Roy Stone

Roy Stone
Brigadier General Roy Stone
Born	(1836-10-16)October 16, 1836 Plattsburg, New York
Died	August 5, 1905(1905-08-05) (aged 68) Mendham, New Jersey
Place of burial	Arlington National Cemetery
Allegiance	United States of America Union
Service/branch	United States Army Union Army
Years of service	1861–1865, 1898
Rank	Brigadier General
Commands held	149th Pennsylvania Infantry
Battles/wars	American Civil War Spanish–American War Puerto Rican Campaign

Roy Stone (October 16, 1836 – August 5, 1905) was a Union Army general during the American Civil War. He is most noted for his stubborn defense of the McPherson Farm during the Battle of Gettysburg.

Early life and family

Stone was born in Plattsburg, New York, to Ithiel V. and Sarah Stone. His family had been among the early settlers of the region, and his father owned a large estate. As a young man, he was an engineer and lumberman before the Civil War. Stone married Mary Elizabeth Marker at the First Presbyterian Church in Pittsburgh on August 14, 1862. They would have two children, a son, Richmond and a daughter, Margaret.

Civil War

Stone first served as major of the 13th Pennsylvania Reserves, a regiment that saw action at several early war battles, including Antietam. Stone returned to Pennsylvania to help recruit new regiments; he was commissioned as colonel of the newly raised 149th Pennsylvania Volunteer Infantry in 1863. He commanded a brigade in the third division of I Corps of the Army of the Potomac in the Battle of Chancellorsville but did not see serious combat. During the Gettysburg Campaign, Stone retained command of his three Pennsylvania regiments. On July 1, 1863, on the first day of the Battle of Gettysburg, his brigade, largely composed of green troops, was posted on McPherson's Ridge south of the Chambersburg Pike. Although the brigade had not seen previous combat, it was instrumental in holding back several assaults by the Confederates. Stone moved his regiments to block attacks by Col John Brockenborough and BG Junius Daniel. His troops held until the Iron Brigade and other Federal units fell back.^[1] Stone's men were among last to withdraw from their sector. Stone was severely wounded in the hip and arm in the fighting, and he returned home to recuperate.

After his return to active duty, Stone served briefly as a brigade commander in James Wadsworth's 4th Division, V Corps during Lt. Gen. Ulysses S. Grant's 1864 Overland Campaign. He was removed from command during the Battle of the Wilderness. Stone's horse fell on him on May 5, but many presumed he had been drunk on the battlefield.^[2]

Stone then commanded the Alton Military Prison in Alton, Illinois, late in the war. He was brevetted brigadier general, U.S. Volunteers, on September 7, 1864, for "gallant services during the war, and especially at Gettysburg."

Postbellum

Stone returned to active military duty serving in the Spanish–American War. After the war, Stone became a leading advocate of the Good Roads Movement. His contributions led to major changes and improvements in highway construction and design. He served as one of the early heads of the Division of Public Roads.^[3]

Honors

Stone Avenue in the Gettysburg National Military Park is named in his honor and memory. The palm genus Roystonea is named in memory of the work he did in road building in Puerto Rico during the capture of the island.^[4]

Notes

↑ Pfanz, pp. 196–199.
↑ Rhea, pp. 237–238.
↑ Eicher p.514
↑ Cook, O.F. (1901). "A Synopsis of the Palms of Puerto Rico". Bulletin of the Torrey Botanical Club. Torrey Botanical Society. 28 (10): 525–69. doi:10.2307/2478709. JSTOR 2478709. no

References

Eicher, John H., & Eicher, David J., Civil War High Commands, Stanford University Press, 2001, ISBN 0-8047-3641-3.
Federal Highway Administration Biography of Stone
Pfanz, Harry W., Gettysburg—The First Day, Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press, 2001. ISBN 0-8078-2624-3
Rhea, Gordon C., The Battle of the Wilderness May 5–6, 1864, Baton Rouge: Louisiana State University Press, 2004. ISBN 0-8071-3021-4

External links

"Roy Stone". Find a Grave. Retrieved 2008-08-17.

Gettysburg figures

Confederate leaders	Lee Alexander R. Anderson G. Anderson Archer Armistead Barksdale Benning Brockenbrough Chambliss Daniel Davis Doles Early Ewell Garnett Gordon Hampton Hays Heth Hill Hood Humphreys Imboden Iverson Jenkins Johnson J. Jones W. Jones Kemper Kershaw Lane Law F. Lee W. Lee Longstreet Mahone Marshall McLaws O'Neal Oates Pender Pettigrew Perrin Pickett Posey Ramseur Robertson Rodes Scales Semmes Smith G. Steuart J. E. B. Stuart Thomas Trimble J. Walker R. Walker Wilcox Wofford Wright

Union leaders	Meade Ames Ayres Barlow Barnes Baxter Biddle Birney Buford Caldwell Candy Carpenter Carr J. Chamberlain Claflin Cross Curtin Cushing Custer Cutler Crawford Doubleday Farnsworth Geary Gibbon Gilsa Graham Greene Gregg Hancock Harrow Hays Hooker Howard Humphreys Hunt Kilpatrick Krzyzanowski Lincoln Meredith Merritt Newton Nolan Paul Pleasonton Reynolds Rice Robinson Rowley Ruger Schimmelfennig Schurz Sedgwick Sickles Slocum Stannard Starr Steinwehr Sykes Tilton Tyler Vincent Wadsworth Ward Warren Weed Webb Willard Williams Zook

Other notable military personnel	Alger Avery Baker Belo Berdan Biddle Brooke Brown Bryan Burgwyn Burling Carroll Carter T. Chamberlain Colvill Corby Coster Dearing Devin Ellis Enderlin Lyon Fremantle Fry Gamble Garrard Godwin Goree Gregg Grimes Gwyn Hall Harrison Haskell Hazlett Howell Humiston Jeffords Jones Kelly Keogh Lang Latimer Lewis McCandless McDougall McFarland McIntosh Mayo Melcher Morrill Muhlenberg O'Rorke Pardee Pegram Perrin Poague Salomon Smith Sorrel Spear Stone Taylor Trobriand Wainwright Ward

Local civilians	Broadhead Bryan Burns McClean McConaughy McPherson Wade Wills

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