the colonel of the 4th Connecticut Infantry . Tyler began training the men as artillerymen , and the regiment was eventually renamed the 1st Connecticut Heavy Artillery . The regiment served in the Peninsula Campaign , and Tyler commanded the siege train of the Army of the Potomac under Maj . Gen . George B . McClellan . On November 29 , 1862 , Tyler was promoted to brigadier general of volunteers and assigned command of all the artillery in the " Center Grand Division " of the army . His guns participated in the Battle of Fredericksburg , providing artillery support for the series of assaults on Confederate positions on the heights near Fredericksburg . Maj . Gen . Joseph Hooker assumed command of the Army of the Potomac and reorganized it , creating a formal Artillery Reserve under Tyler ' s command . Tyler commanded the reserve during the battles of Chancellorsville and Gettysburg , where many of his guns were used to help repel Confederate attacks on such Union positions as Cemetery Ridge and Cemetery Hill , as well as during Pickett ' s Charge on July 3 . ( Tyler was disabled by sun stroke during part of the Gettysburg campaign . ) Tyler also participated in the autumn Bristoe and Mine Run campaigns , but played no major role . In early 1864 , Tyler was assigned command of a division of infantry consisting entirely of heavy artillery regiments , which he led at Harris Farm in the Battle of Spotsylvania Court House , where it was attached to II Corps . He then led a brigade in 2nd Division , II Corps , at the Battle of Cold Harbor . In the latter battle , Tyler was badly wounded in his foot , which incapacitated him from any further field duty during the war . After recovery , Tyler served in a variety of administrative posts . Postbellum career . At the close of the war , the War Department rewarded scores of officers with brevet promotions dating from March 1865 . Tyler received the brevet rank of major general of volunteers for " great gallantry at the Battle of Cold Harbor " . In 1866 he mustered out of volunteer service and was commissioned as a lieutenant colonel in the regular army , serving as deputy Quartermaster General . His wartime injuries contributed to his declining health , and Tyler died in Boston , Massachusetts , at the age of 42 . He is buried in Cedar Hill Cemetery in Hartford . Before he died , he was able to complete his autobiography , the " Memoir of Brevet Major - General Robert Ogden Tyler " ( Philadelphia : J . B . Lippincott , 1878 ) . The Robert O . Tyler Post # 50 of the Grand Army of the Republic in Hartford was named in his honor .