 EMORY UPTON 1839 – 1881 Brevet Major General of Volunteers
Emory Upton was born in Batavia on August 27, 1839. He was the tenth child of Electa and Daniel Upton. He grew up on the family farm on the present Upton Road in the Town of Batavia. At the age of fifteen, he left home to study under famed evangelist Charles G. Finney at Oberlin College in Oberlin, Ohio. After two years at Oberlin, seventeen-year-old Upton entered West Point in 1856. The discipline of cadet life suited Upton who was used to the demands of his strict religious upbringing and the harshness of farm life. He did very well at West Point and graduated on May 5, 1861, finishing in the top ten of his class. On May 6, 1861, Upton received his commission as Second Lieutenant in the Fifth US Artillery. At the Battle of Bull Run on July 21, 1861 he fired the first shot, and later that day he wounded in the left arm. Upton became the hero at Spotsylvania Court House where his quick thinking saved the Union from disaster. His outstanding qualities of leadership and military tactics, earned him to the rank of Brigadier General at age twenty-four and Major General at age twenty-five. Following the Civil War, Upton was appointed commandant of the United States Military Academy at West Point. During this time, he wrote Tactics of the United States Army. The book is still an authority on the subject. General Emory Upton will always live on in the memory of Genesee County residents. His statue guards the Genesee County Courthouse at the junction of Main and Ellicott Streets.
The Holland Land Office Museum recently received a donation of about 75 letters from a descendent of the Upton family. We are currently hard at work transcribing them. The story was picked up by the Associated Press, and the story was featured in over 100 papers around the world. To read the story, click here.
Sample of part of the letter dated March 13, 1881, a few days before his death. It reads, "God only knows how it will eventually end, but I trust he will lead me to sacrifice myself, rather than to perpetuate a method which might in the future cost a single man his life."
If your group is interested in a program about Emory Upton, email us or call us at (585) 343-4727.
Books About Emory Upton that are available from the Museum Store: Upton and the Army, by Stephen Ambrose, is available at the Joseph Ellicott Book and Gift Shop Life and Letters of Emory Upton, by Peter S. Michie To order, email us at info@hollandlandoffice.com |
