Major-General John Fulton Reynolds, killed at Gettysburg while
commanding the 1st Corps, was born in Lancaster, Pa., on the 21st day of
September, 1820. His father, John Reynolds, also a native of Lancaster
County, was the son of William Reynolds, who came to America in 1760
from Ireland. His mother’s maiden name was Lydia Moore, daughter of
Samuel Moore, who held a commission in the Revolutionary Army. He had an
elder brother, William, who served as Admiral in our Navy with great
distinction, and also two other brothers who served in the war, one as
paymaster, and the other, the youngest of the four, as
Quartermaster-General of Pennsylvania.
William and John went first to an excellent school at Lititz, in
Lancaster County, going thence to Long Green, Md., and from there they
returned to the Lancaster Academy. Through the influence of James
Buchanan, they received appointments, one as midshipman in the Navy, and
the other as cadet at West Point. John was graduated from West Point on
June 22nd, 1841, at the age of twenty-one. He served with distinction
during the Mexican War, and at the outbreak of the Civil War entered the
Union Army. At the battle of Gaines’ Mill, on June 28th, 1862, he was
captured, and after a confinement of six weeks in Libby Prison, he was
exchanged for General Barksdale.
General Reynolds was six feet tall, with dark hair and eyes. He was
erect in carriage and a superb horseman, so much at ease in the saddle
as to be able to pick a dime from the ground while riding at full speed.
He was killed in the grove now known as Reynolds’ Grove on the morning
of July 1st, between 10 and 11 o’clock, while directing the attack of
Meredith’s brigade against Archer’s Confederate brigade. His body was
first taken to the Seminary, and later to Lancaster, where it was
interred in the family graveyard.