Campaigns · Gaines' Mill, Second Bull Run, Antietam, Fredericksburg, Chancellorsville, and Gettysburg
John Fulton Reynolds was born in Lancaster, Pennsylvania, on September 20, 1820. He attended various academies, then studied at West Point, graduating in 1841. For the next five years, he served on garrison duty and in Texas, then fought in the Mexican War. From 1860 to the beginning of the Civil War, Reynolds taught tactics at West Point. A brigadier general by August of 1861 (to rank from August 20), he served in the defenses of Washington, D.
C., then fought at the Battle of Gaines; Mill. He was captured after that battle, and kept in Libby Prison for several weeks. After his exchange, he took part in the Second Battle of Bull Run and the Antietam Campaign. He was promoted to major general on November 29, 1862, and led a corps at the Battle of Fredericksburg and Chancellorsville. President Lincoln offered Reynolds command of the army, but he declined when Lincoln was unable to guarantee him free rein.
Reynolds died on July 1, 1863, having been shot in the back of the neck while leading troops in southern Pennsylvania.