Which Union general was wounded and lost a leg at Gettysburg?

The Union general wounded and forced to lose a leg at Gettysburg was Daniel Sickles. On July 2, 1863, during the battle’s second day, a 12-pound Confederate solid shot shattered his right lower leg near the Trostle Farm.

Sickles commanded the Union III Corps and had moved his troops forward from their assigned position on Cemetery Ridge to the Peach Orchard and Emmitsburg Road. The exposed salient came under fierce Confederate attack, and Sickles was struck while observing the fighting. Surgeons amputated his leg above the knee that afternoon.

Despite the injury, Sickles remained conscious and reportedly smoked a cigar while being carried from the field. He later donated the amputated bones to the Army Medical Museum, now the National Museum of Health and Medicine, where they remain displayed. The incident is sometimes confused with wounds suffered by other Union commanders, but Sickles is the Gettysburg general specifically associated with an amputation.