Truman Seymour (September 24, 1824 – October 30, 1891) was a career soldier and an accomplished painter. He served in the Union Army during the American Civil War, rising to the rank of major general. He was present at the Battle of Fort Sumter. He commanded the Union troops at the Battle of Olustee, the only major Civil War battle fought in Florida.
He immediately began his military service in the Mexican–American War. During that war, he was brevettedcaptain for his performance in the battles of Contreras and Churubusco and was promoted to first lieutenant six days later.[1] After returning to the United States following the war, he became an assistant professor of drawing at West Point from 1850 to 1853 and fought against the Seminoles in Florida from 1856 to 1858. He was promoted to captain on November 22, 1860.
Robert Walter Weir, Portrait of Truman Seymour, ca 1852
Civil War
In the months that led up to the Civil War Seymour served under Col. John L. Gardner at Fort Moultrie getting it prepared for the imminent war. When the Civil War began in 1861, Seymour commanded an artillery company in the defense against the Confederate assault on Fort Sumter, after which he received the brevet of major.
After November 18, 1862, General Seymour was sent to the Department of the South where he served as chief of staff to the commanding general from January 8 to April 23, 1863. He led a division on Folly Island, South Carolina, on July 4, participated in the attack on Morris Island on July 10, and commanded the unsuccessful attack on Fort Wagner on July 18. Seymour gained notoriety for this controversial attack. He had placed the famous 54th Massachusetts Volunteer Infantry, the black regiment about which the 1989 film "Glory" was made, in the vanguard of what most thought would be a feckless attack. He was also seriously wounded by grapeshot there and saw little field duty for the rest of 1863.
The Battle of Olustee
Maj. Gen. Quincy A. Gillmore, commanding general of the Department of the South, placed Seymour in charge of the newly created District of Florida. The division made an expedition to Florida in February 1864, landing at and taking possession of Jacksonville. Subsequently, Gillmore returned to South Carolina and left Seymour in tactical command.
On February 20, Seymour's force of about 5,500 men met a Confederate force of about 5,000, commanded by Brigadier General Joseph Finegan. The battle took place near the town of Olustee, about 40 miles west of Jacksonville. The ensuing battle produced some of the heaviest losses, by percentage, of any major battle of the war. Although Seymour's division inflicted nearly 1,000 casualties, it received nearly 2,000 in return. General Seymour's force returned, defeated, to Jacksonville, where Union troops retained control until the war ended.
On January 13, 1866, President Andrew Johnson nominated Seymour for appointment to the brevet grade of major general of volunteers to rank from March 13, 1865 and the United States Senate confirmed the appointment on March 12, 1866.[3] On April 10, 1866, President Johnson nominated Seymour for appointment to the grade of brevet brigadier general United States Army (Regular Army (United States)), to rank from March 13, 1865, and the Senate confirmed the appointment on May 4, 1866.[4]
Postbellum career
Seymour was mustered out of the volunteers on August 24, 1865 but stayed in the Regular United States Army.[2] He served again in the 5th Artillery, and later commanded forts in Florida; Fort Warren, Massachusetts (1869–70); and Fort Preble, Maine (1870–75). He retired from the army on November 1, 1876.
Seymour was also a watercolor painter, and his painting became prolific in Europe during his retirement. Although he is believed to have never sold his paintings, his body of work survives in museums and private collections.
