James M. Warner

James Meech Warner (January 29, 1836 – March 16, 1897) was a New England manufacturer and a brevet brigadier general in the Union Army during the American Civil War. Early life Warner was born in Middlebury, Vermont, the son of Joseph and Jane Anne (Meech) Warner. He graduated from Kimball Union Academy in Meriden, New Hampshire in 1854, and attended Middlebury College for two years, until he was accepted as a cadet in the United States Military Academy on July 1, 1855. He graduated from West Point on July 1, 1860, standing 40th in a class of 41. Following graduation Warner was assigned to the 10th U.S. Infantry as a Brevet 2nd Lieutenant, and, on February 28, 1861, was promoted to a full 2nd Lieutenant and was transferred to the 8th U.S. Infantry. He was then promoted to 1st Lieutenant May 31, 1861, and was assigned to Fort Wise, Colorado Territory. Civil War Warner agreed to an offer by the State of Vermont to lead a volunteer regiment was then and he was appointed colonel on September 1, 1862, and assigned to command the 11th Vermont Infantry (also known as the 1st Artillery, Vermont Volunteers). His regiment was assigned to the northern defenses of Washington, D.C., from September 1862 until May 1864, when Lt. Gen. Ulysses S. Grant called for more troops to support his Overland Campaign. The 11th Vermont joined the Vermont Brigade after the Battle of the Wilderness, and first saw action at the Battle of Spotsylvania Court House. In his first engagement, on May 18, 1864, Warner was severely wounded, but refused to leave the field until the end of the day. He was sent home on furlough to recover.