George Washington Getty (
October 2, 1819 –
October 1, 1901) was a career military officer in the
United States Army, most noted for his role as a
division commander in the
Army of the Potomac during the final full year of the
American Civil War.
G. W. Getty was born in
Georgetown, Washington, D.C. He was appointed to the
United States Military Academy at
West Point, New York, at the age of 16, and graduated 15th out of 42 graduates in the Class of 1840. Among his classmates were future Civil War generals
William T. Sherman and
George H. Thomas of the
Union Army and
Richard S. Ewell and
Bushrod R. Johnson of the
Confederate States Army. He was assigned to the
artillery as a
second lieutenant. During the
Mexican-American War, he campaigned with
Winfield Scott's army and was
breveted for gallantry. He fought against the
Seminole Indians in
Florida in the last two
Seminole Wars, seeing action in 1849–50 and again in 1856–57.
At the beginning of the Civil War, Getty was Captain of the 4th U.S. Artillery. In September 1861, he was appointed
lieutenant colonel. He commanded four batteries in
George B. McClellan's 1862
Peninsular Campaign. Named Chief of Artillery of
Ambrose Burnside's IX Corps, he served at the battles of
South Mountain and
Antietam during the
Maryland Campaign. Shortly afterwards, Getty was promoted to the rank of
brigadier general of volunteers and assigned to the
infantry. During the
Battle of Fredericksburg in December, he commanded the 3rd Division of IX Corps. In March 1863, Getty's division was sent to
Suffolk, Virginia, where the Federal Army under
John A. Dix successfully resisted
James Longstreet's investment of the town, which guarded the southern approaches to
Norfolk and
Hampton Roads.
After subsequent engineering duty and command of a diversion to the
South Anna River during the
Gettysburg Campaign, Getty served as acting Inspector General of the
Army of the Potomac in early 1864, He was assigned to command a division of
VI Corps. We was wounded in the
Battle of the Wilderness, but recovered to lead his troops during the lengthy
Siege of Petersburg, and later in
Philip Sheridan's Shenandoah Valley Campaign. He was breveted
Major General, U.S. Volunteers, in August 1864, and in the Regular Service in March of 1865. Getty's division, including the famed
Vermont Brigade, made the initial breakthrough at Petersburg on
April 2, 1865, and took part in the final campaign of the Army of the Potomac, which terminated in the surrender of
Robert E. Lee at
Appomattox Court House.
After the war, Getty was appointed
Colonel of the 38th U.S. Infantry in the
Regular Army in 1866. He transferred to the 3rd U.S. Artillery in 1871, and then commanded the Artillery School at
Fortress Monroe, Virginia, for six years. Getty was a member of the Board of Conduct which exonerated former
V Corps commander
Fitz John Porter in 1879.
After he retired from the Army in 1883, Getty lived on a farm near
Forest Glen, Maryland, before his death in 1901. He was buried in Section 1 of
Arlington National Cemetery. 
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