Charles Edward Hazlett (October 15, 1838 – July 2, 1863) was a

U.S. Army The United States Army (USA) is the land service branch of the United States Armed Forces. It is one of the eight U.S. uniformed services, and is designated as the Army of the United States in the U.S. Constitution.Article II, section 2, cl ...

1st Lieutenant during the

American Civil War The American Civil War (April 12, 1861 – May 26, 1865; also known by other names) was a civil war in the United States. It was fought between the Union ("the North") and the Confederacy ("the South"), the latter formed by states th ...

. He was killed on

Little Round Top Little Round Top is the smaller of two rocky hills south of Gettysburg, Pennsylvania—the companion to the adjacent, taller hill named Big Round Top. It was the site of an unsuccessful assault by Confederate troops against the Union left f ...

during the second day of the

Battle of Gettysburg The Battle of Gettysburg () was fought July 1–3, 1863, in and around the town of Gettysburg, Pennsylvania, by Union and Confederate forces during the American Civil War. In the battle, Union Major General George Meade's Army of the Po ...

Early life

Hazlett was born in

Zanesville, Ohio Zanesville is a city in and the county seat of Muskingum County, Ohio, United States. It is located east of Columbus and had a population of 24,765 as of the 2020 census, down from 25,487 as of the 2010 census. Historically the state capita ...

to Robert Hazlett and Lucy Welles Reed. Hazlett's parents were abolitionists and supporters of the

Underground Railroad The Underground Railroad was a network of clandestine routes and safe houses established in the United States during the early- to mid-19th century. It was used by enslaved African Americans primarily to escape into free states and Canada. ...

in central Ohio. After briefly attending

Kenyon College Kenyon College is a private liberal arts college in Gambier, Ohio. It was founded in 1824 by Philander Chase. Kenyon College is accredited by the Higher Learning Commission. Kenyon has 1,708 undergraduates enrolled. Its 1,000-acre campus is se ...

in Gambier, Ohio, he was accepted to the

United States Military Academy The United States Military Academy (USMA), also known metonymically as West Point or simply as Army, is a United States service academy in West Point, New York. It was originally established as a fort, since it sits on strategic high groun ...

West Point, New York West Point is the oldest continuously occupied military post in the United States. Located on the Hudson River in New York, West Point was identified by General George Washington as the most important strategic position in America during the Ame ...

. During his first year at the academy, he was court-martialed and suspended for several months, but later graduated on May 6, 1861, fifteenth in his class.

Civil War

Initially assigned to the 2nd U.S. Cavalry as a 2nd lieutenant, Hazlett was almost immediately promoted to 1st lieutenant and transferred to Battery D, 5th U.S. Artillery. He was part of the battery during its near annihilation at the

First Battle of Bull Run The First Battle of Bull Run (the name used by Union forces), also known as the Battle of First Manassas

, fought through the battles of the Peninsula Campaign and was in command of the battery by the

Second Battle of Bull Run The Second Battle of Bull Run or Battle of Second Manassas was fought August 28–30, 1862, in Prince William County, Virginia, as part of the American Civil War. It was the culmination of the Northern Virginia Campaign waged by Confederate ...

. Under his command, the unit also participated in the battles of

Antietam The Battle of Antietam (), or Battle of Sharpsburg particularly in the Southern United States, was a battle of the American Civil War fought on September 17, 1862, between Confederate Gen. Robert E. Lee's Army of Northern Virginia and Union G ...

, Fredericksburg, and Chancellorsville.

Gettysburg

On the second day of the Battle of Gettysburg, Hazlett's Battery (3rd Division,

V Corps 5th Corps, Fifth Corps, or V Corps may refer to: France * 5th Army Corps (France) * V Cavalry Corps (Grande Armée), a cavalry unit of the Imperial French Army during the Napoleonic Wars * V Corps (Grande Armée), a unit of the Imperial French Ar ...

), consisting of six three inch, 10 pounder

Parrott rifles The Parrott rifle was a type of muzzle-loading rifled artillery weapon used extensively in the American Civil War. Parrott rifle The gun was invented by Captain Robert Parker Parrott, a West Point graduate. He was an American soldier and inven ...

, was rushed to the top of

Brig. Gen. Brigadier general or Brigade general is a military rank used in many countries. It is the lowest ranking general officer in some countries. The rank is usually above a colonel, and below a major general or divisional general. When appointed ...

Gouverneur K. Warren Gouverneur Kemble Warren (January 8, 1830 – August 8, 1882) was an American civil engineer and Union Army general during the American Civil War. He is best remembered for arranging the last-minute defense of Little Round Top during the Battle ...

. Maneuvering the guns by hand up the steep and rocky slope of the hill was a difficult achievement. The artillerymen were exposed to constant Confederate

sniper A sniper is a military/paramilitary marksman who engages targets from positions of concealment or at distances exceeding the target's detection capabilities. Snipers generally have specialized training and are equipped with high-precision r ...

fire and could not work the guns effectively. More significantly, they could not depress the cannons' barrels sufficiently enough to defend against incoming infantry attacks. While standing near the battery during the intense fighting, Brig. Gen. Stephen H. Weed was mortally wounded and asked to see Hazlett. Reportedly, Hazlett came to his aid and was shot in the head as he knelt down to hear what Weed was saying. Command of the battery passed to 2nd Lt Benjamin F. Rittenhouse.

Burial

Hazlett's body was originally buried at the Jacob Weikert house near Little Round Top. Later, his body was reinterred at Woodlawn Cemetery in

In memoriam

Four months after Hazlett's death, the U.S. War Department named a redoubt near

Portsmouth, Virginia Portsmouth is an independent city in southeast Virginia and across the Elizabeth River from Norfolk. As of the 2020 census, the population was 97,915. It is part of the Hampton Roads metropolitan area. The Norfolk Naval Shipyard and Naval M ...

in his honor. A 19th century rock carving on

supposedly designates the spot where Hazlett was killed. A stone marker sitting atop the rock memorializes both him and Brig. Gen. Stephen Weed. After the Civil War, veterans formed a local chapter of the

Grand Army of the Republic The Grand Army of the Republic (GAR) was a fraternal organization composed of veterans of the Union Army (United States Army), Union Navy (U.S. Navy), and the Marines who served in the American Civil War. It was founded in 1866 in Decatur, Il ...

in Hazlett's hometown. The chapter was named Hazlett Post 81 in honor of Hazlett and his brother, Capt. John C. Hazlett, an infantry officer who died from a wound suffered at the

Battle of Stones River The Battle of Stones River, also known as the Second Battle of Murfreesboro, was a battle fought from December 31, 1862, to January 2, 1863, in Middle Tennessee, as the culmination of the Stones River Campaign in the Western Theater of the Ame ...

.Sergent, 139. In 2011, local Civil War enthusiasts replaced the Hazlett brothers' broken tombstones at Woodlawn Cemetery in

. The city designated May 14, 2011 "Hazlett Day" in honor of the event.

Notes

References

* Pfanz, Harry W. ''Gettysburg: The Second Day'' (Chapel Hill, NC: University of North Carolina Press), 1998. * Sergent, Mary E. ''They Lie Forgotten: The United States Military Academy, 1856-1861, Together With a Class Album for the Class of May, 1861'' (Middletown, NY: Prior King Press), 1986. *''The Miscellaneous Documents of the House of Representatives For the First Session of the Fifty-first Congress, 1889-1890'' (Washington, D.C.: Government Printing Office), 1891.

External links

Hazlett's Battery monument at Gettysburg
{{DEFAULTSORT:Hazlett, Charles E. 1838 births 1863 deaths Union Army officers United States Military Academy alumni People of Ohio in the American Civil War People from Zanesville, Ohio Union military personnel killed in the American Civil War