Short answers, pulled from the story.
John Sedgwick was born on the 13th of September, 1813, in Cornwall, Connecticut. He graduated from West Point in 1837, ranking 24th in a class of 50, and was commissioned a second lieutenant in the U.S. Army's artillery branch.
John Sedgwick's last words included 'They couldn't hit an elephant at this distance,' spoken to troops who were ducking from Confederate sharpshooter fire at Spotsylvania Court House. A Whitworth rifle bullet struck him moments later, on the 9th of May, 1864.
John Sedgwick was killed by a long-range shot from a Confederate Whitworth sharpshooter at the Battle of Spotsylvania Court House on the 9th of May, 1864. The bullet struck him under the left eye while he was directing artillery placements. He was the highest-ranking general officer in the Union Volunteers to die in the war.
John Sedgwick was shot three times at Antietam, in the wrist, leg, and shoulder, after II Corps commander Edwin Vose Sumner sent his division into a mass assault without reconnaissance. Confederate forces under Stonewall Jackson engaged the division from three sides, routing it. The wounds kept Sedgwick out of action until after the Battle of Fredericksburg.
Grant characterized Sedgwick as one who 'was never at fault when serious work was to be done' and said the loss of Sedgwick was worse for him than losing an entire division. Upon hearing of the death, Grant reportedly asked his staff: 'Is he really dead?'
Sedgwick County in Kansas and Sedgwick County in Colorado are named after him, as are the towns of Sedgwick in each state, Fort Sedgwick at the Petersburg siege, and Camp Rankin near Julesburg, Colorado, renamed Fort Sedgwick in 1865. Sedgwick Avenue in the Bronx, a CTA station on Chicago's near north side, and John Sedgwick Middle School in Port Orchard, Washington, also bear his name.