George Dashiell Bayard (1835 - 1862)

Born 18 Dec 1835 in Seneca Falls, Seneca, New York, United States

Ancestors

Died 14 Dec 1862 at age 26 in Fredericksburg, Spotsylvania, Virginia, United States

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Biography

George Bayard is Notable.

Brigadier General George Bayard Died of Wounds during United States Civil War.

General George Bayard served in the United States Civil War.
Enlisted: July 1, 1856
Mustered out: December 14, 1862
Side: USA
Regiment(s): Left Grand Division, Army of the Potomac Cavalry 3rd Corps

Descendant of : Colonel John Bubenheim Bayard (1738 - 1807) Revolutionary War Patriot.

George Bayard was born on December 18, 1835 in Seneca Falls, Seneca, New York, United States. He is the great grandson of Colonel John Bubenheim Bayard who served in 4th Battalion, Philadelphia County Militia, Pennsylvania Militia during the American Revolution.

General George Bayard died on December 14, 1862 in Fredericksburg, Spotsylvania, Virginia, United States

George Dashiell Bayard (December 18, 1835 – December 14, 1862) was a career soldier in the United States Army and a general in the Union Army in the American Civil War. He was wounded in the Battle of Fredericksburg and died the next day.

Early life

He was born in Seneca Falls, New York, on December 18, 1835, to Jane Ann Dashiell and Samuel John Bayard, the son of Samuel Bayard (1766–1840) and the grandson of John Bayard (1738–1807).

His family moved as homesteaders to the Iowa Territory. He attended the United States Military Academy at West Point, graduating in 1856 as a second lieutenant in the U.S. cavalry. He graduated 11th in a class of 49. Bayard fought in the Indian Wars in Kansas and Colorado from 1856 to 1861. Bayard was shot in the face with a Kiowa arrow on July 11, 1860, and suffered considerable pain for months.

Civil War

On August 27, 1861, Bayard was promoted to colonel in the 1st Pennsylvania Cavalry, based in Tenallytown (now Tenleytown, Washington, D.C.). On November 26, 1861, he was and his cavalry rode into the crossroads hamlet of Dranesville in Fairfax County, Virginia, to investigate reports of Confederate activity. Finding nothing but two enemy pickets, Bayard took the opportunity to arrest six local citizens whom Bayard in his official report described as "secessionists of the bitterest stamp." Leaving Dranesville, Bayard's troopers and prisoners came under fire from the woods. Two Union soldiers were wounded, Bayard's horse was killed, and Bayard himself was slightly wounded in the shoulder and thigh.

Bayard was subsequently commissioned Chief of Cavalry of the III Corps and brigadier general of U.S. Volunteers on April 28, 1862.

Bayard fought under John C. Frémont at the Battle of Cross Keys. In August 1862, at the Battle of Cedar Mountain, he led a Union Army advance. After the battle, Bayard and Confederate General J.E.B. Stuart met under a flag of truce to arrange the recovery of the dead from the battlefield. Bayard and Stuart were friends from the pre-war regular army. Stuart had been two years ahead of Bayard at West Point, and they served together in Company G, 1st U.S. Cavalry Regiment.

Bayard was eventually promoted to Chief of Cavalry of the Left Grand Division, Army of the Potomac. With his old wound still bothering him, Bayard took a leave of absence for 13 days in September and consequently missed the Battle of Antietam.

At the battle of Fredericksburg on December 13, 1862, Bayard was awaiting orders at the Bernard house, Union General William B. Franklin's headquarters. When a distant Confederate battery opened fire on the headquarters, Bayard declined to take shelter. An artillery round bounced through the front yard and struck Bayard in the upper leg, doing irreparable damage to the inguinal artery. Bayard was taken inside the Bernard house, where he lingered until the next day. He died the afternoon of December 14, just four days short of his 27th birthday.

A surgeon recommended amputation. Bayard asked what his chances were if he underwent the amputation, and the surgeon told him that the prospects were dim, so Bayard declined. He stayed conscious and alert, having the presence of mind to dictate a telegram to his fiancée at home and another to friends. He visited with those who called on him at the hospital, enjoying their company as best as he could under the circumstances. About twelve hours after he was wounded, he dictated a final letter to his parents. “I have to dictate a few words ere it becomes too late,” he said. “My strength is rapidly wasting away. Goodbye, dearest father and mother; give my love to my sisters. I send you, mother, my watch and pay due for November and part of December.” He went on to give instructions as to the disposition of some items of property, including his saber and his horse and then said goodbye. Bayard died quietly at about 2:00 p.m. on December 14, 1862, about twenty-four hours after his wounding.

Bayard's death was a tragedy for him and for the Army of the Potomac's Cavalry Corps.

Engaged to be married to the daughter of Colonel Alexander Hamilton Bowman the superintendent of the United States Military Academy, Bayard and his fiancee, Miss Mary Eleanor Bowman, had planned to be married on his birthday. He was buried in Princeton Cemetery in Princeton, New Jersey. On his gravestone is carved the Bayard family motto, Sans peur et sans reproche (Without fear or reproach).

Sources

• https://www.familysearch.org/tree/person/details/KJZ7-HMM
• Find a Grave, database and images
• https://penelope.uchicago.edu/Thayer/E/Gazetteer/Places/America/United_States/Army/USMA/Cullums_Register/1721*.html
• https://civilwartalk.com/threads/george-d-bayard.173746/
• (https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/2935/george-dashiell-bayard: accessed 25 July 2022), memorial page for George Dashiell Bayard (18 Dec 1835–14 Dec 1862), Find A Grave: Memorial #2935, citing Princeton Cemetery, Princeton, Mercer County, New Jersey, USA; Maintained by Find a Grave.
• Wikipedia