The snipers had them pinned down. Sedgwick was telling his men to get out there anyways finishing his speech with "They couldn't hit an elephant at this distance" when BAM; Sedgwick was shot and killed by a sniper at 1,000 yards away. His last words are some of the most well known last words in history for how ironic and ill-timed the situation was.
Though he was known for being the highest ranking Union casualty in the war and a great general, he was a pretty unaggressive general. There's a monument to Sedgwick at West Point. Academy legend has it that a cadet who spins the spurs of the statue at midnight while wearing full parade dress gray over white uniform under arms will have good luck on his or her final exam. There are three cities and two counties in the U.S. Named in Sedgwick's honor.
