John C. Robinson
Posted to the Project on 27 Aug 07
The New York statue to General John C. Robinson (1817-1897) sits on Oak Ridge near one of the park’s three remaining steel observation towers. A native of Binghamton, Robinson went to West Point, was a lawyer, won a Medal of Honor at Spotsylvania in 1864, AND, last but most certainly not least, earned the distinction of the hairiest general in the Army of the Potomac.
Robinson commanded a 1st Corps Division at Gettysburg that was engaged on Oak Ridge. He lost his leg the following year in action at Spotsylvania. For this action, he was awarded the Medal of Honor.
In 1872, he was elected Lieutenant Governor of the State of New York. He later also served as commander of the Grand Army of the Republic.
Yet, the Army of the Potomac was marked by similarly able and brave men. It was an Army that had a lot of bumblers, but also some real gems (Hancock, Reynolds, etc). So Robinson for all the good stuff he did doesn’t really stand out that much as anything other than a good general.
Except, there was one cosmetic feature that set him apart: his luxurious facial hair. It was not so famous that he got side burns named after him like a certain general who did not do well around water (including such notable bodies of water as Antietam Creek, the Rappahannock River, and rain water), but …
Describing Robinson in his famous book Glory Road, Bruce Catton notes:
Doubleday sent the last of his reserves up to meet this threat — a division led by General John C. Robinson, a salty old regular of whom a soldier said that “in a much -bearded army, he was the hairiest general I ever saw.”
There you have it, folks, the hairiest general in the Army of the Potomac. And there was plenty of competition, so that’s really saying something.